Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Liam
You can do this. If they caught us, we can get out of this one in one piece, I tell myself.
“What’s going on?” I step closer and pull Audrey to me, my arm wrapping protectively around her waist. My heart races, a sickening sense of dread settling in the pit of my stomach.
“Who is he?” The new guy asks, his brow furrowed in confusion. He looks between Audrey and me, his gaze accusatory.
“Why does this man say he’s your boyfriend?” Mrs. McCallister questions, her voice rising with each word. She crosses her arms over her chest, her face flushed with anger. “I thought you said you were dating Liam.”
“Babe, I’m here like I promised. It just . . . I swear I’m getting a divorce. Whatever she said to you is a lie.” The guy steps closer, trying to touch Audrey. I give him a warning glare, my jaw clenching with barely contained rage.
So this is fucking Ben. My blood boils, my fists itching to connect with his smug face.
“Is it true? You were dating him?” Her mom asks, her voice laced with disappointment and disbelief. She shakes her head, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“Maybe she’s dating both. It’s a new thing,” Aunt Carol says with a disapproving voice. She sniffs, her nose wrinkling in distaste. “Lucy would never do something like that.”
Audrey gives me a pleading look, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. At that moment, Max enters, his brow furrowed with concern. “What the fuck is going on?”
“I need you to escort this asshole out of the house—maybe the state,” I say, my voice low and dangerous. “He’s Ben so you don’t have to handle him gently.”
Max’s jaw tightens, understanding who the asshole is. His eyes narrow, a cold fury radiating from his very being.
“But Audrey you need to—” Ben starts, his voice whiny and pathetic.
“You want him here, Sis?” Max asks, cutting him off with a sharp look.
She shakes her head. “Nope.”
“You heard my sister. You’re out of here.” Max gives me a sympathetic look. “Good luck with the rest. It’s such a shame I won’t be able to watch the show.”
“Which one is the lie?” Audrey’s mom asks, her voice cold and accusing. She taps her foot impatiently, her gaze boring into us like a laser.
I put Audrey behind me as if trying to shield her from the onslaught of questions and accusations. “It was me. I asked her to lie for me. She didn’t want to do it, but I convinced her because it was for Grandma. I just wanted to make her happy while she’s going through her treatment. Make her believe that soon there’ll be a wedding, and I . . .” My voice cracks, emotion welling up in my throat.
“Oh, Liam,” Mom says, her expression softening with understanding. “You didn’t have to.”
“But she lied to us,” Mrs. McCallister insists, her voice sharp and unforgiving. “And who is that man who came claiming to be your boyfriend? An actor you paid to pretend to have someone in your life?”
Audrey steps out from behind me, her shoulders squared and her chin lifted in defiance. “Nope. I dated him for almost a year but discovered that he was married just as I was about to board the plane,” she confesses, her voice steady despite the pain in her eyes. “I dated him because I thought he’d be someone you’d approve of and not because I loved him.”
“So there won’t be a wedding. I told you she’s weird,” Aunt Carol says, her lip curling in a sneer.
“I’m not weird. I just like to be myself, Aunt Carol,” Audrey retorts, her eyes flashing with anger. “I really don’t care if other people don’t approve of me, though it hurts that my mother doesn’t either. Which is why I’d rather live on the other side of the country—to avoid all of you.”
She takes a deep breath, her voice growing stronger with each word. “So no, I’m not perfect like Lucy, thank fuck. I’m me. I lied to help a friend who needed me and at the same time, I took advantage because it would help me keep all of you off my back.”
“Audrey . . .” Mrs. McCallister says her name, but nothing follows. Her voice trails off, uncertainty etched onto her face. Mr. McCallister looks at us in confusion. Everyone is now speechless.
Audrey glances at me, her eyes pleading and desperate. “Can we go?” she asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I’m staying, but I’ll be happy to take you to the airport,” I offer, my heart clenching at the thought of her leaving—of not being with her when things imploded because of me.
She snorts, pulling out her phone. “That’s okay, I’ll call a car.” Her tone is clipped, dismissive, and it feels like a knife twisting in my gut.
“No, I’ll take you,” I insist, following her as she turns to leave. I can’t let her go, not like this, not when there’s so much left unsaid between us.
“But I don’t need you to do it,” she says, her voice cold and distant. She doesn’t turn back, just keeps walking, her shoulders hunched and her steps hurried.
We bump into Ethan and Lily, who I think are on the way to Mom’s place. “Everything okay?” Ethan asks, his eyes darting between us with concern.
“Would you mind taking me to the airport?” Audrey asks.
“I will take you,” I say again, my tone firm and unyielding. I reach for her, my fingers grazing her arm, but she flinches away as if burned .
“Give me space, Liam. You stay to . . . do whatever you need to do. I’m fine. I don’t need you.” Her words are like a slap in the face, a rejection that cuts me to the core.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
She lifts her chin and nods.
“But we need to talk,” I insist.
“Not right now. Not when I feel so raw and vulnerable. Just . . . give me my space, please.”
And though I know that she’s not fine and I wish I could go with her, I respect her space and see her leaving—and painfully enough, she’s fucking leaving with my heart. She stole it.
I can’t believe that I’m just here, standing frozen, as she walks away, taking a piece of me with her.
“Who the fuck does she think she is? Thief,” I mumble under my breath. I swallow hard, trying to push down the lump that rises in my throat.
“You love her,” Mom’s voice comes first, and suddenly, I notice she’s right beside me.
“It’s just pretend,” I say, my words ringing hollow even to my own ears.
She scoffs, her eyes narrowing as she fixes me with a knowing look. “You know why we believed you?”
I shake my head, not trusting myself to speak— my heart pounds in my chest, a dull ache that spreads through my entire being.
“Because you love her, and nothing that you did was an act, Liam. Don’t lose her. Don’t let the love of your life slip away because the next person you fall for will be the worst replacement, and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
“Is that what happened between you and Dad?” I glance at her, my voice barely above a whisper. I’ve never seen my mother so raw, so vulnerable. She’s not sad, just open to tell me her truth.
She nods.
“I thought you left because he’s incapable of loving someone.”
She shakes her head, her lips pressing into a thin line. “He loved. He just couldn’t stop loving her, and I was the consolation prize.”
“But you’re amazing,” I say, pulling her into a hug. “I wouldn’t want to have any other mother.”
“I know I am and deserve better, but by the time I realized we had made a mistake, you were here, and we wanted you to have a family,” she murmurs, her voice muffled against my chest.
I kiss the top of her head, a lump forming in my throat at the sacrifice she made for me, for our family. I could tell her that families can exist in many shapes, but there’s no point in discussing the past. Right now, I have to figure out the future and how I’m going to make sure that Audrey McCallister doesn’t push me away the way she does to her family.
Because losing her, watching her walk out of my life . . . That’s not an option. Not when she’s the one thing that makes sense in this crazy, mixed-up world. Not when she’s the only one who sees me, really sees me, and if I’m lucky, loves me anyway.