Relinquishing Liberty (18 page)

“Well, I missed you. Plus I didn’t want all that food to go to waste. Maddie had some, but she eats like a bird, and there was no way I was eating it all by myself.”

“Well I guess you made the right decision then. So what do you think of my dad?”

“He’s great, Shayne. I can see why the two of you are so close. I’m really glad you have someone like him in your life.”

He gently brushed a few strands of hair that came loose from my ponytail behind my ear. “Well, you better get used to him because he’s a part of your life now, too.”

“Yeah, I was surprised that he already knew who I was. I see you’ve been talking to him about me, huh?”

“Maybe a little.” He gently pressed a kiss on my forehead. “And everything I told him was true.”

His eyes gazed into mine lovingly, and looking away proved to be impossible. Shayne was like my own personal drug; I couldn’t help but become deliciously drunk on him. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my fingers in the silky strands of his hair and drawing him closer until our lips melded together. My tongue ran along his bottom lip, begging for entrance and he willingly obliged.

I tried to convey everything I felt for him in that kiss; everything that I was too afraid to put into words. I knew that I loved him. No. It was so much more than that. But I wasn’t ready to take that step just yet, for fear that I might scare him off. Our relationship had only just begun and if I lost him now…

I didn’t even want to think about it. Not right now. Not when I was floating on cloud nine while he held me close and consumed me with such fire and passion. Just the idea of Shayne being nothing more than a faded memory caused a horrible tightness to pull in my chest. How was that even possible? God, I was already in too deep.

I didn’t deserve this wonderful man.

It wasn’t until the suggestive whistles and catcalls drifted towards us from the other fishermen on boats nearby that we finally broke apart. Of course he had to make a show of it, slowly dipping me before he brought me back up for air. This man sure knew how to take my breath away.

“I’m taking you out Friday night.” It was more of a statement than a question.

I was still trying to catch my breath. “You…you are?”

“Yup. Dinner, drinks, dancing. The whole works.”

“Wow. And here I was beginning to think you were keeping our relationship a secret from the world.” My statement was dripping in sarcasm. Shayne and I had yet to take our relationship outside of my apartment and his house. Not because either one of us were ashamed to be seen with each other. We were still in the early stages of getting to know one another and preferred the privacy.

“Fuck no! I want to show you off, sweetheart. Make everyone else jealous that I have the…” He pressed his warm lips against my jaw. “Most.” He leaned in further, kissing me softly behind the ear. “Gorgeous.” Now his lips trailed down my throat, darting his velvety tongue out against my rapidly throbbing pulse. “Girlfriend.” He breathed the words against my mouth before his lips captured mine, and I melted in his arms.

“Okay,” I replied breathlessly.

His hooded gaze bore straight into me. “I’ll pick you up around eight.”

He gave me a quick peck on the nose and released me abruptly from his hold, as though what just transpired between us was not the most sensual moment of my life. My mouth hung open, amazed at how quickly he had me under his spell. It was like a switch went off, and as soon as he had me swooning, he went back to his laid-back, fun-loving self. Oh, he knew what he was doing and he clearly won this time. Well played, sir. Well fucking played.

“AJ’s” was packed tonight, and when it finally died down around 9:30, I was beyond exhausted. My back hurt, my head hurt, my feet hurt…I’d give anything just to go home and take a nice long relaxing bubble bath.

Brett was surprisingly in a good mood, but for some reason it just rubbed me the wrong way. We ended our so-called “date” on good terms, but I still had this feeling in my gut that he wasn’t completely on board with my feelings for Shayne. Something was definitely off.

When there was a lull in customers, I made my way over to the bar and finally broke the news to Brett that Shayne and I had made things official, but the huge smile that was plastered on his face never wavered. Not once. That just seemed to irk me even more.

“Well, that must be a new record.” He gave me a smug grin.

“What?” I looked at him puzzled.

He leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. “So how long did it take?”

“How long did what take? Just spit out whatever it is you have to say, Brett!” What the hell was he trying to get at?

“Well. According to my calculations, and mind you I’m just roughly estimating here, there had to be about, oh I don’t know, six maybe seven hours between you running from one man’s arms to another’s. I must say Liberty, that’s quite impressive. I think you just might have a shot at getting into
The Guinness Book of World Records
.”

He clapped his hands together with an excessive amount of enthusiasm, catching the attention of everyone in the restaurant. When Maddie saw what was going on, she raced over to the bar, shoving Brett up against the counter and rattling several bottles of liquor. He yelped as she pulled his ear down and whispered something I couldn’t quite make out.

“All right, all right.” He held his hands up in surrender while Maddie pointed a finger in his face and gave him the evil eye. She stormed off in the other direction like a bat out of hell. I had to hand it to her; she may not be much size-wise, but she could be pretty intimidating when she wanted to be.

“Liberty, we should probably take this outside.”

I nodded, and he led me outside behind the restaurant where there was a picnic table coated with cigarette butts. Brushing them away, he sat on top of the table with his feet propped up on the bench and his elbows resting on his knees. He ran his hands through his spiky blonde hair, tugging it forcefully. He refused to make eye contact with me, so I just stood there with my arms crossed while leaving some distance between us.

“Seriously Brett, what the fuck is your problem?” I waited for him to explain himself, but he sat there with his gaze planted on the cigarette butts now scattered in front of him. “I thought things were cool between us now. You even said you accepted the fact that I had feelings for Shayne, so I don’t understand why you’re so surprised that we’re together now. Care to enlighten me?”

He let out a heavy sigh before lifting his eyes to stare deep into mine. “You honestly think it’s going to take you being off the market for me to get over you?”

