Liam (Hawthorne Brothers Romance)

by M. L. Young

  We got off at our stop and walked up to the street before she directed me towards her apartment. “We have about twelve blocks,” she said.

  “No problem at all. I like talking to you,” I said.

  “So, what are you going to do if you sign with that promotion?” she asked.

  “I guess just fight, really. It’s not like a football team where you have to move or anything, since we’re independent contractors and travel to the fights, which really aren’t that often. It’s not about the money for me, though. It’s more about making a name for myself and being my own man,” I said.

  “That’s a good way to look at it. Most professional athletes only want the money. I’m glad you don’t. I’m not sure I could give you that second date if you did,” she said, laughing a little.

  “But just think of all the Pad Thai I could buy you if I were rich!” I exclaimed.

  “Trying to bribe me with food, huh? That might just work,” she said.

  We didn’t hold hands, I didn’t put my arm around her, and we didn’t get close, but what we had was still pretty intimate, if you asked me. We came up to the door of her building, a ten story that she claimed had an elevator, and I instantly drooled as I thought about having that instead of my walk-up. I’d be living the dream then.

  “Well, I had a really amazing time with you tonight. I’d invite you up, but,” she said.

  “It’s too soon, I know. Hell, we just really met,” I said.

  “A guy who doesn’t want to come up, huh? I don’t know if I should be impressed or turned off,” she said.

  “Be impressed, I think we’ll work out better that way,” I said in a slick tone, as if I were some Casanova.

  “Text me sometime? You have my number,” she said.

  “Here, take mine. It will make it easier,” I said, and she gave me her phone and I typed it in.

  “Well, goodnight,” she said. I could see her biting the inside of her cheek, her eyes soft.

  I leaned in, giving her a small kiss on the cheek, before turning around and walking back down the steps. “Goodnight, beautiful,” I said before walking off into the darkness.

  Yeah, I could see this going somewhere.

  Chapter Six

  Jessica

  “What are you making?” Taylor asked the next morning as she came out of her bedroom.

  “Breakfast!” I said, flipping my pancake.

  “You never make stuff like this, only cereal,” she said, rubbing her eyes.

  “Can you bitches keep it down?” Emily asked, opening her door.

  “I just felt like something good,” I said, smiling.

  “Oh my god, what’s going on?” Emily asked, coming out of her room.

  “Wait, you’re making breakfast, and in a good mood—did you get laid last night? Is he here?” Taylor asked, looking around.

  “No, and no, you two are insufferable. He was very respectful and didn’t even want to come up. He didn’t want to rush things, which I like,” I said.

  “So are you seeing him again?” Taylor asked.

  “Yes, but we haven’t set up a date just yet. It hasn’t even been twelve hours,” I said.

  “So what did you end up doing?” Emily asked.

  “He took me for Thai food at this small place and then walked me home. Well, we took the subway to 77th Street and then walked the rest of the way. It was sweet,” I said.

  “Wow, I can’t believe you found a guy this age in the city to walk you home after a date. Where does he live?” Taylor asked.

  “Lower East Side,” I said, turning off the heat.

  “Shit, that means he really likes you,” Emily said.

  “Yeah, a guy who just wanted some ass wouldn’t travel from Meatpacking to here and then back to the Lower East Side if he didn’t really like you,” Taylor said.

  “You think?” I asked, smiling.

  “Oh, we know. Make sure you secure that second date with him, and soon, before he forgets about you,” Emily said.

  “Oh, he isn’t going to forget about her. Don’t even feed her head with that kind of stuff,” Taylor said.

  “Hey, there’s like eight million people in this city, and tens or hundreds of thousands of eligible, single women who would love a great guy like that, especially a handsome one. You have to keep his attention on you and secure that shit,” Emily said.

  “Don’t listen to her, she’s just paranoid. I’d say text him tomorrow if you haven’t heard back from him, and go from there,” Taylor said.

  “He just texted me,” I said, looking at my phone as I sat down at our tiny dining table.

