Pieces Of Us Read online

  “I do…” he whispered with alacrity. “God, I fucking do.” His face contorted with so much emotion—emotions he had hidden from me most of the time, but now it was there for me to see.

  For months, I had thought he was making progress, he’d even made efforts to go out and start dating again, but each time he saw me, his eyes would light up, glowing with love and affection.

  Girls from our school took effort in seducing him, and the stories I had heard when he went to parties had made me feel nothing because I had been too consumed with Greyson—thinking and breathing him, hoping he’d reach out to me after I’d sent him that text message. Little had I known he was already busy with Edith. Even if she was sick, I was sure that hadn’t stopped them from having sex. Those two were notorious with their sex life. Everyone knew that.

  A beep came out of Liam’s pocket, making him reach out to get it, sighing after he saw the caller on the screen.

  “Your mom’s been calling. She’s worried that you left without saying goodbye, even leaving your luggage behind.”

  My mother was frantic, and I would guess my father was, too.

  Plucking the phone out of his hand, I took the call with a heavy heart. “Hey, Mom—”

  “Livvy, where the hell have you been? I was looking for you and then you were gone. And when I called your dad and he said you weren’t home, I started to worry. If I hadn’t thought of calling Liam, I’m sure I could’ve died from a heart attack. Don’t ever do that again, young lady, do you understand me?” She sounded so frantic, as if she didn’t know what to do with herself.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to worry you, but after dropping by the church…” I trailed off, not sure if I could finish the sentence as moisture started welling, blurring my sight.

  My mom took a deep breath, sounding as sad as I was. “Jesus, baby, I’m sorry… you didn’t have to witness that.”

  “I couldn’t,” I choked out. “That’s why I left.”

  There was a long silence, as if she didn’t know what to say, as if there wasn’t a right word to say to make me feel any better.

  “Is it done?” I had to ask. There was a puny chance that he’d backed out after I’d seen him at the altar, but one could only hope.

  “Sweetie…” She sounded pained. “Yeah, it’s very much done. He’s married now.”

  Nodding, I wiped the tear that escaped. “Thanks for calling, but I’ve gotta go.” I was holding myself down from sobbing so loudly. “I love you, Mom,” I said before handing the phone to Liam. After I heard him say hello, I got up and immediately ran into the bathroom, needing solitude and a place to cry without anyone witnessing my sorrow.

  Curling on the floor next to the bathtub with my hands wrapped around my knees, I rested my forehead against my arms as I cried harder, rocking myself as tears streamed down my face, thinking that I would never recover from this. There was no way of making it back out. I was drowning from my mistakes, the what-ifs, Grey’s words of love and promises, the future that I had considered for a tiny second before it was snatched away from me again.

  “Liv.” I didn’t hear the door open or close, yet Liam sat before me, worried as he forcefully plucked me off the cold floor and made me stand on my feet. He then reached out into the shower, turning the knob on before letting it run, as he slowly started to undress me. He did it with caution, careful and slow as he stripped me from one scrap of clothing to the other until I was fully naked. In a sense, I should feel shyness or even a little embarrassment, but my naked body was nothing new to Liam, and I knew he was doing it with no bad intentions. Quite honestly, it was refreshing to feel cared for.

  “Can you go in, or do you want me to do it for you?” he asked while I absentmindedly stared at the spraying water.

  What was Grey doing now? I thought as I realized it was early morning in LA and he was probably asleep… in his marital bed with Edith.

  I swallowed a heavy lump in my throat as I thought of them having sex, consummating their marriage. “He’s married,” I whispered before I gazed into Liam’s eyes, still endlessly crying.

  “I don’t know him, but if he married someone after you, Liv, that could only mean he’s where he wants to be. Maybe someday you’ll see that it’s not the end for you. You’re young and beautiful, funny when need be, and not to mention, smart. The rest of us want a fair shot to be with you.”

  “I’m ugly inside,” I freely admitted without shame. “I broke your heart… and I broke his. I guess it was just karma when he finally learned how to break mine.”

