Page 68 of Begin Again, Part 1

"You felt what? My erection?" Liam drawled. "Congratulations, Princess, you are the only one in the entire universe who makes me hard."

Eden ignored his outburst and turned to Linda. "Is he serious right now? Is that even a thing?"

Linda explained it was all true. Liam's condition was linked to the timing of their hook-up. He'd experienced so many life-changing events. Almost losing his father, giving up his career, and taking over a mega-billion operation were huge stressors. And when she vanished without a word, something in him broke to such a point that he couldn't bring himself to connect with other women.

"Your encounter on its own would not have had such an impact on him," Linda explained. "But combined with all the other stressors in his life, it was a perfect storm for someone already under immense pressure."

"I didn't know," Eden said. She'd read about Clarke Anderson's cancer diagnosis in the papers. But, she'd never thought much about the emotional toll on Liam. Confronted with this new information, her heart ached for him. She loved drawing with a passion and couldn't imagine giving it up or taking on a responsibility she didn't want.

Linda carried on in her flat voice, the tips of her steepled fingers resting on her lips. "I suggested to Liam that perhaps if he talked things out with you, he might be able to put the past behind him and work towards healing. That's why you are both here—so you can talk openly and honestly about that night. This is a no-judgment space, and I encourage you to express your feelings."

Eden nodded, but as much as she understood and was empathetic to Liam's plight, her life also changed after their hook-up. She didn't go around lashing out at people, though.

"Is that why you've been so furious with me?" She turned to him, an incredulous look in her eyes. "Because you think I did something to you?"

Liam scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets, his back as stiff as a board as he stared outside the window.

"You think you're the only one who lost something that night?" Eden confronted him, not dissuaded by his silence. "What about me? Did you ever wonder how my life has been?"

"It seems okay to me. You have a son, and you're off on coffee dates. Your life is perfect!" Liam fired back.

Eden lost her head. She went off on him for a solid minute, exploding in front of Linda like a nuclear bomb. "Perfect? Do you think being a single parent is perfect? I almost died bringing Aiden into the world. His birth was so traumatic I thought he wouldn't make it, and I was all alone through it all, and you think that's perfect?"

Liam turned to her, the look in his eyes killing her a thousand times over. "Who's fault is it you have bad taste in men?"

His words were like a stun gun in her stomach. They rendered her speechless, emptying her mind of all thought, and all she was aware of was the sound of her heart smashing into pieces in her chest.

"This isn't constructive to anyone." Linda tried to redirect them to safer ground before they could destroy each other. "Liam, do you have anything to say to Eden?"

"Other than the fact that I hate what she did to me? No! Absolutely nothing."

"What did I do to you?" Eden asked as she jumped to her feet and began pacing.

"You used me to get over your failed engagement, and then you left!" Liam snarled, his eyes blazing furiously.

"It was a hook-up!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "You were happy to use me too as your last night of freedom. What is the issue here?"

She was bewildered out of her mind and couldn't understand how the Liam in front of her was the same man in the elevator, the one who'd held and kissed her with such passion and tenderness.

"I woke up, and you were gone. But that wasn't even the half of it." Liam laughed bitterly, his mouth twisted in a sneer. "Dave told me you ran off dressed in nothing but my shirt. Were you in such a fucking hurry to get away from me that you couldn't even get dressed?"

"I looked for my clothes, but I couldn't find them. How else was I supposed to leave?"

"You were not supposed to leave!" Liam roared, his hands balled into fists at his sides. "Nobody leaves me! I make them leave!"

And there was the real reason for this song and dance, Eden thought as she stared at him, open-mouthed. He wasn't upset she left because she meant something to him. He was livid because his ego was shattered, his pride bruised. She'd never hated him as much as she did then.

"You are despicable!" she whispered.

"I was supposed to make you leave!" Liam growled.

"With that kind of arrogance, I'm sure plenty of women must have left you!" Eden plopped back on the couch, suddenly drained from their argument.

"See, that's where you're wrong," he said. "No woman has ever left me. You were the first Eden McBride."

"What is this? Am I supposed to be flattered?"

"No." Liam shook his head. "You have to take responsibility for what you did."

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