Page 68 of Taming Liberty

I don’t know, but after a few minutes go by, Lib seems to give up on it, looking down at her hands and picking at her cuticles. “If I ask you something, can I trust you to be honest with me?”

I take a moment to consider her question. I’ve already decided not to hide from Lib anymore. I have almost nothing else to lie about. Almost.

“I’ll be honest,” I say. My fingers twitch with nervousness while I wait for her to ask her question.

“Are you ditching me with someone else so that you can go see another woman?”

Go see another woman…?

Oh.

“No,” I quickly say. “God, no. I wanted you to stay with someone else because I’m not comfortable around my family, and I wasn’t sure I wanted you to meet them. And because, to be honest, I wasn’t sure I could trust you not to run at the first opportunity.”

“Then who is ‘the whore’ your dad referred to? And why would you go see her instead of your brother?” She blows a lock of hair from her eyes as she thinks. After several beats of silence, her gaze finds me. “I’m confused.”

“Yeah, I get that.” I rub the back of my neck. Fuck, this is so hard. “Her name’s Julia. She isn't a romantic partner in any way, she’s my brother’s wife.Ex-wife,” I correct. “She’s also the mother of my nephews. I feel a great amount of responsibility when it comes to them, but again, it isn’t romantic. You are the only woman I care about in that way, I assure you.”

“I believe you,” Lib says, letting out what I’m guessing is a sigh of relief. “But I’m still confused.”

Air rushes past my lips. “I know.”

She remains silent, probably assuming I’m going to continue, but again, I lose myself. She eventually turns to face me fully and lays one side of her head against the seat. “Was your brother at the house?”

I nod.

She glances down at her knees. “Was he in the room down the hall?”

I swallow and nod again. She must’ve caught me staring at his door when she left my mother’s room. “He, uh... He’s incapacitated. I’m not sure he would’ve realized I was even there.”

She squints as her eyes flutter over my face, putting two and two together.

“He’s the person whose backstory you stole?”

I focus on the dash. It sounds so fucked up said aloud. “I stole his wife’s.”

I run my hand over my face and let out something between a sigh and a groan. “This is really hard for me to talk about, Lib. I know how fucked up it is, and like I said, I deeply regret choosing that backstory when I first reached out to you.”

She doesn’t make eye contact as she nods to herself, appearing to be deep in thought. “Angel?” she whispers.

“Yes?”

“What happened?”

I close my eyes and try not to see it. Just now, I realize the flashes aren’t as strong as they used to be. They’ve been overtaken by my memories of what happened with Beth.

Just how many lives am I going to destroy before I’m finished?

“It was an accident.” I huff out a dry laugh. “I’m sure you’re getting tired of hearing me say that… I was in university at the time and came home for Christmas break. My brother, Dario, was a new father, so I insisted he let me take him out to celebrate the birth of my nephew.”

“I was a brat,” I say, wincing as I remember my younger self. “My sister-in-law hated me because I was constantly getting into trouble that Dario had to bail me out of. She didn’t want him to go out that night. They had a newborn at home that he’d have to leave her alone to take care of, and they were both sleep deprived as it was.”

“ButI guilted him into going.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes. “I promised Dario I’d be the designated driver. He got hammered, I had a few beers too many, and someone, I don’t remember who, had the bright idea to go joyriding.”

Lib’s hand wraps around mine and squeezes. I almost pull away to deny myself the comfort.

“Our friend had a convertible that several of us packed into. I drove, a couple friends sat in the passenger and back seats, and Dario and his friend, Sam, sat on top of the back of the car with their legs hanging inside the backseat. It was incredibly stupid, but we made a game of the two of them hanging on while I drove like an idiot down back roads. I hit some loose gravel, the car swerved, and we ended up crashing into a tree.”

Flashes of the accident play in my mind, and I clench my eyelids as if that’ll help. “Sam died, three of us went to the hospital with minor injuries, and Dario suffered brain damage that paralyzed him from the neck down.”

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