by Lexi Aurora
"Tori. Jesus, it's been forever. What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice measured. He hadn't seen her in years, and she was more beautiful than ever. Tori had been that girl for him, the one that made him feel short of breath every time he saw her; that was how beautiful she was. Except, that seeing her didn't have the same effect on him now as it had before. He had always secretly wondered what he would feel if he ever saw the only woman ever to break his heart again. Now that it was finally happening, he felt nothing about her. His mind riffled through their past at warp speed, playing the most uncomfortable slideshow in the world. All the things he had made excuses for, he could see them for what they were. He could see her for what she was; a bully, and never the right fit for him, not even from the start. All he wanted was to get away, take Felicity home, and tell her what was going on inside of his head.
“Okay,” Tori gushed, flipping her icy blonde hair over one shoulder and flashing a smile, “I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh.”
“I’ll do my best,” he smiled indulgently.
"So, I saw your picture on TV and on those, you know, tabloid paper things."
“Sure, okay. I heard something about that.”
"Right, so I saw your picture, and you were with some new girl and do you know what? I started to feel all crazy jealous. Like, I started thinking about all the good times we had, and I didn't like the idea of you being with somebody else."
“Are you serious?” he asked, genuinely dumbfounded by this admission. “Tori, it’s been years since we were together.”
“I know!” she gushed, moving in closer to him, “That’s what makes it so crazy! Who the hell would have thought that I would still feel anything for you after all of this time?”
“Certainly not me.”
"Right, so then I did a little digging. I just think that if there's still something there, maybe we should explore it. We're like, two different people than we were back then, and I really think we might be able to make things work. Something tells me that you've grown up loads."
“Is that so?” Liam responded dryly, “And what brought you to that conclusion?”
“Well, you’re probably going to think I’m awful, but it was partially seeing the woman you were with.”
“Why?” he asked, his jaw clenching involuntarily.
"Because, sugar, if you're with her I know that your priorities have changed. She's super pretty, but she's not exactly your type, right? So, I figured you must be so much deeper now and that'll definitely help our chances. Don't you think?"
For a minute Liam couldn't speak. It wasn't even that he couldn't find the words. It was more than that. It was that he felt physically incapable. Tori was the one he would never quite get over. Even when he realized how much he wanted Felicity, there was a part of him that couldn't let go of Tori. Now, he realized that was bullshit. What he had been holding onto was the idea of her, the idea of the one that got away. Talking to her in person after all these years, he realized something, and it was enough to set him free for maybe the first time in his life.
“What?” Tori gushed, resting her hand on his upper arm. “What’s that smile?”
“Tori? Has anyone ever told you that you are kind of awful?” he asked, his voice as politely conversational as if he was asking for the location of the bar.
“Excuse me?” she asked with surprise, although not enough surprise to move her damn hand.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not sure you can help it. I never realized it before, either, so some of it's on me."
"Is this like, because of the new girl?" Tori spat, her ugly, jealous side coming out now. Felicity was the only reason Tori was here to begin with, and Liam knew it. Tori only wanted what she couldn't have, and that was a game he was done playing.
“It’s a lot of things, actually. But yeah, Felicity is part of it. I love her. I think she loves me, too.”
“Oh yeah? Well, you could have fooled me. If she loves you so much then where the hell did she go? Looks to me like she can’t even stand up to a little bit of friendly competition.”
Liam felt like he’d been slapped across the face. He’d been so wrapped up in his unexpected war of words with Tori that when Felicity had slipped away, he hadn’t gone after her. He had let himself get sucked back into Tori’s poison instead of walking away with a woman who was better for him than Tori ever could have been. And Felicity didn’t know. He hadn’t told her why they were really at the show and so she didn’t know that just by being there, she was in danger.
“Um, hello?” Tori’s whiny voice droned on, one hand on her hip while she stamped on stupidly high stiletto on the floor. “Are you even listening to me?”
“Which way did she go?” he asked urgently, grabbing her upper arms. She shrieked and shook him off, looking around to see how much attention she was getting. That was Tori. Always the actor.
“Ugh! Did I say you could touch me? Why are you being such a prick?”
“Listen, you can call me all the names you want after you tell me which way she went, but this is fucking important. Where did she go?”
He was yelling now, which meant that people really were looking and whispering to each other conspiratorially. If they wanted a show, he was about to give them one. He was about to fully lose his shit when his phone started to ring in his pocket. He fumbled for it and almost dropped it in his desperation to see who it was. He wanted it to be Felicity. She could call him and tell him off, and he'd take his punishment, just so long as he knew she was okay.
"Shit, Matt?" he bellowed into the phone, turning in a wild circle and seeing not even a sign of Felicity. "What is it? I lost her, Matt. Fucking Tori is here, and I lost her."
“I know, boss. I think you better come outside.”
"Christ, is she okay?" he shouted, already pushing his way towards the exit. Now that he was on the move, he could see flashing lights swirling lazily outside. He felt like he was going to be sick, but he kept moving. If she was hurt, he needed to see. Whatever it was, he needed to see it for himself. When Matt caught him at the door, he yelled something incoherent and tried to push past.
