No Regrets (18 page)

“Holy shit,” I said, stopping halfway down the stairs. “What's your dad going to say?”

Liam shrugged and took my hand, pulling me toward the door. “Nothing. I have people coming to clean it up. He'll never see the mess.”

“Are you sure?” I looked around the room doubtfully.

“Positive.” He flashed me a smile and pulled me out of the house to where his brand-new silver BMW sat waiting.

 

We got back to Liam's place to find Ryan in the kitchen, making coffee. When he saw us, he froze. His eyes went back and forth between Liam and me, then toward his bedroom door. It was a weird reaction since he claimed not only to know about us, but not to care.

“What's wrong with you?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Ryan cleared his throat and did his best to look casual, but I knew him too well. “Where are you two coming from?”

His tone was weird. I was pretty sure he was hiding something.

“Stayed at the beach house,” Liam said, heading for the kitchen. “Coffee, Cami?”

“Yeah.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and watched Ryan. Something was up. He avoided looking right at me, and he kept glancing toward his room. It was really strange . . .

Holy shit! He had a chick with him. That's why he was acting so crazy. He'd gone to the party with Jess, but I'd definitely seen her way after Ryan left. Plus, Ryan had told me they weren't like that. That must have meant he'd taken someone else home, which was so
not
like Ryan. He didn't pick up random girls and take them home. As far as I knew, he'd only slept with his high school girlfriend, Amy. They went out for like two years, so I knew they had to have done it.

“You okay, mate?” Liam asked, eyeing Ryan suspiciously.

Ryan cleared his throat again. “Yeah. I'm fine.”

My lips curled into a smile. “You have a girl in your room, don't you!”

Ryan's mouth fell open and he shook his head, then glanced toward the door for about the millionth time. “No. I mean, yeah. But not like that. I mean, nothing happened. Shit.” He ran his hand through his hair and looked at the floor. When he looked up, his cheeks were red. “Listen, this whole thing is going to look really bad. But I want you to let me explain, okay?”

“What are you talking about?” He was acting like he'd committed a crime, not hooked up with some girl. “You know I'm not going to care that you brought someone home with you. Come on, Ryan, who do you think you're talking to right now?”

Ryan exhaled, then sucked in another deep breath. “It's Annie.”

Liam's eyebrows shot up, then he let out a chuckle and slapped Ryan on the back. “Nice work, mate.”

“Don't be stupid. Ryan didn't sleep with Annie.” I rolled my eyes at Liam, then focused on my cousin. “So Mitch was being a pain in the ass and you brought her home? I was afraid that was going to happen. I mean, I wanted her to come to the party, but Mitch is a total prick. Plus, he's a horrible kisser.”

Nice one, Cami
. I slammed my lips together and stole a glance at Liam. Thankfully, he was smiling. Good thing he seemed to actually like that I had a major problem with verbal diarrhea, which was a seriously gross term. What twisted person ever came up with it, anyway?

Ryan ran his hand through his hair, then nodded. “Yeah. That's what happened. She had a little too much to drink too. Jess said it was fine if I took her home.”

“Well, I might as well wake up Sleeping Beauty while I'm here,” I said as I headed for the bedroom door.

“Cami, no!”

Ryan charged after me for some insane reason, but I rolled my eyes and waved him off. “Relax. I'll be nice.”

“No! Don't go in there!”

He wouldn't let up and I didn't have a clue what his problem was, but he was being a total idiot. The only way Annie was ever going to learn not to drink too much was to suffer through a few hangovers, and me yammering in her ear first thing in the morning was going to be major suffering.

“Cut it out, Ryan,” I snapped. “I know what I'm doing.”

I reached the door before him, but he still tried to stop me. He grabbed my arm just as I turned the knob, but I shrugged him off and pushed the door open. Annie stood in the middle of the room wearing one of Ryan's shirts. Her eyes were huge. She looked like a kid who had been caught sneaking a piece of candy.

