This causes Gráinne to stop cooking. “No more,” she grits out. “She won’t be calling you that anymore.”
“Gráinne, please, I don’t want to provoke—”
“Elizabeth,” Stephanie coddles. “You have friends. Real friends. People who adore you simply because you’re you. People who love you. That’s a rare thing.” Stephanie’s eyes are shiny. “Let them help.”
“Exactly,” Gráinne agrees. “Good friendsalsotell you things you might not want to hear. For example, Elizabeth, you don’t need to put up with her bullshit anymore. First of all, you look great. Seriously. You’re a goddess. She’s obviously jealous. Second of all, she’s a bitch. Not sure there’s a drug for that or I’d suggest we givehera nickname.”
“Eh, ‘the bitch’ works,” I snipe.
Elizabeth brushes a tear from her cheek as Gráinne continues. She’s a bit wound up this morning.
“Friends tell the truth. Even when it hurts. And that, Elizabeth, is simply me telling you, my dear friend, the truth. Just like I’m directly telling Taryn that she isn’t being fair to Liam. See? Didn’t sugarcoat it.” Gráinne nods as she places scrambled eggs in front of Stephanie.
“So, it’s my fault I don’t want to get married?” I mean, come on. I can’t believe she’s turning on me this way.
“Uh-uh. No. Don’t twist what I said.” She shakes her head. “I said you aren’t being fair to him. And, honestly, I don’t understand why.” When I raise my eyebrows incredulously, she sighs, “I know you don’t want to get married, Tare. No one here blames you for feeling that way. But, the fact is, youwillbe getting married. To Liam. And, he happens to be a good-looking, sweetheart of a guy who is into youdespiteall the bitchiness you’ve had going on lately. Oh, and don’t think it isn’t clear to all of us that you happen toactuallywant him too. We’ve all seen the way you look at him. Is there any possibility you could let go of your anger for a few minutes to focus on that?” She huffs as she approaches me with my plate.
“Uh, does Luca know you think that Liam is good-looking?” I grin at her. I don’t bother to tell her that if she would have seen Liam pummeling Sam last night, I doubt she’d still be calling him a “sweetheart.” She pulls back my plate, and I laugh. “I’m kidding. Kidding.” She gives me a look of warning before setting my over-easy eggs down in front of me. It’s amazing to me how much Gráinne has gotten behind the concept of telling it like it is. She used to laugh at me for not having a filter. Bonkers.
“He is, though,” Stephanie says, munching on turkey bacon. Personally, I prefer the real stuff, but when Gráinne showed up with a bag of groceries, I didn’t argue with her choices. At our look of confusion, Steph clarifies, “Liam is good-looking. I mean, damn.” She shakes her hand as though it’s hot.
We all laugh. I’m happy to see Elizabeth smiling.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “I know. Heishot. He’s also been nice. And patient. And interesting. And those muscles…” I trail off, picturing how he felt against me. Ugh. I can’t deny that I want to sleep with him. And I don’t mind talking to him either. This isn’t good.
“And don’t forget protective,” Elizabeth adds, yanking me out of my mental spiral.
“He really beat the crap out of Sam, huh?” Steph asks, leaning forward, bacon momentarily forgotten.
“He really, truly did. If the snow hadn’t melted, you’d see his blood all over our lawn. I still can’t believe any of that happened.” I have no idea why Sam felt the need to stop by or what he wanted to tell me. I may never find out now.
Stephanie snickers. “Sounds like your man doesn’t take too kindly to people insulting you.”
I don’t even flinch at hearing him called “my man.” Whether I like it or not, he is. The question is:doI like it? I let my guard down with Liam last night. He’s still an overly confident, smiles-too-much jerk, but it feltgoodto be with him at Titus. He included me. Asked my thoughts on things. Explained what has happened. Told Rowan that I matter. I can’t deny it. I felt special. Smart. Worthy. And, damn, Liam can fill out a suit.
As if reading my mind, Gráinne jumps back into the conversation.
“Is there any way you could relax with Liam a little? Give this relationship a chance?” she says, ignoring my grumbling, obviously on a mission. “You have some time before the wedding. And you obviously want to sleep with him. Why not lean in to the whole relationship? See where it goes?”
Before I have a chance to answer, Elizabeth cuts in. “Whyareyou so angry all the time, Tare? Is there something going on we don’t know about?”
What does she mean? “You think I’m angry all the time?”
All three of my friends stop what they’re doing to look at me. Oh. Well, fuck. I guess I’m a guarded person naturally—but, angry?
“You have always been kinda, I dunno, closed off,” Steph begins, “but ever since Liam came into your life, it’s gotten a lot worse. Like you don’t want to talk aboutanythingunless it includes jokes or sarcasm.” She takes a sip of her coffee, watching me closely. She’s probably waiting for me to freak out. “It’s like you are afraid to be happy.”
“You think that?” I sound small, even to my own ears.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Stephanie’s right,” Gráinne says hesitantly. “It’s like you don’t want anyone to really know you. You never share much with us.” At my look of hurt, she rushes on. “You’ve been a great friend, Tare. Always there. Always listening. God knows I wouldn’t have survived it when Luca and I briefly broke up last year without you and Elizabeth.” She pauses, I’m sure thinking back to how we practically babysat her to make sure she ate. “You are obviously a person who cares deeply, and I’m so glad you came into my life. I’m sorry I never made you feel safe enough to tell me how you feel about things. Like, I had no idea you wanted to leave New York…or be an attorney.” She swallows and her eyes tear up. “I need to learn to be a better friend.”
“I—no! You’ve been great. You all have.” I shake my head. “It’s not that I don’t want to be close to you all. You’re my besties. Really. I feel lucky to have you all.” I look down at my hands. I can’t meet their eyes. Those things Gráinne just said? I blurted all of it after too many drinks during our girls’ night out. I had no intention of sharing all of that.
God. They are right. I am closed off. And, maybe Iamangry. It’s so hard to talk about this with them. They have all bought into the life we were born into. Stephanie willingly dates a guy in the clan and puts up with all of his bullshit. Hell, Gráinne pretty much doubled down on this life when she got engaged to a mafia heir. She’s about to be a mafia wife. A lifetime of dinner parties and shopping. I can’t imagine she’d understand my desire to leave. My longing for control.
“Okay, ladies, finish up,” Gráinne instructs as I fight to compose myself. “Then, we’re going into the living room to hash this all out. We want details on what Cole’s done now.” At Stephanie’s alarmed look, Gráinne clarifies. “Or at least let us plan ‘Operation Lose the Dickhead’ because at the very least, he needs to learn a lesson. And I want to talk about how to best deal with Valentina, Liz, so that we don’t give you a panic attack. Because this nonsense can’t continue. And Taryn, maybe talking more about how youreallyfeel about Liam will be good for you. You obviously don’t hate him as much as you’d like us to believe. You called us here to listen. Wewantto listen.”