“Hey!” Matt hissed, “Cool it, okay? We got them. Do you hear me? We got those bastards. They went for the bait.”
“I don’t give a shit about that! Is she okay?!”
"She's fine. They clocked her a pretty good one on the head, but she's okay. They took the necklace, though. My guess is that they went for the necklace and she fought back. They clocked her to get what they came for. Good news is, they won’t have any reason to go after her now. Bad news is that I doubt you’re going to see that necklace again."
“Screw the necklace. And if she’s okay then why is there an ambulance here?” Liam cried.
"They're just taking her to the hospital to check her out and make sure everything is okay. She did take a little bit of a fall, and they want to run some tests."
“Tests? What kind of tests?”
“Just to check on the baby. They just want to do their due diligence to make sure the baby is still okay.”
Chapter Fifteen
Felicity Reynolds
AFTER THE EXCITEMENT of the gallery night, Felicity thought she would be happy to escape back to something resembling reality. Her encounter with the would-be thieves had been terrifying, staring down at the blade of a knife held against the base of her throat. While Liam had been inside, presumably rekindling things with the woman he actually wanted to be with, she had gone outside for some air and almost been skewered. It was Matt who had saved the day, taking the guy out from behind and slapping him in cuffs while the rest of the team took care of the rest of the thieves’ ring. Felicity didn't know if it was done for good and she didn't care. One ride in the ambulance had been enough to convince her that she was done, and she had never returned to Liam's house. Matt had been kind enough to see that her things were returned to her and she had signed a month to month lease on a new apartment the very next day. That had al
l happened over a month ago, and she had not seen Liam once. She told herself that she was being strong and when she couldn't stop herself from thinking about him at night, she assured herself that it would pass. He lived in a world she didn't belong to, and it was time for her to find her way back down to earth.
"Hey, girl! Are you going to answer the freaking door or do I have to break the door down?" Lena shouted from the hall outside of her door. Felicity sighed and pulled herself up from the couch, a little resentful at having been pulled out of her musings. She did a lot of musing these days, in fact, sometimes it was all she did. Liam had paid her stupid amounts of money in the short time she had lived with him, and she honestly wasn't ready to go back to work now. That seemed to suit Lena just fine too, and she had taken to showing up whenever she got the urge.
"How many times do I have to ask you not to shout like that? I've got neighbors, and these neighbors are a little bit less open to shouting than my previous neighbors."
‘Ha!” Lena laughed merrily as she charged into the apartment, “Is that your polite way of saying that you don’t live in the ghetto anymore?”
“If that’s what you want to say, I guess so. What are you doing here, though? Did we have plans?”
"No, and it's a good thing too," Lena scoffed, looking at Felicity's near-permanent uniform of baggy sweats ruefully. "Look at the state of you. You do still own real clothing, don't you?"
“Yes I do, smart ass. I just don’t see the point of putting them on.”
"Yeah, I get that it's comfortable and all, but what if somebody shows up and wants to see you?" Lena asked innocently. Felicity narrowed her eyes at her, looking for some kind of hidden meaning. There wasn't any that she could see, but anytime Lena got this particular look on her face, there was a fifty-fifty chance that trouble was not far behind.
"You're literally the only person that comes to see me aside from the delivery guy, and I don't think he's bothered with what I wear as long as I keep giving him a nice tip."
“Sure, but how do you know somebody else won’t show up one day? Stranger things have happened, right?”
"Okay, what's going on?" Felicity asked pointedly. If she'd suspected before now, she was positive. Lena was most definitely up to something, and Felicity was far from being in the mood for one of her pranks.
“Nothing,” Lena said without making eye contact, “I’m just trying to look out for you, friend.”
"Right, but-" Felicity started to say, fully prepared to tell her friend to cut the bullshit. Instead, she was interrupted by another knock at the door. She froze, looking from Lena to the door and then back to Lena again.
"Who the hell is that?" she asked stupidly.
"I'll get it!" Lena called out in a sing-songy voice. Felicity made a grab for her to stop her before she could make it to the door, but she was too slow. Her belly was starting to show, and she was still feeling as tired as ever. Lena sidestepped her easily and flung the door open with bravado.
“Took you long enough,” she scolded to the still unseen visitor, “I thought Matt had screwed up the time and I was going to have to kill him.”
“Wait, what?” Felicity asked, feeling very slow and stupid, “Matt? As in Liam’s Matt?”
“He’s actually my Matt now,” Lena answered nonchalantly while she moved aside to give the new visitor entry, “although I happily loan him out to this bad boy here from time to time.”
Felicity's jaw dropped open. Everything was moving too quickly, and waves of unreality were threatening to pull her into the undertow. It was strange enough to hear that Lena and Matt were now an item. Now that she thought about it, she vaguely remembered Lena calling the security head cute but never in a million years would she have thought they would turn into a couple. Felicity couldn't remember Lena ever claiming to date a guy, and that alone was something to give pause.
“Hello, Felicity.”
