Page 75 of Finding Mercy

Elle: She told you to get out of your own house?

Me: The guest bedroom. She’s sleeping there.

Elle: Oh shit.

Me: It’s done. It was beautiful while it lasted—time to move on.

Elle: Liam, you have to work it out.

Me: There’s nothing to work out. It’s as if she was looking for a reason and got the perfect one. I’m done. Going to bed. Love you, Cupcake.

I’m a liar. I’m not going to bed. I can’t fucking sleep without her wrapped around me, and it pisses me off. After hours of tossing and turning, I fall asleep. I wake up the happiest man in the world with Mercy on top of me. Her scent surrounds me, her lips brush mine, her hair tickles my shoulder, and then I open my eyes. It was a fucking dream. She’s not here. FUCK!

I hear them in the kitchen, which means I have to play nice for Ivy’s sake. I go into the kitchen to get coffee to take it back to my bedroom. I get my coffee, and Ivy asks me to sit at the table with her, so she can show me the painting she did at school.

“I’ll be right there, Princess.”

I take a sip of my coffee when Mercy says to me, “I hope you slept well, Liam.”

I glare at her, “I did not.”

She glares right back, “Pity.”

I smile for Ivy’s benefit, “You’re lucky Ivy is here.”

“Why, you’d get your belt?” She smirks.

I whisper in her ear, “In your fucking dreams. I won’t ever touch you again with anything.”

Half a second later, when she ran to the bedroom crying, I regret what I said. Fuck. Why did I have to say that? To Mercy, of all people. That’s the problem with words. Once they are said, no matter how much you regret them, they can never be taken back.

I sit with Ivy, and her painting, as usual, it’s stunning.

There’s a house with a bright sun, two adults and a small child. I already know it’s a family portrait. A family that I’ll never be able to give Ivy. Chances are, she will be taken from us when they find out what’s happening. The one thing she needs more than anything right now is stability. I wanted us to be the ones to give that to her.

Mercy comes out of the bedroom and says to Ivy, “Ready?”

Ivy excitedly jumps up, comes over to me, and kisses me on the cheek.

When Mercy goes towards the door, Ivy says, “You have to kiss him too.”

She walks over to me as I smirk and goes to kiss me on the cheek. I grab the back of her neck and kiss her on the lips. She doesn’t kiss me back. The pain in my chest is excruciating.

Twenty-Seven

LIAM

My life has turnedinto a fucking shit show. I did get a text from Gloria saying Stephanie had been fired. So, at least that went my way, but what I wanted most of all was for Mercy to believe me. Would I have believed her if the roles had been reversed? Probably not. She saw me in bed with a naked woman.

I get ready for work and leave as my phone starts ringing through my Bluetooth.

“Hey Javier, what’s up?”

“When you get in, can you come see me before you start rounds?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m on my way now.”

“Okay, boss.”

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