Page 108 of Begin Again, Part 1

"Modest people deserve nice things," Julian argued. "I say give it to her. You've already bought the stuff. Returning any piece of art is in poor taste."

"She has a toddler who probably runs everywhere! That vase will be smashed to pieces in a day, three at most." Matthew tried yet again to be the steady voice of reason.

Liam didn't need all that negativity in his life. He waved his cousin's words off with a shrug of his shoulders. "Eden's an artist; this is art. She'll love this. And she can keep the vase in her office, away from her running toddler."

"You mean the broom closet you shoved her in?"

"What the hell do you want me to do?" Liam shouted. "Can't you see that I'm trying here?"

"Try harder and talk to Eden. Sometimes words mean more." Matthew grabbed his stuff, preparing to leave. "You can't sugarcoat an apology with excessive gifts. You wounded her. You have to fix it."

Liam crossed his arms and snarled. "She could have killed me! And if we have to bring up past deeds, she ruined me first and left me broken, and it's her fucking job to fix me."

"God, Liam, would it kill you to stop being so hard-assed? Everyone can see you're in love with her. Just tell her and stop dancing circles around her!" Matthew lost his cool at last.

"I am not in love with Eden. Yes, I'm insanely attracted to her, and of course, I want to fuck her. But let's not confuse it with love," Liam snapped and dumped his half-finished beer on the coffee table, annoyed even more his feelings for Eden were at the forefront again.

Matthew wouldn't back the hell down. He had to have the last word. "The lawyer is going after Eden hard and fast. If you keep up with your shit, you're going to push her straight into his arms, and when you end up alone and miserable, you'll only have yourself to blame."

"Maybe get her a bigger office?" Julian suggested.

"Do you want to kick your assistant out of her office?" Liam demanded. "You both know she's supposed to take Gibby's office."

"Yeah, but that's still weeks away." Matthew sighed. "In the meantime, do something to spruce up her current digs. She'll love you for it."

"The painting and the vase will do up her space—"

"God, Liam! I can't with you! When this shit blows up in your face, don't come crawling to me for help." Matthew jumped to his feet and stormed off.

"It won't!" Liam barked at his retreating back.

Julian grabbed his phone and car keys from the coffee table. "Are we meeting at Crush this weekend?"

Liam shook his head. He had tons of work to get through.

"I say give Eden all the shiny things you bought her." Julian gave him a thumbs up before he ran after his brother.

Alone once more, surrounded by silence and art pieces he was seriously starting to regret buying, Liam called his assistant.

"Mr Anderson," Gibby said cheerfully on her end. "What can I do for you?"

"Sort out Eden's office ASAP. Get her new office furniture and everything else you think she'll need."

"Isn't she moving into my office?"

"That's still weeks away," he reminded her.

Gibby was supposed to wrap up her duties soon, but after assessing the amount of work involved in handing over, she'd asked for another month or two. Liam was happy to keep her on for a while longer on a contract basis. Hell, if he could, he'd keep her permanently.

"Sir, is everything okay? Did Ms McBride complain about her office?"

Liam assured her everything was perfect, and Eden hadn't complained. This was just standard protocol. The spare office needed a makeover anyway.

"Right, I'll get on it. It might take a bit of time, as the Project Management team will have to be involved!"

"Handle it, Bubby!" He grunted irritably and hung up.

Wide awake and restless as fuck, Liam roamed the rooms of his house, haunted by the unnerving silence.

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