“Cami, stop. You don't want to—” Whatever Ryan was going to say died on his lips when he looked at Annie.

“Hey there, party pooper!” I called, flashing Annie a huge smile as I stepped inside.

I looked around the room, noticing Annie's blue dress balled up on the floor. Her strapless bra was next to it. When I looked toward the unmade bed, my smile disappeared. There was a streak of blood smeared across Ryan's white sheets.

“Oh shit.” I glanced toward Ryan, who was staring at the bed. When I looked back at Annie, she appeared to be on the verge of dying from embarrassment. Without giving him any warning, I spun around and shoved Ryan so hard he stumbled back into the hallway. “Get out!”

Ryan stepped forward like he was going to come back in, but I wasn't having it. Annie was embarrassed enough without Ryan standing there gawking at her. Even I'd be a little uncomfortable if I'd started my period in some guy's bed. I slammed the door in Ryan's face and locked it so he couldn't come back in.

Then I crossed my arms and focused on the bed, trying to figure out how to convince Annie it was nothing to worry about. After a trauma like that, I was afraid she'd regress and turn back into the shy girl who could barely look at a guy.

“You okay?” I asked, turning to face Annie. Her cheeks were almost as red as the blood on the sheets.

She nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“We'll wash the sheets for Ryan. Don't worry, I'll talk to him about it.” I pressed my lips together to stop myself from saying more. The fewer words that came out of my mouth, the better.

Annie didn't say anything, so I started stripping the sheets off the bed. It was probably better to leave her alone until she'd had time to recover. “Go ahead and get cleaned up.”

“Thanks,” she said from behind me, then slipped out of the room.

Once the sheets were off the bed, I balled them up and headed for the living room. Damn. I guess that huge pile of laundry I'd been avoiding was finally going to get my attention. Unfortunately.

 

Liam gave Annie and me a lift back to the dorm, then hung out while I got the laundry started. He was leaving the next morning for England and Annie's flight back to Cali was later that night. The reality of saying good-bye to both of them for almost a month had me feeling down.

“You going to stay with me tonight?” Liam asked, leaning against the dryer.

I grinned and shrugged, but my insides were dancing with joy. It was a strange feeling after so long. “Maybe.”

He grabbed my hips and pulled me against him. “Not bloody maybe.”

I giggled when he kissed my neck, then down. Thank God for low-cut shirts! His lips moved across the top of my breasts and he slid his hands up, cupping them. I was having visions of him leaning me over the dryer . . .

He pulled away and I pushed out my bottom lip. “What the hell?”

“If you want more, you're going to have to stay with me tonight.” Liam flashed me a devilish grin.

“You're mean.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.

“Not mean,” he said with a wink, “just demanding.”

My phone rang before I could respond. I whipped it out, still spearing Liam with an intense glare. “It's Ryan.” Liam was still grinning when I slid my finger across the screen. “Yes?”

“Cami. I called Annie but she didn't answer. What time is her flight tonight?” He sounded breathless, like he'd been out running or was stressed. Maybe both. He tended to go for a run when he was stressed.

“Um . . . eight?” Liam grabbed my hips again and pulled me against him. Made it kind of difficult to think. “I'm not sure.”

“How is she getting to the airport?” Ryan asked.

Liam's lips moved across my collar bone and I closed my eyes. “A cab.”

“No. Tell her I'm taking her. Don't let her say no.” He sounded tense. Or maybe I was projecting. The fact that Liam's hands were cupping my ass while I was on the phone with Ryan was just weird.

I pulled away from Liam, who started laughing. I glared at him and took a deep breath to clear my head. Ryan wanted to give Annie a ride. Got it.

“Okay,” I said. “I'm washing your sheets, but I'll let her know when I get back up to our room.”

Ryan didn't respond and I rolled my eyes. He'd been so weird about the whole thing. I'd really expected him to just shrug it off. We'd grown up together, so it wasn't like he wasn't used to girls having periods. But he'd acted all uncomfortable, the way guys get when they don't have sisters and they don't know how to deal with that whole area of a woman's life.

