Wrong (7 page)

Chapter Nine

“Ethan,” I blurted, immediately stiff. I stared in pure shock. I waited for someone – Riley, maybe even Liam – to notice his presence and tell him to fuck off but no one did. I shook my head, realizing my ex had come at this hour for a reason. The bar was packed and he’d blend right in, especially since today, he decided to forego the usual sweater draped over some preppy, pastel Polo. There was even a baseball cap covering his lustrous hair. “Prince Charming hair,” my mom always called it. His glossy mane grabbed attention wherever we went, and so he treated it like his baby. Even went to the salon for highlights to further blonde the existing blondeness. The term
metrosexual
would look at my ex and think even he was overdoing it but today, he was all covered up, completely disguised – for the sole purpose of harassing me discreetly.

“Sash. You’re looking good as fuck. How are you?”

To keep appearances, I gathered myself and tossed a menu in front of him. “What are you doing here?”

“Thought I’d grab a beer and have a talk.”

“About what?” I asked. Despite my irritation, I poured the IPA he used to order. He grinned as he watched me do it.

“See? It’s still your instinct to please me.”

“Stop.”

“No. You’ve always been perfect wife material,” he murmured, shaking his head. “You really have. I never should’ve let you go.”

“It wasn’t exactly your choice.”

Ethan scoffed. “It should’ve been.”

“Excuse me?”

“You don’t know what’s best for you if you’re leaving me to fucking lust after your meathead step – ”

“Ethan!”

“What?” he smirked. “Is the asshole here?” He looked around. “Should’ve known he was somewhere under that mob of sluts.”

“Stop talking about my guests that way and stop talking about Liam. Period.”

“Why? I’m not afraid of him. If he wants to kick my ass, let him.” He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “I’ll just press charges and sue for whatever his stupid fucking gym is worth.” I shook my head in disbelief as he grinned at me. God. The only thing worse than a coward was a smug one. “Shoot. That thought makes you worry, doesn’t it?” Ethan smirked. “What do you think then? Should I say hi, babe?” He feigned innocence as I tried to bluff and pretend I didn’t fear Liam’s reaction. “He’ll be happy to see me, right, Sash? Yeah, you know what, gimme a sec, I’m gonna go say – ”

“
Ethan
.”

Before I knew it, I was dragging him out of the restaurant and around the corner. Laughing, he let me push him into the alley where we took around shipments inside. “Still got it,” he grinned.

“Got what?” I snapped.

“The ability to read your mind and get you exactly where I want you. I wanted you alone and now I have you alone. Because you don’t trust that meathead not to beat the shit out of me. Think about how sad that is, babe. Spending all your days worrying about whether or not that idiot is going to fly off the handles and kill someone like he almost did to that poor kid, Walsh. I mean is that really the kind of man you want in your life?”

I didn’t answer. He was baiting me. He wanted to know if I was going to let him call Liam “the man in my life.” When I said nothing, he sneered.

“Or are we just never going to get closure on that?”

“On what.”

“The fact that you dumped me because you moaned your stepbrother’s name during sex.”

“I dumped you because of your reaction to it and it happened during sleep, not sex, but I’m glad you’ve probably been telling all your friends that version of the story.”

“Actually, I’ve been holding off on telling anyone that you said his name while you were in bed with me. It’s actually kind of embarrassing to share that your fiancée’s been lusting after another guy, let alone her fucking brother.”

I crossed my arms. I didn’t bother to make the “stepbrother” correction since there was a far more pressing one to me. “Ex-fiancée,” I said between my teeth.

“That remains to be seen.”

“I’m sorry?”

“That remains. To be seen,” Ethan enunciated. “Unless you’re under the impression that your stepbrother is going to suddenly fall in love with you and ask to elope, I can’t exactly imagine that you’re truly done with us.
We
are the real thing, Sasha. Whatever pipe dream you have about sucking off Liam is not only wrong as fuck but completely absurd.”

I stared at him, his grey-blue eyes actually gleaming with satisfaction. I hated the idea of giving him any more. “I have to go,” I said abruptly. He caught my arm to pull me back. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I cut my eyes to him, trying my best to remain calm. “Let go of me.”

“Hon.”

“
Now
.”

