How to Steal Your Best Friend's Fiancé (How to Rom Com Series Book 2)

by London Casey

  “Goodbye, Miranda,” I said.

  “He spent the night with me last night,” she said. “Remember that. You were all alone. He took me home. He put me into our bed. That’s right. Our bed. Not the place where you act like a whore.”

  I took one step with the knife in my hand and Miranda bolted from the apartment.

  I then shut the door and locked it.

  I dropped the knife to the floor.

  As I sank to the floor, I knew what had to happen next.

  I picked myself up and went to find my phone.

  I made a phone call.

  “Hey. I can’t believe you’re calling me…”

  “Just please listen to me… okay, Jeff?”

  Chapter Forty-One

  Liam

  “Honey, I’m home,” Cole said in his tough voice as he shut his apartment door.

  I pointed at him. “That’s not cool, man.”

  “I’m waiting for the day you’re not here.”

  “Soon. Believe me, soon.”

  “What happened today?”

  I shook my head. “I’m caught in my own bullshit. Nothing you need to worry about. I was going to hit the weights for a bit. Think of a game plan. I can’t let this shit go, Cole.”

  “You’re in love with her, of course you can’t,” he said. “Me? What the hell would I know about that. I think you and Jackson are out of your damn minds.”

  “Says the guy who wants to sleep with his secretary,” I said.

  Cole waved his hands. “Correction. I want to sleep with everyone. There’s just too many beautiful women in this city to settle down. And… the secretary thing is a joke. A big joke. You’ve seen her. I chose her for a reason.”

  Cole winked.

  “You know, when you show your real side like this, you’re an asshole.”

  “I consider myself honest when it counts,” he said. “Jackson advertises that he’s an asshole. I don’t need to do that. I don’t need the attention.”

  “Says the guy who is filthy rich, begging to be interviewed by anyone who will listen to him talk.”

  “You done shitting on me?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’ll see you later, Cole.”

  I walked to the door and Cole whistled. “What else happened, Liam?”

  “Someone told Miranda about Emily and I. Emily won’t talk to me right now. She’s almost a ghost. I get why. She was put in an impossible position. And then-”

  Cole whistled again. “Why the fuck are you telling me this and not Emily?”

  “You asked. She didn’t.”

  “Are you too much of a pussy to talk to her?”

  “No,” I said.

  “So an ignored text message or phone call and you shut down?”

  “Fuck off, Cole,” I said.

  I walked out of the apartment as he laughed.

  The real Cole was worse than Jackson.

  But they were both right.

  The only word I had in mind…

  Soon.

  “Someone ratted you and Emily out,” Lincoln said.

  “That’s simple to figure out,” Gage said.

  I leaned against a wall and looked at the group around me.

  Lincoln brought the other version of our crew.

  Finn, Dax, Gage and Hudson had stood, listening to every word I said.

  I realized what I must have sounded like.

  A fucking baby.

  “Never mind, guys,” I said. “Forget about it. I’m rambling like a kid that lost his favorite toy and didn’t even bother to look for it. Sorry about that.”

  “Hey, love is crazy shit,” Finn said. “Worst drug out there. Easy to find, hard to get rid of. No fucking cure.”

  Hudson made a fist and hit Finn in the shoulder. “Put that in a song.”

  A song. Music.

  Emily.

  I hung my head and nodded.

  They started to write a song right in front of me. Half serious. Half just trying to get me to laugh.

  I couldn’t laugh.

  I was pissed.

  My plan had been to sit down like a mature adult and go over everything with Miranda. Hell, I had tried on two different occasions to do so and she wasn’t having it. She was on a warpath against me. Which I understood. I just wanted her to see the bigger picture. She could hate me all she wanted, but I wanted the truth out there.

  Someone beat me to it.

  Lincoln grabbed my shoulder. “You good, Liam?”

  “Not even close,” I said. “I’m grabbing a shower and… I don’t know. I have to figure this out. It’s not even the notion of getting caught. Em and I didn’t do anything wrong. There was nothing to get caught about. It’s the notion that Em was thrown into this. I wanted to protect her and someone took that chance from me.”

  Lincoln nodded.

  I took two steps and Gage jumped out of the group toward me.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “What’s up, Gage?” I asked.

  “You never let me finish.”

  “What?”

  “I know who did this to you.”

  “You do? How?”

  “Who had it out for you all along?” Gage asked. “There had to have been someone that either didn’t like you or Emily. Or someone who knew you were together and waited for the right time to do this. I hate to say it, Liam, but Emily is vulnerable now. So think about it…”

  I looked at the large window that faced the busy street.

  I heard the metal clanks of weights smacking each other.

  Slowly, I started to nod.

  “You’ve got it, don’t you?” Gage asked.

  I grabbed his shirt and looked at him.

  Gage’s pretty boy face grinned ear to ear.

  “I should’ve known from the second this happened,” I said.

  “Now the question is… what are you going to do about it?”

  It was tempting to bring everyone with me. Have a little bit of a bar fight or something similar.

