by M. Skye
“You can trust yourself with Liam, but don’t stifle your dreams for anyone. Just know that my son has many layers, so work with him. He is going to need it. He is a great person, and I want you to always remember that. He doesn’t always voice his thoughts or feelings, but they are there.”
Nodding her head, Draya tried to understand what she meant. She was deep in thought when she felt a hand hit her shoulder. Turning to face Liam, she was met with a kiss on her cheek. “Sorry I took so long. You ready to go? I know your family has to be climbing the walls looking for you.”
“Yeah.” She stood and was greeted with a hug from Brenda. “It was great meeting you.”
“You come back anytime, with or without him. We can have a girl’s day.”
“A day with my woman without me? I think not, Mother,” he laughed. “I was already crazy enough to leave you alone over thirty minutes. I’m surprised she isn’t running out of here.”
“We had a great talk,” Draya admitted, honestly meaning it. She had been taken by surprise by her questions at first, but she didn’t blame Brenda for being direct. She imagined if she ever had a son, she would be just as direct, if not more. “I’m going to take you up on that offer,” she nodded to Brenda.
“See there, I wasn’t so bad,” Brenda grinned.
“She’s just polite,” he hugged his mother. “I’ll call you later.”
“Be safe,” she called out as they walked away.
Clutching Draya’s hand, Liam brought it to his lips to place a kiss. “What did you two talk about?”
“You,” she smiled, not giving much to go on. “Your mother is very protective in a lioness protecting her cub kind of way, but I can appreciate that.”
“Tell me just what it is you’re appreciating,” he opened her door and slid her inside. Crossing around the car and getting in, he buckled in and started the car. “Come on, out with it beautiful. What wise tales did she spin for you?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Draya buckled herself in. She wasn’t sure if she should actually tell Liam everything they discussed. She knew he would probably be upset with his mother for the questions she asked, and she actually wasn’t upset about it. She respected the woman for giving her realness in her face. People with as much as they had could have just as easily pretended to play nice and went behind her back, digging into her business. She could tell Brenda had no qualms about making her intentions known. It was that thought that made her wonder if Brenda was in the loop about what was going on with Alea. Thinking about the kind of woman she seemed to be, Draya knew Brenda had no clue. She would have definitely handled that.
“She wanted to know about us. She wanted to know if we’re serious.” It wasn’t the complete truth, but it wasn’t a lie either. She was unsure about the boundaries between them, but she knew Liam was a private person. She wasn’t even sure he was aware that his mother knew about his almost proposal.
Squeezing her thigh, pulling out of the yard, he sighed. “I apologize about that.”
It hadn’t escaped her that he must be thinking about the fact that he slipped up and said he loved her and she didn’t say it back. She felt it, or at least she thought she did, but she wanted to be sure before she made it real. She needed to make sure she didn’t drag him into a pool of uncertainty.
“It’s okay. It’s a valid question.”
“I just don’t want you to be pressured to feel a certain way. I know what I said was a shock and I’m a little surprised myself, but I mean it. I can feel what I do without having you say it back. You will come to terms with your feelings in your own time.”
His statement was innocent enough, but she felt like she should, at least, say something. She didn’t want him feeling like she was just heartless about everything. “I care for you so much, and I could love you. I could fall so madly, deeply, and passionately in love with you, but I need to make sure I’m whole before I can allow myself to do so. I’m over Damien, but he broke something inside me that I need to fix. I don’t want to fall in love with you because you end up fixing me. I want to fall in love because you’re amazing, because I can’t imagine myself without you, and because you’re one of the best things that ever happened to me. I don’t want you to always question if what I feel is real or if it’s because I’m trying to get over him.”
Glancing away from the road few a few seconds, he gave her a genuine smile. “You don’t have to explain your feelings to me. You’ve been hurt in unimaginable ways and I’m just glad that we can even be this close to work on anything. Whatever time you need, I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m not going anywhere either. I’m crazy about you, did you know that?”
“I do,” he smiled, “and that’s good enough for now.”
Looking off, Draya pulled out her cell and turned it back on. She had avoided her life enough and now that she and Liam were on some kind of common ground, she knew she needed to deal with everything. She was never going to be able to love him the way he deserved if she didn’t iron out some of the wrinkles in her life.
Going straight to her voicemail, that looked like it was practically full, she hit the icon and started playing the messages back. The first few were from Ashton, telling her to call back. But as she got to the most recent, she dropped the phone, letting out a loud sob.
“Oh, God.”
“Draya,” Liam’s head snapped over and he pulled to the side of the road. “What’s wrong, babe?”
“Take me to Emory; we have to get to Emory.” She was talking so fast, she had hardly taken the time to breathe.
Moving his hands to frame her face, he slowed her down. “Breathe, baby. Just breathe.” Once she was a little calmer, he asked again and she began to tremble. “What happened?”
