Page 3 of Adoration: Isn't What It Seems (Love Isn't What It Seems 2)

“I don’t understand.” My voice quavered, my words unsteady. “How could I have been so blind?”

Tears escaped, wet droplets falling on the beautiful pink flowers sitting on my lap, turning light blush into deep pink.

“Shhhh,” Lena tried so hard to hold me while carrying her little boy. “Breathe, Livy. Breathe.”

“Are you okay?” An unfamiliar voice had me lifting my head up. A woman with curly, flaming red hair watched me through her beautiful eyes, colors of the stormy Adriatic Sea. She was gorgeous.

“Ainslee,” Callen's voice reached from behind me. “What are you doing here?”

His voice was full of concern, tenderness, and love.

This was the woman.The beautiful stranger and I must have reached the meaning of each other at the same moment.

I didn’t even have to ask. My hands shook, humiliation and pain spreading quickly, making it hard to keep my shit together.

“I came to see Father Michael to book the christening,” she answered, her eyes full of deep sorrow never left my face. It only made me feel worse.

“There is nothing to see here, bitch,” Layla spat out at Ainslee, causing her to flinch. The words were unnecessarily crude and didn’t make me feel any better. Now, there were two of us feeling like shit.

“Hey, you can’t talk to her like that.” Callen’s voice was angry. I couldn’t stand to turn around and see that face I cared about. Instead, I watched the face he loved, punishing myself for being so stupid.

Unless it consumes all of you, Livy, it’s not worth fighting for.Why did my mom’s words keep echoing in my head? Now, of all times.

“I’ll talk to you any way I want, manwhore.” Layla was going to battle, her words causing a stream of tears from me, my face wet as I tried to press my hand to my mouth to silent my sobs. “You piece of shit! I hope your dick falls off.”

“Stop it,” I murmured. “Just stop it. I need to get out of here.”

Larry wrapped his arms around me like I was a little child and lifted me effortlessly; my bouquet of flowers fell from my hands. The broken flower petals laid all over the cold ground, reflecting how I felt on the inside. I buried my face into his chest, closing my eyes. I couldn’t hold my sobs any longer, losing the battle against my tears.

“I am so sorry.” Callen’s voice was close, but I couldn’t bear to hear it or see him.

“Save it, Callen.” Larry’s voice was angry towards his friend. “Let’s get her out of here, Lena.” He spat out a few curses I chose to ignore while the pain in my heart overwhelmed me.

I wasn’t sure how we got to Layla’s place. I stared out the window, without seeing the blazing colors produced by the sunset. Instead my mother’s words echoed in my mind repeating over and over again, while my cheek rested against the tear soaked pillow.

The pain is only worth it if it consumes your heart, body, and soul, Livy. When it does, nobody and nothing else will matter.

Chapter One

Three Years later

Irushed through the central business district of London, on Kensington street, looking like a sore thumb between all the people dressed in expensive, tailored business suits. I wasn’t dressed as fancy as they were. I had a plain white skirt and a light blue blouse with white polka dots on. It was still warm in early September, and I refused to be hot and uncomfortable for anyone, even for Lena. I noticed the glances thrown my way, probably thinking I was an idiot that got lost.

No, I’m not lost. Just late, horribly late and unprepared.

I was so mad at myself. I overslept after staying up late into the morning hours with Layla. She was a mess, crying after Lachlan, who apparently fell for another woman.

It was like history repeating when she broke that news. We decided unanimously, Scotsmen were jerks. Totally hot, handsome jerks.

Then we opened a bottle of wine and things went from crying with heartache to cursing at her Lachlan, and all the men in the world. Layla was my best friend, and had been with me through the hardest times. I wanted to be there for her when she needed me.

To make things worse, I had been ghostwriting for an author and we both thought we’d get the sex scene out of the way together. It was a way to earn a little extra money, but sometimes I wondered if it was worth the pain. Working in publishing and sorting through manuscripts was more my cup of tea than writing. My mother always thought I had an eye for the talented authors, but after how things turned out with Callen, I didn’t want to venture into it again. So, I roamed the ghostwriting world as a lost soul that couldn’t quite figure out where I belonged or where my career should be going.

Between the wine Layla and I consumed and the sex scenes we were throwing out there, things got quite out of hand last night. She called Lachlan a few times and then hung up. It almost felt like high school all over again. It was something Lena and I used to do to our boy crushes. Apparently, so did Layla.

She kept talking about what Lachlan had and how successful he was, leading me to believe that she was more in love with his wealth than the man himself. Of course, I wasn’t going to tell her that. It wasn’t as if I handled things much better last night. I ended up sending a few hurtful messages to Callen. And then quite a few sexting messages, which were not good. It was horrible that after three years, I was still hung up on him. Talk about the sad case of an ex-girlfriend!

God knew, Layla and I both had serious issues. We really had to get better at handling alcohol and picking men.

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