I took orders and then moved to head for the bar, dropping a kiss on the top of Iggy’s head as I left. In case Liam was looking.
That was my excuse, and I was sticking to it.
Liam was still working his shift behind the bar, and as I approached, I realized I’d have to go to him, since the other bartender was busy with a group.
It didn’t take long before Liam finished polishing glasses and approached me.
“I won’t bite,” he said. “Honestly, it’s nice to know you’re still alive. Kinda disappeared off the face of the Earth for a while there.”
“Yeah, well, you know how college is.” I shrugged. Why was he being nice to me? Shouldn’t he have been mad that I was apparently engaged to his ex?
Liam’s crush on Iggy had been obvious from the first day I’d met him, and he’d never liked me, because I’d been Iggy’s friend first. I didn’t expect anything other than thinly-veiled hostility.
But this didn’t feel like that.
“Never went,” Liam said. “Thinking about it, though. What’d you study?”
“Uh.” Was he really asking? Why did he care? “IT stuff. Kinda boring.”
Liam nodded as though he was actually interested. “Cool. What can I get you?”
“Uh, another two of those peach ciders and two more house beers, please,” I said. The way Wes and Hayden talked about it made me curious, but I was driving, and I wasn’t putting Iggy atanyrisk. Not even a couple of mouthfuls of IPA’s worth of risk.
“Iggy not drinking?” Liam asked, real concern in his voice.
“He can’t, with the painkillers.”
“From the accident, right,” Liam said. “Lucky you were there to get him to a hospital.”
I was never,evertelling Liam I was the one who hit Iggy.
“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, he scared me.”
Liam nodded. “He probably shouldn’t have coffee, either, because of the caffeine.”
“Try telling him that,” I said without thinking. I still remembered the coffee he’d had earlier, and I didn’t think for a second it’d been his only one of the day.
Liam snorted. “I’m not that brave.”
He grabbed the drinks I’d asked for and slid them across the bar. “I’d bring ‘em over, but Iggy…”
“I can take them,” I said, not wanting to get into a discussion about why Iggy didn’t want to speak to him. If it wasn’t obvious, it never would be.
Liam had broken Iggy’s heart, and I’d never forgive him for that.
“Of course,” Liam said. “Hey, uh… I dunno if you’ve got the time, but, umm. Could I maybe pick your brain at some point?”
“About what?”
What possible advice could he want from me?
How to win Iggy back after he’d screwed up? Not only did I not know, what would make him think I was likely totellhim?
“How you got out,” Liam said, polishing another glass.
“Out of…?”
“Otter Bay,” Liam said, wetting his lips. “Not sure where to start. I’ve got some savings, but I don’t have any idea where to go, y’know? What to do when I get out.”
