She finally cocks her head and asks, “Do you ever regret doing that to him?”
I ponder how honest to be. I decide I need full transparency. “I regret that it cost us our friendship. What I don’t regret is that I broke them up. That bitch would have destroyed Liam, whether he wanted to admit it or not.”
“I see,” she says, looking at the fire.
I let the silence take us away, giving her time to understand my side of the story.
She finally glances back at me with a new question. “For curiosity’s sake, whatever happened to Sophia?”
I grab my official fire-poking stick that always stays near my chair at the fire pit and begin poking at the fire, readjusting the burning wood. “I hadn’t seen her in a really long time. This happened back in our twenties; but a few years ago, I represented out of town clients, and I actually ran into her in the courtroom. We caught up for a couple minutes. From what she told me, she’s gone through two multi-millionaires and a billionaire, working on her fourth marriage now.”
Mallory’s brows shoot up. “She told you her ex-husbands were multi-millionaires and billionaires? Like used those words?”
I give a firm nod. “That’s the type of woman she is. She’s not with any of them for love, it’s all for money, and one of those ex-husbands could have been Liam.”
Mallory sips her wine, regarding me. “I’ve never really taken Liam for being a guy that could be blindsided by anything.”
“That’s because you know him now,” I counter gently. “Back then, he was soft, where I was hard. He was a dreamer and a romantic.”
“And you weren’t?”
I shake my head. “I saw Sophia for who she was.”
Mallory pauses, absorbing a story I never thought I’d tell anyone else. The trees rustle around us, the slight, warm breeze brushing across my skin when she finally asks, “Did you think he’d forgive you once you explained yourself?”
“To be honest, I wasn’t thinking that far ahead,” I admit, which is where the twenty-two-year-old version of myself had gone wrong. “All I knew was I had to stop him from proposing.”
“Hmm…” She hesitates to sip her wine, frowns, then asks, “If you could go back in time would you do things differently?”
“I wouldn’t change a damn thing,” I tell her without hesitation. “At that point in our lives, I considered Liam family. I wouldn’t let that fucking money-hungry bitch destroy him. If that meant he had to hate me for it, then so be it.”
She begins to nibble her lip, eyebrows drawn.
I chuckle. “Something more to ask?”
“Did you tell Liam any of this?”
I poke the fire again, sending more sparks to flicker up to the dark sky. “He didn’t exactly give me the chance to.”
“Because he almost killed you?” she asks dryly.
“He tried.” I snort. “But as you see, I’m still here and kicking.”
She’s nearly off her chair now, scooting right to the very edge. “Okay, but after he cooled off, why didn’t you guys sit down and talk things out?”
I give her a look I assume appears deadpan. “We’re men.”
She suddenly shakes her head softly, muttering something I can’t decipher before she says clearly, “Well, Jackson, I have to say that this feud you two have going on is stupid.”
“Stupid?” I frown.
“Beyond stupid.” She takes a big deep breath before addressing me again. “I guess what you did is sort of sweet by looking out for him. Though it’s sweet in the most fucked-up way ever. Because honestly, you should have just let him learn from his own mistakes.” She waves that off, returning to her ramble that I find incredibly cute when it’s not directed at me. “That’s neither here nor there, because it’s happened and there isn’t anything you or Liam can do about it now.”
I arch a brow. “Is there a point you’re trying to make here?”
“Yes,” she says with a firm nod, “and my point is, obviously you two have broken hearts and need to have a man-hug and a good long talk.”
I narrow my eyes on her. “My heart is not broken over Liam, Mallory.”