Because of His Past (3 page)

At least that’s what she used to tell
herself.
 
But suddenly, she was with
Liam Houston and smiling so much that her cheeks were sore.
 

And that’s when she got the text from her
brother.
 
Her phone buzzed and she
saw it was a message from Scott.

WHAT
THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE

The words sent a spear of cold fear
through her chest.
 
She sat up
straight and Liam noticed.

“Something wrong?”

“No,” she muttered, getting up, still
gripping the phone tightly.
 
“I need
to run to the bathroom.”

“You can use mine,” he said, gesturing to
the bathroom right nearby in the room.

“It’s okay.
 
I want to stretch my legs and walk for a
second.”

Liam’s brow wrinkled.
 
“You sure you’re okay, Grace?
 
You look upset.”

She put on a fake smile.
 
“I’m fine.
 
Be back before you know it.”

Liam went back to staring at the
television.
 
On screen, Patrick
Swayze was karate kicking someone across a bar, and Liam clapped his
hands.
 
“That’s what I’m talking
about!” he cheered.

She left the room and instantly dialed
her brother back.

Scott answered immediately and his voice
barked viciously at her through the phone.
 
“Grace, you little ingrate.
 
Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me?”

“What happened?” she cried, as one of the
nurses at the main station on the floor turned to look at her.
 
She kept walking past the station and
out the double doors, into an empty waiting room.

“What happened,” Scott said, “is that you
destroyed my business.
 
Destroyed it.”

“Calm down—“

“I won’t calm down,” he said, and she
could hear his heavy breathing as if he were standing right beside her.

“I have no idea what you’re upset about.
 
How did I destroy your business?”
 
She went to the window and looked down
on a cold, gray skyline, with cars driving around a winding road, parking in
lots, and constructions workers puttering across the way, in a large building
that was being constructed for the hospital to expand into.

“Oh, I don’t know Grace.
 
Maybe I’m upset because Liam Houston’s
mother—one of the most powerful and influential women in all of New
York—just called me and personally told me that she was going to ruin my
business.”
 
He laughed wildly, and
Grace felt faint and nauseous all at once.

“When did she call you?”

“About five minutes ago,” Scott said.
 
“Now I’m drinking about a gallon of
whiskey and pondering what kind of roof I want to jump off.”

“Just calm down a second,” Grace said,
closing her eyes and trying to think.
 
“Tell me exactly—I mean word for what—what she said to you.”

Grace was having trouble believing that
Liam’s mother had really done this.
 
After all, they’d only just been in the same room together not long ago.

She heard the sound of her brother
gulping, probably guzzling the whiskey he’d referred to, and then he hissed into
the phone for a long moment before replying.
 
“I got a phone call, and I didn’t
recognize the number.
 
So I picked
it up and there’s a very rich sounding lady on the phone
who
asks if I’m the same Scott Knowles that planned the Easton Rather wedding.
 
I get excited, of course, because I’m
thinking that I’m about to hook a big fish—one of the rich ladies who
attended the wedding wants to use me!”
 

Her brother cackled again and then she
heard more gulping sounds.

“Scott, relax and keep talking,” she told
him, even though her own thoughts were racing and she was on the verge of
panic.

“Yeah, I’m
so
relaxed, Grace.
 
I’m
about to do some hot Yoga and eat some fucking granola.”
 
He snorted.
 
“Anyhow, once I told her that I was
the
Scott Knowles, she then informs me
of her name.
Anne motherfucking Houston.
 
I’m so happy, I start crowing about how
wonderful it is to speak to her, how many wonderful things I’ve heard about her.”
 
More gulping sounds issued from the
phone.
 
“And that’s when she drops
the hammer on me,” Scott said.
 
“In her
old witchy voice, she informs me that thanks to my idiotic, spiteful,
gold-digging sister, she has no choice but to smear my name everywhere she
goes, and will make it her job to run me and my wedding planning business out
of town and back to the boonies from whence I came.”

“Did she really call me a gold-digger?”
Grace asked, her throat tight.

“Of course, that’s what you care about,”
Scott said.
 
“My business that I’ve
spent years and years building and killing myself over is about to go down in
flames and all you can ask is whether this woman called you a gold-digger.
 
Why should I even be surprised?”

“No, that’s not all I care about.
 
I just don’t understand why she would
say that.”

“Because she’s a crazy, rich bitch who
thinks her son is God’s fucking gift.
 
And she most certainly doesn’t want her heir to the throne running
around with trailer trash girls who might get knocked up and take half the
family fucking fortune down with them!” Scott shouted, and his voice was so
shrill in her ear that she winced and moved her head away from the phone.

Finally, she put the phone back against
her ear.
 
“You better stop insulting
me, Scott.”

He quieted.
 
“It doesn’t matter anyway.
 
My life’s over.”

“It’s not. I can fix this.
 
I promise you I’ll make it my mission,
and I know just what I need to do.”

“I don’t think so,” he said, sounding
defeated, and slightly drunk now as well.
 
“I don’t think anybody can fix this.”

“You just pour the rest of that whiskey
in the sink and go to bed, and let me handle it.”

