Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
CALLUM/CASH
Now
Tattooed Promises & The Ribbons That Strangle Us
The past finally opens its mouth, and I'm terrified she'll close the door.
Livianna peeks out of Jaxon’s car. “You cheated!”
“What?” I jerk back, and then it hits. “If you’re talking about the pictures online, you need to give me a minute to explain.”
She and Jaxon climb out. Livianna stands tall in a way that tells me she’s determined to get to the bottom of whatever it is she wants.
Jaxon adjusts his pants. “Before you two get into what you need to discuss, I have a couple of things I believe you should consider.”
The nerve of this guy.
I roll my eyes. “We don’t need you here, Jaxon.”
Livianna gets in my face. “Guess what, Cash. I remember.”
Fucking hell. She used my stage name, and she thinks she knows something.
My heart pounds. “Lily, do you have your memory back?”
She must not have it all, or else she would know she was in love with Jaxon before the accident. I figure I’ll wait and see what memories have returned before I start spouting off.
“Stop, you two.” Jaxon steps between us. “Livianna, you need to consider this. You’re twenty-three years old, functioning from when you were eighteen. Things are very different?—”
“He cheated on me with Zara.” She fumes and glares my way. “That’s right, I know about Zara.”
“Whoa, wait.” I pump the air with my palms. “Slow down.”
Jaxon butts in again. “That’s what I’m trying to say. You two are acting like it’s five years ago. Why don’t you take a breath and calm down? Then try to have this discussion as adults.”
And now he’s giving us relationship advice? What is he after?
I expect Livianna to get mouthy with him, but she quiets down. “You’re right. I’m acting like a teenager, but I need the truth.”
“And that’s what you’ll get if you let me explain.” I inch closer, doing my best to show her I’m no threat.
She’s too fired up, though. “How can I trust anything you say? You knew you cheated, and you’ve been letting me believe we’re perfect when we’re not.”
Jaxon takes her by her arms, staring directly into her eyes. “Livianna, I recommend you hear him out before you jump to conclusions. I’m sure Cash would be more than happy to sit down with you and go over your questions.”
“But…” She lowers her head.
I’m still trying to process why in the hell this man is telling the woman he loves to hear me out over a cheating scandal. This day just got weird.
“Jaxon’s right, Lily.” I gesture for him to remove his hands, and he does. “Just give me some time to go through this with you.”
I’m still pissed about her being out with Sebastian last night, but I’ll cover that later.
Jaxon dips his chin. “I’ll excuse myself. You two have a lot to talk about.”
Livianna turns to him. “Thanks for the ride, Jaxon. Actually, thanks for today. If it weren’t for you showing up on the beach, I’m not sure I would’ve remembered anything.”
My gut tightens. How much does she recall?
We say goodbye, and Jaxon disappears in his car. Livianna stays still while his driver takes him away.
“Lily?” I try to catch her gaze.
She needs me to take my time, be less defensive, not hotheaded, and really listen to her. At least that’s what my therapist told me to do today.
Livianna’s eyes meet mine, and I give her a warm smile.
She rolls her shoulders back. “Jaxon’s right. I need to give you a chance to explain because the pictures of Sebastian and me were a setup to throw off the press. That means maybe your photos were something like that, too.”
“Let’s go inside, love.” I step sideways to give her room to pass me. “Let me take away all of your concerns.”
She flips her hair over her shoulder and marches past me. She might not be completely open to chatting, but she didn’t run away, so there’s that.
Once we’re inside, I gesture to the couch. “Would you like to speak in here, or?—”
“Here is fine.” She sits down, crosses her arms, and peers at me. “I’m listening.”
I kneel before her. “Lily, you need to believe me when I say this. I’ve never cheated on you. I wouldn’t.”
“Then how come I remember breaking up with you because I found her in your room at the hotel?”
“Wow. You do have your memory back.” I swallow hard. “How much do you recollect? We can go from there.”
“I went to your hotel room, and she was in bed with you. Everything is blank after that.”
“Gotcha. You remember that part, but we worked that out. Before the accident, you knew I hadn’t cheated. It was a setup to make you believe it.”
“Why on earth would you do that to me? If it weren’t true, why?” Tears form in her eyes.
“Lily.”I gaze into her baby blues and run my hands up her thighs. “I know what it seems like, but I had my reasons.”
She flexes like she’s about to strike, but she does something she never has with me. She takes a deep breath and relaxes her entire body on the exhale. That’s new. Maybe she has more memories than I realize.
