Marked Heart (Marked Heart #3) (6 page)

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The first few days of Braden working at the house went well. After hurting his feelings Monday, Liv thought it best to leave as soon as he arrived Tuesday and Wednesday to avoid any awkwardness her apology might bring. It seemed to work. He did exactly what was on his list and was gone before she got home all three days. When Thursday came, she felt sure that everything would be the same as it always was, but when he arrived, an hour early, she knew right away something was wrong.

Tossing the lid on top of the storage bin she was going through, Liv stood up trying to decipher the look on his face as he walked in.

"What's up, you're early?"

Shrugging, Braden replied, "I thought I'd get a head start on my list so everything would be cleaned up before tonight."

"And?" she questioned, waiting for the real reason.

"And what?"

Blowing out a loud breath, she thought, 'fine don't tell me' as she shared, "I'm gonna go get dressed then."

Without saying another word, Braden walked to the kitchen and sat down, looking at his list.

Feeling uneasy, Liv headed to her room. She could feel a change in him and it worried her. She needed Thursdays. She needed him. It was the only time she could let go and feel at peace.

~

Walking back into the living room, a moment of panic and then outrage brought her to a dead stop.

"What the hell?" Liv barked at Braden, seeing him digging through the storage bin she left open.

Seemingly unaware that he was violating her privacy, he smiled up at her, teasing, "I'm trippin' out right now. You write love poems?"

Her anger flared as she marched over to him, assuring, "No."

"You sure?" he laughed before sharing, "'Cause they all say Liv at the bottom. And who is BC?"

Liv's stomach lurched as she lifted the lid and slammed it back onto the bin.

Braden smiled wide at her revealing a folded piece of notebook paper in his hand as he challenged, "Tell me or I'll read it. Looks pretty personal too, with all the hearts."

'I'm gonna kill this punk' flashed in her mind before she lunged to grab it from him.

Holding it just out of reach, he laughed, "You forced my hand."

Just as he opened it, Liv elbowed him in the side causing his arm to drop.

~

As soon as she snatched the letter out of his hand and started to run to her room with it he caught her. The whole love poem thing wasn't really worth an explanation, but his name with hearts all around it was.

"You got a thing for me?"

Liv fought to get away as she growled, "Hell no!"

Struggling to grab the paper from her hand, Braden pulled her against him, pressing her back against his chest as she tried to pull away.

"Damn it! Get off of me!" she shouted.

Without letting go, he laughed, "Let me see it then."

Liv stopped struggling for a moment.

"I used to be into you."

"Sweet, did Kieran know?" he question in a teasing tone.

"It was before I met him."

Loosening his hold on her, he tried to place seeing her anywhere before the night she showed up at a party with Kieran.

"I don't remember you," he admitted as he let go of her.

Crumpling the paper in her fist, she swiped her hair out of her face giving her shoulders a little shake as she turned to face him.

"At a pasture party, you got into my car by accident."

Staring at her, a memory from back then flashed through his mind before he recalled, "You used to have blonde hair..."

"The next day, you were back with Lily and I was over it."

Remorse weighed heavily on Braden as he replied, "Liv..."

Back to her usual self she let out a loud "Ha!" before saying, "It's not a thing. Everybody losses it in one way or another."

It took a minute for him to understand what she meant.

"Liv?"

Walking past him, Liv pressed her finger to his temple, pushing his head back a little, she warned, "Stay outta my stuff, punk."

Watching her as she walked to the other room he recalled a night a few weeks before his high school graduation. He was pissed that Lily had cheated on him again. Getting drunk after playing at a party, he knew he couldn't drive so he'd called Auggie to come get him. Thinking it was the car he drove to the party he climbed in to wait for his brother and ended up on some girl's lap. Most everything was hazy, but he remembered that she felt good. Or more that he felt good. He was drunk and hurt and couldn't have cared less who she was. It was still hands down the best sex he'd ever had. Even though he was drunk and barely remembered her, he remembered that. He'd always assumed it was so hot because it was unexpected. At that time, he'd only been with Lily. As it stood his total was only three with Lily, Mina and a hot blonde in the passenger seat of a car one night. And it turned out it was Liv. Damn...

~

"I'm headin' to the shop." Liv informed before quickly walking to the door and stepping out of the house.

She never would have said anything to him about it and she'd always wondered if he secretly knew. Now that it was out, it was kinda funny to her that he never realized. Then again, he was smashed that night and the next time he saw her, she had jet black hair and was covered in tattoos.

On the way to Legacy Ink, Liv thought about that night.

For two and a half years she'd gone to every party, event and local spot Braden played at just hoping he would notice her. That night when he fell into her lap, literally, she wanted him to never forget her. It was good too. Not as good as it was later on with some experience behind her but since she'd always heard how horrible first times were, it wasn't half bad. Plus, she wasn't too far from being hammered herself.

When Auggie showed up, irritated and honking the horn like the damn jackass that he was, Braden was still kissing her. Something later in life she appreciated about that night. Her experience, with Kieran, was that when a man is done, he doesn't normally linger.

With Auggie out of his truck, cursing and making a scene, Braden gave her one last kiss before asking, "I'll be at the shack tomorrow night, wanna come?"

"I always watch you play," she shared as he flashed a smile at her, the ridiculous one where it was obvious he was biting the side of his tongue, and slid out of the car.

That night taught Liv a lot. So did the next day when she showed up to the shack and his arms were wrapped around Lily's waist. At the time she figured she must not have been worth remembering.

