A Perfect Love (15 page)

A wide grin spread across his face as he stood. He leaned down, his lips close to my ear. “Now
that
I can get on board with.” I scoffed as he turned away, admiring his cute backside in his jeans.

My eyes drifted to his half-eaten cake. A scene from
Alice in Wonderland
drifted through my mind, but rather than a small sign saying ‘Eat Me’, my version read, ‘Screw him! I’m delicious and am totally worth it.’ I was never one to mull over or overthink things, especially when cake was involved—who was I to ignore such a tempting offer? The cake said itself it was good, so who was I to argue? I scooped up his plate and sat it in front of me.

Making short work of the chocolate and caramel cake, I leaned back contently. The cake wasn’t lying. It was bloody delicious and totally worth Liam’s incredulous look when he sat down and stared me down.

“It was the cake.” I grinned. “It virtually launched itself at me. It would have been rude not to eat it.”

“Eat it?” Wide eyes flicked between his empty plate and my satisfied smile. “You sure you didn’t inhale the damn thing? I was only gone for a minute.”

I picked up my hot chocolate and finished it off, ignoring Liam’s look of disbelief. I had no idea why he was so surprised. It was a stupid move heading to the bathroom and leaving cake on his plate. I hoped he never learned.

“Okay, I’m ready.” Placing my empty mug down, I stood and waited for Liam to follow suit.

Once next to me, his hand reached for mine, and we held hands as we left and made our way to the car. Unlocking the door, Liam opened it and ushered me in. As he pushed the door closed, I glanced up in reaction to him swearing under his breath. My brows dipped in confusion and I looked around outside, wondering why he was swearing. Not seeing anyone, I waited until he made his way to the driver’s side. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“So, what were you swearing at?”

“Nothing, it’s no big deal.” He paused and looked directly ahead, putting the car in gear. “I just remembered something I’d forgotten to email out at work.” He tilted his head and smiled at me. “You sure I don’t get your pregnancy hormones or something? You keep forgetting crap all the time. I’m sure it’s rubbing off on me.”

I squinted a moment, not quite convinced he was telling me the truth. His grin was a little too forced. Deciding to leave it for the time being, I answered, “Please, don’t blame me for your useless-arse moments. Those are all you.”

Eyes back on the road, he smiled lightly and pulled out of the space, heading for home.

The journey was quiet, which was fine by me as that second helping of cake had pushed me to the edge of a cake-induced coma. I could barely keep my eyes open. Pleased we had the long weekend since we’d taken the day off for our appointment, I yawned. “It’s afternoon nap-time when we get in.”

“Sounds good.”

Watching him closely, I was convinced something was off. The mention of an afternoon nap for Liam was usually his trigger for afternoon sex. The moment I mentioned ‘nap’, he’d try it on to get a hot make-out session. But there was nothing even mildly flirtatious about his reaction.

Once home, we headed inside. I went straight to our room, expecting Liam to follow. Stripping down to my panties and bra, I headed out of the room in search of him. He was in the office sending a text. “What you doing?”

“Mace just texted seeing if I was around. He asked about your appointment.”

“Oh, okay. You coming to bed?”

Eyes still fixed on his phone; he shook his head. “Nah, I’m going to head out to see Mace.” He looked at me and lifted his mouth into a smile. “Do you mind?”

I was hardly going to stop him from seeing his brother. The last few weeks we’d seen so much more of him. It was kinda cute watching them reconnect and become a family once more. “That’s fine. Perhaps invite him around for dinner if you like.”

“Will do.” Liam walked toward me and kissed me on the head goodbye. “Should only be a couple of hours. If I’m later, I’ll let you know.”

“Okay.” I followed behind him, but stopped at our bedroom door as he headed to the garage. “Love you,” I called out after him.

A genuine smile graced his lips that time, immediately putting me at ease. I hated the thought he was keeping something from me. I would have it out with him later, but right then wasn’t the right time. “Love you, too.” He winked, stepped into the garage and closed the door behind him.

Snuggling in bed beneath my sheet, the rumble of his bike filled the space and drifted off as he left. I smiled, thinking how hot he looked on his damn Ducati. I then nestled deeper and closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep.

Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” blasted from my phone, pulling me out of sleep. Reaching for it, I swiped it on after registering Liam’s name, as well as the time. Three hours had passed and I’d been unconscious the whole damn time. Frowning, I pulled my phone to my ear. “Liam?”

“Hey, babe. Were you still sleeping?”

“Yeah. I need to get up else I won’t sleep tonight.” I sat myself up and clambered out of bed, no longer agile or especially dignified with my protruding stomach. “So, where are you? You still with Mace?”

“No.” His sigh reached my ears and made me tense.

“What’s happened? Did you even go to his house?” I knew something was off when he left. If the shit had lied to me, he’d soon be experiencing the wrath of Jo. Many moons ago, we’d promised honesty. I hated when he kept things from me, stuff that he full-well knew he should tell me.

“I did, yes. I’m at the hospital.”

I’d been heading to the bathroom, desperately needing to pee, when his words stopped me in my tracks. “Oh, my God. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” he answered quickly, no doubt hearing the panic bubble in my voice.

I exhaled and sat on the loo, waiting for him to continue.

“It’s my mum.”

I gulped when I heard the defeat and sadness in his voice. It had dropped an octave and he sounded weary.

“She OD’d.”

“Shit, baby. Is she okay?”

