Page 77 of Begin Again, Part 1

"You used to love models," Matthew reminded him. "You banged about five or six in your life."

"The exact number is seven. Check your facts!" Liam growled and uncapped his water bottle.

"Touché, sensei." Julian bowed in mock respect.

"What's got you so broody? It's not like you to dismiss all things lingerie and models," Matthew said, changing the subject. "How did it go with the therapist?"

Liam didn't want to talk about it, but if he kept it in, the shit with Eden would drive him nuts. He gulped down a few sips from the bottle and told his cousins about his disastrous session with Linda, without getting into too many details.

He expected Matthew to rain hard on him, since he was always Eden's biggest supporter throughout all their skirmishes. Surprisingly, it was Julian who freaked out on him. "Christ, Liam! You can't beat her heart to pieces and expect her to be okay."

"Don't you think I know that?" he demanded as he played with the bottle in his hands. "I thought lashing out at Eden would make me feel better, but it didn't. Why do I feel this way—"

He paused and gently massaged his chest when he couldn't express the heavy feeling crushing his heart.

"No wonder she was close to tears when she walked into the meeting," Matthew mused. "And you were ready to grovel at her feet."

"I wasn't!" Liam shook his head in denial. But he would have thrown himself at Eden's feet if it meant she'd stop crying. He never wanted to see her hurt like that again. He may dislike her, but he didn't enjoy seeing her in pain.

"Yes, you were," Matthew teased him.

"How will you fix this?" Julian asked. "I doubt Eden will attend another session with you."

"She already said she doesn't want to tag along."

"Do you blame her?" asked Matthew.

Of course, Liam didn't blame her, and he understood her reluctance. Hell, if he was in her shoes, he'd never have gone for the first session.

"So?" Julian asked. "How will you convince her to join your sessions with Linda?"

Liam didn't know. Thankfully, he was saved the trouble of answering their million-dollar question. They were at the airport.

A hostess from the concierge desk led them to the private terminal, while their assistants prepped the private jet. In the VIP lounge, Julian headed straight to the bar, promising to warm them up with tequila shots. Liam and Matthew sat in a window booth and waited to be warmed up.

But after fifteen minutes of watching Julian make his move on a leggy brunette, they resigned themselves to an evening of sobriety and a long flight ahead.

Tired of watching the planes land and take off, Matthew turned to Liam and asked, "This whole thing with Eden, what do you want out of it?"

Liam shrugged when he realised he didn't know what he wanted. Before today, he wanted to confront Eden and make her life as miserable as she'd made his when she left him. But now, knowing he hurt her, he wasn't so sure about his plan anymore.

"I have to get her out of my system."

"Well, the only sure-fire way to get someone out of your system is to fuck them, you know that, right?" Matthew reminded him.

Liam would have loved nothing more. But after their session with Linda, banging Eden was one option no longer on the table. He had to figure out a way to get her out of his system, though, before this feeling—whatever it was—took over him.

Matthew's phone rang. He moved to a quiet corner to answer it, leaving Liam alone with his thoughts and a thousand regrets.

Sighing, he pulled out his iPhone and spent the next five minutes typing out a lengthy text he couldn't bring himself to send because an apology had to be done in person. Same with a breakup. His mom had taught him well.

"Argh!" Liam erased the message and watched Julian flirt up a storm with the brunette over martinis. He smiled, amazed at how quickly his cousin forgot about Chloe Lennard and her underwear.

He pulled out his laptop from his messenger bag, ready to tackle all his emails, but Lydia's page still open in his browser caught his eye. He crawled it for a bit, reading through her latest post—an apology to her two million-plus fan base over the issue with the site earlier. Apparently, she had to take it down briefly for maintenance.

"Guess she was telling the truth after all," Liam mused, thinking about Eden's excuse earlier. The panic in her eyes when Matthew filled her in, and the way she tried so hard to convince them not to go on her friend's vlog, had made him a little suspicious. He was glad to see he was wrong about her.

He looked through Lydia's gallery and watched a few videos. His suspicions roared to life again when he noticed all the ones Eden's son was tagged in were now locked.

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