Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
He had no idea what I wanted, and he couldn’t give it to me.
Tomorrow, I’d begin looking for somewhere else to live and another job. Pressing the code outside my door, I waited for the green light and then opened the door and walked inside. Defeat weighed down my shoulders as I dropped my purse on the table by the door, then started to walk into the living area.
My heart slammed against my chest as I opened my mouth to scream when I realized who was standing in my apartment.
“Oh my God,” I whispered, placing my hand over my stomach. “You.” I shook my head. “How are you in my apartment?”
The shock had rattled me, but the toxic mix of anger and hurt stirred together as I straightened my shoulders and looked into Liam’s eyes.
“You know what?” I said, “I don’t want to know. Just leave. Today has been a bad one, and then you show up like this. I can’t. I just can’t.”
Would it ever not hurt to look at him? Would my heart not feel as if it were breaking all over again?
“If I’d stayed outside, you’d have never let me in.” His voice was hoarse, as if he were sick.
I studied him, starting to worry about his health. No. I had to stop that. He wasn’t mine to be concerned about. Even if he had dark circles under bloodshot eyes. What if he was sick? He’d come to tell me. Panic caused my heart to escalate more than it already was from his appearance.
“Are you okay?” I blurted.
He shook his head. “No, I’m not. I’ve not been okay since I walked into our house and you were gone. I’ve not been okay since I picked up that photo of our son and realized I’d drunk so goddamn much, trying to numb the pain in my chest over how I’d treated you, that I slept through the ultrasound appointment. I’ve not been okay since I read that note and my dark, fucked-up soul was shredded.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, needing some form of protection from this. His words couldn’t be trusted. I had done that over and over again, only to be led to different levels of pain. Levels I hadn’t known about until him.
“Don’t, Liam. I can’t do this. Not anymore. I’m providing for myself. Proving to you that I’m not some charity case. Earning the respect that I want from you and our child. Today hasn’t been good for me. And you coming in here, saying these things, only rips off the Band-Aid I managed to put in place. So, please, leave.”
I stepped back so he had a straight shot to the door. I would fall apart once he was gone. But not yet. I had to get him out of here first.
He took a step, and then the agony began again. I wanted to close my eyes so I couldn’t see him go; maybe then it wouldn’t hurt so much.
The second step didn’t come. He stopped and was just closer to me now.
“There is a problem with that. You wanted me, but I need you.” His thick, raspy voice cracked on the last word. “Liberty, you claimed my soul long before I realized your hold on it. When I did, it scared the fuck out of me. I believed things about you that were lies. And even then”—he slid a finger under my chin and tilted my head back so that I had to look at him—“I fell in love with you.”
My heart could not listen to this.
Shaking my head, I took his hand from me and stepped back. “No, you don’t get to come in here and say that. I know about Selena, Liam. She met me in the parking lot of the hospital after the ultrasound. She told me how you felt trapped by me. Called me names. Accused me of getting pregnant on purpose and that you resented me for it.”
Tears blurred my vision, and I wished like hell I could control my crying better. I didn’t want to ever cry in front of this man again.
Liam took two long strides, and before I could move again, his hands cupped my face. The fierce expression as he looked down at me kept me still instead of fighting to get free of his touch.
“She is a goddamn liar. I never once told her about you being pregnant. I never wanted her. Even when I was with her, I didn’t feel anything, Liberty. I’d already been ruined by this gorgeous little bartender who had rocked my world. No woman was ever going to reach me after that. I didn’t know it. Hell, I might have gone the rest of my life alone because I’d walked out of that motel room. I had no idea that a broken condom was going to be what gave me life. Gave me you.”