She centers herself. “Jaxon said he didn’t believe it because you love me more than you love yourself. If he thinks there’s a reason to hear you out, I will.”
I grind my molars because her behavior right now has something to do with Jaxon, but it seems like he’s trying to help me.
Why?
I say the only thing I can in this situation. “He’s a smart man.”
“He is, so I’ll sit here and be quiet. You can tell me what happened.”
“Thank you.” I slide up onto the couch beside her and give her my full attention. “Yes, you saw Zara in my bed that night, but I wasn’t with her. You can ask your brother. He knows everything.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “And he let you hurt me that way?”
“He didn’t know until a couple of years later.”
She studies me for a few beats. “Why would you do that to me?”
“Because…” I gather all my courage like I practiced in therapy today.
I thought I was practicing so I could explain the pictures from yesterday, but this works, too.
“Zara went to Leon and demanded that he take action. The action? Get you to break up with me. They knew I wouldn’t let you go, so they put that in place. ”
Livianna’s face scrunches together. “Why would Leon agree to that? Zara isn’t that important.”
“She’s not. I think Leon used her to get to me. I’ve thought about it a lot, and that’s all I can come up with.”
Livianna shifts to sit sideways so she’s facing me. “I don’t understand. He wanted you. He wanted Mayhem. Why take the risk? And better yet, why would you give him that kind of power?”
Yeah, he wanted me all right.
My stomach roils. “He used to work with my pops. There was some beef Leon thought I should be responsible for.”
“Callum, this is confusing me.” She shrugs, shaking her head. “Why would you ever agree to letting me believe you cheated?”
“They had me by the balls.” I give her as much of the truth as I’m willing to at this point. “My pops owed Leon money. Mayhem was under contract with his label, and he used that as leverage.”
She creases her eyebrows. “But you weren’t the one responsible. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I get it, but all I can tell you is Zara was upset you got her fired. I was pushing back on Leon, and that created the perfect storm.” I shudder, knowing what was actually taking place, but no one will ever know that part of the story. Not even my therapist.
“So, you were…? What would you say? How would you describe it?”
“Leon was basically blackmailing me. He was demanding money. If I didn’t pay, he would ruin Mayhem. He was gonna sabotage everything.”
“And I was collateral damage.” She starts to cry. “I know you love the band, but I thought you loved me more.”
“I do.” My insides tie into a knot. “I was thinking of my mates and my ma. They would’ve all paid the price.”
“And you thought it was better to hurt me?” She bats a tear away. “Why did you protect them, but you didn’t protect me?”
I know I have to give her more of the truth. Otherwise, it seems like she was someone I was willing to throw away.
“Lily, he had people who would hurt you if I didn’t go along with his stupid fucking plan. I should’ve fought harder, fought for you. I thought I could get you back and save everyone else.”
“Wait.” She narrows her gaze. “You just said he had someone who was going to hurt me? Like who?”
“Sebastian.” I leave it there for her to process.
Her face drains of color. “Oh my god! You mean…? Holy… Whoa, I never thought he… Explain. I’m confused. Did I know this? Is that why we were getting back together?”
“One question at a time.” I scoot closer, placing my palm on her knee. “No, you didn’t know. This is the first time we’ve talked about this. I was working up the courage when your accident happened.”
“Then why would I agree to see you?”
“Guns told you what he knows.” I smirk. “You waited six months to speak to me about it. When you decided you might be willing to work things out between us, you told me you knew everything because Guns told you the truth. I didn’t even know he had told you.”
Livianna stands and strides into the kitchen. “I left my phone here by accident. Do you know where it is?”
“It's on the counter.”
She twists toward it, finds it, and does something on it. My bet is she’s texting her brother to see if any part of what I’m telling her is true.
After a minute, she peeks over at me. “You’re telling me the truth. You were going through hell, Callum. If you had told me, maybe I would’ve been able to help.”
“At that time, that was my only option. You were in danger, and I didn’t want anyone else to be dragged into my shit.”
“That brings us back to Sebastian.” She joins me on the couch. “You said he was going to hurt me. Why and how?”
I take her hand in mine. “I don’t know why, but he wants you, and Leon was gonna give him the opportunity to drug and rape you.”
“What!” Her eyes widen. “How could Leon make that happen?”
My entire body turns to stone. “I don’t know. I think he was planning on drugging you.”
“And that’s why you hate them both.”
“Yeah.” I nod. “There’s more, but none of that’s important. You were all I thought about. I had to protect you.”
“Oh, Callum. Why didn’t you tell me?”