Chapter 40 Bailey #2
My eyes drifted closed as he gently swayed me around the dance floor. I blocked out all the whispers, the penetrating stares, and just let myself enjoy these few moments where my heart didn’t feel like it was shattered into tiny pieces.
“I’ve missed you,” he whispered, his lips brushing against my ear.
God, I missed him so much. I wanted to scream it, to tell him that I forgave him and would give anything to just go back and start over. Tears pricked my eyes as I thought of all the long nights I’d spent without him.
I longed to feel his arms wrapped around me again, to feel his warm skin pressed to mine in the middle of the night. Our romance had been so short-lived, I could almost tell myself I had imagined the whole thing.
But nothing would ever erase what it felt like to belong to Liam. That would be ingrained in my mind until the day I died.
“In sixth grade, I snuck out at night and rode my horse all the way into town. You were doing that dare with your friends…who could stay in the cemetery all night.”
“Why?”
“I know you don’t like ghosts. I wanted to be there in case you got scared.”
“But I had friends with me.”
His hot breath skimmed over my neck as he breathed out slowly. “I knew they were going to leave. I didn’t want you sitting alone all night.”
“I might have left.”
He chuckled in my ear. “You’re too damn stubborn. Even then, I knew you would stay out of spite.”
He was right. I was scared to death, but I leaned against a tombstone all night, refusing to leave. Every time I thought about running away, something inside me told me I would be fine.
“In eighth grade, when Tommy Radcliffe put that cockroach in your hair, I collected a whole bunch of bugs and snuck into his house, and I put them under his covers.”
Chuckling, I bit my lip as I listened to his stories.
“And when Maverick flipped your dress up at the freshman dance, I gave him a black eye, and I told him if he ever did that to anyone again, I would put him in the hospital.”
A smile touched my lips as I thought back to that embarrassing moment where I was on the dance floor, surrounded by so many boys, and Maverick played that horrible joke on me. I had been mortified.
Worst of all, I was wearing heart underwear. It hadn’t occurred to me to wear pantyhose under my dress.
“Hearts are my favorite,” he murmured, as if he could read my thoughts.
I let myself sink deeper into his arms as his hand slowly slid up and down my back. With my hand clutched to his chest, I could feel the steady thump of his heart pumping in time with mine.
“I lied about needing help with the history test our junior year. I knew you only had time to tutor one student, and I didn’t want you spending all that time with Mikey.”
I huffed out a laugh. “He failed that test.”
“Don’t care. I didn’t want to share you with anyone.”
Slowly, my heart was opening to him. Every word he uttered reminded me of all the times over the years I had waited for him, patiently sitting on the sidelines for the day he would ask me out.
I always knew it was coming. I was so sure we would end up together. There was never a doubt in my mind. Liam Parker was mine, and that would never change.
“I used to watch you…I would come in here on Saturday nights and sit in the far corner. You were all I could look at. I kept telling myself that one day, I would make you mine.”
His fingers found the underside of my chin, tilting my head up to meet his gaze. Regret and shame shone bright in his eyes, but I could also feel the love pouring off him, pleading with me to take him back.
To give him a second chance.
“Liam—”
His lips crashed down on mine in sweet desperation. Lost in him, I clung to his chest as my heart broke. I wanted so badly to be with him, to forget everything that had happened and just take the happiness I knew could be waiting if only I let it.
“Please, Bailey. Tell me it’s not over. Tell me you can forgive me. I’ve been waiting my whole damn life for you. I can’t let you go.”
His words sliced my heart wide open, flooding me with all the warmth and love I’d felt since the moment I laid eyes on him. God, I so badly wanted to say yes. To tell him that I never stopped loving him, and I wasn’t sure I ever could.
“Liam—”
Whispers tore my gaze from his, and then I spotted the source of the gossip. Ellie May stood stock still in the doorway, her eyes wide as she watched me swaying in Liam’s arms.
Flashes of her sitting in his arms swarmed my mind. Him kissing her—the way his hands skimmed over her flesh when he sat in the corner of the bar and taunted me.
I took a step back, desperately trying to shake the images from my mind.
“Bailey—”
But the moment I looked up at him, all I could see was that cold look in his eyes as he stared at me from his doorway. And she walked up behind him in nothing but his shirt.
“Bailey, please—”
The moment he touched me, I flinched back, unable to handle his hands anywhere near me. The moment we shared was shattered, all brought down by the games he had played with my heart.
I couldn’t do this. No matter how right it felt to be in his arms, I would never be able to erase her from my mind.
Turning on my heel, I raced for the door, desperate to get out of there.
“Bailey!” he shouted.
But I ignored him, and I ran until I was back home, safe in my apartment where no one could ever hurt me again.