  “I’m giving you one week,” he said with all seriousness. “One week to cry as much as you like. Seven days to talk non-stop about him. A week of talks about heartbreaks and a broken future with him. I’m giving you one week, then I don’t want to hear you say anything that will make you more depressed.” He sought my eyes, cupping my cheek. “Go out there, discover Sydney, party, and maybe even date if that’s what you’d want. Anything to get you out of this. I hate seeing you this way.”

  A week of pining for Grey would never be enough. I wanted to argue that, however in the end, I decided I didn’t have much energy left, so I kept my mouth shut.

  “Can you handle a shower, or do you need help?” he asked again.

  I didn’t need either, but his presence somehow gave me a little reassurance. Besides, I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts, it would truly drive me insane thinking about Grey fucking Edith… fucking her the way he used to take me—all hungry as he devoured me with his lips, tiger-eyes feasting on me as he pleasured my body with his amazing tongue-twisting skills…

  Did he often do that to her? She’d said that he loved her… Had he loved her when he was with me? Did he use me to get Edith jealous? Most of all, did they ever make fun of me and how cowardly I was at times? Remembering how Edith spoke about me to Grey, it seemed they’d spoken about me a lot—way too much for my liking.

  My once precious and sacred memories of him felt somehow tainted. I felt cheap because I had embarrassingly given him my virginity when it was supposed to be for Liam. Had he told Edith that, too? It seemed that he didn’t hold anything back when it came to her, so I was almost sure that he had. Maybe I was wrong… I didn’t know him at all. Maybe I was simply a joke that he’d lusted after for too long, nothing more.

  Dropping my gaze to the charm bracelet, I so badly wanted to yank it off my limb and throw it in the garbage bin, yet something stopped me from doing so. Instead, I thought of the craziest thing.

  “Can you shower with me?”

  Liam paused, analyzing my question for a moment. “Why would you want that, Olivia? Don’t you think that’s playing with fire?”

  Funny that he mentioned the word fire because I had played with it and gotten burnt—no, I got incinerated. Grey had ripped everything to shreds. From memories to everything I once had cherished with him, he’d stolen every goddamned thing. He had taken my fire away.

  “You’re not going to burn me, Liam, but if you don’t want to, my feelings won’t be hurt.”

  “Very well.” He immediately started taking his clothes off, unabashed about his erect state pointed at me. I made a tiny noise when I saw his penis. “I’m hard. You know how hard I get whenever you’re around. You’ve known even before we started dating.”

  I did know, and it’s nothing I hadn’t seen before…

  “Sorry,” I mumbled as I got in the shower, closely followed by him.

  Liam shampooed my hair before asking me to turn around so he could help rinse it. Once done, he then immediately took a sponge and drizzled the soap on it before he put my hair to the side and started soaping my shoulders. The sponge gradually went lower in a slow paced motion, as if he was handling delicate porcelain. The sponge then glided on the curves of my bottom, brushing silkily against my skin as he proceeded towards my thighs, slowly and painfully. After he was finished with my legs, he spun me around, his eyes burning with hunger.

  His eyes seared into me as t
hey gradually caressed my body with their heated gaze, burning slowly past my throat, trailing onto my breasts while his breathing became short and sharp. His gaze dropped down below, staring ravenously at my pussy.

  Our eyes met, clashing with tension.

  “Did you—with him, I mean?” His throat bobbed, looking pained.

  “Yes. I did,” I answered his question about my virginity. There was no point in denying it. I had given it up because I couldn’t rein it in. My lust for Grey had consumed my body. When we were together, I could feel the magnetic force field that always existed between us, making us extremely aware of each other.

  A flash of hurt and anger crossed his face as he stepped closer to me, closing the gap between us. Holding my stance, I didn’t dare move as I watched him, feeling numb from his hurt and anger, feeling numb from it all.

  Liam sealed the space between us to the point where the tip of his penis poked on the top slit of my vagina, making me wince without warning from the oddly unexpected, pleasurable friction it caused my body.

