Page 90 of Sweet Surrender
I refrained from rolling my eyes. “I’m only asking for a lift to the shops,not asking you to assassinate the president. I’ll be quick, and you can even come into the shop with me if it makes you feel better. Please, Aaron. I really need to pick up something for the outfit I’m working on, it’s really important. If I don’t get it finished today, then I’ll be behind, and I’ll never get everything ready in time for the show.”
I knew I was laying it on thick, and I gave him my best puppy dogeyes. It took everything in me to let a triumphant grin spread when he sighed and his shoulders slumped in resignation.
“Fine. But if Mr. Carson fires me, you have to tell him it was all yourfault.”
“I promise,” I replied, walking around to the passenger side, andsliding in before Aaron could change his mind.
On the drive into the city, Aaron and I chatted about all sorts.He told me about his family who lived in Alaska, and that he’d taken the job working for Nash as it paid well, and he was saving for an engagement ring for his girlfriend.
When we arrived at the craft shop, Aaron followed me inside,reminding me not to take too long. Sadly for him, he’d never seen me in a craft shop, I was in my element, and the store we were at was huge. It was going to take me a fair bit of time to rummage around and find what I was looking for.
I’d been wandering around for no more than ten minutes whenAaron’s phone started ringing. He scowled when he pulled it out of his pocket before answering.
Ignoring him, I carried on digging through the box of buttons I’d found,wondering if any of them would do for my dress when Aaron got my attention.
“Mrs. Carson, I need to step outside to take this call, the signal’sreally bad in here.”
“No problem, I’ll be here,” I said, not tearing my gaze away from thebuttons. I’d found three shiny pink ones in the shape of flowers that wouldn’t work on my current project but would work on another outfit I had planned.
From my periphery, I saw Aaron disappear out of the shop. Not evena minute later, a figure took his place.
“Sav?”
My head whipped up at the familiar voice, and I almost dropped thebox of buttons in shock.
“Liam? What the hell are you doing here?” I said, not believingthat my ex was standing before me.
He looked terrible. His clothes were dirty and stained, his hair greasyand matted, and it looked like he hadn’t shaved for weeks. He’d lost weight. He was never very big to begin with, but his clothes hung off his frame, and his face was gaunt.
He was a far cry from how I remembered him, when he used to headoff to work neatly groomed and in smart suits.
“I’ve been trying to find you for ages, Sav. It’s good to see you,” hesaid, his voice croaky.
I blinked several times, still not entirely believing he wasn’t afigment of my imagination. I’d visualized this moment time and time again after I found out he’d betrayed me, and every time I pictured it, it was always with me giving him a piece of my mind for what he’d done to us.
But now he was here, I couldn’t find the words.
“What do you want?” I finally replied when anger began to rear itshead.
He looked around, for what though, I wasn’t sure. “Sav, weneed to talk.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” I said through gritted teeth,wanting to be as far from my traitorous ex as possible.
He grabbed my arm, making the box of buttons rattle. “Sav, it’s notwhat you think. Nash has been playing you this whole time.”
“What?” I replied, not believing a word that came out of his mouth.
“It’s a long story, Sav, but you need to know the truth. He’s been lyingto you, he’s the reason we are in this mess.”
I shook his arm off me and put the box of buttons down before Idropped them from where my hands had begun to violently shake. “You’re the reason we are in this mess,” I hissed, taking a step closer to him. The smell of body odor and stale alcohol hit my nose making me cringe. “You are the liar here, not Nash.Youare the one who broke my trust and set me up.”
“Listen to me, Sav,” he replied, gripping both my arms this time.“Nash isn’t who you think he is. He’s been manipulating you formonths. He’s the reason you lost your job and your home back in Brownsville. He orchestrated it all so he could get you where he wanted you.”
The blood in my veins turned to ice at his words, and it felt like theworld around me stopped turning. I wanted to believe Liam was lying, but deep down, something inside me told me he wasn’t. I knew Nash, and I knew he was more than capable of doing what Liam had just claimed.
Before I could reply, Liam let go of my arms and looked around thestore again. “Look, I know you won’t believe me, and I understand why. But Sav, I’m trying to look out for you.”
“Look out for me? Why has it taken you this long to find me?” I said,tears stabbing in the back of my eyes.
