Chapter 9 #2
If I didn’t know this whole week was leading nowhere, and it wasn’t all about the sex, I would believe every single word. I need to remember that this is all an act.
And I need to act back.
“That’s exactly right,” I tell him, wrapping my arms around his torso, locking my fingers together at his side. Looking at Paul, I offer him as pleasant a smile as I can muster. “You’ll have to excuse us. We’re late to a show.”
“Make sure you get yourself tested, Jordan. Who knows what this fuck is carrying around with all the pussy he’s seen,” Paul hurls at us, trying to get under Liam’s skin.
“I get tested regularly, man.” He takes half a step towards Paul, breaking the lock of my arms. He leans towards him to pretend to whisper while Paul takes a step backwards. “I hope you do too with all the cheating you do. STDs could get you caught.”
Digging in his pocket, Liam pulls out a condom and tosses it at him. “Here, this will help. Keep the world safe. Don’t reproduce.” Then he snaps his fingers. “Shit man, sorry. It’s probably way too big. My bad.”
With his arm still around my shoulders, he turns us in the direction of the casino bar, sauntering toward it.
I want to take off at a run, but Liam is deliberate in his steps.
I can’t take my eyes off him. He’s the epitome of cool and collected, not allowing Paul to see he’s had any effect on him. Or me.
Actually, probably me. Liam doesn’t seem bothered in the least by any of it. It damn near looked like a game to him. One he enjoyed immensely.
“How did—”
“Just walk,” he says as casually as one of his steps.
Tearing my eyes away from him, I’m met with Nate coming towards us at a quick clip. The furrow in his brow tells me he either saw Paul, or he’s pissed that Liam and I are walking like we’re a couple.
The first thing out of his mouth confirms it was the former. “Are you okay?”
The question may have had the power to send me to my knees if it weren’t for Liam. Instead of answering truthfully, I nod. “I’m fine.”
I’m not. For more reasons than I care to examine right now. Liam’s last couple quips to Paul helped put a mask in place for me to get through the next few minutes, but on the inside I’m a raging ocean of emotion.
“I handled it,” Liam says in a tone that’s all business. “He gone?”
Nate glances over our shoulders, giving a short nod. “Yeah. Didn’t look happy.”
“He shouldn’t. Laid out the hard truths for the douchebag.”
I know that the conversation involves me, but I feel like a third party to it. The seriousness, the way they’re talking, it’s as though they’ve entered a different world that doesn’t include me.
Then it hits me. They did. They’re talking about this whole situation like it’s some emergency call they were sent out to deal with.
Nate’s jaw is set, his lips forming a thin line as he gives me a once over. Assessing. Calculating. Triaging. “You sure you’re okay?”
He might as well have asked if I was sure I didn’t need an ambulance for how it sounds.
I can envision the scenes he must arrive to and ask that same question to patients that refuse to go to the hospital.
I wonder if they feel the intensity of his eyes boring holes in their skulls like I am right now.
“Yeah,” I mutter.
“Did you know he was in Vegas?” Nate questions, his hands finding his hips.
One day he’s going to make a great dad, I’m sure of it. His kids will never want to do anything to disappoint him so long as he uses that tone and stance. It makes me want to sink into the floor.
“I… uhm…” Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes for a brief moment.
Liam’s arm tightens imperceptibly, giving me a small squeeze that Nate wouldn’t notice.
I feel his reassurance, telling me he’s got my back, and I don’t need to worry.
I know it without looking at him, without him saying a word, and I’m grateful.
Borrowing his strength, I lift my chin higher. “It’s his bachelor party.”
Nate’s face falls. “He’s getting married?”
“Guys, what’s going on?” Savanna’s voice rings loud and clear from just behind Nate. I didn’t even see her coming. “We need to get go—” She cuts herself off, realizing the solemness surrounding her. “What’s wrong?”
I can’t stand this. When this week started and I first found out about Paul, I swore I wouldn’t let it impact Savanna and Nate’s wedding or the party surrounding it.
They weren’t supposed to find out what was going on, and I kept it under wraps fairly well until last night.
Not that Savanna spilled the beans to Nate, judging by his questions.
