Page 10 of Liv Parrish

“Yeah, she's cool, funny and smart. Easy to be around. We have fun together.” Fuck, I can’t do this, but I need to know.

“Are you sleeping with her?” His eyes shoot up from the tablet he was reading on and meet mine head-on.

“What?” He looks genuinely shocked, but my mouth seems to have a mind of its own despite me trying to keep my cool. Fuck it, that horse has bolted, the stable’s on fire.

“I didn’t stutter, Riley. Are you fucking her?” He actually has the nerve to look offended.

“Are you seriously asking me that? She's your girl. I would never– “

“Quit the bullshit. You’d fuck anything with a pulse if she looked halfway interested so don't act like you're offended. Just answer the damn question.” Warning bells are ringing in my ears, telling me I’m going too far and might cross a line I can’t come back from.

“Okay, I know this is out of the blue, but you're out of line, so I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that, and I already told you I didn't fuck her. She's a friend. I’m not too sure about you right now, though.” He mumbles that under his breath, turning away as if he’s done with this conversation.

“Yeah? Since when do you have female friends?” I shoot back, not ready to let this go.

“Since you seem to have your head stuck up your ass and don’t know a good thing when it’s right in front of you.” I pause, the next barrage of words stalling on my tongue.

“I didn’t know.” A lame defense, but true all the same.

“What?”

“I didn’t know she was still here. When I looked her up, there was this pattern of only staying in a place for a few months, three or four max. I thought she left or would be leaving soon. There’d be no chance at the future I want, so I moved on.” I trail off, my need to argue losing steam.

“Okay, I get that. Look, I know what happened with Kelsey knocked you off track, but she was never the one for you, man. It was always meant to be you and Liv. Maybe now, you can do what you should have done in the first place and go after her.”

Dammit, he had to mention Kelsey. I still don’t know what I was thinking pursuing her, but it was fun for a while. At least until she dropped her bomb, blowing up everything that I thought I might want with her. She’s pregnant, with her ex’s baby. They are getting back together because it turns out she’s still in love with the guy. Christ! What the hell am I doing?

“Is she doing okay?”

“Liv? Yeah, she’s great. She’s hugely invested in her work. I think that’s what’s keeping her here, but you should call her and ask her yourself. Better still, go see her. You have a lot to talk about.”

“Yeah, I guess.” How did I get it all so wrong? All this time wasted. “Thanks for looking out for her, man. And for putting up with my shit. I shouldn’t have said–” My brother doesn’t give me a chance to apologize.

“Forget about it. We both know what I’m like. But seriously, don’t screw around with her. She’s not like the women you usually date.” I’m about to interrupt but he keeps going. “And watch out for her brother. He’s a protective SOB, not around much, but he keeps tabs.” I raise a brow at that.

“You’ve been making friends.” He smirks at this.

“Nah, haven’t met the guy, but he checks up on her often. Texts, calls, that kind of thing.”

“That’s good. I always wondered about him, and protective I can deal with.”

“You’ll have him eating out of the palm of your hand in no time.” But it isn’t him I’m worried about. All jokes aside, it’s time for me to go get my girl.

It’s early evening when I reach her apartment. I stand outside her door for a moment, trying to calm my thoughts as well as my racing heart which is pumping at a rate similar to when we used to do HALO jumps into enemy territory, and then raise my hand to knock. I pause when I hear the unmistakable sound of Morten Harket belting out his signature high notes from Take On Me, accompanied by a softer but no less on point femalevoice hitting the same notes. I drop my hand and listen while imagining Liv dancing along to the music.It makes me smile, makes my blood rush, no longer focused on the time wasted but instead on the future that is now tantalizingly within reach. Eventually, the song changes to something I don’t recognize and I raise my hand again and knock. And wait, for what feels like forever. But then the door opens and she’s there on the other side of the threshold and everything stops.

Time. Breath. Heart.

Her face is slightly flushed, from dancing perhaps, and her hair is in a ponytail that’s just barely holding in place. Dressed casually in a pair of loose-fitting jeans and a t-shirt she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, bar none. It also doesn’t go unnoticed that she’s not wearing a bra, causing my jeans to tighten even as I try to maintain eye contact, because I don’t want to be that guy. Now is about reconnecting with her, and not in a physical way, even though I can almost feel how soft her skin will be under my touch. God knows I’ve imagined it often enough. She gives a small gasp when her eyes meet mine, punching me straight in the gut.

“Heath! Hey, what are you doing here?” She cranes her neck slightly to the side as if trying to see around me, as if she expects to see someone standing behind me. I take that moment to study her more closely, unable to take my eyes off her. She looks … different from the last time I saw her in this apartment. Not remarkably so, but a little less vibrant than the night we met. There are dark circles under her eyes, a small scar above her left eyebrow and she’s lost weight which is accentuated by the loose fit of her clothes. I try to keep my voice even while cataloguing all these small changes that set alarm bells ringing in my head. There will be time to deal with that later.

“Hey, Liv. It’s good to see you.” I hesitate for a beat, second guessing whether this was such a good idea, just stopping by unannounced and catching het off guard. “May I come in?”

Uncertainty flashes across her face before she steps back so that I may enter her apartment. I’ll admit, this is not how I thought our reunion would go. Did I think she was going to rush into my arms and declare her undying love and devotion? Of course not. Hoped would have been more accurate, dreamt even more so, but it’s clear I’m in for disappointment. There’s tension in the air, and she’s nervous, wringing her hands and then brushing loose strands of hair behind her ears, as if trying to hide the fact that she was wringing her hands. I almost expect her to hold them behind her back when she notices me staring. Seeing her like this, a wave of protectiveness washes over me. Something is wrong. The dark circles, the weight-loss, and her nervousness. Even the night we met, as complete strangers, she didn't seem nervous but now she looks ready to bolt out the door. And this is her apartment! I need to fix this, whatever it is that’s causing her stress. I move to the center of her living room but don’t sit down and she follows at a distance, which I hate, but force myself to accept. For now.

“This is a surprise. I wasn’t expecting company.” She glances down at herself as if judging her own appearance before looking back at me again. “Would you like something to drink? I have beer.”

“Sure, that would be great.” She turns away and when she returns, she’s holding a beer bottle in one hand and a soda in the other. I don’t miss that the beer is Riley’s favorite brand and try not to let that get to me, but dammit! I should have been the one spending time with her. It should have been my brand of beer in her fridge. We take a seat on her sofa and Liv has her back practically wedged into her armrest, leaving an uncomfortable space between us.

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