  “Already?” Emily asked.

  “I just got it like fifteen minutes ago. I didn’t even hear the notification go off,” I said, opening and reading it.

  “Well?” Taylor asked.

  “He said he had a great time last night, and he really enjoyed talking and spending time with me. He asked me to go out with him again on Monday,” I said, smiling.

  “Day date or night date?” Emily asked.

  “What does it matter?” Taylor asked.

  “A day date means he might just want to be friends or take his time to make sure Jess is an okay match. A night date after a good first date means that he’s really interested and wants to pursue this further. You go with your grandmother to a lunch date, but with your lover to a night date,” Emily said.

  “Replied,” I said.

  “You should’ve waited for us to help you,” Taylor said.

  “I’m fine, guys. I appreciate the help, but I can handle it. Oh, he just replied already. That was quick,” I said.

  “And?” Emily asked.

  “We have a date at eight on Monday night. He said to meet him in NoHo,” I said, smiling.

  “Well, now that this is all squared away, I’m going back to bed,” Emily said, walking away.

  “Me, too. Congratulations,” Taylor said before closing her bedroom door behind her.

  I doused my pancakes with butter and syrup before replying and confirming my date with Liam. I’d better get all my upcoming work done this weekend so that I didn’t have to worry Monday night. It would be best if all my attention were on him.

  •••

  To say I was giddy and excited on Monday afternoon would be an understatement. I had a quiz in my Eastern Philosophy class, but I knew I aced it, as I’d spent the better half of yesterday studying like a maniac. It was one of the hardest classes I’d taken here. NYU was definitely no joke when it came to academics and the caliber of work you had to do.

  Liam wasn’t much of a texter, his words not mine, but we did chat a little yesterday just about life things. I think he had downtime at work or something, because he did say he was there, though he didn’t say if he was training or not. He told me he had a meeting tomorrow morning with the recruiter who saw his match on Friday, which I took to mean that we wouldn’t be out super late tonight, but I thought that would work out better for me. I wasn’t really a late-night party girl, anyway.

  Taylor and Emily wanted to come along and kind of be like ghosts, since Liam hadn’t met them and wouldn’t be able to spot them, but I told them that I could handle myself. Besides, we’d been out already and he wasn’t some creepy guy I met online or something. I thought I would be safe and wouldn’t end up in a bathtub full of ice with my kidney missing or something.

  I had an optional day in my physics class today because of an upcoming test. My professor was letting us come in and study and ask questions, but said nothing pertinent would happen and that we wouldn’t lose attendance points for not coming, though he said coming would be quite helpful to our test performance on Wednesday. I chose not to come, mainly because it was already four and I wanted to get my nails done and maybe even whiten my teeth a little, time permitting. After going through three years of braces when I was a teen, I took pride in making those puppies shine.

  I left my building and went towards a small nail salon in Nolita, which was the best I
’d found in consideration to the cost. A manicure was only twenty bucks, which I thought was pretty good for New York, especially for a place in New York that was clean and wouldn’t give you nail fungus or something. There was a big news piece recently about unsanitary places around the city, and luckily my ladies weren’t on that list.

  My favorite woman, Claudia, was working and welcomed me as I came in. I picked out a nude polish, something Taylor turned me onto, and sat down in the chair before Claudia started to gossip about celebrities, which she always liked to do.

  I had no intention of doing this, but I almost wondered what would happen if I told her I was seeing Cash Hawthorne’s brother, since she’d talked about him a few times before, saying how dreamy he was and that she’d leave her boyfriend for him. I knew Liam would be upset, though, so I decided to just dream about it in my head while I nodded and gave an enthusiastic yeah every now and then while she went on and on.

  Liam hadn’t told me what we were doing, whether just dinner and drinks or some kind of activity, so I struggled with what to wear as I scanned my closet in my head while my nails dried. I could wear a dress, maybe some tights, or I could go sexy again with the tight jeans and jacket. I thought about texting and asking him, but I didn’t want to seem pushy.