But that, that was what really had her head spinning. After more than a month with no contact at all, Liam North was standing in her living room like they hadn't spent a day apart. He looked very tired, and he could do with a shave but it was him, and he was absolutely as handsome as ever. She had worked hard not to have this moment. There had been plenty of nights when all she had wanted to do was return one of the dozens of messages he had left for her before she had gotten her number changed. Now that he was here though, she couldn't remember exactly why she'd done it; why she had cut him off so cruelly and completely. He had explained in his messages that he'd fucked up and that there was no interest in Tori, too. He had explained everything, and yet she had still walked away and refused to let herself look back. Now, her eyes filled with tears and she wrapped her arms reflexively around her growing belly.
"Right," Lena said awkwardly, "I think I'm going to go. You guys have some things to talk about, and if you're going to cry, I don't want to be here. You know how I feel about crying."
Neither Felicity nor Liam broke eye contact as Lena let herself out of the apartment. Felicity was gripped with a crazy feeling that if she so much as blinked, he would disappear. She pinched herself to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. When she was really and truly sure, she lost her battle with the tears, and they spilled over into two thin rivers down her face.
“You’re here,” she said in a choked voice, stepping closer to him cautiously. “How is it that you’re here?”
"Lena. She helped me. She gave Matt your new address, and he gave it to me. I hope it's okay. If you're pissed off, I'll go. I just had to see you, Felicity. I couldn't stand the idea of not seeing you at least one more time."
"No," she whispered, "I'm not angry. I'm surprised."
“I just needed to see you. I’ve been going crazy not seeing you. I need to apologize for everything that happened at the gallery.”
“You don’t. You don’t have to do that.”
"But I do," he said forcefully, his face drawn and painted, "I fucked everything up. I should never have brought you to that thing without telling you what was going on. And that shit with Tori? I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I don't have any excuses, Felicity. I wish I did, but I don't. I can only say that I'm sorry."
“Liam-”
"I know, it's bullshit. It's not enough. I could make up excuses, believe me. I've thought of plenty this past month, but none of them will really excuse what I did."
“Liam?”
"Look, the thing is, I know you probably hate me, and I know I deserve it. I made a lot of mistakes with you. I can see them now. Shit, showing up here is probably mistake five hundred, isn't it? I just couldn't not try. If you want to throw me out, I'll understand, but I couldn't not try."
"Liam!" she said loudly, finally breaking into his stream of consciousness conversation. He looked at her stricken and shrugged his shoulders helplessly. He looked like a man who had nothing left, and it broke any small uncertainty she might have had left. She went to him wordlessly and buried her face in his chest, breathing in deeply so that her whole head could be filled with the smell of his cologne.
“I’m not angry. I’m not sure that I ever was.”
“But you left,” he said softly, stroking the back of her head.
“You’re right, I did. Because I’m a coward. I realized I was falling in love with you and I freaked out.”
“And now?”
“I have to tell you something, and I’m not sure what you’re going to think,” she started, pulling out of his embrace reluctantly. Now that she was with him again, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was where she wanted to stay. What she wasn’t sure of was his reaction to the news she had been keeping to herself all this time.
“I think it’s awesome,” he said simply before she had the chance to say another word, “and I think I’ve got the perfect room picked out for a nursery.”
“A nursery?” she parroted, astonished and so happy she could cry, “You’ve picked out a nursery?”
"I've got a couple of ideas if that
's okay."
“Of course, it’s okay!” she exclaimed, stunned and over the moon excited all at the same time.
“Good, then I’ve only got one more thing to say.”
“Okay, but I should warn you, I’m not sure how much more my nerves can take.”
“Then I’ll try and break it to you gently. I want you to move in with me, Felicity, only this time I want it to be for real. What do you think about that?”
And because she couldn’t find the right words, she rose up on her tiptoes and answered him with a kiss.
In her fairy tale, Felicity rose through her troubles, found herself a dashing guy and saved the day. With Liam by her side, Felicity had a new hope for herself, a future to look forward to, something she had long given up the thought of.
THE END
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PREVIEW: The Big Billionaire by Lexi Aurora
Chapter 1
Will this day ever end?
Just as I’m about to finally beeline out of the stuffy, overfilled room, someone grabs my hand.
“Not so fast, Blondie.”
At the sound of Geno’s slightly mocking tone, I suppress my urge to sigh. Instead, I turn around with the best smile I can muster.
“Yes?”
Geno’s grinning as if we hadn’t just spent ten straight hours teaching a bunch of unwilling amateurs how to cut carrots properly.
“There’s a customer who wants to speak to you.”
My smile hangs, but I glide over without a word to where his tanned finger is pointing. I know all too well how long a customer just wanting to “speak to me” can drag on—whether it’s a three-part fable of their cooking woes until they stumbled across Geno and me, or some compliments and picking my brain for every cooking tidbit I have, there really is no bounds to trying to get out of it, especially not while Geno’s hovering by like a delighted vulture. He doesn’t care how long after my shift I stick around, nor whether I like it. All he cares about is that we baby our customers to the point of ridiculousness so that we get a five-star review online and in all the famous cooking magazines. After all, “the customer is always right.”