  But this was one on one.

  I knew who did this.

  And I knew why.

  Now I just needed to save Emily, then maybe I could save us.

  When I saw the bakery, a flood of emotions went through me.

  There was a part of my heart that wanted to know how everything got so fucking messy, but I knew how. I wasn’t going to let my heart go weak and look for excuses.

  I opened the door and looked to my right.

  I saw Emily sitting at a table.

  Jeff across from her.

  Folders open. Paperwork everywhere.

  A smile on Jeff’s face.

  A frown on Emily’s face.

  She had a pen in her right hand.

  When she put it to one of the papers, Jeff touched her hand.

  I watched his thumb gently slide along her skin.

  Fuck. This.

  I walked to the table, unsure what I was going to do.

  I let instinct take over…

  Which made me grab Jeff by the shirt and stand him up.

  His chair scratched against the floor and Emily let out a gasping cry.

  “What the hell are you doing, buddy?” Jeff asked.

  “You fucking did it,” I said. “You fucking followed us. What did you do? Take pictures? Videos? Huh? You know Miranda too. From this building. You had a way in. You fucking slimeball piece of shit.”

  “Liam, what is this?” Emily asked.

  I turned my head and she was standing.

  “What’s going on here, babe?” I asked. “Signing a deal with this garbage? I bet he said all the right things. He got you at your weakest. He set this up, Em.”

  “Set what up?” Jeff asked.

  I looked at Jeff again and shook him. “Just admit what you fucking did.”

  I had customers in the bakery looking at me.

  A few had their phones out.

  Great. Now I’m going to end up online.

  I didn’t care.

 
; I wanted the truth.

  “Liam, you have to go,” Emily said. “Stop this.”

  “I’m not leaving until he admits what he did,” I said.

  “Get your hands off me,” Jeff said.

  “Fine,” I said.

  I threw Jeff back against the wall.

  He hit with a thud and grabbed for his ribs.

  I looked at the table and swept all the papers off it.

  “Liam!” Emily snapped.

  I faced her. “Em, he fucked us. I had everything under control. I’m sorry for what happened with Miranda. The way she showed up. That doesn’t mean we’re over. Jeff fucking followed us and talked to her.”

  “How do you know that?” Emily asked.

  I stepped toward her. “Trust me, I know.”

  Emily stepped back.

  “He told Miranda about us and then put you in this position. Leaving you feeling like you have no choice but to work with him. And he’s probably working with Miranda too. Playing both sides so she can screw you over one last time and he can get in your panties.”

  Emily swung and slapped me across my face.

  “How can you say that in front of people here?” Emily asked. “Making me sound like… like a…”

  “No, Em, I’m not,” I said. “I’m telling the truth.”

  “Now, you’ve made her cry,” Jeff said.

  I whipped around and moved toward him. “I’m going to make you cry next.”

  He put his hands up. “Don’t hurt me.”

  “Then tell her the truth,” I growled.

  “Okay, fine,” he said. “Fine. I talked to Miranda. Okay?”

  “What?” Emily asked.

  “Do you not remember the night at Paragen’s? I was there. Saw you both. I watched you the entire night. What did you want me to do?”

  The anger rolled through my body.

  It was Jeff.

  I should have known from the second Miranda came back to the apartment and exploded on me.

  “How… why…”

  Emily’s questions floated in the air.

  “You deserve better than this guy,” Jeff said to her. “And, yes, I followed you both. Just to make sure you were okay, Emily. That’s all. I didn’t take pictures or videos. But I knew Miranda enough to say something. She believed me right away. She said you two had been planning this behind her back. I couldn’t have it happen. Emily, I can do so much more for you. This guy is a loser…”

  I lunged and swung.

  What choice did I have?

  My fist connected with Jeff’s jaw and he fell, taking two chairs with him to the floor.

  There was a collective gasp in the bakery.

  Then it was silence.

  Jeff scrambled around to clean up the papers off the floor, collecting everything, and then running toward the door.

  “I hope I never see him again,” I said. “If I do, I’m going to-”

  “Liam, leave,” Emily said.

  “What?”

  “I said leave.”

  “Em… you heard what he said. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I said to leave,” she said. “Right now.”

  “Em.”

  Her eyes met mine. “Get the fuck out of here, Liam.”

  And there it was.

  All of the truth.

  More than I bargained for.

  I got the truth of who told Miranda about Emily and I.

  But now I got the truth from Emily…

  She didn’t want me near her.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Emily

  “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” I said to Lucy and Ember. “Any real decision I would have talked to you. I’m just… lost.”

  “So you want to just close up for a few days?” Ember asked.

  “I’m paying you both for the time off,” I said. “I won’t screw you over. But you both should think about what’s next. I can’t do this anymore.”

  “All over Liam?” Lucy asked.

  “No. He was just the final chip against the iceberg before it let loose. If that makes sense.”

  “Splash,” Ember said. “I hate this.”

  “I hate it too.”

  “What did Jeff want you to sign?” Lucy asked.

