Relinquishing Liberty (36 page)

I gasped when the realization took hold of me. He lied to me. He straight out lied to me. Maddie said she never knew if they used a condom that night, but they were both so drunk that it was unlikely that they had. But he stood there in the shower the morning after I had given myself to him for the first time and had the balls to tell me that I was the only one he had ever been with without one. He even swore on his mother’s grave. How could I have been such a fool to fall for his lies?

“My God, I am such an idiot. I can’t believe I ever trusted you. Was this some kind of sick joke to you? Was I just another notch on your bedpost? Well, I guess you got what you wanted, you sick fuck!”

I had so many emotions running rampantly through me that my body couldn’t contain it anymore. My body shook violently as Brett stepped up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders. All of the anger, the pain, the betrayal…it all came flooding out in heavy sobs as I slumped back into Brett’s steady hold.

“What? How could you ever think that? Liberty, I love you. I. Love. You.” He stepped towards me, but Brett pulled me back, holding a tight grasp around me. Shayne’s eyes grew murderous at the sight of Brett’s hands on me. “Sweetheart, I would never do anything to hurt you.
Never
. These are all a bunch of bullshit lies that they’re spewing out to try to tear us apart. I told you before I wouldn’t let that happen. I won’t let anyone else’s lies come between us. Baby, please. You have to trust me.”

I shook my head furiously as the tears poured down my face. I couldn’t even make eye contact with him, not wanting to believe the ugly truth that stood before me. That Shayne fathered the baby Maddie had once carried. The baby that he abandoned. How could I possibly ever trust him again?

“Get me out of here,” I whispered to Brett. “Please.”

I turned to look at him with pleading eyes and he nodded in agreement. He kept his arms wrapped protectively around me as he guided me towards the wooden steps leading towards the beach, and Maddie slowly followed behind us. God, I couldn’t even imagine what Maddie was feeling right now.

“What the fuck? Get your hands off her!” Shayne grabbed Brett’s arms, trying to peel them away from me. Brett willingly released me only to shove Shayne back against the deck with his arm pressed into his throat.

“If you come anywhere near Liberty or my sister again, so help me God, I will end you. You’re lucky I’m letting you walk away with nothing more than a busted jaw because right about now, I want to chop your fucking balls off and shove them down your throat. The last thing we need in this world is your spawn running around and ruining more lives.”

Brett released his arm from Shayne’s throat with one last hard shove and stalked back towards me, pulling me back into his shielding arms.

“Liberty! Where the hell are you going? You can’t leave!” He bolted in front of us, blocking our way to the Brett’s car, and fell to his knees in the sand. “Baby, please. Don’t go. I promise I’ll fix this. I’m sorry I never told you about Maddie, but I swear I’ll prove to you that they’re wrong. Just please…
don’t leave me
.” The last three words came out as tears began to trickle down his face. I hated seeing him like this. So broken and helpless. It completely tore me up inside, but not as much as his lies had.

“I’m sorry, Shayne.” And truthfully, I was. Sorry that I ever met him. Sorry that I ever trusted him. Sorry that I had given my heart so willingly to him.

How could I have let my guard down and fallen so hard and so quickly for him? Was this how it always happened, when every other girl fell head over heels for his charming façade? Was I just another victim of his “fuck ‘em and leave ‘em” M.O.? God, this day had become such a clusterfuck of a mess, and it wasn’t nearly over yet!

I buried my face into Brett’s chest as we stepped away, unable to watch as Shayne’s body crumpled in the sand. I couldn’t look back. Not now. Not ever. This place was no longer my home…it never really was.

Brett opened the passenger side door of his truck and helped me in before stepping around to the other side and climbing in the driver seat. He turned the ignition and the truck roared to life, blocking out my muffled sobs.

“Is Maddie coming with us?”

“She drove separately. She was planning on meeting up with her new roommate later on tonight, but I doubt she’ll be up for it now.”

“Oh.” I leaned my head against the cool glass of the window and watched as Maddie slowly trekked back to her car. She lifted her head and gave me a painfully forced smile before Brett pulled away.

“Do you want me to take you back to the apartment?”

“I don’t live there anymore, remember?” I let out a bitter laugh. “I guess I don’t live anywhere now. I’m right back where I was when I first got here in March.”

Brett looked over and smiled reassuringly. “Well, you’re more than welcome to stay with me. I don’t think you should be alone tonight anyway. I understand if you need your space, but I’d feel more comfortable knowing that you’re safe.”

Still my knight in shining armor…

“And don’t worry about going back there to get your things. I’ll bring Travis and Corey over there with me, so you won’t have to deal with him. God, I still can’t believe this whole time he’s been prancing around like nothing happened. Fucking prick.”

“Can we not talk about this? I just want to forget that this day…fuck…that the last three months ever happened.” I leaned back against the headrest, squeezing my eyes shut to block out any thoughts of Shayne. “If it weren’t for you and Maddie, I would completely regret ever coming here.”

Brett reached over, intertwining his fingers with mine and brought my knuckles to his lips for brief, gentle kiss. I smiled back at him. It wasn’t meant to be anything more than a comforting gesture, and it was a much-appreciated distraction; anything to take my mind off of the pain clinging to the fragments of my shattered heart.

We pulled up to Brett’s empty apartment, and I was glad to see Travis and Corey weren’t there. Apparently they were crashing one of the parties a few houses down from Shayne’s and most likely wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. Perfect, because I really wasn’t in the mood for their immature antics right now.

