Beers, Lies and Alibis (Warblers Point Series Book 2) (34 page)

Booker was always an overly confident man, even when he was wearing the pub’s bonnet and being called a Shelia in front of a bunch of locals…he was always confident. But right now, standing in front of her was not the man she first met, it was the shell of half of the man she knew and loved. He was deflated, exhausted, and sad. She did that to him.
 

“Take care, Fiona.”

He started walking away and all Fiona could think about was how she didn’t want this to be their last encounter. She didn’t want this to be the last time she looked into those beautiful eyes of his or heard that sexy voice of his. She wanted to be with this man for the rest of her life. She needed to be with him; there was no question about it.
 

“Booker, wait.”

Fiona got off the bench and ran toward Booker as he slowly turned around. His face was sullen, but there was a glimmer of light in his eyes. She refused to believe it was the moon reflecting off his pupils and rather that it was hope, hope for them as a couple.
 

Booker waited for Fiona to speak as they stood amongst the brush that lined the lake. Instead of standing awkwardly, Fiona grabbed Booker by the hand and led him to the bench he’d made for them. They both sat down and avoided looking at each other. They found comfort in looking out at the same lake they did months ago when they were first starting to get to know each other.
 

Fiona didn’t know how much silence passed through them before Booker turned toward her and said, “Fiona, I just can’t sit here all night. I have a plane to catch in the morning. So…” He started to get up, but Fiona stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.
 

“Please don’t leave. I’m just trying to gather my words.”

“Fiona, let’s not go through this, okay? Let’s just leave things friendly and go our separate ways.”

“Why are you giving up so easily?” Fiona asked, before she could stop herself; that wasn’t exactly what she was planning on saying, but clearly, she wanted to know the answer.
 

“I’m not giving up…”

“Yes, you are. You’re leaving me without even putting up a fight.”

“Did it ever cross your mind that maybe I’m tired of fighting? I’ve been fighting for you since the moment you came out to California to be with me. I’ve been doing everything possible to try to keep you happy and yes, I might have had to work, but when I wasn’t working, I was spending every waking minute with you and every night I could with you wrapped up in my arms. I don’t know what more you want from me,” Booker practically shouted.
 

What the hell was she thinking? She didn’t want to fight with him. She was just so damn stubborn, it was hard for her to take the blame; it was hard for her to admit that she was, in fact, wrong.
 

“I’m sorry, you’re right.”

The look of shock on Booker’s face was almost comical. It wasn’t very often that Fiona admitted she was wrong about anything.
 

“You are so perfect, Booker. You are the perfect boyfriend. You have done nothing but care for me, love me, and been there for me, but I have given nothing to you in return. I might have given you my love, but I didn’t give you my whole self. I didn’t trust you to fully take care of me or be the man that I need. I didn’t allow you to fulfill that role and I understand that is a role you need to have in your life. You’re the kind of man that needs to take care of his girl and I didn’t let you do that; I kept pulling away from you and, at the first moment that things got rocky, I turned to someone else.”

Fiona looked up at Booker and took his head in her glove-covered hands. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not making you feel like you’re the center of my universe. For not making you feel that I need you to breathe. But I do. I need you more than food, more than air to survive. I know that…but do you? Do you know that Booker?”

Booker ran his head against Fiona’s hand. “I do now.”

“I’m so sorry, Booker, about everything. I’m sorry for Murphy, for giving you a hard time about your job, for California and for not listening to you about Keara before drawing my own conclusions. I haven’t been the best girlfriend, but if you will give me a chance, I want to make it better. I want to be a part of your crazy chaotic life, even though I don’t feel like I deserve to be in it, I want to.”

“You deserve my world and so much more, baby,” Booker said, as he pulled Fiona into his warm embrace. “As long as you are with me, that’s all I need. I just need you, Fiona.”

“I need you too, Booker.”

Booker tipped Fiona’s head back and took her lips with his as he slowly showed her how much he loved her with his passionate kissing. Lightly, Booker nibbled her lip, sending her nerve endings on full alert. The catch in her breath made Booker chuckle softly.
 

Fiona pushed him away playfully. “Don’t laugh at me.”

Booker smiled brightly at her and then grabbed her sides. “You turned on?”

“No,” Fiona said a little too quickly.
 

Like a horn dog, Booker rubbed the bench and said, “We can break this puppy in if you would like.”

Fiona got off the bench and went to her car. “Or we can go back to my apartment and try out the sex swing that’s hanging in my bedroom, courtesy of Bradon.”

Booker cringed at the thought. “No way in hell am I going to go near that disease-ridden thing. How about I take you back to my room at The Sleeping Potato and we can hang out in a real bed, not a pull-out sofa?”

Fiona grabbed the lapels of Booker’s jacket and pulled him down to her face. “That sounds like heaven.”

Booker wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in even closer. “I love you, baby.”

“I love you too, Booker. Thank you for being my man, my one and only.”

Smiling down at her, Booker gave her a light kiss and said, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Chapter 16

Smugly, Sophie leaned against the counter of her bakery and thought about how great it felt to actually tear apart the O’Learys…to give them the slightest bit of pain back that she had felt the day they humiliated her out in her front yard…to let them experience how the grapevine of Warblers Point could destroy a person’s life.
 

The bakery was well on its way to closing, thanks to the rumors that were spread around about her. She thought the rumors about her would die down, but she was wrong. They stayed ever-present in her life, affecting her cute little bakery to the point where Sophie was nervous whether she was going to make it through the next month.
 

Trying not to think about the demise of her bakery, she sipped the champagne she’d poured herself in celebration of a mini, but well-deserved, victory.
 

