Chapter 36

Becky

8:30 PM THURSDAY

I’m hanging on every fucking word Liam is saying. And the longer he talks, the more fucking far-fetched his story seems to me.

When he concludes, I’m not sure if I should fucking laugh or cry. After having waited so fucking long to hear the last missing piece of the puzzle…it doesn’t seem to fucking fit.

“You’re fucking joking, aren’t you?”

A girl can hope, right?

Liam frowns a little and shakes his head.

Does he take me for a little girl who’ll just accept anything she’s told as long as it’s something? And what am I supposed to do with this information anyway?

Or…I guess I just don’t want it to be real.

“He couldn’t have been here,” I hear myself protest. “He’s in San Francisco. Not here in Vegas with hookers and drugs.” As I dissect his story, my conviction grows: Liam is lying to me. “Why would they be in our suite? And how the fuck would they get there anyway? It doesn’t make any fucking sense. I’m sorry.”

I take some deep breaths as I look at Liam.

Liam only shrugs.

“He’s a liar, Becky. He lied to you. Said he was in San Francisco so he could come to Vegas with his friends on his own. Got too fucked up on cocaine to remember which suite was theirs and came crashing into yours instead. Their party was in full swing when you guys came back from the spa and stumbled upon them.”

I feel like my heart is breaking all over again.

Dan loves me.

Dan bought me a million-dollar engagement ring. Dan would not hurt me like this. Dan was honest, hard-working, and back at home.

Except that Dan hasn’t been taking his calls. And our room was trashed, exactly as Liam described it. It would even explain my missing wedding ring, and why I must have felt so fucking close to Liam last night.

“But, the merger…” I insist, but I’m grasping for straws.

“Never happened,” Liam says. “All lies.”

Dan never wants to talk about his work, now that I think about it. If this is true, what else in our relationship has been a lie?

Was any of it even real in the first place?

My head is hurting already, and I try and focus. This was all a bigger mess than before.

I mean, how could any of this be happening?

Briefly, I close my eyes and lean back in my chair. Keep calm and stay fucking focused, I tell myself as I try very hard to order my thoughts.

Of course, I have this annoying buzzing in my head from too much alcohol. Memories of funny-colored drinks come back to haunt to me.

I reach for the coffee, which Liam gave me after he rescued us from those losers back at the casino. It’s gone cold by now.

The thought of earlier makes me hang my head in shame. Maybe Liam was treating me like a little kid and a fool because that is exactly what I was.

“It’s not true,” I say, because I don’t want it to be. “You’re lying to me to keep me away from him.”

“Dammit, Becky,” Liam growls. “Think about it. Have you talked to him since?”

I bite my bottom lip. There had been several attempts to speak to Dan…and I did speak to Connor and Chet over the last couple of days…

Fuck. This was all so fucking confusing.

“Well, yes, I’ve called him,” I reply defensively and stick my chin out.

“You haven’t actually spoken to him, have you?” Liam is leaning toward me. “You’ve only been speaking to those dumbfuck henchmen of his. What are their names again? Connor, Chet and—who fucking cares.”

Unfortunately, his words hit home to me. It’s true I actually haven’t spoken to Dan personally.

“Well,” I start and stop again. “He’s busy at work…”

“Every fucking hour of every day?” Liam shakes his head. He’s getting more frustrated with me now. Raising his voice. “He’s not able to come to the phone out of his own fucking design! Because he’s still coked out of his mind, doing blow out of stripper’s asses while he lets you worry and stress and fret!”

Don’t cry, I tell myself. Stop fucking balling your eyes out every time you hear something not to your liking. You’re not a little girl anymore! Crying solves nothing; it only wears you out.

“I don’t fucking understand you Becky. You’ve been asking and asking me for what happened, and here I’ve told you in close detail what I know, and you don’t fucking believe me. What did you ask me for if you weren’t going to buy what I have to fucking say?”

“Dan is in San Francisco, working on his merger—” Now that I say it out loud, I feel really fucking silly.

“How hard is it to understand?” Liam’s running his fingers through his hair. “Dan is in Vegas. He’s still in Vegas. He’s avoiding your calls and having his fun while expecting me to lie to you and mop up the mess he’s made.”

The world is spinning, and I feel as if my limbs are getting heavier and heavier.

I’d hoped knowing what Dan did, if anything, would make me feel better.

But it only makes everything hurt more. The fact I’ve had a few too many drinks is no help either.

The buzzing in my head is increasing to unacceptable proportions. It feels as if a swarm of angry bees has been unleashed, and now they’re trying to find their way out. But of course they’re fucking trapped in my head.

Their buzzing is getting angrier and an angrier by the second. If this fucking racket continues for much longer, I think I will really have to puke all over Liam’s plush carpet and leather lounge.

God, no.

Please don’t let me make a total fucking fool of myself.

“Fuck.” Liam’s harsh words cut right through me and my self-pity. “I can’t believe you’re buying Dan’s fucking bullshit. You’re a much smarter woman than you give yourself credit for, Becky. But if you choose to believe that dumbfuck Dan, well, I can’t help you anymore.”

Wide-eyed, I stare at what so far has always been a calm, kind, and gentle man.

Liam stands up abruptly, and I feel fear grip my heart and squeeze tightly.

Thunderclouds are all over his face. His right hand is clenching into a fist.

I brace for the impact of hand or fist on my skin. I’ve never been hit before, but I bet it’s going to fucking hurt.

In movies, it looks painful.

I hope there won’t be any blood.

But if he’s going to hit me, I hope he hits hard enough so I pass out. If I pass out now, I can stop fucking thinking about all those crazy things he’s told me, and the angry bees will definitely stop their buzzing in my head.

But he doesn’t hit me.

Instead, he just tosses something onto my lap.

“I got you this. But I can see I was wasting my fucking time.”

He storms out, leaving a velvet green box in my lap.

Relief and horror washes over me. Of course Liam wouldn’t hit me. What had I been fucking thinking?

I mean, one just has to look at this sex god to know he’s the perfect gentleman. His eyes were always gentle and kind.

And yet you thought he was going to thump you, my inner voice reminds me, and I feel foolish. Guess that says a lot about my expectations from men after eight months with Dan the Man. Hard bottom, huh?

All I can do now is stare after him, open-mouthed. Should I run after him? Trouble is, in my current state, running is not an option.

Even getting up in my current state is going to be proving fucking difficult. Where were my bridesmaids? I need to speak with them urgently and give them the latest.

They’ll help me make a decision. I know they will.