Chapter 12 Liam
LIAM
“How come we’re going to Uncle Cole’s again?” Maddy asked as I drove out of the neighborhood. Mila and Seraph were holding onto their stuffed animals, wearing their pajamas, all ready for a sleepover.
I looked over at my ten-year-old and then glanced back at the road. “Because I have a late meeting.”
“How come you’re not wearing your suit?”
I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, forgetting how observant my kid always was.
“It’s a different kind of meeting.”
She watched the windshield for a few more silent seconds before she asked, “Does it have to do with Haley?”
My head swung, probably too fast. “Why would you think that?”
She lifted her slender shoulder, keeping her eyes on the road.
“I don’t know, I was just wondering. She’s been around a lot lately, and you look at her differently.”
I flicked the turn signal for Cole’s street. “How do I look at her?”
“You smile more, and even when she isn’t looking at you, you’re watching her. I hoped it meant you liked her.”
The irony of this entire fucking conversation.
I tucked away the sigh that sagged heavily in my chest. “Even if I did, wouldn’t mean that she liked me back.”
Glancing over, once more, at my kid, I noticed she tucked her body against the door and pushed her fist under her jaw. That was what she did when she was getting frustrated or feeling too much. I didn’t want her to get hurt from all this. Maybe Haley was right. We had to be careful with them.
I pulled up in front of Colson’s house and put the truck in park. Once we all filed out and were up the stairs, Nora answered the door with a huge smile and eagerly hugged the girls.
“I’m so excited you guys are sleeping over! I set up the whole room for you, and I thought we could play a board game before you go to bed.”
She trailed off as the girls followed her into the living room.
I stayed in the entryway, being stared down by my best friend. Colson’s arms were crossed over his chest as his gaze tightened on me.
“Where are you going?”
I shrugged. “A date.”
“A date that requires your kids to sleep over?” His blond brow raised as if he was trying to catch me in a lie.
“What do you want me to say, Cole? It’s been a while. Can’t a guy try to get his needs met?” I lied, hoping he didn’t notice.
He shifted on his feet, peering over his shoulder before stepping closer.
“And your needs have to be met on a random weeknight?”
If I didn’t know better, I’d think he knew about my little plan. I glared, bringing my hand up to rub my jaw.
He took the opportunity to press me further.
“Where is Haley tonight?”
Hearing her name was a quick rush of adrenaline. Why was he asking about her?
“Why would you assume I’d know?”
He stepped nearer, his eyes narrowing in concern.
“I thought she was nannying for you or something? She was over there yesterday, and tonight she wasn’t home.”
Oh. Right.
“No idea. Maybe she’s getting out too?”
“Look, we haven’t really talked since you two made this deal or whatever it is. Just remember she’s twenty years old, Liam.”
He stared at me, as if he already knew what I had done to his little sister. Even if it wasn’t much, it was enough.
I stared back. Why was he insinuating something was happening?
“Why are you telling me this?”
He stepped back, looking behind him before heaving a sigh.
“Just making sure we’re on the same page, that’s all. And reminding you she’s only ten years older than Maddy.”
Shame splintered inside my chest like brittle wood. I hated that he’d just gone there. I knew he was right. The age should deter me; it should be the largest reason I ignore the fact that Haley was out with Jeffery. She pulled away this afternoon. She left.
Why the fuck was I trying to chase this?
Lowering my head, I gave up and sunk to the bench in his entryway.
“We’re clear on Haley. There’s nothing there to worry about, I promise you. I just need to clear my head over some of the investor stuff. Get my mind off it.”
Colson took a seat next to me, leaning forward on his elbows.
“Okay, then try and have fun. Just be here for their school routine in the morning.”
I nodded my agreement. After kissing the girls goodnight, I left feeling like my heart had been flooded with something thick and slippery.
My plan originally was to show up and mess with Haley, get her attention, and have her leave with me. But maybe Colson was right…maybe I needed to focus on someone my own age.
Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of places to go to pick up dates, so I’d be going to McGrady’s after all, but I’d be there for myself. Maybe I’d find someone, and it would get Haley out of my system.
McGrady’s was lively for a weeknight. There were couples dancing and a trivia game going on in the corner where Earl served curly fries and chicken tenders.