“My dad was waiting at the house for me last night and someone beat him so badly that they had to take him to the hospital. Ashton has been calling me because they think it was Damien. They think he was looking for me.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“He is in ICU. It’s bad, Liam.”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure he will be fine.” He pulled back onto the road. “He has to be. I’ll get you there and you will get to talk to him. This time, I want you to talk to your father and tell him how much you love him. I think you need to do this for you.”
“I do love him. I wish I had said it sooner. I was so mad and I acted like a child, running away the way I did. Ashton was right about me; I’m broken and I don’t know how to fix it.”
“You take it one day at a time. And you’re not broken, you’re hurting and you want to be better. You just haven’t figured out how yet, but you will. I’ll help you.”
“How do you love me?” She turned to him with tears in her eyes. “I’m not sure if I still love me.”
“I just do; I can’t explain it. I honestly don’t understand this whole love thing, but I know I feel it for you. When it happens, you have no control over it. You just have to be able to accept it.”
“Will you stay with me? I know you probably have something...”
“I’m not leaving your side today.”
“Thank you.”
“You never have to thank me.” Keeping his hand on her thigh, he guided them down the highway towards the hospital. The entire way all she could think about is that it could have been her. If it happened at her house, Damien was looking for her. He had beaten her before, so it wasn’t a stretch, but it did nothing to calm her nerves. From what she gathered, her mother had found her father. It was clear that Damien had been there and there was an APB out for his arrest. How she had gone so far off track, she would never understand. She was raised right with love and support, but all her morals had flown out of the window the day she opened her legs to a married man. Now, she was paying in every way that mattered. Her heart and her family were in jeopardy, and quite possibly, her life.
Chapter Four: Life or Death
“Draya, baby; right over here. Dad is in this room,” C
aroline called out as Draya ran down the hall to the ICU with Liam following her. He had sped over the entire way and was really unsure of what they would find once they got there. He had only hoped Andrew was still alive because from the way the messages sounded, he was hanging on by a thread.
“What happened? Why was he at my house?”
“He wanted to talk to you. He wanted to explain his role in all this.”
“I was out of town. I should have answered my phone when he called,” she sobbed. “I was still upset.”
“Yeah,” Ashton piped in. “You should have answered your damn phone. Maybe if he had reached you, he wouldn’t have been at your damn house taking a beating meant for you. You are so stupid, not only were you sleeping with a married man, but you were stupid enough to let him whoop your ass. I say you deserve to be in that bed, not my dad.”
“Stop it,” Caroline called out, but Ashton just kept going.
“You are such a fucking disaster. You come rolling in here with this white boy who probably has another woman in the wings while my father is fighting for his life because of you. I think you deserve whatever comes to you.”
“Shut up, Ashton,” Caroline yelled. “Your father is not perfect and is just as much to blame for this mess with Damien as your sister is. He slept with his wife, he started this grudge match and I won’t have you sitting here like he’s some perfect little angel.”
“Oh stuff it, you submissive bitch. You never stand up for yourself and you practically shoved him into Deena’s bed. You gave him to her and now you’re upset that everyone knows,” Ashton yelled and before Liam could grab her, Draya’s hand reached out, connecting with Ashton’s jaw.
“You disrespectful bitch,” Draya hissed, shaking her hand after the punch. “Regardless of who is to blame, she is our mother. Your issue is with me and I won’t allow you to talk to her like this. She hasn’t done anything wrong. He cheated on her and I slept with the married man. If you want to yell at someone yell at me, but you’re not going to treat her like this.”
With tears streaming down her cheeks, Draya stuck her finger in Ashton’s face. “I don’t know what happened to you. You used to love me and you protected me from any bully that ever came my way, but now you’re the worst one of them all. I thought Damien was, but at least he never let me believe he loved me. Every hit I took from him, I never wondered why he didn’t love me anymore because it was never there. Seeing you tear us down this way hurts more than any hit he could have ever thrown because I still love you and I don’t know how to fix us.”
While her hand was shaking and she remained pointing at Ashton, Liam walked over, bringing it down to link their fingers. He wasn’t sure if anything he said at this point would help, but he had to try. She was in more pain than he ever wanted to witness. He only wished he could take it all away, but he knew this was something she needed to sort out with her family.
“I don’t know what I did to make you hate me so much. This between you and me started long before Damien. It was part of the reason why I turned to him. I had no one,” Draya sobbed. “I needed you. I needed all of you.” Watching her break down in his arms, Liam just held her, letting her get everything out in the open. “What did I do?”
“You left,” Ashton replied in a tone slightly above a whisper, holding her left cheek that was now beginning to swell. “You were his favorite; I knew that growing up and when you left, he changed. He loved me, I knew that; but he wasn’t the father we grew up with. He became so much colder and I blamed you. If you had stayed, we would still be a family.”
“We are still a family,” Draya admitted. “We just need to figure out how to love each other better, but we’re a family.”
Letting tears wet her cheeks, Ashton shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not mad at you, either of you. I’m mad at him and I just didn’t want to admit it. I’m so mad at him and I feel guilty because he could die. He broke us and I let him drive us apart. You’re right, I was supposed to protect you and I didn’t because I let him convince me to shut you out. This is just as much my fault as anyone else.”