  “He must be one hell of guy, isn’t he, Olivia?” he whispered without taking his eyes off me. He didn’t even give me a chance to reply because he was onto the next question just as he purposely shifted, rolling his hips a little to gauge my reaction as the tip teased the tiny slit, provoking the nerve endings of my clit with that tight little shove. “I’m this close to you…” he trailed off, taunting as he slowly dropped his lips to the side of my head, whispering into my ear, “Are you thinking about him now?”

  Surely he wasn’t that stupid. “I am and I will, probably for a very long time.”

  He pressed his chest against my breasts as he whispered, “What made him so special? Why couldn’t it have been me? I love you… more than he ever did. I’m not like him, I won’t ever leave you.”

  “It wasn’t a choice for me. He—he chose me. He went after me, chasing me like a bloodhound only thirsty for one thing. It was supposed to be you… yet he managed to replace you even if my heart rebelled against it.”

  There was no escaping Greyson. Even if my ex was trying to get into my head at the moment, saying the right things, bearing his hurt on his shoulder, I still thought of him.

  “He’s gone,” he said with finality. “You can freely date whomever you like, but rest assured, I’m coming after you, too. I’m going to steal your love for him and make it mine. I want everything you gave him—I’m going to steal it all.”

  Chapter 3

  Liv

  The next day, I woke up weary, as if the thought of breathing alone took too much effort. Liam’s body was stuck to mine, and for a tiny moment, I worried where he was going to take those words of promise from last night. He was going to stake a claim, which was the total opposite of the usual, understanding Liam, but he’d changed his tune the second he had found out that I gave Grey my virginity.

  He was furious about it, that much was obvious. Even with all the anger and hurt, he didn’t take advantage of my vulnerability last night. Sure, he might have taunted and teased me for a second, however he immediately pulled back the second he said the words, I’m going to steal it all.

  My life would’ve probably been so much easier had I not succumbed to Greyson’s sexy appeal and incessant attempts in breaking every shield I had until I was defenseless, falling in love with him before I even knew it myself.

  Sighing, I was about to slide off the bed when Liam reigned me back in against his warm body.

  “Liv,” he grumbled, wrapping his leg and arms around me, his nose seeking the softness of my neck, breathing me in. “Couple more minutes… I love waking up to the smell of you.” He sighed deeply. “No woman should have the right to smell this delicious in the morning.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, come on. It’s not like you haven’t been hopping from one bed to the other. I’ve heard interesting bits about you.” I blushed as I recalled what the rumor mill had been saying about him.

  He nuzzled my neck, leaving tiny specks of kisses behind my ear. “What have you heard, my Queen Olivia?” he teased, smiling as he playfully ground my perched bottom with his hardness.

  “I don’t think I should say, it’ll inflate your ego.”

  He chuckled delightfully. “I’m not letting you out of this bed until you tell me.” His accent at times could simply disarm me. It was so sexy.

  Licking my lips, I thought of the girls I had heard chatting in the restroom. “They said—they think—well, this girl said that you had a mean dick.”

  “What?” He snickered before barking out a deep-bellied laugh.

  When he was being this playful, I was reminded how easily I had fallen for him last summer. Liam had everything right, so why had I fallen so hard for someone who was complicated and complex like Greyson?

  “Well, this was not what I expected to be doing this morning,” I mumbled as I tried to wiggle out of his hold, but his arms were bands of steel.

  “So what happened? Did you try to at least defend my honor?” Yeah, he was beyond tickled with the nickname.

  “Defend what? There’s nothing to defend. Maybe you do have a mean one, I wouldn’t know.”

  “Well, my ever gorgeous one, all you have to do is simply ask, and I’ll be at your service.” His hardness started to get more pronounced, evoking a soft moan from me. “You have no idea how often I wanted to break you open…” He grunted into my ear, his fingers finding their way in between my thighs with only his borrowed shirt hindering their path.

  Slowly, he made soft, sharp circles, aiming solely for my clitoris. The roughness of the shirt rubbing against my sex felt incredibly erotic. I was panting and out of breath as the sensation lit my body on fire.

  “Open your legs and let me chase him out of your system. Let me posses you.”

