Chapter 25
It’s Always Been You
? Misery Business - Paramore
Ruby
Ruby: Say pspsps to Cheese Whiz for me.
Liam: Apparently Mrs. Winslow made him a catio last month and he hasn’t been caught in a tree since.
Ruby: Sounds like extortion. Go Big Cheese.
Liam: Did you drink anything other than coffee today?
Ruby: I had water.
Liam: Opening your mouth in the shower doesn’t count.
Ruby: Wanna see what else this mouth can do?
Liam: Fuck, Goldie. I don’t need to be getting a hard-on at work.
Liam: You better be naked and in my bed when I get home in the morning.
Ruby: That sounds like a threat.
Liam: It’s a promise.
I’m almost finished setting up for a movie night when the doorbell chimes. “I’ll be right back, little man.”
“You gotta hurry or I'm gonna finish all the popcorn without you,” he says with a hint of amusement in his voice.
I narrow my eyes. “Don’t you dare!”
Aiden giggles as I jog up to the door and peek through the window. The smile disappears from my face the moment I see a woman standing on Liam’s doorstep. She has a pinched expression on her face as she waits impatiently on the stoop.
Inhaling a calming breath, I swing open the door. “Can I help you?”
She eyes me from head to toe, her expression of disgust telling me everything I need to know.
She’s about my height but thinner, with long brown hair pulled into a severe ponytail, brown eyes, and bright red lips.
She’s wearing a black pencil skirt and a white silk blouse tied in a bow at the neck.
She looks every bit the uppity bitch I assume she is.
I know her type—I met plenty of them at my label.
“You must be my replacement,” she says with a sneer. “I’m here to see Liam.
What the fuck?
“Liam isn’t available right now. I can let him know you dropped by…”
She glances through the screen door over my shoulder, her sneer turning into something more sinister. “Breanna. My name is Breanna, and that”—she points one long red-tipped fingernail behind me—“is my son.”
I feel the color drain from my face. I don’t want to look back because if I do, I know exactly what I’ll see there.
I cross my arms over my chest and pin her with a hard stare. “What do you want?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Aiden and Liam are my business. You can either talk to me, or you can leave.”
“I want to see my son,” she says. “As his mother, I have every right to see him.” She glances over my shoulder once again. “Aiden, sweetie. Come here.”
Jaw clenched, I close my eyes to calm my racing heart and turn to face a trembling Aiden. I place two hands on his shoulders. “Are you ok?”
“N-no.”
It feels like a first is squeezing my heart. I pull him in for a hug and palm the back of his head. “It’s ok. I’m right here. Can you do something for me?”
He nods jerkily. “Go to your room and lock the door, ok? I’m gonna call your dad.”
“Ok.” Without another word, he runs down the hallway to his room. Once I hear his door shut, I pull my phone out of my back pocket and dial Liam’s number.
He answers on the first ring. “Miss me?”
“You need to come home now.”
“Calm down, baby. What’s going on?”
“Your ex is at the door. She’s asking for you. I told her you aren’t available but… Aiden saw her. She’s demanding to see him.”
He lets out a string of curses. “Hang up and text Nico. I’m on my way. Do not let her inside the house. I’ll be there in two minutes.”
I glance back through the screen door.
She’s still there, holding a phone to her ear. “No. She’s not letting me inside. I want to see my son.” Whoever she’s talking to isn’t de-escalating the situation, and she’s growing more agitated by the second. She’s fuming. “I never signed any fucking papers.”
Liam’s truck is barely in the driveway before he’s throwing open his door and rushing to the stoop. “What the fuck are you doing here, Breanna?”
She drops her phone into her purse and raises one perfectly manicured brow. She’s beautiful in a villain-in-your-favorite-fairytale kind of way—like she had to steal the souls of innocent children to look that way.
“Now, Liam. Is that any way to talk to the mother of your child?” Her entire demeanor has changed in Liam’s presence. Gone is the frigid bitch from moments ago, replaced by a cunning, flirtatious persona.
“You stopped being his mother the second you dropped him on my fucking doorstep and left. So, I’ll ask again. What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Looks like you’ve got quite a cozy little setup here. The Ruby Lynn Hayes? When I saw the article, I almost couldn’t believe it. But then, you always were fond of your brother’s girlfriend.”
Liam’s jaw ticks and his nostrils flare. “Are you going to leave quietly, or do I have to call the cops?”
