Chapter Fifteen
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I chanted as I paced the room. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
I ran to the bathroom and dropped to my knees just in time. Liam rushed into hold my hair.
“I appreciate you, but please go away,” I gasped out before hurling again. When I fell silent for a while, Liam popped his head in the doorway to check on me. “Bring me a toothbrush, please.”
He did as I asked and sat with me on the floor.
“I heard everything,” he said after I finished brushing my teeth.
“Unfortunately, so did I.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Ugh. I can’t remember the last time I threw up. The shock of what she said literally made me sick. I’ve been a horrible friend to her.”
I felt awful that she’d gone through all that alone. If I hadn’t had her and Isaac growing up, I’d have gone crazy too. She’d struggled through that hell on her own.
“I should have paid closer attention. I must have slept over there a thousand times. I never saw them as anything more than kind and loving parents.”
“You saw what they wanted you to. Same with Stella. She portrayed herself the way she thought everyone wanted her to be. What she has become is her parents’ fault. Not yours.”
I knew he was right. I knew thinking I could have saved her was egotistical and wrong, but it didn’t take away the guilt of knowing how shitty a friend I’d been.
I looked up at him, nibbling my lip.
“You know, the first time I saw you, you were doing that.” He reached out his hand to run his thumb over my lip.
Without thinking, I turned and pressed a kiss to his palm. “You said the first time you saw me was when I was a baby.”
“No. I said I came back because I’d heard Bryant wanted to kill a baby. The first time I saw you, you were about eighteen. It was the first Council hearing I attended. Before that, I had made Philip fill in for me.”
“Really? I don’t remember ever seeing him. I remember you though.”
He grinned at me. “You were defending yourself after kicking Thomas Kirkland’s ass.”
I smiled. “Oh yeah, Tommy. That was fun. Quarterback of the football team thought he could take me. That was my favorite fight because he did better than the others before him.”
“I walked into the room, and the second I saw you I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I knew about the mark beforehand but seeing it, seeing you was something else. You were magnificent.”
I crawled over to him and settled on his lap. He lifted me and carried me into the bedroom to sit on one of his armchairs, still holding me.
“I felt magnificent that day. Then I got cocky, got my ass handed to me a couple times after that. Isaac set me straight and I’ve been good since.”
He stroked my hair as we fell silent for a while.
“What are we going to do about Stella? I was thinking of following her,” I murmured.
“I’ve had someone tailing her and Roland. The only places they go are her house or the abandoned carnival.”
“We need to search those fairgrounds.” When he didn’t immediately refuse or tell me he’d have someone else do it, I shifted to look at his face and kissed him. “I need to call Isaac.”
His brow furrowed. “After that kiss you’re thinking of Isaac?”
I laughed and wiggled out of his lap. “The kiss was because you didn’t go all Alpha on me about searching the fairgrounds. Isaac is so I can tell him about my call with Stella.”
He smiled and pulled me back into his lap for another kiss. “Okay, now you can call him.”
My brain was swimming with lust, but I shook it off and grabbed my phone. Isaac answered on the second ring. He was so quiet the entire time I spoke I thought the phone had disconnected.
“Isaac?”