Unsung

by Shannon Richard

  “You’re not going to deny it?” he asked.

  She shook her head, a low sniffle filling the kitchen as she reached up and wiped at her face.

  Her crying was breaking him…everything about this moment was breaking him.

  “I asked you flat out what happened, and not once did you mention Kiki. I know that she was there. I know that she might not have been the catalyst for what upset you, but she was part of it. And whatever that catalyst was I think it was much more than you being overwhelmed. You don’t think I see that you’re scared, Harper? Because I do.”

  Her head came up and she looked at him again. That fear was right there at the center of her eyes, but it was surrounded by hurt and anger and confusion. “What do you want from me, Liam? It’s scary, okay? It’s scary that you’re famous. Scary that you’re only going to get more famous. That you get up on that stage and almost every woman in that audience wants you.”

  “I don’t want them back.”

  “It doesn’t change it. It still is what it is, and it’s terrifying. It’s terrifying to see a line of more than willing and able women.”

  “Don’t you trust me? Don’t you believe me when I tell you that you’re all I want?”

  “I do trust you, but that’s not what this is about. It’s about not being able to control…any of it.”

  “You don’t think you have control?”

  “No, I don’t, Liam. I can’t control those stupid tabloids and how seeing you linked with someone else makes every part of me hurt. Or this thing with Kiki, and her vendetta against you and now me. Or how much it hurts when you’re gone for weeks on end and I don’t get to see you. How much it hurts me when I wake up and you aren’t in bed next to me. You’re scared of me leaving? Well I’m scared of the same thing, and a life with you will always involve you leaving me.”

  And there it was. The truth.

  “But I’m always going to come back.” He took a step forward, reaching for her, one hand at her waist and the other palming her cheek. “I want this life with you. I want to build something with you. I want our daughter, and God willing more kids, running around a home that’s ours.”

  “I want that, too…but…”

  “But what?”

  “Just because you want something doesn’t mean you’re going to get it.”

  His hands fell from her body and he took a step back. The ground beneath his feet was unsteady, his world tilting on its axis. Here he was thinking that a life without her wasn’t a possibility…where she was still trying to figure out if a life with him was a possibility.

  How had he missed that one?

  “Liam.” She reached out for him, but he took another step away.

  Her touch would surely break him. The hurt in her eyes was unmistakable, but the pain radiating through his body was more than he could overcome.

  “What are you saying?” He somehow managed to get the words out.

  “I just need more time to figure this all out. I still need to catch up. I thought that was what we were doing. Catching up.”

  A bitter laugh escaped his mouth as he shook his head. “I don’t even know what the fuck catching up means anymore. I don’t need time to figure anything out. You’re what I want. What I’ve wanted from the start. And you’re right, you don’t always get everything you want in life. Especially when you aren’t fighting for it.”

  “You don’t think I’m fighting for this? For us?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Because when it gets hard, you don’t close in on yourself and shut the other person out. You don’t try to figure it out on your own. You fight together. You tell each other the truth. You don’t lie.”

  “I shouldn’t have lied to you, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not the first time, Harper.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “None of this is fair. When it gets hard you run. That’s why you were up here in the first place. You didn’t want to be in Mirabelle the weekend that would’ve been your wedding. So you ran. You ran when you realized you were in love with me. You ran from the truth when you suspected you were pregnant. You’re running now. And I don’t know how long I can keep chasing you before it kills me.”

  She stared at him for a second, her shaky breaths filling the air. “So what are you saying?”

  “I can fight for you for the rest of my life, but this is never going to work if you don’t let me in.”

  “Where do we go from here?” She wiped at her face again; the constant stream of tears running down her cheeks hadn’t let up for even a moment.

  “I don’t know.”

  “I don’t, either,” she sniffed before a sob broke free from her mouth. Her head bowed as she folded in on herself and lost it.

  He couldn’t take it anymore, couldn’t just stand there and watch her break down. He crossed the few steps between them, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in close. She pressed her face to his neck as she started to shake uncontrollably, each sob ripping through her one after the other.

  His entire world was in his hands, and the only thing he could think about was he might lose it all.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  It Was Always You

  Harper’s flight back to Mirabelle was that afternoon, and her leaving really couldn’t have come at a worse time.

  It would be a week and a half before she was going to see Liam again, and that fact had her stomach all tied up in knots. Yeah, she’d asked for more time, but time apart didn’t feel like the answer.

  But what was she supposed to do? She needed to get back home to her job…to her life. She’d already pushed the limits with so much time off. All she needed was to lose her job on top of everything else.

  And while she was returning to Mirabelle, Liam would be spending a few more days in Nashville shooting the music video for “Forever.” They were starting it that morning, and the plan had been for Harper to go with him and spend a couple of hours watching and hanging out before taking a car to the airport.

  But the painful uncertainty between them was too much. There was a space that neither of them knew how to cross, and it was way more than she could handle. Add to that the fact that they were filming at the Second Hand Guitar? Yeah, there was no way in hell she’d make it out of that and not have a breakdown.

  Who was she kidding? She lost it anyway when she said good-bye to him that morning. He was a mess, too, and she had no doubt he would’ve canceled that day’s shoot if he could’ve. But he’d be rocking a boat that was already close to tipping.

