She laughs, “He’d tie you up in the basement before he let that happen.” Her face goes pale as a ghost. “Oh God, Mercy I’m sorry.”
I put my hand on hers, “Elle don’t. Please don’t treat me differently because of what happened. It’s fine. And you’re right, he would.”
She nods uncomfortably.
And just like that, me and my bullshit, bring the entire atmosphere down. She stares down into her glass of wine.
“We don’t have to pretend it never happened; you know. It did happen. And I’m okay.”
“You must hate me for wanting a relationship with him,” she says.
I shake my head, “I don’t even hate him, Elle, so no I don’t hate you. I hate what he did. I hate the drugs. I hate that everyone looks at me like a victim now. But I could never hate you.”
She laughs lightly, “I don’t know how my brother got you. But if he fucks it up, I’m going to be so pissed at him.”
Liam leans into me, “I’ll be right back, baby girl.” He kisses me on the cheek and heads to the bar with Xander.
Isabella slides in beside me.
“Dinner tomorrow. Our house.”
I nod and take a sip of wine, “Sounds great. Can I bring anything?”
“Just you and Doc Delicious,” she winks.
I laugh, “Someone needs to tell me why you call Liam, Doc Delicious.”
They both laugh, and Isabella says, “When he first started at the hospital the nurses were all quite taken with him. They used to slide panties under the on-call room door. It was the nurses that nicknamed him Doc Delicious.”
I cover my mouth as I laugh uncontrollably.
“He must’ve been quite active in the on-call room.”
Isabella shakes her head and gives me a serious look, “Nope. Liam hasn’t ever made it a habit of fucking nurses. I’m not saying he was an innocent virgin before he met you. But he doesn’t fuck around with nurses.” She continues, “He’s never introduced us to a girl either.”
I glance toward the bar, and Liam stands with a drink in his hand, talking to Xander, but staring at me as he swipes his tongue along his bottom lip, a heated look in his stare. This man has the best fuck-me eyes I’ve ever seen.
Elle drags my attention away, “When is the wedding?”
I glance over at her and shrug, “I don’t know. We haven’t even talked about it.”
I ask Elle, “So Max follows you around everywhere?”
She laughs, “Pretty much. He just stands around waiting for something to happen. It doesn’t normally. But sometimes guys will hit on me, and Max will shoo them away.”
Isabella gets up and goes to the bar and comes back a few minutes later with three shots of tequila.
We down our shots, and Isabella nearly yells, “Let’s dance!”
“You need to tell your husband we need a dance floor,” I said as we walked to our little dancing spot.
Gwen Stefani’s ‘Hollaback Girl’ pipes through the bar as we dance like fools singing along. The sweat trickles down the back of my neck. I feel arms around my waist, and I assume it’s Liam. I’m spun around so fast I nearly fall. I look up into unfamiliar blue eyes. I try to peel his hands off my hips, but he’s gripped me so tight I can’t get out of his grasp.
“Hey baby,” he says.
“Let me go. I have a fiancé’.”
He laughs, “Well, I don’t see him here.”