“No, you
fucking listen to me
,” Ethan hissed, jerking me to him. I winced, remembering his tendency to lose his patience all at once. “I’ve proposed a grand total of once in my life and it was to you. Wanna know why? It’s not just because you’re beautiful or because I like the way men respect me when I walk into a room with you. It’s not just that. It’s because I’ve put time into you, Sasha. I’ve put money into you. I love you. I love the way you treat me, the way you make me feel. I have high doubts that any other sexy fucking woman, no matter how deep her throat or big her tits, will have any success matching the kind of satisfaction you provide me because the fact of the matter is you’ve molded to me. You went from teenager to woman with me – you’ve grown up learning how to please me so I don’t think it’s too far at all to say that you were made completely for me.”

“You’re disgusting,” I hissed, tearing away from him in vain.

“I’m not. I’m the one who’s meant for you. I’m the one who makes your family love you again. I’m the one you know you should be with. Look at you. Fuck, baby, look at you.” My stomach turned as Ethan groaned at me. My hands were flat on his chest as I tried to push him off of me, wondering when he’d shoved me up against the brick wall. “I miss you so much.” His words were wet against my neck. My heart slammed against his hands as they groped through my shirt. “Feel how hard you get me,” he practically whined.

I gasped, flashbacks throttling my brain, shrinking me against the brick wall as Ethan rubbed himself on my hip. “Get off!” I shrieked.

“Help me,” he grinned, reaching down between our bodies. “Help me get off.”

The second he cupped between my legs, I sunk my fist in his eye.

“Piece of
shit!
” I screamed the words. Or I tried. But my voice was hoarse and raw and nearly as weak as my legs. I stumbled away from him but the second I gained my footing, I ran.

Chapter Ten

“For the last time –
no
.” Through my tipsiness, I searched for my firmest voice to use with Aria. “And that’s my final answer,” I slurred to her before leaning over the bar and trying to flag a bartender. All three were down the bar with their elbows on the counter, too busy flirting with Max and A.J to care about the throng of thirsty patrons trying to get their attention. “Fuck it.”

Giving up for the fifth time, I plopped back in my stool. I’d had several doubles at this point but after the events of the afternoon, I was sure I still needed more. After all, the shitshow of a day didn’t end with Ethan.

After running from him, I’d rushed into the café next door and used their bathroom to wipe my tears before returning to work. But my brain was scrambled, my hands still shook and I was only further distracted by Liam. He knew something was wrong and he wouldn’t stop asking me what happened. When I walked to the other end of the bar, he followed. When he asked my guests for their seats, they got right up for him. At one point, I escaped behind the Employees Only door and hid in the office. Within moments, he was right there with me. It was infuriating.

Of course, it was worse for him.

I knew he was smarter than to assume I was just having a rough shift. I knew he hated seeing me upset and I knew his every nerve was programmed to detect when I was feeling even the slightest bit threatened. So he rode my ass about it till he was hours late for the gym and had to finally leave without an answer.

I did text him an excuse about feeling under the weather, but I should’ve known it came off as half-assed and insulting because his reply to me was curt.

I don’t have time for bullshit.

I tried replying with some other excuse but after a minute of my ellipses, he cut me off with two words.

Save it.

He was pissed. I knew that and I knew I would hate every second of the day that things remained unresolved between us. But I knew better than to tell him what happened outside the bar – that Ethan had ambushed me at work, pinned me against the wall and groped me. Liam would kill him. Actually kill him. He might not set out with that intention, but the beating he’d deliver would no doubt leave Ethan lying in his own blood and teeth on the floor. And the thought of him going to jail because of that smug asshole made my hands ball into fists.

“Well, what if you preface it with a warning?” Aria asked desperately. “Before you tell Liam what happened, remind him that Ethan’s parents are the most lawsuit-happy, vindictive people I’ve ever heard of. I mean, how many housekeepers have they sued? And tried to fucking deport? They’d take Liam’s money
and
make him serve time. Just tell him that whatever he does, he can’t lay a finger on Ethan. Or if he does, he can’t leave any bruises.”

I waved my hand in the air to brush it all off. “There’s no telling Liam not to be angry, especially when it comes to Ethan. He’s hated Ethan before it was cool to hate Ethan.”

“True.”

“And as much as he hides his scary side from me, I know about it. I’ve heard about the bar fights. And obviously, the whole world knows about the thing with Walsh.”

“Yeah,” Aria grimaced.