  Was he crazy? I couldn’t simply chase Greyson away through fucking. It was completely absurd to even consider the idea. My love wouldn’t change because I had sex. My love ran deeper, straight into my soul. He was there—the King—my king….

  “Liam, I know you’re trying to selfishly distract me for your own benefit, and I can’t fault you for that because I’d do the same thing if the situation was reversed. But please, don’t ever think that it’s easy for me to just have sex with anyone after… him.” Grey. I couldn’t say his name out loud in fear that my tears would threaten to come back. My resolve wasn’t strong enough just yet.

  “Maybe not right now, but if you are next week or in a month, I won’t hold back, Liv. Your tight walls won’t recover for a long time,” he vowed with an edge to his voice. “You’ll understand how much I’ve wanted to own you. It’ll be the best fuck of your life.”

  Goose bumps ran rampant as his daunting words sunk in. I couldn’t see him since I had my back against him, yet I could easily picture him above me, thrusting with might, charging inside me while I gasped for air. The image alone brought thirst to my semi-dry throat. With Liam’s girth, I didn’t doubt I would feel like a virgin again. It’d been months since I slept with Grey, and if the day came where I might consider taking it further with Liam, I was sure I’d feel him break me open.

  After another five minutes of chitchat, we decided to have a quick breakfast before I made a phone call to my father. Liam had already called him yesterday, but I was almost certain he was dying to hear from me.

  Booting up my phone, I waited until the Vodafone logo appeared before I started scrolling through messages. Mom apparently had left several messages, as had my dad. My stomach churned at the idea of having a voicemail from Greyson, but alas, that notion didn’t go anywhere because I didn’t have any from him. Besides, I doubted he knew my number.

  The call to my dad was comforting. He asked when I was planning to come home and I told him “soon”. Liam was getting aggressive, yet I’d rather deal with it than go home and be all by myself. We chatted for another several minutes before I said my goodbyes.

  Sighing, I was about to put my phone away when a message beeped in. Opening m
y email inbox, my blood turned cold when I saw who it came from. Everything in me screamed not to open it, however my curiosity won over as I clicked on the damning email.

  The first thing that appeared on the screen was Greyson, appearing to be asleep, hair all disheveled, bare chest with his ridged six-pack abs so defined that one would think they had been airbrushed. He didn’t have any scrap of clothing on except for the thin cotton sheet that barely concealed his half-erect penis.

  My throat started closing up as I gazed into the screen. He looks so fucking beautiful, I thought sadly as I scrolled lower, reading the message the cold-hearted bitch had sent me.

  I win.

  Sincerely,

  Mrs. Edith Edwards

  My hand shook as her words stabbed me a thousand times, bleeding me endlessly. She knew I would be hurting. And for her to send me a picture with Greyson looking like he just had sex and passed out with wild abandon, seriously made me angrier than before.

  Did she think because she had Greyson stuck to her as her husband that she could hurt and trample me still?

  She was right. She had won. Maybe those two deserved each other. After all, I was pining for something that wasn’t there anymore…

  Tapping on the picture, I saved Greyson’s picture to my phone, hoping this would be a great reminder of why I shouldn’t hang on to the man I had claimed to love.

  He was married to Edith, the woman I loathed more than life itself. This was enough torture. The earlier I moved on, the better for me. I had to show them their union didn’t affect me in the least. This was enough torture. I kept telling myself that I’d had enough. Grey made a choice, as should I… Well, since he was my choice and I was being forced to move on, it was even worse. Trying to get over someone when saying goodbye was the last thing I had on the agenda was the toughest decision I’d had to make for myself. However, I knew it in my heart—though it beat relentlessly for Greyson—I had to find the courage to set him free.

  Edith had been this thorn stuck in the side of my hip ever since we were young, and to this day, she still enjoyed hurting me. She’d had enough fun to last her until her last breath. I wasn’t going to put up with her toxic character and let her influence me any longer. Sure, she had Greyson, but even though I felt like death, I wasn’t going to allow her to beat me down mentally.