Liam just stood back watching as Draya left Ashton and sat down in Andrew’s room. Caroline walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Can I talk to you for a second?” Nodding his head, he followed her to a nearby corner, taking one last look at Draya as she and Ashton both congregated around Andrew’s bed. Leaning against the wall, he was happy that there was no more swinging as they furthered their conversation.
Focusing in on Caroline, he crossed his arms over his chest as she began to talk. “I really hate to involve you in this, but when I found Andrew at her place, the door was unlocked and I noticed something strange. I wonder if you know anything about this.”
Having his curiosity piqued, Liam stood up straight and tilted his head. “Something like what?”
“Lilies, Draya’s favorite. When I arrived at her place, nothing seemed off and I thought Andrew had just come and gone. I knew she wasn’t in because the lights were off, except for the kitchen, so I did a little snooping. I thought the flowers were from you, so I picked up the card and read it. I know it was probably an invasion of privacy, but I just wanted to know more about your relationship. We aren’t back to the point of sharing everything yet,” she rambled. “But anyways, when I read the card, I saw that they were clearly from someone else. They had this…” She pulled out a picture and placed it in his hand. “…inside a blank card.” Looking at the picture, Liam was puzzled and held it closer to his face. It was a picture of Draya with Deena at her restaurant during the conversation he had overheard. “Do you know anything about this?”
Nodding his head, Liam balled the picture up before embellishing. “She has been getting these flowers with notes and pictures attached ever since the fire at her restaurant and she thinks it’s from either Damien or Deena.”
“And you think otherwise?”
“I don’t know what to think. Things have been a little crazy, but I do my best to look out for her. The messages and flowers had stopped for a while and we thought it was over, but I see that we were wrong. She’s never alone if that’s what you’re worried about. If she’s not at work, I don’t let her leave my side. I’m going to stick with her until we get this figured out.”
“You would do all this to protect her?”
“I love her. I would do anything for her.” Smiling briefly, Caroline touched his cheek and he gave her a hug. “I’m sorry you’re going through this. It’s going to get better.”
“It’s not, honey. The sad part is that I know this and can’t do a thing about it.” Letting a few minutes pass, Liam just held Caroline in his embrace. He hardly knew the woman, but he knew she was important to Draya and it made him want to comfort her.
Looking back towards where the girls were sitting, Caroline turned back to face Liam. “Where did she go? Did you see her leave?”
“Who?” He scanned the room, his eyes landing on Ashton standing across from Andrew’s room alone. “No, I didn’t see her.” Following Caroline’s lead over to Ashton, Liam reached out to touch her and she jumped. He could tell her mind was preoccupied and felt bad for startling her. “I’m sorry to bother you, but where did Draya go?”
Looking at him questioningly, Ashton put her hand to her chin. “She was on her way to talk to you two. She said she needed some air and was going to grab you.”
“She didn’t come to us,” Caroline, said, looking around the room. “Where... oh…” She looked down at Draya’s cell phone on the floor and picked it up. Swiping her finger over the screen, she opened the last thing Draya had looked at and saw a text from Damien: need to see you now. “She wouldn’t... she knows... my baby,” Caroline slid down to the floor while Liam whipped out his cell phone.
Running down the hallway, he grabbed one of the armed guards as he continued to scan the hall looking for Draya. “This is an emergency. You need to get more back up, now. The suspect you’re looking for is here and he has my girlfri
end.”
***
“Put me down! I’m going to scream,” Draya yelled, looking over the top of the roof of the hospital.
“Shh, you’re already screaming. Just let me talk, please.”
“I’m not letting you do shit,” she snapped. “What did you do, bring me up here to toss me off? Guess you missed your mark when my father surprised you at my place.” Shaking his head, Damien tried to calm her down, placing a hand on her shoulder only to have her shrug it off. “Don’t touch me. You can’t drag me out of a hospital and expect me to trust you after what you did. There is a warrant out for your arrest, coming here was the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.”
Grabbing her arms, shaking her to the core, he gave her a look that confused her. “You can’t believe I did this. I didn’t touch him. I’m being set up, Dray.”
“I don’t believe you,” she shook her head. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because I’m telling the truth. I made you a promise to never hurt you again and I’ve been trying to keep it. Why would I try to hurt you if all I want is for you to come back to me? I miss you so damn much, Draya.”
Shaking her head, she made him release her and stepped backward. “No, you can’t do this. I’ve made my peace with letting you go. You can’t just come here and spout some bullshit about missing me after attacking my father. He is fighting for his life and all I want to do is push your ass over this ledge for the pain you’ve caused. The only thing I feel for you at this point is pure hatred. If I never see you again, it will be too soon.”
Looking as if she had stabbed him in the heart, he shook his head, holding up his hands. “You don’t mean that. I’ve made mistakes where you were concerned, but I—”
“Don’t say it,” she interrupted. “Don’t say you love me. You used me to get back at my dad and now, you’ve gotten your revenge. He is barely hanging on and I’m going to see to it that you pay.”