  As I sat there thinking, I came up with a brilliant plan. I’d just ask where we were meeting tonight and then map out the location on my phone. It was brilliant! He replied with the address as I was about to leave the salon, and I quickly typed it into my map to see it was just a restaurant, though a nice one. Maybe I’d go with a dress, then. I’d like him to be impressed.

  I took the subway home and looked at the time; it was five-twenty. I got into the shower and even washed my hair. Usually I went a few days between washes, using dry shampoo in the meantime, but I wanted to look my best and be as good as I could be for him. I thought that was how you know you liked a guy, when you were willing to go through the trials and tribulations of shaving, getting a manicure, and washing your hair just for a date that would last a few hours.

  I picked out a very light pink dress and skipped the tights since I’d just shaved and the weather was supposed to be okay tonight. I put on some nude pumps to match my nails and picked out a clutch from Taylor’s closet that I knew would go well with the outfit. She even helped me pick it out over FaceTime.

  Emily came in about five minutes before I had to leave and judged my outfit, telling me I looked great and that he’d be picking his jaw up off the floor once he saw me.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, brushing down the front of my dress and standing up straight.

  “Hell, if he doesn’t, there will be dozens of other guys there who will be. Have fun,” she said before going into her room.

  I only had about twenty minutes to get down there, so I hopped in an Uber that was waiting downstairs and told the driver where I was going. The butterflies in my stomach grew larger and larger the closer we got, and as we turned onto the street, about to be reach the restaurant, I felt a chill come over my body. Please just don’t let me screw this one up.

  “I’m close by. Be there in a minute,” Liam said over text.

  I stood outside the restaurant, waiting, as I bobbed my head and looked around. I wasn’t familiar with the area, but it seemed sort of bustling, with some restaurants and bars and plenty of people around. I suppose there weren’t many places you could go in New York City at this time, no matter the day of the week, without seeing thousands of people. It was the biggest city in the country, after all.

  “I’m sorry, but is your name Rebecca?” a man asked, coming up to me.

  He was dressed nicely, in a suit, with slicked-back hair and a mole on his neck. “No, you have me confused with somebody,” I said politely.

  “Wow, you look just like her. Anyway, I’m Paul,” he said, smiling.

  “Nice to meet you, Paul,” I said, wishing Liam would’ve gotten here first.

  “Are you alone? Can I buy you a drink?” he asked.

  “No, thank you, but I appreciate the offer,” I said.

  “What, I’m not good enough?” he asked, with a look on his face like he couldn’t believe I was denying his advances.

  “No, you’re not,” a deeper voice said from behind him.

  I looked up, seeing Liam behind him, before the man turned around and gulped a little. “Hey man, I don’t want any problems,” Paul said.

  “You’re going to have some if you don’t walk away,” Liam said with an aggravated look.

  “Hey, whatever, you can have her,” Paul said, quickly walking away.

  “You weren’t really going to do anything, were you?” I asked, smiling.

  “Not unless he started it, but like I said, I don’t like catcalling and whatever it is that he just did. It’s not cool,” Liam said, opening the door to the restaurant for me.

  Maybe having a beefy MMA fighter with me wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. At least I could count on things like what happened outside not happening again. Now I just had to figure out a scheme to have Liam around me at all times while I was outside. It was kind of sad that that was my reality as a woman in New York, though.

  “How many?” the hostess asked.

  “Two, under the name Hawthorne,” Liam said.

  “Oh, yes, here you are. Please follow me, your table is waiting,” she said with a friendly smile.

  The restaurant was much nicer than the Thai place, though it wasn’t quite high class. You certainly wouldn’t wear jeans here, but you didn’t need a sport jacket, either. It seemed like the perfect place for a second date.

  “Here you are,” the woman said as she set our menus down in front of the chairs.

  “Thank you so much,” Liam said.

  “Your waiter will be with you shortly,” she said before walking away.