“Okay, then. Nice talking to you,” I said, then hit
END
. I shoved the phone in my pocket and rolled my eyes. “Ryan is being weird.”

“About what?” Liam asked.

“About the whole Annie bleeding on his sheets thing. He acts all uncomfortable. He's always so weird around her.”

Liam cleared his throat, and when I looked up he had his eyebrows raised. “You think something is going on between them? Maybe they shagged.”

“Ryan and Annie?” I snorted at the absurd suggestion. “No way. No! Ryan wouldn't do that. Why would you say that?”

Liam shrugged. “The whole thing was a bit dodgy, that's all.”

I brushed the suggestion off without really considering it. It was ridiculous, of course. Chris still thought he was in love with Annie, which meant she would be off-limits for Ryan. He'd never do that to his best friend. I mean, this was Ryan we were talking about. He didn't have a selfish bone in his body.

 

After spending another amazing night in Liam's bed, I wasn't at all ready to say good-bye to him the next morning. His flight left at nine, which meant he had to be at the airport by six o'clock. Which meant we were up by four so we could fit in a nice, long shower.

My back was against the cold tile and Liam had my leg hiked up around his waist, giving him the perfect angle. I bit down on my bottom lip to stop from crying out since Ryan's room was right on the other side of the wall, but after a while I couldn't control myself.

When we were both satisfied, I lathered up my hair. My legs were still a little weak, but Liam was there to keep me up. He was very preoccupied with soaping up my boobs.

“They're clean,” I said, giggling and pushing his hands away.

“I want to be sure.” He squirted more soap on his hands, then rubbed his palms against my breasts, paying special attention to my nipples.

I tried to back away, but the shower didn't leave much room for escape. “They're so clean someone could eat off of them.”

Liam grinned and grabbed me around the waist, pulling me against him. “That's a bloody brilliant idea.”

He shoved his face right between my boobs and I cracked up. His body shook with laughter, but he wouldn't let me go. Not until he'd given my breasts a very thorough tongue bath.

“You're going to be late,” I said, putting my hands on his shoulders and trying to push him away. “We need to get out and get dressed so you don't miss your plane.”

Liam looked up, and his grin was so big it lit up the shower. “I want to miss my plane. Then we can stay here for the entire holiday. Just you and me. No clothes.”

He kissed me and my back hit the wall again. I stood on my toes so I could get closer to him, running my fingers through his wet hair while his tongue slid over mine. Staying there with him sounded like a fantastic idea. Who needed Christmas presents and family and New Year's Eve when I had Liam?

But he had a flight and I knew his mom was dying to see him.

I pulled away and untangled myself from his arms, then turned off the shower. “You need to go.”

He sighed and did a good job of pouting, but he got out with almost no argument. He was even nice enough to help me dry off—although he spent a little too much time on certain areas.

When we were finally dressed, we headed out to the living room, only to find Ryan in the kitchen. He glared our way. “That was probably the most disturbing wakeup call I've ever had.”

My cheeks actually got red. “Sorry.”

Liam just laughed, then poured himself some coffee. “Trying to make an honest woman of her, mate.”

“Right.” Ryan didn't crack a smile.

He'd been in a foul mood since the previous morning. It reminded me of how he'd acted when we went home for Thanksgiving, and I'd wondered if he was on his period. Maybe he and Annie were on the same cycle after all.

Ryan stomped off to his room.

“Bye, mate! Happy Christmas!” Liam called after him with a huge grin on his face.

Ryan ignored him completely.

When we were alone Liam turned to face me, his expression suddenly serious. “I'm going to miss you.”

I smiled at him over my coffee cup. “I'll miss you too.”

He nodded, but there was still uncertainty in his eyes. I waited for him to say something else or ask me to reassure him, but he didn't. He finished his coffee in silence, then started gathering his things.

Once he had everything together and he was ready to go, he stopped in front of me. “See you in a month?”