Out of nowhere, her front door flew open and Bradon O’Leary stood in the doorway, his chest heaving and looking like he was out for blood.
 

“Bradon…what are you doing here?”

“Save the crap that is spewing out of your mouth for someone else who cares because I sure as hell don’t want to hear it. I am here for one reason and one reason only.” Bradon walked up to Sophie and got right in her face. “Listen to me and listen to me closely. If you ever, and I mean ever, come close to another one of my family members, married or not, I will personally make it my mission to destroy you. I don’t care if you’re a woman, I will annihilate you, Sophie. You hear me?”

Sophie was literally shaking in place from the way Bradon pointed his finger at her, got in her face, and spoke with such malice in his voice.
 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Shut the fuck up you dumb bitch. You know exactly what I am talking about. You spread that rumor about Liam and Neala and guess what, Neala is now in the hospital bleeding out from trying to commit suicide. If she dies, it’s her blood on your hands.”

“She’s….she’s in the hospital?” Sophie asked, almost shocked.
 

“Yeah, what did you think was going to happen? Did you think someone with severe depression and manic episodes was going to hop around the meadows licking a lollipop once they heard your rumor? Of course not; she went straight to the bathroom and slit her damn wrists you dumb-ass bitch. She has a four-year-old daughter, four years old! Do you want her growing up without a mother? Because she just might!”

“I…I had no clue. I just, I just wanted you all to know how it feels to be humiliated.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You four don’t even know what you did to my life. You ruined me!” Sophie screamed, as she tossed her drink to the side, completely losing every ounce of self-respect that was left in her body. “You stupid O’Learys just take what you want and you don’t care who you hurt.”

“Are you talking about when Liam and Finn fought on your lawn? Is that why you tried to ruin Blaire and Finn and why you spread that rumor about Liam? Are you fucking insane? Just because they didn’t choose you, you’re going to fuck around with people’s lives? This isn’t high school Sophie; you can’t go around fucking up people’s relationships because you are a little butt-hurt over a little feud.

“Little feud? Are you kidding me right now? You guys ruined me. My bakery is fading away; no one wants to talk to me because they all think I am some kind of trollop and I have no friends.”

“That’s not because of us, Sophie. It’s because you spend your time holed up in either your bakery or your house. You don’t talk to anyone other than Marge and Maggie, who are nothing but trouble. The O’Learys didn’t ruin you, you did. You’re in this position because you put yourself in it. Your life is a fuck-up because of you.”

Tears were streaming down Sophie’s face as she took in everything Bradon said. She didn’t want to believe him; she didn’t want to listen to a thing he had to say. He was a liar; he didn’t know what he was talking about.
 

Bradon turned and headed toward the door, but quickly turned around to get one last word in.
 

“If Neala doesn’t make it, your ass is mine. I will ruin you, Sophie. You don’t deserve to live if Neala doesn’t. She might have a disease that makes her do and see insane things, but she has a heart of gold and would do anything for her family, even give up the love of her life so he could have what she considered a decent life without her. You will never be half the woman she is. Never. You should be in her spot right now, not her, you stupid bitch.”

With that, Bradon slammed the door to her bakery and hopped in his car, most likely taking off to the hospital to see how Neala was doing.
 

Sophie’s heart was beating out of her chest as she thought about everything Bradon said to her. Where did she go wrong? How did she get to a place in her life where she was helping burn people’s houses down, making up rumors, and being a petty little bitch who lied to get what she wanted? And what did she really want? Revenge? Well she got revenge and it felt nothing like she thought it would, especially after Bradon’s speech. She felt worthless. She did deserve to be in Neala’s place. Sophie didn’t deserve to live.
 

***

Liam’s head was buried in his mom’s arms as he tried to figure out why his life couldn’t just be simple, why his life was full of road bumps, pot holes and every imaginable detour someone could conjure up in his head. He knew life wasn’t going to be easy, he knew life wasn’t handed to people on a silver platter, but he was kind of hoping for a little bit of a break once his dad started coming out of the coma, but the reprieve never came. It was just shit after pile of shit stacking up on his chest to the point of feeling absolutely suffocated.
 

Visions of Neala’s limp body hanging over the gurney kept flashing through Liam’s mind. He felt absolutely sick to his stomach at the thought of Neala not coming back to him. He just got her back; he didn’t want to lose her again…he didn’t deserve to lose her again.
 

“Liam?”

Liam looked up and saw Finn and Blaire standing in front of him with worried looks on their faces. When Liam picked his head up to look around, he actually noticed that all his siblings were with him, with their respective partners, except for Bradon.

“Is there anything we can do?” Finn asked.
 

Liam just shook his head as he pulled away from his mom’s embrace. What he really wanted was to be alone, but he knew his family would never let that happen. If there was one thing about his family that was a constant staple, it was the fact that, no matter what, they always stuck around for each other. Even when they were punching each other’s lights out.
 

“Mr. O’Leary?” A doctor with blood all over his scrubs came up to Liam. His face mask was still on and, as he got closer, he pulled his face mask down and looked so incredibly sullen that Liam thought he was going to pass out at the thought of what the doctor was going to tell him next. He wouldn’t be able to handle hearing his wife was dead. There was no way he was going to accept the news. There had to be a way to bring her back.
 

Without the doctor saying a word, Liam buried his head in his hands and let all the sorrow that had been building up in his body for the last couple of weeks come out. He didn’t care that he was in a public place where everyone could start gossiping about the way he broke down, he didn’t give a damn about anything because the one thing that he did care about was no longer in his life.