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A scoff whispers from Casey’s lips. She swipes away her watery pain and flings her long blond hair out of her face with an angry flick of her wrist. “Well, it all makes sense now. Why you seemed so intent on being my best friend. Why you two always looked so uncomfortable being in the same room together.” She shakes her head. I can see every interaction replaying in her mind. “I thought he didn’t approve of you because you’re so free-spirited and rebellious.” Another humorless laugh escapes her. “Now those months make sense. Dad wasn’t upset because Mom was playing games again. He was upset over you. But I guess that was Mom’s fault, too.”
I try to reach for her again, but she steps back. Krista may have known about us. Maybe she even tried to break us up, but he’s the one who slept with her. That takes two. She needs to know this can’t be all laid at her mom’s feet. Even if I despise Krista, she’s Casey’s mom. I don’t want her holding any resentment over me. “No, Case. Your mom didn’t cause our breakup. Liam did when he slept with her.”
“So he cheated on you!” Her wide eyes swim with disapproval and disappointment.
And I’m making this all worse. Because he didn’t cheat on me. Not really. I try to rip my fingers through my hair, only for them to get stuck in the over-sprayed strands. “Casey, n—”
“No, he didn’t fucking cheat on her. He would never do that.” Angel answers her question, but his eyes are still on me. “The only person responsible for all of this is Lily.”
My mouth drops because he can’t be serious. What the hell has Liam told him to make my big brother turn on me? To place all the blame on me? The betrayal I feel burns as I stomp toward him and jab a nail into his chest. “No. He is. He threw it all away when he put his dick in that bitch.”
He slaps my hand away and closes the remaining distance separating us. His silver eyes shoot flames as he looks down at me, and I feel the lightning flash in my own as I tip my chin up to meet his glare. “Except he didn’t, Lily.”
The loud chortle that leaves me is anything but funny. “Yeah, because he believed Krista was pregnant with his baby out of immaculate conception. Grow up, Angel. He wouldn’t have believed her for a minute if it weren’t possible.”
“I am telling you he didn’t.”
“You are unbelievable, you know that? He broke my heart. Did you know after he fucked her, he came to me begging? Promised me we would stop hiding everything? Hours, Angel. Hours after he kicked her out of his bed, he was trying to crawl back into mine. And he fucking succeeded because I was a fool. You are my big brother, and you’ve known about us all this time, right? So, where were you when I was falling apart? When I couldn’t get out of bed? When the thought of food turned my stomach? When I was crying myself to sleep? And you’re taking his side? Because he told you he didn’t do it? At least I’m not the only one fooled by him.”
He takes a step back, his fists clenched at his side. I know my big brother. Those fists and that space are because he wants to wrap his hands around my throat. “I wasn’t supposed to know, remember? You didn’t come to me either. But let me tell you something, little sister, I am here now because I was not about to watch you go through whatever this sham is you two have cooked up. Why do you think Mom and Dad aren’t here, Lily? Do you really think they’d miss their little girl’s wedding if they didn’t believe this was some elaborate scheme—some hoax you two have plotted?”
My breath hitches, and I turn my back on him so he doesn’t see the pain etched on my face. Pretending I wasn’t affected when they said they couldn’t come was easy. I convinced myself it was for the best because it wasn’t real, and it is easier to go through with the lie if the people I loved most in the world weren’t here to witness it. But now, all I feel is guilt and shame because they knew I was lying.
“Far as your little broken heart…” He drags his hand through his black hair, shaking his head. “You know me. I let you live your life. I keep my nose out of your business, but if I thought for a minute he’d done something wrong beyond being a secretive, insecure jackass, I would’ve killed him. But your broken heart is all on you, Aliana. You ran before Liam could explain anything. Hell, you were gone before he had time to wrap his head around any of it. And the damn man went to Cali every weekend for months, trying to see you so he could. And you. Wouldn’t. See. Him. No. Worse. You hid like a fucking child. And I know about Ashleigh trying to tell you, and you would not let her.” He works his jaw back and forth for a minute. Josephine approaches him, running her hand down his arm. When he shrugs her off, I want to slap him. She didn’t do anything. “You know what? I did want to kick his ass. I wanted to beat him black and blue for not telling you he didn’t fuck Krista. I saw you two repeating my—our—mistakes, and I fucking hated it. That’s why when you finally came back here, asking Maddox and Ryder to listen to your music, I told them to put you two together.” He grips my shoulder, spins me back around, and forces me into a chair. His hand shoves into his jacket pocket, pulling out a digital music player. “Turns out the jackass was right about you. He told me repeatedly you would never believe him without proof. But I thought that couldn’t be true because how can you claim to love him if you need more than his word? Especially when he never did anything to make you think he’d lie to you.” He tosses the device into my lap. “My guess is after the display out there,” his head jerks toward the door, “it doesn’t matter anymore. But there’s your proof. Hope your pride doesn’t choke you.”
He turns around and storms out, slamming the door shut behind him so hard that a picture on the wall crashes with a bang to the floor. My brother and I share quite a few qualities, including our short tempers, but I haven’t seen him this angry since Josephine stopped talking to him when I was a kid.
Josephine’s sympathetic gaze lands on mine. “I should go check on him.”
I nod because of course she should. He’s her husband. I struggle with where to direct my attention. Looking at Casey is impossible. I’m filled with so much guilt and shame I just can’t. The hurt and accusation in her eyes is too much. I can’t look at Thad’s parents either. Their judgment is felt without it. I’m too angry to look at Thad, but now I don’t know if it’s with him or myself.
But the damn device that feels like a lead weight sitting in my lap, I definitely don’t want to look at. I don’t want to think about what’s on it.
Proof.
My heart thuds against my ribcage until it’s painful. My lungs struggle to take in air. And I haven’t even looked at the damn thing since it landed in my lap.
My hands shake with looming panic as I lift the device. Proof. That word alone makes me want to throw up. Liam thought he needed proof.
Just the fact that they use that word tells me everything on the device will turn my world upside down again, and it’s going to hurt.
Why wouldn’t he think he needed evidence? I wouldn’t listen to him, and I threw everything in his face anytime I felt myself falling under his spell again. Which was every time we were near each other.
I lift an earbud that Angel also tossed and place it in my ear. My finger hovers over the play icon, fighting back the bile already rising.
This is going to break me.
With a steadying breath, I press play. It doesn’t take long to figure out he recorded this just a couple of weeks ago. The day Krista appeared at Casey’s and my apartment, and Liam escorted her out. The tears are almost instant. The fissure in my heart—the one I blamed on Liam—grows. Pain consumes every inch of me as my hand covers my mouth to contain my sobs.
I double over, arms wrapped around my waist in an attempt to hold myself together as anguish pours from my lips. My breathing stutters with hiccupping sobs as I face the damage I’ve done. So many emotions amplify until I feel like I’m being buried alive.
Guilt. Regret. Shame.
He begged me to listen. So did Ashleigh, even Thad, and he didn’t know. He could just see what I couldn’t because my anger and heartbreak blinded me, and my insecurities that he loved Krista more than me, that I would always be second place in his heart.
Another gut-wrenching sob blasts from my chest as the words I threw in Liam’s face earlier haunt me. Oh God, I can’t breathe.
He told me that in confidence. He trusted me enough to be vulnerable and tell me his greatest insecurity.
