Chapter 3
Kendall
Isit in a booth at the back of the pub where I agreed to meet Liam and stare at my phone screen.
My jaw tenses. That jerk is an hour late.
I exhale sharply. Who am I kidding? He’s not coming.
I shouldn’t be surprised. This whole week, Liam has ignored most of the texts I sent him. It’s not like I was asking him random things. Every time I messaged him, it was about Micah and Aidan’s wedding. Out of the dozen questions I asked him, he answered maybe three.
And when I texted him yesterday to make sure he was still free to meet me, he never replied.
He just left me on read, so I know he saw it.
I should have known he’d stand me up. He couldn’t accomplish the simple task of replying to my texts.
Why did I think he would actually show up and meet me here?
The server stops by. “Can I get you another drink?”
“No, thanks. Just the check.”
She walks off and I text my Auntie Christina.
Heading home in a few minutes. How are you feeling? Is there anything you need?
I do what I always do and hold my breath as I watch my phone screen. Three seconds later, I see those three gray dots appear. I let out a quiet breath. My heartbeat slows.
She’s okay. Stop freaking out.
Auntie: I’m fine, anak. Would you mind picking up some dish soap and paper towels on your way home? We just ran out
Me: Of course! See you soon
The server drops off the check. I hand her my credit card. She comes back with the receipt, I sign it, and get up to leave. I make my way to the door and open it right as Liam walks in.
He blinks at me, his blue eyes wide and his cheeks flushed.
“Hey,” he says in a breathless voice, like he ran here. His eyebrows crash together, like he’s confused. “Are you leaving?”
I glare up at him. “Yeah.” I step around him and head for the door.
“Kendall, at least let me explain.”
Just then, a couple of college-aged women bump into me as they walk up to him.
“Oh my god, are you Liam Scott?”
His chest heaves as he huffs out a breath. “Yeah.”
They giggle. “We thought that was you! Can we get a selfie?”
He nods and they hold up their phone as they snuggle on either side of him, pressing their faces against his.
I roll my eyes and walk out the door, then head down the street to where my car is parked.
“Kendall, wait!” Liam hollers a few seconds later. I don’t stop.
“Kendall, come on. Don’t be like that.” Anger simmers inside of me. The nerve of this guy, ignoring all my texts and showing up an hour late to meet me, then pestering me to hear him out.
Behind me, I heard his heavy footsteps. He jogs up to me. “Just hang on a sec, will you?”
I stop and turn to look at him. “Why should I? Clearly my time doesn’t mean a whole lot to you since you didn’t even show up to meet me when we agreed. And since you were willing to push me aside so you could do a mini-photoshoot with your barely legal fan club.”
He frowns at me. “I was just trying to be nice.”
“Sure you were.”
“God, what is your problem?” he mutters. “I’m sorry, okay?” he says, his tone on the edge of irritated.
I scoff and cross my arms over my chest. “You don’t sound sorry. You actually sound pretty annoyed, which is wild since you’re the one who stood me up and you’ve been MIA all week while I’ve tried to contact you.”
His broad chest heaves as he exhales. “I’m sorry,” he repeats. This time, his tone is softer.
“This week was crazy,” he says. “I forgot that I had publicity stuff to do for the team. I tried to get out of it, but my agent wouldn’t let me. Plus, I had a bunch of sessions with my trainers and my physical therapists.”
“So you were busy?” I say.
He grips his sculpted shoulder and rolls it in a stretch. “Yeah. I was pretty slammed.”
“Doing what? Going to the gym? Getting eight hours of rest a night? Eating the precooked meals your private chef delivered to your house?”
He tugs at the baseball cap he’s wearing backwards on his head. “Yeah. And then the other stuff I talked about.” He sighs. “Look, it’s not like I ignored you or forgot about all this stuff on purpose.”
I blink at him. “Liam. It’s summer and you’re in the off-season. You’re not even working.”
He leans back, almost like he’s offended at what I said. “Just because I’m not working doesn’t mean I’m not still busy.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “Join the club. Everyone’s busy.
I was swamped with work and family stuff, but I still managed to get my part of the to-do list done.
And I also managed to show up on time to meet you instead of blowing you off.
So if you expect me to throw a pity party for you because you were too busy this week—”
His head falls back as he groans. “God, Kendall. That’s not what I’m saying. Not even close. I was just trying to explain myself.”
“You did. And I don’t care.”
He rests his hands on his hips. “My phone died earlier, so that’s why I couldn’t text you to tell you I was running late—”
“There’s this brilliant invention called a phone charger. Bring one with you next time.”
His jaw bulges, probably because he’s biting down in frustration. He looks off to the side and shakes his head. “Right. Of course you’d say that,” he mutters.
I check the time on my phone. I need to get home to my aunt.
“How many things did you get done on your list?” I ask.
He opens his mouth and hesitates.
I glower at him. “You didn’t get anything done, did you?”
“Like I said, I was busy and—”
I make an annoyed noise that’s so loud, a cyclist riding past us turns to look over.
“Wow. Liam, I purposely gave you the easier items because I wanted to make this as simple as possible for you. All you had to do was order a bunch of cupcakes, put together a playlist on your phone, and call the venue to ask about parking. That’s it.
I was going to take care of the rest. But no, you couldn’t even do that. ”
He opens his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.
“You know what? Never mind. I’ll take care of the engagement party. And the rehearsal dinner. It was a terrible idea for us to try to work together in the first place. I knew this would be a disaster. You can plan the bachelor party on your own.”
He’s quiet for a second as he stares at me. “But we’re supposed to do all this stuff together.”
“Clearly you’re too important and too busy to help your brother and future sister-in-law, even though you promised them you would.”
His handsome face twists into a frown. “Kendall, that’s not—”
“We’re done.” I stomp off, anger steamrolling my insides.
He calls my name again, but I ignore him. I walk to the end of the block and round the corner to where my car is parked, climb in, and head home.
This guy. Unbelievable.
His excuses replay in my mind. Publicity stuff. Meetings. Gym sessions.
I almost laugh. The guy is a professional hockey player. He gets paid millions of dollars to play the sport that he loves. And he has the entire summer off. All that free time to do whatever he wants. And he can’t even show up for his brother.
Or me.
A sting radiates through my chest. I think of that night in college when I overheard him talking to one of his hockey teammates about me.
The words he spoke are seared into my memory. They echo in my brain, as fresh as if he had just said them minutes ago.
Not in a million years would I ever hook up with Kendall. Are you kidding? I go for hot girls. Not mousy little bookworms like her.
That stinging feeling morphs into a stab.
I feel it spread through my chest and gut.
All those flirty moments we shared. All those times he complimented my looks.
All those times he held on those extra few seconds when he hugged me and I thought that maybe, just maybe, he liked me more than just friends…
He didn’t mean any of it. He was just fucking with me.
A wave of emotion hits, but I swallow it back.
I’m not going to shed another tear over that awful memory ever again.
That memory is just a reminder that I was never really all that important to Liam. I thought I was. I thought we were friends. I thought he could never be so mean and cruel.
I was wrong.
He’s still cocky and inconsiderate and selfish. And I’d bet anything he always will be.