He told them it wasn’t going to happen. So instead they went with three different couples falling in love at the same show where Liam was performing. They’d already rented the space, hired the six actors, and got the extras to fill in the crowd at the bar.
Liam was going to have to get up on that stage and act his freaking heart out while singing the song he’d written about her. She knew it was going to kill him. She knew it and she couldn’t fix it.
It made her hurt even more.
He’d kissed her before he walked out the door, his mouth moving over hers slowly as he held her close.
“No matter what I love you,” he whispered.
“I know. I love you, too,” she said as she pressed her face to his neck and inhaled.
But the unspoken words between them lingered in the air…sometimes love wasn’t always enough.
It was Celeste who picked Harper up at the cabin that afternoon. The ride to the airport was not a chatty one. Unlike Delilah, her aunt wasn’t pushy. It sometimes shocked Harper that they were related because they couldn’t be less alike.
They said good-bye at the curb, Celeste giving Harper an extra-long hug before she headed inside. Because conversation or not, her aunt knew exactly what was going on.
The line at the baggage check was about ten deep, so Harper pulled her suitcase behind her and got in at the end. Her eyes wandered to the TV set up by the group of chairs off to the side and everything in her froze as she saw Liam’s face on the screen.
Liam James Steps Out on Kiki Jean Carlow with Another Woman
A second later another picture popped up, this one of Harper and Liam outside Bourbon and Brine on Friday. His face was unmistakable, and Harper’s long black hair and curves proved that she wasn’t Kiki. Apparently those girls outside the restaurant weren’t the only ones snapping shots.
“Another one bites the dust. Liam James isn’t the good guy we all thought he was. This picture was taken just this weekend at a local Nashville restaurant.” The volume was off, so the words of the E! news anchor were scrolling across the bottom of the screen in subtitles. “And that is most definitely not Kiki Jean Carlow kissing Liam James.”
The screen switched to a clip of the “Beyond the Limits” music video. Even though it had been released the week before, Harper still hadn’t watched it. Avoidance being the best policy and all, because obviously that was working out so well for her.
“It appeared that Liam and Kiki were hot and heavy for a moment there, but appearances can be deceiving,” the anchor continued, switching to another photo of Harper from outside the concert on Saturday, this one with Kiki just a few feet away.
“But as the other woman in question looks to be more than a few months pregnant, it leaves people to wonder when the two ladies overlapped. And as you can see here, their first meeting isn’t a pleasant one. Kiki left Nashville on Sunday morning, heartbroken over the betrayal.” The last photo was a picture of Kiki at the airport, big sunglasses on her face as she avoided looking at the cameras.
“And now for the video. What do you guys think of these racy scenes between the former couple?”
The video for “Beyond the Limits” started to roll. The camera zoomed in on an old shack in the middle of the swamp, a hammock tied up between two trees. Isaac and a redhead with bright green eyes were wrapped up in each other’s arms kissing as his hand moved up her thigh and under the skirt of her dress.
The next shot was of Hunter driving down a dirt road like a maniac with a massive grin on his face. A woman with caramel skin and black hair rode shotgun next to him while she hooted and cheered, throwing her arms up in the air. The shot panned out to the bed of the truck where Liam and Kiki were sitting. Bags surrounded them and she was holding a T-shirt to the cut above his forehead.
The video played on. The three couples doing various illegal deeds mixed in with steamy shots of them all over each other.
She’d really thought the ones with Liam would kill her, but they didn’t. Because that look in his eyes when they were on Kiki? It was all an act. It was nothing, nothing, to how he looked at Harper.
She needed more time? More time for what? To figure out if this was what she wanted? That Liam was what she wanted? He said they had to fight together, and she was walking away…no, running away. She was about to fly away from him when what she needed to be doing was proving that she was all in this.
All. In.
There was no dipping her toe into the shallow end of the water to adjust. Nope. She’d already jumped right on in to the deep end. Which had been more than shocking at first, but that was the reality. There was no getting out. No un-jumping.
This whole time she’d been trying to figure out how to adjust to having another man as her life raft. But Liam wasn’t the life raft. He wasn’t the thing keeping her from drowning. No, he was the person who was by her side learning to swim with her. Learning to survive it all. Together.
“What the hell am I doing?” she whispered to herself.
“Well, you could move forward.” She jumped at the sound of the voice next to her.
She turned to the man in the suit, before she glanced back to the line that had shifted. Almost half of the people in front of her had been helped.
“You’re right. I need to move forward. And there’s no going back,” she said as she grabbed her suitcase and walked out of the line, heading straight for the doors.
* * *
It was a damn good thing that none of these recordings of Liam singing “Forever” were going into the actual video. Because God help anyone who was forced to listen to that crap. He had a pretty good feeling that the extras out on that floor were in about as much pain as he was.
It was getting ridiculous.
But really, what in the world was to be expected? He was in the actual building where he’d met Harper, singing the song he’d written about her, and it was torture.
He shouldn’t have let her leave like this. He should’ve fixed it. How? He had no idea, but he should’ve figured it out.
“Cut!” Jim the director shouted for what was probably the twentieth time. Liam had worked with the guy on a handful of other videos, and the two had actually become friends. Though, Jim looked like he wanted to throttle him at the moment.
“Can I get a minute?” Liam pulled the strap from his shoulder and set his guitar down, leaning it against the speaker.
“Sure, I’m getting a smoke,” Jim said before he moved away from the cameras.
“Five minutes,” the woman next to Jim shouted to the room.
As the crowd dispersed, Liam’s manager Gary moved from where he’d been standing on the edge of the room and went up on the stage. “Man, you really need to not look like someone just killed your dog.”
“I need a fucking shot.”
A small smile turned up Gary’s face. “You and me both. Whiskey?”
Normally that would be Liam’s poison…but not now. “Tequila?” he asked, thinking about the last time he’d been in that room doing shots with Harper.
“Sure thing.”
Both men jumped off the stage and headed for the bar. The man behind it was actually one of the regular bartenders at the Second Hand Guitar. Everyone in the crowd got two free drinks. It was part of the ambience after all.
“Cheers.” Gary held up his glass in the air when they got their shots.
Liam clinked it before they both tossed it back.
“What’s going on with you?”
“Harper left today. And this stuff with Kiki is making her second-guess everything.”
Gary knew everything about Harper. Liam had to tell him what was going on as the days around Sofia’s due date were off limits to booking anything. There was also the fact that Liam wouldn’t be in videos where he was acting out anything of the love variety with another woman. And last but certainly not least, the Kiki fiasco bullshit bomb that was about to explode.