  “Please, may I?” Liam asked, pulling out my chair for me to sit.

  “Oh wow, I’ve never had this kind of treatment,” I said. I could feel my cheeks warming up.

  “Well, I have to show you not all men are the same, especially after what happened a couple minutes ago,” he said, sitting down. “By the way, you look absolutely radiant tonight.”

  “Well, thank you,” I said, knowing by now that I was blushing. “You look very handsome and I love your slacks.”

  I love his slacks? What was I, his grandmother? Should I just pull the tissue out of my sleeve now, or later? Maybe I should have offered him a hard candy to suck on.

  “Funnily enough, my grandma got them for me. Not sure if that’s a date killer admitting that,” he said, laughing.

  Well, I nailed that one on the head.

  “Not at all. So you’re close with your family?” I asked, touching up on what we’d talked about before.

  “Yes, very much so. They’re really everything to me, all that I have, and I’m happy to be fortunate enough to be born into the family I was born into. You?” he asked.

  “I am, to an extent, I guess. We’re close, don’t get me wrong, but we all kind of like our personal space as well. I think not always being together kind of brings us closer, especially when we get together, if that makes sense. I know it’s weird, but it works for us,” I said, picking up my menu.

  A busboy came around and filled our glasses with ice water while I squinted a little and tried to read the glossy menu underneath a flicker of light above. This dim lighting seemed to be all the rage in the big city, which was something they never did back home in Wisconsin. Everything was modern and trendy, and I guess that meant straining your eyes whenever you went out.

  “Wow, it all looks so fancy,” I said as I read about a dish with a cabbage foam and pomegranate reduction, whatever that was.

  “The pineapple-glazed pork ribs are very good, if you’re into that sort of thing. I guess I’m not too sure about your dietary choices,” he said.

  “I’ll eat just about anything, as long as I know what it is. I’m slightly adventurous, like at the Thai place,
but not so crazy I’d put anything in my mouth,” I said before a man came up.

  “Welcome to The Pickled Herring, my name is Robson and I’ll be your server tonight. May I start you off with something to drink from our bar, or perhaps an appetizer or small plate?” Robson asked, his hands clasped together in front of him.

  “I’ll take a rum and cola, if you have it,” Liam said.

  “Certainly. Anything for you, miss?” Robson asked.

  “Do you have a margarita on the rocks?” I asked, hoping he’d say yes.

  “We certainly do. How about some salted edamame or kimchi eggrolls to start you off?” Robson asked.

  “Do you like edamame?” Liam asked.

  “Love it,” I said.

  “We’ll take that as well, thank you,” Liam said.

  “I’ll put those orders in,” Robson said before walking off.

  I almost let out a sigh when he told me they did have margaritas here. I knew it was a popular drink, but it was practically the only drink I knew besides wine, and I only liked white. I would definitely feel dumb only getting water or a soda. I didn’t want to look like a kid in front of Liam.

  “So, you told me before you’re studying law, right?” he asked.

  “Yeah, well, I’m in undergrad now, so I’m not in law school or anything,” I said.

  “Is there a certain specialty you want to do? Or haven’t you decided?” he asked.

  “I’m torn between real estate law or perhaps some kind of corporate law. I really don’t want anything to do with prosecution or criminal type stuff. Hell, I don’t even want to deal with civil suits, even if the money could possibly be a little better,” I said.

  “I hear you on that one. I watch a lot of detective shows, and I think that kind of work would be hard. It’s better to deal with white-collar criminals or just do contracts, honestly,” he said.

  “Right? I’ll have an office in a big building, and I won’t have to worry about some gangbanger hunting me down because I lost his case or something. I’ve heard about that happening a lot, actually. People can get pretty pissed when you don’t get them off,” I said.

  “That’s what I’d have a hard time with, in regards to practicing law. I know I’m a reasonably big dude and everything, but wondering about that kind of stuff and looking over your shoulder constantly would wear on you,” he said.