Page 78 of Pressure Point

“I saw him kiss you.”

“He didn’t kiss me.”

“I know what I saw.” Liam stepped close but stopped before he was within reach. More than anything, she wanted to throw herself at him. To curl up against his hard chest and wrap her arms around him. Despite how rigidly he was standing there, his body still called out to her like some kind of song. As if in his arms was where she was supposed to be. But his expression remained unchanged. For as stoic as he normally was, right now every ounce of hurt was as plain as day. “I lived through this once. I don’t need to do it again.”

Realization hit her at the speed of light. Orla, his brother, coming in second. What had he said to her that morning after talking with his family? “I’m second-rate.”

Shit. Shit, shit, shit…

She needed to fix this. Needed to tell him that this wasn’t what he thought. That he was what she wanted. Not Dash. That he wasn’t second-rate or a consolation prize. He was…he was it.

The elevator dinged before she could respond, catching her off guard and leaving her even more dumbfounded. Thoughts flew through her mind, but she couldn't translate any of them into words. Don’t get in that elevator, don’t get in there. Stay here, talk to me…

Talia stepped out of the elevator, looking between them, her brows knitting together in confusion.

“Hey. What’s going on?”

“If you’ll excuse me,” he said with a curt nod. Stepping around Talia, he pushed the button, nodding once more as the doors started to close.

“Liam!” she exclaimed, trying to stop them. But it was too late. They closed almost immediately, the whirring of the gears filling the air.

Avery’s eyes started to burn just as a tear started to slip down her cheek. She gasped for a breath, feeling like all the air had been sucked out of the small space. She knew she should move, but she couldn’t. Her feet felt like they were encased in cement, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t break free.

“Avery, what happened?” Talia asked, stepping in front of her and placing her hands on her shoulders. Avery let out a sob, unable to control herself.

Liam had walked away from her.

And taken her heart with him…

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Avery sat on the couch, staring aimlessly at the blank TV screen. She’d lost track of how long she’d been sitting there, and she didn't dare check the time on her phone. All that would do is serve as a reminder that Liam hadn’t responded to the texts she’d sent last night after he'd walked away from her.

There was a bagel sandwich on the table that Talia had brought her from the little place on the corner, but she couldn’t bring herself to eat it. Her stomach was still in knots, while the rest of her was simply numb.

Talia had pulled her into a hug quicker than Avery had been able to process last night, holding her so tight that Avery was sure it was the only thing holding her up in that moment. The next thing she’d known, Talia had been unlocking the door to their apartment. How exactly they’d gotten home was a blur, as was the shower she’d taken to try and wash off the night. All she had wanted to do was to curl up in bed and cry herself to sleep, but one look at the bed and the memory of it collapsing under her and Liam the day before came rushing back, tearing her apart even more.

“The fact that your bagel is still there tells me you’re not an ‘eat your feelings’ kind of girl,” Talia commented, before taking a big bite of her own sandwich.

She’d run out to the bagel shop earlier, deciding that what they needed was carbs—because “carbs solved everything.” At least according to Talia. A wisdom that Avery had been unable to argue with, other than the idea of eating anything seemed impossible right now.

Avery did have to admit though, pretty much everything she’d thought about Talia was wrong. Sure, the girl was pretty and smart, but she was also sweet, and kind, and a great listener. She’d stayed up all night with Avery, asking questions about what had happened, not only at Swagger but about her and Liam in general. Avery had spilled her guts—about her crush on Dash, Operation: Sexy Beast, sexy time with Liam, and even how she’d viewed Talia as the competition. Talia had made her skip over some of the details about Liam and his moves, citing that she didn’t need to know that about a guy she looked at like her brother, and laughed at being competition.

“I’ll admit, and cone of silence here, because I’ve never told anyone this,” Talia had said when Avery asked if she was into Dash. “He’s fun. I like it when he comes and hangs out at the bar when I’m working. Probably more than I should, but the attention is nice. That’s about where it stops though. He’s the good-time guy. I have goals and plans…things I want to accomplish in life, and I can’t do that if I’m focused on some guy. Especially a guy like Dash. He doesn’t take anything seriously. Not to mention, Gunnar would have a fit.”

While hearing that had made her feel better, like she and Talia were going to end up good friends, it hadn’t done anything to mend the hurt she was still feeling over Liam. And sitting here now, in the same spot she’d been most of the night, she simply wanted to crawl under the couch and never resurface.

The chime of her phone startled her, and she had to look around to find it. Her heart leapt at the thought of it being Liam. Maybe a good night’s sleep had made him realize that…shit, she didn’t know what he would have realized. She’d been the idiot here, not him.

“It’s someone named Hazel Phillips,” Talia told her, handing her the phone.

Shit, Hazel. Avery knew why her best friend was calling. She just wasn’t sure she had it in her to tell her.

“Hi,” Avery said, putting the phone on speaker and letting it sit in her lap.

“Morning! Can you talk? Or is someone else there?” Hazel asked, her tone sounding a little naughty.

“There is, just not who she thinks,” Talia muttered around a bite of bagel.