Liam had stopped fighting two years ago, after his win against Damon Walsh in Las Vegas. It was the biggest and best fight of his career, but he wound up in a brawl with Walsh’s crew while celebrating that night. The only footage that came out was what spilled out in front of the club, and it saw Liam delivering a punch to Walsh that knocked him out so hard he split his head open on the concrete. The injuries he sustained that night cut his promising career short, and they wound up ending Liam’s too. He lost his heart for the sport after that and instead opened his gym. Training others clearly fulfilled him, but somewhere in my heart, I knew he had to miss the ferocity of fighting.

Aria shrugged. “Honestly, that whole thing was a freak accident,” she said.

“Yeah.” I stared down at my glass of ice cubes and considered sucking on one for the whiskey residue. “Well. That wasn’t even Liam going all out, and with Ethan, he would. He’d use every ounce of strength that he’s got in that body of his.”

“And knowing Ethan’s bitch-ass, he would not survive,” Aria muttered drunkenly.

“Exactly. Which is why we will never tell Liam what happened today.” I shot a stern look at her. “No matter how much we wish revenge upon Ethan. Right?”

Aria’s tiny shoulders slumped in defeat. “Yeah. Right.”

“Cool. Cheers.” We clinked our empty glasses and sighed in unison. Right in time, a bartender set fresh drinks in front of us.

“Heard you needed big girl cups,” she purred, sliding over two
pint
glasses of pure whiskey. The guests around us burst into raucous protest as she walked away, returning to A.J, who winked from down the bar and motioned for us to drink up.

Aria giggled, raising her glass to him. Turning back to me, her voice was instantly dry. “I hate that I love him.”

“I understand that feeling very much.”

“You
do
.” Taking a sip, Aria winced and grabbed the stranger’s glass next to us, pouring half her drink into it. He gave a stunned thank you as she casually turned back to me. “Anyway, I don’t mean to kill the vibe right now,” she slurred, leaning over the bar to help herself to the soda gun, “but there are some rather buxom ladies getting super friendly with your man candy as we speak and if you don’t end this stupid silent treatment thing you guys have going on right now, they may very well push him into the bathroom and put his penis in their mouth.”

“They all have just one collective mouth?”

“Mouths. Into their mouths. They’re going to take turns treating his boner like an ice cream cone. Especially the one with the purple lip liner.”

I burst out laughing just as A.J came over. “Speaking of boners.” He narrowed his puzzled eyes at Aria. “Since when did you get a dirty mouth?”

“Since you bought her sixteen ounces of bourbon.” I poured half my drink into his glass.

“Fair. Also, not complaining here but what exactly is she doing?” A.J stared at Aria’s ass as she climbed over the bar again. I extended my glass to her.

“Making me a whiskey ginger,” I said as she shot the soda gun into my drink. Confused, A.J still nodded his approval.

“Alright then. I like when you girls are drunk.”

“That makes three of us.” Aria returned to her seat and winked at A.J, ever the capable flirt when she was hammered. “Now what was I just talking about?”

“Something filthy as fuck, so do continue.”

“No, we’re done with that subject,” I rolled my eyes.

“Hey, speak for yourself!” Aria scoffed, indignant one second but giggly the next. Biting seductively on her straw, she turned to A.J. “I was just talking about those boobful gals over yonder.”

A.J looked at where she pointed. “The ones rubbing up against Liam?”

Despite myself, I joined them in looking toward the pool tables. My jaw tightened the second I indulged in the sight I’d been avoiding all night – Liam wearing the hell out of a black T-shirt and black jeans, a pool cue leaning against his impossibly broad chest.  At his left, a leggy blonde. At his right, a ridiculously pouty brunette. He wasn’t giving them the most attention in the world but he was still smiling, conversing, leaning in to listen and laugh at the occasional joke. With every one of his sexy laughs, they upped their game, the brunette tossing her hair and the blonde hiking up her skirt.

“Yup, those two. Help me tell Sasha to talk to Liam so she can get to his dick before those girls do.”

“Aria!”

“
What?
”

A.J laughed. “It’s okay, Sash, I know about you two. You and Liam,” he said. I eased up only slightly, pausing for a bit and then giving a huff.

“I had a feeling you did. But it’s still weird to hear this stuff out loud.”

“All good. No one we know is here besides the guys from the gym and they all know already anyway.”

“Seriously?”

A.J feigned fear at my wrath and held his hands in the air. “What, are we blind? We saw the way he looked at you last night! And then you guys disappeared for twenty minutes. What were we supposed to think – that you went upstairs to discuss Thanksgiving plans?”

“Damn it, A.J.”