Then there were all the people gathered around the screen, watching football.
It was madness. I walked to the counter, squeezing in between a few people and raised my hand to get Tanya’s attention.
“Hey! Haven’t seen you in a while.” She said, swaying her hips on her way over.
I smiled but wasn’t in the mood for her to flirt.
“Can I get a beer?”
“Sure, where’re those cute babies at?” She dipped to grab the glass bottle and then popped the cap off, handing it to me.
“At home in bed.” I took the beer and handed over a ten, not wanting to do small talk or divulge the actual whereabouts of my kids.
Tanya’s red nails slid over the cash, and then her eyes were darting around.
“Lacey was in here earlier. Not that she’ll come back, but I wanted to give you a heads- up.
” My stomach nearly bottomed out at the mention of my ex.
It wasn’t uncommon to run into people who saw her or even knew her.
There were only a handful of times over the past few years we’d ever actually been in the same place at the same time, but every time she saw me, she’d act like I left her, crying and causing a scene.
I didn’t want that tonight.
“Thanks, Tanya.”
I turned and leaned against the bar, scanning the floor as an unfamiliar feeling began to thrum through me.
Colson’s words played in my head, tugging at different pieces of my pride.
Haley was young, and I had lived nearly a whole life before she’d even graduated from high school.
I was married once. Fuck, I had three kids.
But what good did it do me to play by the rules, or do what people said I should? That landed me here, divorced and broke, all alone on a Wednesday night with a bright pink hair tie on my wrist because I forgot that I was holding it for Mila earlier.
Society seemed to have this perfect blueprint of what our lives should look like.
What marriage and happiness should imitate.
But how long until we all acknowledged that the image they gave us was fucked?
The cookie-cutter picture of a perfect house, happy dad and mom with that picket fence, was nothing but a piece of barbed wire wrapped around our society, cutting off all our oxygen and turning us all into judgmental assholes.
Love didn’t look like that.
Happiness wasn’t the laminated bullshit image they kept perpetuating, demonizing anything and anyone who didn’t do it the way they said.
The beer was sour on my tongue as I swallowed and stewed over this idea of Haley. Of what I should do instead of what I wanted.
Why did the two have to look different? I wanted to fuck her, so I should.
I wanted to date her, wake up to her. Shit, it was deeper than just wanting to sink inside her. Maybe that’s what was giving me pause?
This was more serious than some fling. I liked her.
Her smile made something flutter in my chest. When I knew she’d be somewhere my adrenaline would spike.
She was funny and bright. Brilliant, in fact, and while I knew she had already conquered the business world, she seemed shy and insecure when she’d bake or learn something new.
Not to mention the way my daughters completely adored her; that was enough to have me thinking about her long after she’d left.
I wasn’t really looking for Haley, but the song changed and the crowd on the floor parted, then there she was. Her hips caught my attention first, because they were swaying with the music, and there were two hands attached to them, holding her while she danced.
Her hand went up into her hair, shoving half of it off her face, revealing her slender neck and how deep the tank top dipped into her cleavage.
Jeffery fucking Akers stood behind her, moving with her as the music played and the beat dropped into something seductive and sultry. He pulled her closer to his chest until there wasn’t any space left between their bodies.
Rage spiked in my chest, and it spiraled into something dangerous and out of control. This wasn’t going to work. I couldn’t be here and watch this. I couldn’t see him touch her.
If I were a calm man, the kind that didn’t have fury in my veins or a darkness that was always present, urging me to hit something, I would walk away. I’d get in my truck and drive home, turn on a game, and enjoy my first kid-free evening, in I didn’t even know how long.
Instead, I set the beer bottle down and moved.
My eyes stayed on her as she adjusted herself so that there was space between her and Jeffery now. But she was still smiling up at him, and his left hand was still on her hip. Her shirt had risen up, so part of her stomach was showing, and it shouldn’t matter. She wasn’t mine.
Yet that seemed to be the only thing my brain was screaming at me as I wandered closer.
My lips.
My hips.
My ass.
My hair.
I bypassed couples dancing, cut through another until a guy yelled at my back, but I only had eyes for her.