“No.” His gulp was audible down the line. Standing quickly, I raced into the room and pulled on my shorts, knowing he needed me. “She’s crashed twice, and they don’t expect her to make it through the night.”

My heart plummeted. While his mum was a piece of shit, she was still his mum, and Liam loved her. “Is Mace with you?” The pretence of winding Mace up by refusing to call him by his nickname was long gone. Insignificant with my man hurting.

“Yeah, he’s here.”

“Okay. I’m on my way.”

As I grabbed my bag and keys, he gave me the details of where I would find him. Once in my car, I headed to the hospital, hoping she’d pull through for her sons’ sakes. I was so bloody lucky to have my parents. While they drove me berserk, which apparently was their God-given job, I’d had a privileged childhood and parents who adored both Preston and me.

The hospital was just a thirty-minute drive away. After parking, I managed to find my way to Liam, who was in the waiting room looking lost. He raised his face when I entered, drawing me in. A warm smile greeted me as he stood. I walked into his waiting arms and he held me tightly, arms wrapped around me with his head against my neck as he breathed me in.

“Any news?” I pulled away. Immediately, he clutched my hand and led me to a seat.

“Nothing, yet. She’s still not stable, but there’s nothing else they can do at the moment. It’s a waiting game.”

Hand still in his, I lifted it to my mouth and kissed the back of it. “I love you.” There was nothing else I could say. There was no point offering useless whispers of reassurance. I had no idea if she would survive.

“I love you, too.” He leaned into me and kissed me lightly. “Thank you for coming,” he said as he pulled back.

“Of course. I’m always by your side.” I peered around the room and looked toward the doors. “Where’s Mace?”

“He had to duck out. He shouldn’t be long, though.”

I nodded. “So, do you want to talk about what happened?”

For the briefest of moments, he hesitated. To the untrained eye, it would have passed before anyone would have noticed; to me, not so much. I squeezed his hand a little tighter, drawing his eyes to me. I squinted and gave him my no-bullshit stare. Rubbing his free hand over his face, he knew I meant business. “When we were out today, heading back from lunch, I thought I saw David.”

Not what I expected him to say, my stomach rolled in angst. Remaining quiet, I watched his face, urging him to continue.

“Mace has been tracking him, keeping an eye on him pretty much since he was released. Weeks ago now, he was around our house when we were out, so after that, Mace and I paid him a visit.”

A torrent of expletives threatened to burst out at any minute. It was only the fact that his mum was in a room close by, barely hanging on to her life that I kept my simmering anger from overspilling.

“Nothing happened,” he rushed off, no doubt reading my facial expression and body language, “but we gave him a fair warning. Plus we went to the police, who issued a warrant out for his arrest.”

I sat in shock. He’d lied to me, kept such important shit from me, stuff I had a right to know. Sickness bubbled to my throat. It was enough to think David had been around our house, but the deception was so much worse. Placing my arms protectively around my stomach, I turned away from Liam, not trusting myself to look at him and not head-butt him.

Apparently, my body language and quietness wasn’t enough for him to realise everything he said from that moment forth would just make things a whole heap worse. How did someone recover from deception, even when carried out in the name of love? At that point, I had no idea. I just hoped to hell he worked out a way to redeem himself.

“The thing is he’s yet to be arrested. The police are still looking for him. When I thought I saw him, I headed to see Mace after you went for a lie down. I needed to check if it was him or not. It wasn’t. Mace has been looking for him non-stop, since the police are struggling. They think he may have fled the state.”

A whirlwind of emotions rushed through me, yet the one pushing at the forefront was anger, anger for so many reasons.

“When I was with Mace, he received a call from the hospital telling us about Mum. We raced over here. Things have only just settled down, so that’s why I left it so late to call you.” His voice trailed off as he tentatively gaged my reaction. While I schooled my face, just as I could read Liam’s tells, he could most definitely read mine. I was a brighter shade of pissed off with him, which was putting it mildly. After all we had been through so many years ago, we’d made a promise to one another to always be true.

He hadn’t been.

While I understood his constant He-man need to protect me, especially where David was concerned, he couldn’t continue to withhold stuff from me. And definitely not something as significant as David breaking parole and there being a warrant out for his arrest. The fact that David was missing was the topping on the shit-storm cake. This he knew.

Drawing my hand back to his mouth, he kissed my palm, his eyes maintaining eye contact. “You going to chew me out?” He squinted as he spoke. “I’m so sorry, Jo. Seriously. I was just so worried about you and the baby. I didn’t want you to be stressed.”

“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t find out?
This
is stressed, Liam. For weeks, you’ve being lying to me. Chewing you out isn’t even a fraction of what the hell I’m going to do.” Sighing deeply, I shook my head. “Later, yes, but not right now. There’s more important stuff happening.” He nodded and looked relieved. “Don’t get me wrong. You’re still…hell, I don’t even know how I’m feeling about everything. You lied to me, and I’m going to beat your arse for lying to me, but not right now.”

He kissed me tenderly on my lips. For a moment, I considered turning my head. At any other time, I would have, but considering his mum, I gave him the comfort he needed. “Thank you,” he breathed and pressed his forehead against mine.

We sat for a while longer, waiting for some more news about his mum. I could barely concentrate on the activity around me. My brain was working overtime. With David avoiding arrest, I assumed by lying low somewhere, there must have been something he was hiding. When I learned he was around our house, dread lay heavy on my heart. I didn’t have the energy or the want to deal with anything David-related. Life was finally making complete and utter sense to me, but apparently, that was a pipe dream as it was all turning to crap.