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Oh, yeah. She knows something. How much, I don’t know. But I don’t understand why she would care either. “I went back to California for a while.”
She tries to push the door open and force her way in, but I don’t allow it. “Is there something I can help you with, Krista?”
“You can move and let me in.”
“Everything okay, Lil,” Thad appears behind me.
“Perfect, Thad.” I step further out the door, forcing Krista back a step. “Casey isn’t here, Krista, so you don’t have a reason to come inside.”
“This is my daughter’s apartment. You can’t keep me out.”
I lift a brow and tilt my head. My lips slide up in annoyed amusement. “It’s my apartment, too, and since she’s not here, I can keep you out.”
“You fucking slut,” she hisses. With that comment, there’s no doubt she knows about Liam and me, but I don’t know why her fists are balled at her side like she wants to hit me. Like she didn’t win.
But my inner child begs her to take the first swing.
And forgetting I really, really shouldn’t engage with her. Forgetting that it’s possible she knows nothing about Liam and me and is just being a bitch, I say. “Well, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?”
Her hand comes up, claws aiming for my face. It’s wild, uncontrolled, and has no power behind it. I easily dodge. And I know, since she didn’t touch me, I shouldn’t, but…
My fist connects with her plastic nose, and blood pours down her face. She screams bloody murder just as Casey and…
Fuck my life.
“What the actual fuck is going on here?” his deep voice booms down the corridor, his eyes flaming with fiery rage as his boots eat the space between us.
Krista turns, tears running down her cheeks, and points toward me. “She attacked me.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh, wondering if there’s any more alcohol inside.
“Actually, she swung, unprovoked, at Lily first,” Thad tells Liam and Casey, knowing it wasn’t entirely unprovoked. Liam’s eyes trail over Thad, and his eyes cloud over. A thrill courses through me at the jealousy sparking in his pale eyes. Then I remind myself I don’t want him jealous. I want him to leave me alone.
“What did you do?” Liam growls.
Anger burns inside my chest, my mouth flying open ready to tell him to fuck off, but it fizzles fast when I realize he’s not talking to me. My brows jump to my forehead in shock when I see those hard eyes directed at Krista. It’s not what I expected from him, considering, as far as I know, they’re raising another child together. I imagine it hasn’t been long since she had their baby, but she doesn’t look like a woman who just gave birth, either. However, I wouldn’t put it past Krista to have a plastic surgeon on standby, ready to nip and tuck everything the second the baby arrived. I’ve learned enough about her from her interactions with Casey to realize she’s as superficial as they come.
“What did I do?” she shrieks, and I think my eardrum just ruptured. “I came to see my daughter, and that whore wouldn’t let me in.” First slut, now whore. My curiosity is eating me from the inside out. What does she know, and how does she know it?
“I wasn’t home, Mom,” Casey tells her. “She doesn’t have to let you in if she doesn’t want to, and you know I don’t want you here, either.”
Well… damn. That’s news to me. Krista never came around much before. She preferred to harass Casey by luring her to functions and social events. I didn’t consider she and Casey might be having problems.
“Case, I’m your mother.” She sniffles as she digs in her purse, pulling out a tissue for her bloody nose. “Liam, make her listen.” She is oblivious to the look of pure loathing and anger he’s giving her, but I’m not. And I don’t know what to make of it. Granted, I’ve never seen Liam and Krista together, but that is not how I expected him to look at the woman he said he would always love.
He grips her elbow, and she whines some more. “You heard her, Krista. Time to go.” He turns, dragging her with him, but not before casting his gaze on me, then to Thad. The anger in his eyes grows, then morphs into something else as he heaves a heavy sigh, shaking his head. He leads her out, but I hear him tell her, “You ever call her a whore again, I’ll tell Davis everything.”
Everything.
Why does that word seem to hold more meaning every time I hear it?
Liam
Krista jerks in my grip as I lead her toward the elevators, determined to make herself look like a victim, but the corridor is empty, thankfully, because the blood on her face might make for a convincing argument. It’s fortunate Casey and Lily’s neighbors didn’t seem interested in discovering what the commotion was about. And I know Krista well enough to know she will try to press charges, but I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. Not that Lily would care.
The elevator doors open, and I shove her inside and join her. There’s no way I trust her to leave on her own. As the doors close, I take my phone from my jacket pocket and order her a rideshare. Once I slide it back into my pocket, I hit the stop button and spin to face her. She flinches at the anger that’s pouring from me. “What the hell are you up to?”
Her bottom lip quivers as her arms fold over her chest. Moisture fills her eyes as she looks at me. “I wanted to see my daughter.”
