The Ending I Want

And then we’re on the last chorus, and the song is over way too quickly for my liking.

People are clapping and cheering. I see Liam standing up on his stool, whistling.

I give a little bow.

I have never felt so amazing in all my life as I do now—well, apart from when I’m in Liam’s bed.

“You were great.” Lee smiles at me.

I hand him back the microphone and sheet music. “Thanks.” I beam. “And thank you for letting me sing with you guys.”

“Anytime. You can sing with us anytime.”

My smile gets even bigger.

Heart pumping with adrenaline, I turn to leave the stage, and Liam is there. He puts his hands on my waist, lifting me down. My body slides against his, and he pauses me when our faces are close. His lips meet mine in a soft kiss.

“That was fucking amazing, Boston. I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m proud of me, too.” I smile.

“One more thing crossed off your list.”

“It is.”

Liam puts me on my feet, and holding my hand, he leads us back to our seats at the bar.

“That was really great, Taylor.” Cam smiles at me.

“She was better than great, fuckwit. She was hot as fuck up there,” Eddie says to him.

Liam reaches over and slaps Eddie on the back of the head.

“Oi!” Eddie complains, rubbing his head where Liam just smacked him.

“Don’t call her hot.”

“I was giving her a compliment.”

“You can give her compliments without calling her hot, dickface.” Liam gives him a stern look.

“You did really great,” Cam tells me again. “Let me get you a drink on the house.”

“I still have my beer left, but thanks.”

“I’ll take Taylor’s free beer,” Eddie says.

“You can pay for yours, you cheap bastard,” Cam tells him. He grabs a bottle and pops the cap, putting it on the bar in front of Eddie.

“What about me?” Liam says. “Don’t I get offered a drink around here?” He waves his empty beer bottle around.

“I’ll have a beer waiting for you when you’re done.”

“When I’m done?” Liam’s brows draw together, puzzled.

“You’re up to sing. I thought you’d want to show off your killer serenading skills to Taylor. Because we all know how you want it that way.” Cam chuckles, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Liam looks confused for a moment. He glances at Eddie, who is also wearing a huge grin.

Then, something dawns on Liam, and his expression drops. “You didn’t?”

“Ye-ah,” Eddie sings from behind us.

“You are…” Cam sing-laughs.

“You set of cunts,” Liam growls.

“Aw, don’t be like that. You’re my fire!” Eddie bursts out laughing.

“I fucking hate you both. Why the hell am I still mates with you?”

“Tell me why!” Cam barely gets the words out because he’s laughing so hard.

I can’t help but laugh. I have no clue what I’m laughing about, but I have a feeling I’m about to find out.

“Hardy-fucking-har. I hope you both fuck hookers, and your dicks fall off.”

“You do realize that’s medically impossible, right?” Eddie smirks at him.

Liam looks murderous, which only makes Eddie and Cam laugh harder.

He sighs and gets up from his stool. He turns to me, cupping my chin in his hand, staring deep into my eyes. “Whatever they tell you, it’s a lie.” He lifts his eyes over my head, leveling them both with a harsh glare. “And if I were you two, I’d sleep with your eyes open from now on.” His eyes come back to me. “Remember, Boston, all lies.”

“All lies. I got it.”

He kisses me firmly on the lips and then leaves me. Walking in the direction of the stage, he looks defeated, like a man heading for execution.

Liam climbs up onto the stage and takes the microphone that Lee was holding out for him.

The next thing I hear is the intro for “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys, and Liam starts to sing. Rather badly.

Okay…

I turn back to Cam and Eddie, barely able to control my laughter. “So, which one of you is going to tell me the story behind this song and why Liam looks like he wants to kill you both?”

Cam grins and rests his arms on top of the bar while Eddie moves his stool closer.

Leaning forward, Cam says, “Okay, so we were sixteen years old. We were in an all-boys boarding school, and girls were like gold dust to us. So, when you got a girl…well, it was like Christmas. Anyway, Liam was seeing this girl, Sophie Forester, from a neighboring school. And she dumped him because she’d heard that he’d shagged another girl.”

“Had he?” I ask.

“Oh, yeah, totally,” Eddie says.

“But Liam was all cut up because he realized that he’d made this huge mistake by sleeping with this other girl.” Cam slaps a hand to his chest, feigning drama. “He was down and driving us fucking nuts, so we snuck out of school and took him to the off-license to buy some booze. We thought if we got him drunk, he’d shut the fuck up about Sophie. Only it didn’t quite work out that way.”

Eddie tells me, “We were sitting at the park, getting hammered on cheap cider, when Liam gets to his feet and suddenly announces that he has this amazing”—he emphasizes with his hands, laughing—“idea and that Sophie will forgive him and get back together with him.”

Cam laughs. “Of course, we encouraged this line of thinking because…well, we thought it would be funny to watch Liam do whatever he was going to do to win this chick back.”