When a week later her grandpa got sick and they moved so her dad could take care of him, Liv decided to reinvent herself. Her first tattoo was so liberating she had to have another and another. Before she knew it both her arms were completely covered. When her grandpa passed and her dad decided to move up north, the once shy girl who left at seventeen came back to town at age twenty-one a completely different person. Tossing around the idea of thanking Braden for that, Liv loved who she became. She never hesitated to speak her mind and damn right she would be heard too. Shyness and fear of how she would be perceived was no longer a part of her. It wasn't an act either. Everything that she became was already in her head all she did was let it out. Giving herself the freedom to be herself was the best thing she'd ever done.

~

Despite what Liv said, Braden couldn't help going back to look through her stuff. It was wrong to invade her privacy and he knew it but he did it anyway. He looked at picture after picture. The ones of him on stage made his stomach hurt. There were notes to friends of hers and from her friends to her that he passed, noticing one said her dream date was to be taken to Fairmont's on the lake. When he came to a spiral buried at the bottom of the box. Flipping through the pages he found more poems she'd written. Stopping at the page that had two separate pictures stuck to it, one of him and one of blonde Liv, his breath grew shallow as he read.

Watching you slide your fingers down the strings

Makes me want for unfamiliar things

Late at night I imagine that it's me

You'd glide you fingers across my skin so effortlessly

♥

I see your heart when you're up there

Each note is caressed from out of thin air

♥

Commanding the cords obedience as you sing

I can tell something's missing

♥

Music isn't what she brings

Her harsh tones control you as she pulls your strings

♥

The cord of your heart is what she lacks

If given the chance

I would glide my fingers across your strings

As I played you back.

It was like musician porn. Her words were sexy and each one affected him more as he re-read them.

After pulling out his cell phone and taking a picture of the page, Braden stared at the picture of blonde Liv. There was something in her eyes. The same look Liv always had. Seeing old pictures of her, and knowing her now, it seriously could have been two completely different people, except for her eyes. It was like the Liv he knew was trying to bust out but the shy blonde wouldn't let her. Either way, he knew there was no way he was going to let what happen between them fade into the background of their friendship like she had.

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On the way home from Legacy Ink, while 'Gives You Hell' by All-American Rejects blared through her car speakers, Liv reassured herself that nothing was different. She could easily say Braden had backed her into a corner and she was forced to tell him. That was almost true. Except, she wasn't backed into a corner, she was pressed up against his chest with his arms around her. When her mind shifted to what it would feel like to have him back her into a corner, Liv cursed herself under her breath.

It was odd that they had become friends in the first place. When someone breaks your heart, it teaches you a lesson. Seeing that person again and realizing they've learned nothing from it, pisses you off. But when you're forced to sit by and watch someone unwind with heartache as the whole world watches, that's the moment you realize you're thankful for the lesson they taught you and that person deserves a chance. And that's what she gave him, a chance to start over with her. Now, she couldn't imagine what would have happened to either of them at this point, had they not had each other. That was what she needed to focus on. Not a moment from the past but right now. It was Thursday night, and that is what needed to be preserved, for both their sakes.

~

Seated at the kitchen table, playing round three of chutes and ladders, conversation was nonexistent. The sound of their game pieces sliding across the board with each turn was starting to make Liv uncomfortable. Although the silence that accompanied Braden was usually comforting, she could feel the unspoken strain her admission this morning placed on the evening.

Glancing at him as she made the final move to win, Liv said, "Three outta three."

Without a word, he stood up and walked to the kitchen sink.

Twisting in her chair, she looked past the bar to him, offering, "If you've got somethin' to say, say it."

Braden turned around and walked to his side of the bar, asking, "Why didn't you want me to know?"

"For all I knew you did." Liv shot back at him, in an irritated tone.

Appearing confused, he questioned, "How?"

"You were there," she replied with a laugh.

He stared at her for a moment before looking down at the bar.

"Don't you think I would have said somethin'?"

"And what would you have said?" she questioned with a smirk, thinking 'this should be good'.

Wrinkling his brow in thought, it appeared he didn't have an answer.

Liv could have let it go seeing as she made her point but instead, she hopped out of the chair and stepped to her side of the bar.

"Who would you have said somethin' to? Me or Kieran?" she asked, taunting, "Four years later when Kieran introduced us at Pat's party? Would you have pulled me to the side? Or would you have caught up with him later?"

"I don't know."

Scoffing at his answer, she assured, "It doesn't matter anyway. It was a long time ago and like I said, it's not a thing."

Braden lowered his voice almost to a whisper, reminding, "You were a virgin."

The way he said 'virgin' made her laugh as she realized why he felt bad.

Relieved it was guilt that he was struggling with, Liv shared, "Give that conscience of yours a break. You can't steal something that's willingly given," then winked at him, and headed to her room.

~

Stretched out on Liv's couch, Braden couldn't get himself back into the right frame of mind. There was some guilt in knowing he was her first and how it played out, but all he could think about was the smell of whiskey in a car, and kisses that turned needy along with heavy breath. Frustrated from his thoughts, there was nothing he could do about the growing tension as he lay there.

Trying to get comfortable even though he knew it was going to be impossible at this point, Braden rolled on his side. Staring across the living room, he could faintly see down the hallway to Liv's bedroom door. Focusing on it, he wondered what she was doing in there. Was she laying there thinking about that night too? Maybe she was reading. What if she was, and it was a book like he saw on her kindle. If it was, how wrong would it be if he went in there and offered her a helping hand? That's what friends do right, they help each other?

Braden sat up. Continuing to stare down the hallway, he thought about how close he was to Liv. Every Thursday he spent the night on her couch. After drinking and playing games at her table, pretending her body was the furthest thing from his mind. As he stood up, he thought about a girl he didn't know and how she eased his pain. He took one step forward. One step before thoughts of the woman he knew and how broken she was when he held her, caused him to sit back down.