Page 105 of Ashes of Us
Yeah, of course. Just... maybe don't mention I'm the one who reached out? I don't want her to think I'm overstepping.
Got it. Anonymous tipster. But seriously, this place is gold. Perfect timing with Small Business Saturday coming up.
I scrolled up with trembling fingers. Saw messages from weeks ago. Him pitching the story. Her asking questions. Logistics about meeting on his birthday. Him confirming he'd bring samples from Rise & Shine.
All of it. Right there. Timestamped and real.
"You were helping me," I said. It wasn’t a question. It was a realization, one that felt like the floor was dropping out from under me.
"I wanted to." His voice was so quiet I almost didn't hear it. "But I didn't want you to feel like I was trying to fix things for you. Or that you owed me anything. I just… Sweet Dreams is hurting your business and I thought maybe this could help. And you'd never have to know it came from me."
The apartment was too quiet. Just us and the truth hanging between us and the ruins of every assumption I'd made.
"I thought..." My voice came out broken. "I thought you were seeing her."
"I know."
"I thought… I thought you were doing it again."
"I know." He took the phone from my shaking hands, set it on the counter. "And I don't blame you for thinking that. After what I did, after how I—" He stopped. "You had every reason to assume the worst."
"I'm sorry." The words came out choked. "God, Liam, I'm so sorry."
"You don't have to?—"
"I do." I was crying harder now, but different. Not angry anymore, just devastated by my own assumptions, by how close I'd come to throwing this away over nothing. "I baked you a cake. I spent hours making your favorite cake and then I saw you with her and I just—I couldn't do it again. I couldn't be the fool again."
"You're not a fool." His hands finally came up, hovering near my face like he was still afraid to touch me. "You were protecting yourself."
"I was hiding." The admission broke something open in my chest. "I was so scared. I wanted to believe you'd changed but I was terrified that you hadn't, that I was just?—"
"I have changed." He said it with such quiet certainty that I had to look up and meet his eyes. "I am changing. Every day. It's not perfect and I'm not perfect but I'm trying, Piper. I'm trying sofuckinghard."
His hands were still hovering, still waiting for permission.
I reached up and caught one, pressed it against my cheek. His palm was warm and rough and steady.
"I saw you with her and all I could think was that I'd let myself hope." My voice cracked. "That I'd opened the door and you were going to hurt me again and I wouldn't survive it this time."
"I would never—" He stopped, swallowed hard. "I know I don't get to say that. But Piper, I swear to you, there's no one else."
"I know."
"There hasn't been anyone else since you." His other hand came up to cup my face, both palms cradling me now like I was something precious. "It's only been you. It's always been you."
The words hit me like a physical thing. Like something that could break and mend at the same time.
We were standing so close. Close enough that I could see the gold flecks in his eyes, could feel his breath on my face, could count the days of exhaustion written in the lines around his mouth.
"Liam," I whispered.
"Yeah?"
I didn't have words for what I needed to say. For the hope and terror and want that was tangled up in my chest. So I just reached up, slid my hand around the back of his neck, and pulled him down to me.
He met me halfway.
The kiss was nothing like I remembered. It wasn't soft or gentle or careful. It was desperate and messy and real. Months of loss and longing compressed into a single moment. His hands tightened on my face, angling me closer, and I made some sound that might have been his name or might have just been relief.
