Liam emits a heavy sigh. “You’d laugh and think I’m crazy if I tell you, so can we just … skip that part and let me just say it’s over with Iris?”
“Was it something that happened between you and Iris?” I guess. If it’s friends with benefits, maybe someone caught feelings or the sex became something way too kinky for Liam or Iris. That would at least explain his reluctance to elaborate.
“No. It was another girl, whom I’m not even dating. We just kissed.” Liam stands, and he’s grumbling under his breath, but I can’t discern what he’s saying.
“You like this other girl.” It’s an easy guess; why else would he break it off with Iris?
“Yes,” Liam says, staring at me. “But I can’t like her.”
“Why not?” I don’t understand the problem.
“It’s complicated.” Liam walks to the kitchen, leaving Ashton and me on the couch.
I glance at Ashton, and he just shrugs. I stand, following Liam into the kitchen.
“Come on, you know anything you tell us will be kept in the strictest of confidence.” I lean against the kitchen cabinets, waiting for Liam to spill the details. I’m a girl for gossip.
“I’m not worried about you telling anyone anything,” he says. “It’s just, there isn’t much to tell. The girl I kissed, I despise. We’re complete opposites. She’s mean. Spoiled. Rich. The kid is a brat.”
“Kid?” I repeat, confused. “I thought it was someone in college. What the hell, Liam? Are you dating someone underage?”
“Fuck, no! She’s not a kid anymore. We knew each other as kids, and she tormented me. Hell, I tortured her right back. We have a tumultuous past. And we’re not dating. It was one kiss.”
“Okay.”
Ashton’s soft footsteps patter across the floor. He drapes an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close against him. “Is that why you came back to the party last week?”
Liam tenses before nodding. “That’s when I ran into the girl and then canceled on Iris.”
“Must have been some girl.” Ashton whistles and smirks. “You should call her.”
“I don’t have her phone number, and even if I did, the girl has a mean right hook.”
Ashton chuckles. “Liam got beat up by a girl,” he sings, teasing his teammate.
“I will deny it and kill you if you tell a soul.” A darkness flashes across Liam’s features, and Ashton holds his hands up.
“So long as you don’t tell Luca about Nova and me, you have a deal.”
“I’ve been keeping your secret, but he’s going to find out, eventually.”
Twelve
Harper
Excitement bubbles in my chest, or maybe it’s Zeke who keeps blowing raspberries into me for attention.
Nova, Kensley, and I are seated in the front row. I have Zeke on my lap, and my hands keep repositioning his headphones to block the noise from the crowd.
Zeke doesn’t seem to understand he needs to keep the headphones on, and he keeps trying to push them off with his tiny hands.
Bringing a toddler to a hockey game wasn’t the best idea, but I want Zeke to see his daddy playing hockey.
Daddy.
Marriage.
It’s all still a weird, foreign concept.