Scott laughed despairingly.
 
“Grace, you know I love you, doll.
 
But you’re in way over your head on this
one.”

And then he hung up and she was left
standing in the empty waiting room, staring out the window at a gray, empty
sky.

***

When she returned to the hospital room,
Liam had turned off the television.

“Hey,” she said, not knowing if she
should fake a smile, and then deciding there was no point in bothering.

“I know something’s up,” Liam said.
 
“I might be loopy on Percocet, but I’m
not that out of it, Grace.”

“You’re right,” she told him closing the
door behind her and walking over to the bed.
 
“Something’s up and it’s not good.”

He smiled.
 
“Whatever it is, can’t be that bad.”

“Your mother doesn’t approve of me,
Liam.”
 

Liam laughed.
 
“Is that all?
 
Grace, come sit.
 
Take a load off and stop looking like
the world’s about to end.
 
My mother
hates everyone, me most of all.”

“I don’t really care that she hates me,”
Grace said.
 
“But she’s also trying
to ruin my brother’s business, and I can’t let that happen.”

Liam sat up in bed, pulling himself into
a full sitting position with a grunt.
 
His blue eyes looked watery and slightly glazed, but he was still full
of intelligence and intensity.
 
“Tell me what’s going on.”

So she did tell him, and as she explained
the confrontation she’d had with his mother in the hospital waiting room, and
then how she had called Scott and threatened him, Grace saw Liam’s jaw set.

“She’s really gone too far this time,” he
muttered.
 
“Grace, could you get me
my cell phone please?”

“Why?
 
What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to do what needs to be
done.
 
What I should’ve done a long
time ago.”

“No,” Grace said, shaking her head and
folding her arms.
 

“Give me the phone,” Liam said.
 
“She’s out of control.
 
I’m an adult and I can decide who I will
or will not see.”

“She never tried to stop
you
,” Grace told him.
 
“It’s me that she’s after.”

“I don’t see any difference.”

“But there is a difference,” she
continued.
 
“Because she won’t hurt
you—she won’t try and ruin your life and reputation and career.
 
Not all of us are so lucky.”

He stared at her, his eyes slowly
comprehending.
 
“So, what—you
want to stop seeing me now?
 
You
want to let her win?”

“It’s not about winning and losing.
 
It’s about my brother.
 
I can’t let him suffer because of my behavior.”

 
Liam looked at her for a long time.
 
“Grace,” he said, starting to
smile.
 
“C’mon, Grace.
 
Seriously, now.
 
Don’t freak out about
it,
don’t let my mother scare you.
 
I
promise I’ll handle this.”

She felt her stomach tightening, churning
with pain and sadness as she realized that this was really happening.
 
Liam Houston wanted her to stay, wanted
her in his life—wanted to fight for her.
 

And she was the one who was pulling the
plug.

“Liam, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, looking
down, unable to meet his gaze.

“Don’t do this,” he said.
 
“You’re just letting her bully you.”

“I can’t let my brother suffer.
 
And I’m pretty sure if I stop seeing
you, she’ll back off.”

“Maybe not,” Liam said.

Her head snapped up and her eyes widened.
 
“Why wouldn’t she stop hurting him if
I’m out of the picture?”

“Because,” Liam said, “she doesn’t always
work that way.
 
She might keep
making his life miserable just to send you a message.”

Grace tugged at her ear and then smoothed
her hair behind it, fighting the urge to scream in frustration.
 
“What message?” she said, shaking her
head.
 
“Can’t you just tell her that
I’m gone and that it’s over?”

Liam folded his arms.
 
“I thought you didn’t want me telling my
mother to leave us alone.”

“I don’t want you telling her that we’re
an item.
 
It’s a bad idea.
 
A horrible idea.”

“What are you so scared of, Grace?”

“Listen,” she said, walking closer to him
now.
 
“You need to tell her that
it’s over between us or I’ll do it for you.
 
You and I—this was never going to
happen and we both know it.”

“I don’t feel that way,” he said.

“You’re just trying to piss off your
mommy,” Grace retorted, and immediately regretted her words.

Liam’s blue eyes were like frozen pieces
of ice—cold and impossibly beautiful.
 
“I didn’t want to come to this fucking
place,” he growled.
 
“I told you to
let me stay at your apartment, and then nobody would’ve known anything.
 
My mother wouldn’t have argued with
you—and she wouldn’t have attacked your brother.
 
But you refused to listen to me.
 
You went and called the cavalry and had
me shipped to the hospital.”

“I was scared you were hurt.
 
And the doctor agreed with me.”

Liam just laughed.
 
“You went against my wishes, and then
you have the stones to say that I’m only spending time with you to piss off my
mother?
 
Who the hell do you think
you are to say that to me?”

“I guess I’m not anyone,” Grace replied,
her throat constricted as she looked into his unflinching gaze.

She didn’t want it to be like this.
 
She didn’t want Liam to hate her the way
he hated her now.
 
The look on his
face was like an arrow through her chest, and she could hardly breathe.

“This is all you,” Liam whispered.
 
“So do what you’re going to do,” he
said.
 
“Go.”