“I think you’ll want to hear what I have to say,” she says, gliding one of her fingers down his chest.
He slaps her hand away and crosses his arms. “Talk.”
“Wouldn’t it be a shame if the press got hold of some scandalous photos of you and your little girlfriend? I bet they’d love to see the video I got last night when you were down by the beach.”
The screen door crashes against the frame as I barrel through it, shoving myself between Breanna and Liam. “You fucking cunt!”
Her lips tip into an amused smirk like she just won the Kentucky fucking Derby, and it takes every ounce of self-control I can muster not to bitch slap the look off her face. I’ve never been prone to violence, but I’ll make an exception.
Before I can give in to my urges, Liam takes my hand and squeezes. “Let me handle it, baby.”
I glance down at where our hands are joined and steady myself. It won’t do any good to rip this cunt apart, no matter how much I want to.
“Are you blackmailing me?” he asks through gritted teeth.
“I wouldn’t call it blackmail. That sounds too—vile.”
“You’ve always been a piece of work, Bree, but this is low even for you.”
She pulls out her phone and scrolls, flipping the screen so we can see the video she captured of me and Liam on the beach. I’m on his lap, moving back and forth. You can’t see any details, but it’s not hard to fill in the blanks. My head is thrown back, and his face is pressed against my chest.
She swipes over to photos of us walking together outside Rosies, hand in hand.
Some with Aiden between us, and others with Liam kissing me as Aiden skips down the sidewalk ahead of us.
We look like a happy family, but I know the press would have a field day with these.
The photos alone will bring unwanted attention to Aiden, but that video—it could ruin everything.
“You would do this to your own kid?” I ask. “You know this is going to be devastating for him.”
“He’s just a kid. He won’t understand.”
“You don’t even fucking know him.” The words fly out of my mouth, releasing my anger on behalf of the most incredible kid and the father who stepped up when she failed him. “You abandoned him.”
Liam’s hands find my shoulders and slide up and down my arms in a soothing motion, lending me the strength to continue.
“What do you want?” I ask. “How much money will make you go away and never come back?”
Before Bree can respond, Nico’s blacked-out SUV pulls into the drive. Connor and Nico step out at the same time.
“Everything ok here?” Connor asks.
“We’re good. Can you go in and check on Aiden?”
He gives me a curt nod and disappears inside the house.
Nico crosses his arms over his chest, his feet shoulder-width apart, close enough to intervene if necessary.
“Wow. You’ve got yourself quite the little entourage, Ruby. Do they all take you at the same time? Or does Liam get to watch?”
Liam tenses behind me. “Watch your fucking mouth when you’re talking to my woman,” he growls.
She makes a show of checking out her cuticles as if she’s mulling over some arbitrary numbers in her head, but I’m certain she's had this planned out long enough that she’s already got a sum in mind. “I could let this go for… let’s say… two million.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Liam growls, shoving me behind him.
Nico steps closer, but I shake my head.
I place a hand on Liam’s spine to turn his attention back to me. “I’ll do it.”
“Ruby…” His voice is laced with tenderness. He turns and glides his thumb along my cheekbone.
“I’ll do it. I don’t want this to cause any problems for you and Aiden.”
“Don’t. We can handle the fallout.”
“Maybe we can. But I can’t. My reputation is already in danger. The pictures are nothing, but that video…”
Liam weaves his fingers through mine and kisses my palm. He keeps hold of me as he addresses Bree again. “We need time. Meet us Wednesday night at Rosie’s. Six o’clock. You’ll have your answer then.”
“I look forward to it.” As she’s walking away, she glances back over her shoulder, eyes scanning Liam and me. We’re now locked in an intimate embrace. “You can do better,” she says.
“It was always Ruby,” he snarls. “Always. Even when I was with you.”
She’s visibly taken aback by his statement, but she composes herself long enough to get into her black Mercedes and drive off.
“I’ll follow her,” Nico says. “Make sure she doesn’t try anything stupid.” He drives off as she disappears from view, and I turn my focus back to Liam.
“You didn’t have to lie,” I whisper.
“Who said I was lying?”
There’s sincerity in his eyes, and maybe that shouldn’t stun me, but it does.
I see it all with perfect clarity now. All the years of friendship, his steadfast loyalty, the record collection and ticket stubs, all those nights on the tailgate, and every intimate embrace…
they all add up to something far more meaningful than I realized. Something I’m not quite ready to name.