  I shook my head. “He’s a scammer. I shouldn’t have called him. I thought he could help. That was a big mistake on my part. I took this place over thinking I was going to help my family and it did nothing. I only hurt myself. Everything I do is for someone else and I end up hurt.”

  “Liam?” Ember asked.

  “I don’t even know. I don’t know why I did that. For him? For me? For us? I’m still hurt.”

  “You don’t have to be,” Lucy said.

  “Right now, I do,” I said. “I’ll keep in touch. I just need a break.”

  I slipped through the back door and went home.

  This was not the way things were supposed to go.

  On days where I felt good, the vision was to have the bakery succeed. To grow and get busier and be able to comfortably survive and make sure Lucy and Ember were taken care of. On days where I felt like hell, the vision was to sell it all off, get sued by Miranda, and then crawl to Elise and ask to live in her basement for a little while.

  Nowhere in either scenario did it include Liam.

  Not that I had Liam anyway.

  I didn’t have…

  I walked from the couch to the kitchen and back to the couch.

  Those were my big plans for the day. The night. Tomorrow. The day after that.

  Whatever.

  I just needed time.

  To myself.

  To figure out who I really was.

  The doormat? Or the woman strong enough to find love, even if it wasn’t the best place to find it?

  I sat down on the couch and cried.

  All the comforts I held tight were gone.

  Most were bad to have to begin with.

  But the one I missed most…

  Liam.

  I stood on the roof and watched Buzzy and Miss Crabapple talking to each other.

  Youth and experience meeting in the middle.

  “If you were going to give someone one piece of advice in life, what would it be?” Buzzy asked Miss Crabapple.

  “Now this is for a school assignment?” Miss Crabapple asked.

  “Yes,” Buzzy said.

  “So they make you find the oldest person you know and make them feel that way?”

  “Stop,” I said. “You know you’re old.”

  “You’re lucky there’s young ears here, Emily,” Miss Crabapple said.

  “It’s nothing I haven’t heard before,” Buzzy said. “Were you going to call her a bitch?”

  Buzzy covered her mouth and blushed.

  I laughed.

  “That’s the least of what I want to say,” Miss Crabapple said. “Now, to answer your question, Buzzy, my one piece of advice… for all of life…” She took a deep breath and sighed. “Remember who you are. Remember that when your feet touch the floor and you stand up and take a deep breath, you’re alive. And if you’re alive, you better be who you are meant to be.”

  “That’s a lot to write down,” Buzzy said.

  “Us old people use a lot more words than you young people do,” Miss Crabapple said. “And just what in the world does LMFAO mean?”

  “Do you really want to know?” Buzzy asked.

  “Yes,” Miss Crabapple said.

  “Laugh my f-word a-s-s off…”

  Miss Crabapple rolled her eyes.

  I was pretty sure she knew that answer but she wanted to see what Buzzy would say.

  “Now, off the record,” Miss Crabapple said. “My advice on life? Just get out there and live. Stop thinking so much. Get out there and live.”

  Buzzy was still writing the first quote.

  Which meant what Miss Crabapple said was directed toward me.

  Just to make sure of it, she pushed herself from her chair and stood
up.

  She walked to me and pointed a finger right at my face.

  “I know,” I said. “That was for me.”

  “More than that,” she said. “Go do it. You love that gorgeous man and he loves you.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Oh, it’s not? So you’re just giving up on everything now? Your business? Your music? Your love?”

  “It’s…”

  “These excuses will kill you,” Miss Crabapple said. “Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t you supposed to be somewhere tonight?”

  I had a gig with Carla and Faye. But they knew I wasn’t coming. They understood why. They supported my staying home. They were good friends like that.

  “I can walk my dying ass home,” Miss Crabapple said. “You go, right now. Those are your people. Your friends. You’ve been hiding so long, Emily, it’s good to see life in your eyes.”

  I looked over at Buzzy.

  She was still writing.

  “I’ll get the kid home too,” Miss Crabapple said. “I don’t need to be a victim here. I have cancer. I’m dying. Big deal. I still have some life to live. You have a lot more than me, Emily. Don’t waste it.”

  So what was I supposed to do?

  Just show up to Ernie’s club and walk on stage and sing?

  Maybe that’s exactly what I was supposed to do.

  Dozer smiled when he saw me and ushered me right in.

  I had my guitar strapped to my back and felt out of place. Like the first time I entered the club.

  The place was packed.

  The stage was empty.

  My heart raced fast.

  I tried to keep along the side wall, looking for Carla and Faye.

  The first person I spotted was Ernie.

  He stood at a table, engaged in a vibrant conversation.

  When he saw me, he patted some guy’s shoulder and pointed to me.

  I put my hands up and approached him.

  “The best damn singer I ever heard,” he said. “She’s back.”

  “Ernie, I’m sorry…”

  “Never be,” he said. “Tell me you’re getting up on that stage tonight. If not, I have to open the mic and who knows who will get on stage. I don’t need a bunch of drunk chicks singing that Journey song like it’s a fucking wedding.”