“Shut up, Cassidy.”
She handed the folder to Isabella and smiled.
“I updated it all for you. I wouldn’t want you to fail. Oh, and I made a more accurate family tree as well.”
This time I knew my face had gone pale. Cassidy moved closer as she shook her head.
“Tsk Tsk, Liam. I can’t believe you never mentioned Sarah in all your bonding sessions.”
Taking a finger, she trailed it down my chest.
“When she breaks up with you for lying to her, I’ll be waiting. Of course, you will have some begging to do, but I’ll forgive you eventually because I know the real you. It will be a year next weekend. Stop trying to change your stripes. We both know you can’t keep this good guy act up much longer.”
Cassidy sashayed away, but the damage was already done. Isabella was looking at my family tree and her wide eyes turned to mine.
“Who’s Sarah?”
I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. To my horror, though, Cassidy threw one last dig at me while slipping into the front seat of her car to drive away.
“Oh, Sarah is his dead sister, dear. He has some stupid notion that he’s the reason she’s gone. Toodles.”
Isabella was looking at me in shock. Her face was pale, and for the first time since we met, she was looking at me with both horror and disappointment. It was a look I was familiar with but one I had hoped I would never receive from Isabella.
My whole body felt numb and weak and I found myself falling back against the car. Alarm hit my girlfriend’s face. At least, I hoped she was still my girlfriend.
“Liam? Liam, are you okay?”
I felt sweaty and cold and my mind couldn’t seem to form a coherent sentence. All I managed to do was shake my head. Then, a minute later, my whole world went black.
Isabella
I watched Liam fall to the ground and felt completely helpless. The sound of his head hitting the pavement terrified me. Lowing myself next to him, I dropped the folders and tried to see how badly he was hurt. There was a gash on his head and he was bleeding, but it didn’t seem deep.
I propped his head in my lap and called his name a few times. Touching his cheek, I whispered for him to open his eyes. I had no idea what to do. Grabbing his phone, I was about to call 911 when he let out a moan and his eyes started to flutter open. He blinked up at me.
“What happened?”
Holding him tight against me, I whispered, “I think you fainted. You hit your head, though. We might need to get you to the hospital.”
Liam shook his head.
“Why are we always falling and knocking ourselves out?”
Unable to stop myself, I laughed.
“You’re bleeding. We need to get you some ice at least, but if it doesn’t stop bleeding soon, I’m going to take you to the emergency room.”
“Richard and Alison are still here. Do you think you can help me inside? And I will call them. Alison is pre-med. She’ll know if I really need a hospital.”
Somehow, we managed to get him into his bedroom. To be honest, I had never realized how strong he actually was. I pressed the phone to his hand as I rushed to gather wet rags and some ice. Alison said she would be right down. I did the best I could to clean the wound until she arrived.
I waited for her to examine him and was finally able to release the terror I felt when she announced it was just a slight concussion and he would be fine. She found an emergency kit and bandaged him up. Alison told him to stay away from bright lights for a few days and limit the amount of time he was looking at any kind of screen. As she and Richard went to leave, she took my hand.
“He can have aspirin when he needs it. There will be headaches for a few days, but try to keep him awake for the next few hours. If he falls asleep, call me.”
Assuring her I would, I watched them walk away and hurried toward the bed. Liam sat looking completely depressed. Sitting next to him, I entwined my fingers with his and sighed.
“Please tell me that you find it as frustrating as I do that all this time, the world seemed to be forcing us together, and now that we are together, it seems to be pushing us apart.”