I sank down into the couch, and Brett plopped down beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. Leaning into him, I released a drawn out yawn and shut my eyes. It was only mid-afternoon, and I was already wiped out. If it weren’t for my hand still throbbing from the slap I delivered across Shayne’s pain-stricken face, I probably would have fallen asleep right then and there.

Brett lifted my hand and without looking, I knew he was assessing the damage. He was becoming quite a pro at this. “Your hand still looks pretty swollen. I’ll get some ice for it, but if the swelling doesn’t go down, I’m taking you to the hospital to get it checked out.”

I flexed my fingers in front of me. “It’s sore, but I should be fine. I didn’t realize how hard I smacked him.” I laughed because it honestly felt good the second my hand connected with his face.

Brett smiled proudly at me before walking off to the kitchen. “You’re a regular Mike Tyson, darlin’.”

“Hardly. If I was Mike Tyson, Shayne would’ve been lying on the ground in a pool of blood with a chunk of his ear missing.”

Brett’s laughter filled the space between us as he stepped back into the living room. My fingers were so swollen that I didn’t even register the cool touch of the ice pack as he gently placed it on my hand. He sat back down beside me, and I snuggled into his side, craving that brotherly comfort that only he could give me. Now that my hand was quickly becoming numb, I shut my eyes and let all of the pain and stress from the day drain out of my mind as I drifted off to sleep.

When I opened my eyes, the room was completely dark other than the glow of the television in front of us. Brett must have sensed I was awake because he loosened his hold around me so I could sit up.

“Mornin’, sleepy-head. Or should I say evenin’.” He smiled back at me warmly.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you like that.”

“No worries, darlin’. I knew you were exhausted so I figured I’d let you sleep it off. Are you hungry? Neither of us has eaten since this morning so I’m sure you must be starving.”

Food was the last thing on my mind. What I really wanted was a nice, hot shower. I wanted to scrub every inch of my skin and remove any remnants of Shayne that were still clinging to me. God, I could even still smell him on me. The mix of his cologne and the sea, a scent that was all his own; that alone made me want to curl up in ball and cry. I thought by now I’d be completely dried up from all of the tears I shed, but I wasn’t so lucky.

“I’m…” I choked back a sob before Brett could notice. “I’m just going to take a quick shower first.” I quickly spun on my heel and padded down the hall to his bathroom. Once the door was shut behind me, I quickly turned on the shower to mute my cries. I stood there looking in the mirror, and boy, was I was a sight for sore eyes. My face was red and blotchy, and makeup continued to smear as the tears rained down in buckets full. It wasn’t until I was alone that the reality of what happened finally settled in, and I completely lost it.

God, I just wanted it all to go away. I didn’t even bother taking my clothes off before I stepped in the shower. I sank to the floor of the tub, my dress clinging to my body, and I just let the scalding hot water pour over me, absolving me of all the mistakes I had made from the moment Shayne entered my life.

Between my wailing cries and the water cascading around me, I never heard him come into the bathroom. I didn’t even notice the shower curtain being pulled back as he stepped in and pulled me into his lap. I lifted my head and was surprised to find him completely clothed, as well. We must have looked ridiculous, but I was glad he was there. He always was, and I knew he always would be. I pressed my face into his soaked shirt and continued to cry until there was nothing left in me.

When I had finally quieted down, I leaned back a little, and Brett cupped my face in his hands, brushing back a few wet tendrils of hair. The eyes looking back at me held so much love, and I didn’t put up any resistance when he moved in to gently capture my lips. His kiss wasn’t hungry or forceful. There was no passion. No spark. It was just a simple kiss, but in those few seconds that his lips were on mine, I hadn’t once thought of Shayne.

Without over-thinking it, I pulled him back down to me, crushing his lips against mine. His arms around me froze for a moment, but as soon as I trailed my tongue alone his bottom lip seeking entrance, he opened up for me, and his body relaxed.

“I just want to forget, Brett.” I breathed against his lips. “Make me forget.” I moved my legs so that I was straddling him, and I could feel him grow hard beneath me.

“Are you sure? I know you’re upset right now, and I don’t want to take advantage of you.” He pressed his lips chastely against mine. “You know how I feel about you, Liberty, and if this is what you really want…”

“Yes. Please,” I begged and pleaded with my eyes.

He carefully stood up with my legs wrapped around his waist, and carried me to his bedroom. Just then, someone began pounding relentlessly on his front door. I had a pretty good guess of who it was, and it was a wasted trip over here because I had nothing more to say to him.

Brett set me down on the edge of his bed and pressed a lingering kiss against my lips. “Don’t worry; I’ll get rid of whoever it is.” He kissed my forehead and winked at me before shutting the door behind him.

Suddenly I had a very unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach, and everything about this felt so wrong. I knew sex with Brett wasn’t the answer to my problems. It would just be a means to cope with the pain that still clung to my heart. At that point, I was no better than Shayne, and to be honest, that just made me feel a hundred times worse. Because now I knew exactly how it felt to be in his shoes.

Three seconds. Three words. That was all it took for my entire world to come crashing down around me. As soon as my admission slipped past my lips, and the look of betrayal washed over Liberty’s beautiful face, I knew there was no turning back. But it wasn’t until the word “baby” was thrown into the mix that I began to realize why everyone was shooting daggers at me like I was the anti-Christ in the flesh.