Unless she was too drunk last night to remember.
Either way, the drama ends now. We don’t need to talk about it. In fact, I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about Paul, I don’t want to discuss him getting married, or how that makes me feel, and most of all I don’t want to think about Liam swooping in to save my ass.
There are far too many things to think about for me to start on that last one.
Slipping out from under Liam’s arm, I grab onto hers, spinning her around in the direction she came. “Nothing. Sorry I’m late. Blame Liam.”
We decided there was no harm in telling everyone that we went to the Grand Canyon today.
We might be screwing each other while we’re in Vegas, but we’re also friends.
My desire to visit the Grand Canyon wasn’t something I kept secret, or only shared with Liam, so there was really no reason to hide it.
Plus, the less we hide, the better.
“Just keep an eye on her,” I hear Nate say from behind us. His voice is low, but there’s a lull in the slot machines that presents me the opportunity to hear him.
Taking a breath, I let it out slowly. It annoys me to no end that Nate thinks I need to be looked out for.
That I can’t look out for myself. Sure, I froze up when I saw Paul, but he was the last thing I was expecting to see.
Liam has consumed so much of my attention the last few days that Paul hasn’t taken up much room.
Which he shouldn’t. It’s been months. I know. It was the news of him being engaged that threw me off. Made me doubt myself. Think there was something wrong with me. It wasn’t him as a person, or as a boyfriend.
I glance over my shoulder, catching sight of Liam. He and Nate are walking a couple of paces behind us, but his attention is focused on me. Quickly, I turn back, tightening my grip on Savanna’s arm still looped through mine.
Jesus, if Nate only knew how much Liam had already been looking out for me.
It’s ironic, really. My brother doesn’t want me to date his friends, and yet the one friend who doesn’t date has been the one lifting me up, instilling confidence in me that had been lost, showing me I’m exactly what I told myself I was at the beginning of this trip.
A knockout.
Liam has been nothing short of amazing the last few months. Showing me I’m worthy of a man who would be loyal and treat me with respect and dignity, not a boy whose eyes roamed every time we were out.
I told myself I didn’t care about Paul. Everyone looks once in a while, right?
It was better if he was telling me how pretty this girl was, or how hot that one looked instead of keeping it from me.
I’d even agree with him a lot of the time.
There was nothing wrong with that. But I always wondered—was it her smaller boobs, or longer legs, that he liked better than mine?
He never made me feel like I was enough for him.
Liam does. In fact, the last few days I’ve spent with him, I’ve never once seen him look at another girl.
Now, I’m sure he has because we’re in Vegas and women are plenty and many are as scantily dressed, or more so, as I’ve been when we’ve gone out.
But I’ve never seen him look. He’s never pointed them out.
He’s never nudged Brody or Nate to indicate a pretty woman.
Now that I’m thinking about it, I couldn’t say the last time he did it in front of me. It’s been months. Liam’s attention, when I’ve seen him, has been solely on me.
Nate wraps an arm around my shoulder. “Hey, you good?”
I blink a few times at my big brother before plastering a smile onto my face. We’ve somehow gone from our hotel to the one our show is at, and I couldn’t tell you how we got here. I feel like I’m on autopilot right now while my thoughts run amok between Liam and Paul. But mostly Liam.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“I know I’ve been wrapped up in Savanna and the wedding—”
“As you should be!” I cut in, shutting him down. “That is exactly where your mind needs to be focused, Nate. You know how much I would hate if you were here for you, but worrying about me?”
He chuckles. “About as much as I would hate it if the situation was reversed.”
“Exactly. Cut from the same cloth, we are.” I wrap an arm around his waist and give him a side hug. “Leave the worrying up to others until you get back from your honeymoon, okay?”
I’m not sure if he realizes he does it, but he glances over his shoulder to where I know Liam is a few steps behind us. Half a step later he gives me a squeeze. “I promise I am.”
That promise shouldn’t have my stomach bottoming out, but all it does is remind me of the promise I broke. The promise I’ve repeatedly broken the last few days.
A promise I’m not sure I can keep breaking for fear that it’s going to end up breaking me.