Page 23 of His Price

“Then why are you now?” It had to be asked.

“Because Jackson stands between you and me. He’s poisoned your mind with things that aren’t true. Maybe in fear of losing your friendship, which I can tell is very important to him.” Liam pauses to draw in a long breath, telling me this conversation is hard on him before adding gently, “You can’t make a choice without all the knowledge. And I won’t force you to decide, but I will arm you with the information.”

“Okay,” I say, “then arm me.”

“Has Jackson ever told you about Sophia?” he asks.

I don’t recognize the name and shake my head.

“I suppose that shouldn’t be much of a surprise.” Liam glances out at the young couple playing Frisbee before he looks back at me. “Sophia was my girlfriend in law school. We were together just shy of two years.”

“Was the relationship serious?” I hadn’t known he’d had a long-term girlfriend before but I guess that shouldn’t be much of a surprise. He is in his early thirties.

“We were very serious,” he explains. “I thought I’d marry her.”

My throat tightens at the darkness in his expression. I reach for his hand again and squeeze, somehow wishing I could erase the memory of Sophia from his mind. “All right, so what does Sophia have to do with you and Jackson?”

“I’m guessing since you didn’t know about Sophia that you also don’t know that Jackson and I were roommates in law school.”

I can’t stop the widening of my eyes. “No, he never told me about that.” Now I’m beginning to wonder why. Sure, Liam could be making this up. I’m even more sure that’s what Jackson likely wants me to think. But I can tell by Liam’s relaxed posture, the softness in his eyes, the haunted look on his face that he’s not lying to me now.

“I can’t believe he told you none of this,” Liam bites off, shaking his head in obvious frustration. “You know nothing, and I’m guessing what you do know—if anything at all—is probably total bullshit.” After another long deep breath, he adds, “Back in those days, I considered Jackson to be my closest friend.”

Something about all this begins to raise the hair on the back of my neck. “I take it this Sophia caused a fight between you?”

Liam gave an unamused smile. “I see where your mind is at. You think this is typical male bullshit, one guy fighting another over a woman, don’t you?”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.” Because that makes sense.

“Well, you’re wrong.” Liam turns his head to stare at a couple walking by, and his eyes gloss over, obviously, he’s lost in a memory. “We were happy, Sophia and I. In fact, I told Jackson I planned on proposing to her. I’m not sure how or even why it happened, but one night Jackson and I were talking about if a woman could be faithful. Jackson didn’t think she could.” Liam turns to me, gives a sad smile. “Women always cheat,Jackson told me. He thought any woman could be swayed with the right moves.”

I snort. “That sounds like the Jackson I know.”

Liam nods in agreement. “And like we know, Jackson has those moves and knows how to use them.”

Of course, I did. Jackson’s gorgeous, rich, and cocky as hell. Women lust after him, like I lusted after Liam. “I’ve seen those moves work on a few ladies, yes.” I shake my head, though, trying to understand. “But again, how does this relate to Sophia?”

“I’ll get to that, I promise,” Liam continues, voice soft. “The conversation that night became heated. Maybe it was the booze or testosterone. But what got started that night would change lives forever.”

I stare into Liam’s eyes and now I understand completely. “You challenged Jackson, didn’t you?”

“It’s sad how predictable we are.” Liam snorts.

It’s not hard to put two and two together. “I take it that Jackson won the bet.”

“That’s where things get interesting,” he explains. “I honestly hadn’t even thought about it after that night at the bar. One afternoon just before classes started, Jackson texted me to come home. It was an emergency, he said. I tried calling him but he never answered so I rushed home.” Liam hesitates, obviously to prepare himself for a hard admission. “When I entered the house, Jackson was fucking Sophia on our kitchen table.”

My hand comes to my mouth, and I’m speechless, trying to understand why Jackson would ever do that. Nevertheless, horrified all the same.

Liam nods at my shocked expression. “Yeah, that’s probably how I looked, too. In Jackson’s mind, he decided to show me up. Instead of choosing any woman with a boyfriend to win his bet, he picked the woman I loved.”

Tears fill my eyes but not for me. For Liam. I see the way it destroyed him, the pain he still feels from the heartbreak in his life. The betrayal, by both Jackson and Sophia, must have been fierce. “I’m sorry that happened to you, Liam.”

“Don’t be sorry for me,” he says with a soft smile, tucking my hair behind my ear. “It was a hard lesson but I learned from it.”

“What could that possibly teach you?” Except to hate Jackson and Sophia.

“To be very careful who I trusted.”

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