“Where the fuck have you two been?”
“What’s it got to do with you?” Phoenix replied.
“Well, Phoenix,” Liam emphasized, “Ryder wanted to know why you weren’t on stage.”
“He was talking to me,” I yelled, anger making my tone ice cold.
“Yeah, well, it looks like you were doing more than talking,” Liam replied.
His gaze moved to his brother. “And you’re engaged, damn-it. How could you do this to Mia?”
Phoenix looked at Liam with a frown and looked about to say something in reply to him, but then seemed to change his mind and looked between the both of us. “My heart wants Thalia, and I can’t stay away from her.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Can I rely on you both not saying anything about this to anyone?”
“We won’t. Right Liam?”
“Why keep it a secret? We’re not kids anymore.”
“Can you imagine the grief I’ll get from Dad, and Lewis for that matter? I’m supposed to be a respectable soon-to-be-lawyer, not someone who hangs around bars in a band full of body art.”
Liam cursed under his breath and replied, “They’d probably be worse than what I imagine.” He grinned. “I’ll keep it quiet. But if word gets out I didn’t know anything about it; otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Phoenix nodded his head then met my eyes before looking away again.
“This is just so fucked up...I need to leave...I’m sorry Thalia.”
With those words my heart broke as I watched him walk off into the forest.
Liam walked over to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“I’m sorry Thalia. I really am. Let me take you home.”
“Okay. I’m sorry as well. How long have you been in love with Mia?” I asked trying to hold my tears back.
Liam opened the car door for me and practically shoved me inside before climbing into the driver’s side. He just sat looking out through the window with his hands gripping the steering wheel.
“We’re the same age and our parents have been friends since before me and Jack were born, so it was natural for us all to grow up together, especially me and Mia.” He sighed and let his head fall back against the seat. “She’s the first girl I kissed and the only girl I’ve...well, you know.” He blushed and obviously hadn’t realized just what he was saying until the end.
To say I was stunned at his admission was an understatement. He’d only ever slept with Mia? With a shake of my head I studied him; I didn’t know what to say. Without knowing the whole situation it seemed stupid. “Liam, if you love Mia and she obviously has feelings for you, then why haven’t you both put a stop to the wedding...or why aren’t you the groom?”
Without answering he put the key in the ignition and turned the car in the direction of his home while I tried not to think about the last words Jack had spoken to me or how he’d looked.
My tears started running down my cheeks. Did he regret touching me? Just before he turned away from me I saw his face and he looked more in pain than sorry.
What the hell did Phoenix’s father have over him to make him go through with this ridiculous arranged marriage? Because that’s what it was.
I swiped at my tears as I climbed out of Liam’s car and made to walk up the porch steps only to be stopped by Liam.
“Will you be okay?” he asked wiping the tears that were still leaking out of my eyes away with his thumbs.
“I’ll have to be. I just want to go to bed okay. I’ll see you in the morning.”
After saying goodnight to Liam, I quickly made my way upstairs and into my room, locking the door behind me. I threw my purse on top of the dresser then walked into the bathroom and locked the door leading to Phoenix’s room.
With a sigh of relief, I turned on the shower, threw my clothes in a heap on the bedroom floor then climbed under the hot spray, letting my tears run free with the water.
Yeah, I felt sorry for myself, and for Jack who was stuck in a no-win situation; he broke my heart.
He was an addiction. I craved him. No matter what I was doing or where I was, I needed to see him and found myself looking for him.
At Kix, just seeing him had made my panties wet, then when he’d kissed me I couldn’t have told you my name because my brain had shut down and my senses had taken over.
My only regret was that I didn’t spend more time touching him and playing with his piercings. His nipple was pierced which I’d stroked a few times, but I’d been too surprised, and too aroused to play with the one at the tip of his cock. I wondered how long it would take him to get hard with my mouth sucking him on the tip while I played with the bar.
I wanted the chance to find out and, if I had my way, I’d find out, because I knew there was no love lost between Phoenix and Mia, but there was between Liam and Mia. I wasn’t going to just sit back and accept that Phoenix was going to be married.
He was mine.