He may have gotten the better of me, but I would end things on my terms. I’d have him one last time and then walk away.
“Bailey!” Archer called out. “Where are you going?”
“To get my revenge.”
31
LIAM
“Liam!”
The pounding on my door woke me out of a dead sleep, but it was the frantic voice on the other side that had me jumping out of bed.
Dressed in only my boxers, I didn’t bother with anything else as I ran for the door and flung it open, panting hard as I stared at the woman on the other side. Glancing past her, I saw Archer waiting in the truck, lifting his fingers in a jaunty wave.
“Bailey, what’s?—”
Stumbling inside, she tore off her shirt, casting it aside. “I’m here for one last fling, and then I’m going to leave you like you left me,” she chuckled. “And then I will have my revenge because you will miss me when I’m gone.”
She had no fucking clue how right she was about that.
I snatched her shirt off the floor, sighing as I walked over to her. “Bailey?—”
“You don’t get to do this, Liam. You don’t get to pretend that I mean nothing to you when you…” She flung her arm wide, nearly falling over in the process. “You cast me aside like I meant nothing! I was good for you!”
Her voice quivered as she looked at me with tear-filled eyes, butthe smell of alcohol lacing her breath cued me in to the reason for her distressed state. Christ, how did she even get out here in her condition?
“I went home with someone else tonight,” she laughed. “I was going to use,” she jabbed me with her finger, “him,” —jab—“for” —jab—“sex.” —Jab—“You know what that’s like, don’t you?”
My fists clenched tight as I fought every instinct in me to run over to her and tell her she was not just some random woman I brought home. That I was in love with her and I always would be. But her words had me holding back.
“So,” I said casually, “who was this mystery man you brought home?”
“You saw him,” she grinned sloppily. “You saw him walk out of that bar with me.” Sauntering over to me, she pressed her hand to my chest.
“Archer,” I grunted unhappily. “Fucking prick.”
Even though I had pushed her into his arms, there was no stopping the uncontrollable rage that simmered under my skin. What else was I hoping for? I’d pretty much begged him to look after her, knowing he would do whatever he felt he should to keep her safe, even if that meant taking her to bed and wiping me from her memory.
“So, was he any good?”
“I didn’t fuck him,” she murmured, sliding her hand south. “He didn’t make me feel like you could.”
I clutched her hand just as she lowered it over my boxers. Hell, if she put her hands on me now, there would be no stopping what would happen next.
“You should go home. You’re drunk.”
“Because of you,” she snarled. “Because the only way to erase you from my mind is to get blindingly drunk! Do you see what you’ve done to me?” she screamed. “Is this what you wanted?”
“I didn’t want any of this,” I snapped.
“Right,” she laughed. “Not me. Certainly not anything I could offer. It was all a game, wasn’t it?”
“You are not a game,” I hissed.
“Then what the hell was that?” she shouted. “Why would you do that to me? What the hell did I ever do to deserve to be tossed aside like I meant nothing?”
“Bailey—” I reached for her, but she twisted out of my grip.