“Are you freakin’ kidding me? Are we seriously back at this again? Brett, I don’t know how to make it any clearer that there will never be anything between us. Don’t you see that we’re just not compatible? Besides, you’re like a brother to me. It wouldn’t feel right.”

There was a fire raging inside him, flickering in his eyes and threatening to erupt.

“So that’s all I am to you? A fucking replacement for your goddamn dead brother!?”

His face fell in remorse as soon as it left his mouth, but it was too late. His hateful words burned straight through to the core of my heart, and now I was seeing red. There was a thunderous crack, and pain shot through my hand as it connected full force with Brett’s face. His cheek quickly began to swell with a scarlet imprint of my hand.

“You fucking asshole! How dare you! My brother was my whole fucking world! Do you know what it means for me to even consider you in the same category as him? Do you!?”

My vision clouded as tears began to pool in my eyes, but I refused…REFUSED…to shed any. He didn’t deserve them. Not. A. Single. One.

“Shit, Liberty, I am so sorry. You know I didn’t mean it. I was…jealous, and it just came out. I didn’t mean to bring your brother into it. Come here, darlin’.”

He stood and reached his arms out for me, but I flinched just at the thought of him touching me. Did he honestly expect me to just forgive him and go running straight into his arms like nothing ever happened? I may have found solace in those arms once, but not now. Now they were tarnished.

“Liberty, please. I’m sorry. I’m so,
so
sorry.”

“Just stop, okay? I don’t want to hear anymore. You’ve done enough damage. Now why don’t you do both of us a favor and fuck off!”

I pivoted on my heel and started back towards the restaurant, but he pulled me against him, locking my arms behind my back in a vice grip. I tried to wiggle free from his hold, but it was no use. My one hundred and twenty pounds struggling against his two hundred pound frame was clearly a losing battle.

“Will you just hold still and listen to me for second? Jesus, woman, stop squirming!”

“Brett, I swear to God, you have about ten seconds before I scream bloody murder!”

He rolled his eyes at me.
What? Did he think I was joking?
“Look you were right, okay? Happy?”

No, I wasn’t happy, and I wasn’t going to just let him end it at that. “Go on.”

He finally released his death grip that was beginning to cut off my circulation, and I returned to my previous stance with my arms crossed defensively over my chest.

“Darlin’, I would much rather have you in my life and dating someone else…yes, even Shayne…than not have you in my life at all.” He took my hand in his, gingerly rubbing circles in the center of my palm with his thumb. “You were right. We had a good thing going before, and here I go messing it up…again.”

I sat there for a moment, soaking in what he just confessed to me. I felt a slight tingle building in my chest, causing my entire body to quiver. Brett placed his hands on my shoulders in an attempt to halt my convulsions, but I couldn’t hold it back anymore. I erupted into a full out frenzy of laughter, falling to my knees and placing my hands on the filthy cement in order to brace myself before I completely collapsed. I don’t know why I found what he said to be so funny, but I just couldn’t contain myself. It got to the point I was laughing so hard that I was snorting like a freakin’ pig. I threw my hand over my mouth. Yeah, like that was going to help.

“Did you just giggle-snort?” He looked at me perplexed, like I must have lost my mind.

I nodded, quickly bobbing my head up and down while still covering my mouth.

Brett tossed his hands up in the air in defeat. “I give up. What the fuck is so funny, Liberty?”

After a few more seconds, I finally calmed down enough to speak. “Us! We are so fucking dysfunctional together, it’s not even funny. Well, I guess
I
thought it was funny.” I let another low chuckle slip out. “We keep finding ourselves in the same situation. One minute we’re getting along great and the next, we’re ready to rip each other’s throats out. I swear, Brett, we’re worse than an old, married couple.”

Brett threw his head back and laughed while slinging his arm around my neck in a loose chokehold. “Yeah, but you still love me, right?”

“Hey, I told you to never doubt that, and I meant it.”

“I know. I believe you.” Brett leaned his forehead against mine while lazily rubbing the back of my neck. I relished in his consoling touch. This was the Brett I loved so much.

“Hey, why don’t you, me and Maddie chill tonight. I’ll grab a pizza and whatever fruity shit it is that you and my sister love to drink so much.”

“Arbor Mist? Oh, make sure you get me the sangria. I think Maddie likes the peach one. And don’t cheap out on us! Get the big bottles!”

Brett shook his head, laughing. “You’re lucky I’m cool with you guys drinking since you’re both underage.”

“Hey, don’t get all ‘overprotective brother’ on me. Besides, Maddie and I will be twenty-one next year.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. Then I’m really going to have to start worrying about you guys.”

I rolled my eyes and popped my hip, resting my hand there. “Pshh, it’s not like we’re raging alcoholics, Brett. I can handle my liquor just fine.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about, Liberty. A lot of guys like to take advantage of girls when their drunk. Travis is a perfect example of that. If he weren’t one of my best friends, I probably would have kicked his ass a long time ago. That’s why I had to make sure you stayed in my bedroom the night of your party.”

“Yeah, sure it is.” I still wasn’t 100% convinced that was his real intention that night, but I’m not in the mood to get into it right now. “Well, I appreciate your concern. That’s very sweet of you, but what does this have to do with Maddie and I consuming a bottle of cheap wine in our own apartment?”

“I was just doing my brotherly duty and lecturing you on the dangers of being a young woman and being taking advantage of when you’re drunk.”

“Okay, enough with the big brother act. Let’s get back inside before Bob fires us.”

“Ha! Bitch, please! Do you know how much business he would lose if it wasn’t for this sexy mug behind the bar almost every night?”

“Did you really just say ‘bitch, please’?” I covered my mouth trying not to laugh.

“Oh, shut up and get inside.” Brett came up behind me with his hands on my shoulders and steered me back towards the bar.