“Babe, come on. Don’t worry. The guys won’t say shit. What happens in the gym stays in the gym. Plus, they know better than to do anything that’ll piss off Liam.” Like a soldier, A.J faced me at attention. “Hand on my heart, babe. You know I don’t lie. Not to you. I told you the truth about Liam’s feelings for you before Liam told you the truth about Liam’s feelings for you. So trust me when I say that you secret’s safe with the gym and you should go get your man. You two don’t get tons of chances to act like a couple, but here, tonight, it’s all family. So go for it.”

I raked my bottom lip between my teeth. “Alright,” I exhaled, though in defeat. I felt as if I wasn’t quite covering my bases – like I had a good dozen loose ends in my life. Little threads just waiting to be pulled to unravel the entire sweater. I wasn’t used to it. I lived knowing with full certainty what lie around every corner, which till recently, seemed like the perfect way to live. Winging it was a new concept. It was weird and stressful and scary. But at the same time, as odd as it was to admit, it made me feel more awake than ever – like I didn’t have my days on cruise control anymore. Shifting in my seat, I made a scrunchy face. I wasn’t sure how to reconcile feeling at once so uncomfortable yet so alive.

“Alright, enough chit chat,” Aria sassed. “What’s it gonna be, girl? You finally gonna claim your man?”

“Are you?” I countered.

Her mouth dropped open. There was a long pause as Aria and I battled on who could lift their eyebrows higher. A.J finally broke the silence.

“I don’t know what’s happening but I’m turned on.”

Aria giggled. “Seriously though, Sash. You left Liam hanging today. Ball’s in your court to make a move.”

“Speaking of balls,” A.J raised his hand, “mine are blue.”

“
Oh
-kay, and I’m gone.”

Snorting, I hopped off my stool to give A.J and Aria the privacy they so clearly needed. Drunk as I was, I made a steady beeline for the pool tables where Liam was hanging out with Max, a few guys from the gym and plenty of girls from the bar. I could never remember the name of the place that we were – it was the same Lower East Side spot that we all went to after nights out, because it tended to stay open well past 4AM. Liam and his boys were known to be spotted there on weekends, which meant girls in crop tops and booty shorts were known to be spotted as well.

I was glad that tonight, I was actually dressed like one of them. Normally, I had on my stained white T-shirt with The Queen logo on the right breast. My jeans were generally something light-washed and tight-fitting but equally stained, and any remnants of makeup were virtually gone by midnight. So generally, at this spot, I sat at the bar with Aria while the dolled up girls played groupie with Liam and his boys.

But tonight, Aria had known better than to let me stay hidden.

After hearing about Ethan and my day at the bar, she dragged me to her favorite nail spot so we could get our nails and toes done while I gave her the details. Then she ushered me into the bar next door with the all-day happy hour and kept the five-dollar well drinks coming as I listed all the cons of telling Liam about what happened.

“Fine, don’t tell. I just fucking hate Ethan. I refuse to let him force you back into your shell,” Aria declared. “I refuse!”

So back at her house, she made shitty cocktails and dressed me in clothes that belonged to Jenna, that she’d long ago “borrowed and chose not to return.” And by 9PM, I was properly drunk and strutting out her door in shredded denim shorts and a distressed, black tee cut just above my navel, with a cracked, old Guinness logo slapped across the chest. I successfully refused the four-inch stilettos, making it out in my own high top Converses, but the outfit still made me feel as bold as I had the night before at Liam’s gym. My relationship with that feeling was new and fragile and truthfully, something I didn’t want to lose. Especially not to Ethan. Seeing him again had made me promptly shrivel up inside and feel small. But thankfully, a few drinks and a borderline trashy outfit was enough to salvage the boldness, which was coming quite in handy as I made my way to Liam – to the six feet and three inches of human sex god leaning over green felt to line up his shot, his shoulders nearly bursting the seams of his charcoal V-neck.

The second I returned Max’s hello nod, a girly whisper pierced my ear. “Ugh.
Cockblock alert
.”

My eyebrow hitched just as Liam sank a loud shot. Silence hung in the air. It seemed everyone had heard considering how suddenly it fell quiet.

“Sorry?”

Shit. I hadn’t meant to respond but apparently, Trashy Sasha had taken the reigns for the night. Suddenly, all eyes were on me as I tilted my head at the brunette. She wore a strappy leather bra, hot shorts and far more lip liner than she had lips.
Damn
. Out-trashed on arrival.

“Eavesdrop much?” she snorted. Tossing her mass of black hair, she peered at her friends. “Fucking creepy if you ask me.”