  He and his manager had fought pretty hard with the record label on what they were shooting. The label had wanted to tell the love story of the song with one couple in various stages of their relationship, Liam as the lead with some woman as his co-star.

  He told them it wasn’t going to happen. So instead they went with three different couples falling in love at the same show where Liam was performing. They’d already rented the space, hired the six actors, and got the extras to fill in the crowd at the bar.

  Liam was going to have to get up on that stage and act his freaking heart out while singing the song he’d written about her. She knew it was going to kill him. She knew it and she couldn’t fix it.

  It made her hurt even more.

  He’d kissed her before he walked out the door, his mouth moving over hers slowly as he held her close.

  “No matter what I love you,” he whispered.

  “I know. I love you, too,” she said as she pressed her face to his neck and inhaled.

  But the unspoken words between them lingered in the air…sometimes love wasn’t always enough.

  It was Celeste who picked Harper up at the cabin that afternoon. The ride to the airport was not a chatty one. Unlike Delilah, her aunt wasn’t pushy. It sometimes shocked Harper that they were related because they couldn’t be less alike.

  They said good-bye at the curb, Celeste giving Harper an extra-long hug before she headed inside. Because conve
rsation or not, her aunt knew exactly what was going on.

  The line at the baggage check was about ten deep, so Harper pulled her suitcase behind her and got in at the end. Her eyes wandered to the TV set up by the group of chairs off to the side and everything in her froze as she saw Liam’s face on the screen.

  Liam James Steps Out on Kiki Jean Carlow with Another Woman

  A second later another picture popped up, this one of Harper and Liam outside Bourbon and Brine on Friday. His face was unmistakable, and Harper’s long black hair and curves proved that she wasn’t Kiki. Apparently those girls outside the restaurant weren’t the only ones snapping shots.

  “Another one bites the dust. Liam James isn’t the good guy we all thought he was. This picture was taken just this weekend at a local Nashville restaurant.” The volume was off, so the words of the E! news anchor were scrolling across the bottom of the screen in subtitles. “And that is most definitely not Kiki Jean Carlow kissing Liam James.”

  The screen switched to a clip of the “Beyond the Limits” music video. Even though it had been released the week before, Harper still hadn’t watched it. Avoidance being the best policy and all, because obviously that was working out so well for her.

  “It appeared that Liam and Kiki were hot and heavy for a moment there, but appearances can be deceiving,” the anchor continued, switching to another photo of Harper from outside the concert on Saturday, this one with Kiki just a few feet away.

  “But as the other woman in question looks to be more than a few months pregnant, it leaves people to wonder when the two ladies overlapped. And as you can see here, their first meeting isn’t a pleasant one. Kiki left Nashville on Sunday morning, heartbroken over the betrayal.” The last photo was a picture of Kiki at the airport, big sunglasses on her face as she avoided looking at the cameras.

  “And now for the video. What do you guys think of these racy scenes between the former couple?”

  The video for “Beyond the Limits” started to roll. The camera zoomed in on an old shack in the middle of the swamp, a hammock tied up between two trees. Isaac and a redhead with bright green eyes were wrapped up in each other’s arms kissing as his hand moved up her thigh and under the skirt of her dress.

  The next shot was of Hunter driving down a dirt road like a maniac with a massive grin on his face. A woman with caramel skin and black hair rode shotgun next to him while she hooted and cheered, throwing her arms up in the air. The shot panned out to the bed of the truck where Liam and Kiki were sitting. Bags surrounded them and she was holding a T-shirt to the cut above his forehead.

  The video played on. The three couples doing various illegal deeds mixed in with steamy shots of them all over each other.

  She’d really thought the ones with Liam would kill her, but they didn’t. Because that look in his eyes when they were on Kiki? It was all an act. It was nothing, nothing, to how he looked at Harper.

  She needed more time? More time for what? To figure out if this was what she wanted? That Liam was what she wanted? He said they had to fight together, and she was walking away…no, running away. She was about to fly away from him when what she needed to be doing was proving that she was all in this.

  All. In.

  There was no dipping her toe into the shallow end of the water to adjust. Nope. She’d already jumped right on in to the deep end. Which had been more than shocking at first, but that was the reality. There was no getting out. No un-jumping.

  This whole time she’d been trying to figure out how to adjust to having another man as her life raft. But Liam wasn’t the life raft. He wasn’t the thing keeping her from drowning. No, he was the person who was by her side learning to swim with her. Learning to survive it all. Together.

  “What the hell am I doing?” she whispered to herself.

  “Well, you could move forward.” She jumped at the sound of the voice next to her.

  She turned to the man in the suit, before she glanced back to the line that had shifted. Almost half of the people in front of her had been helped.

  “You’re right. I need to move forward. And there’s no going back,” she said as she grabbed her suitcase and walked out of the line, heading straight for the doors.

  * * *

  It was a damn good thing that none of these recordings of Liam singing “Forever” were going into the actual video. Because God help anyone who was forced to listen to that crap. He had a pretty good feeling that the extras out on that floor were in about as much pain as he was.

  It was getting ridiculous.

  But really, what in the world was to be expected? He was in the actual building where he’d met Harper, singing the song he’d written about her, and it was torture.

  He shouldn’t have let her leave like this. He should’ve fixed it. How? He had no idea, but he should’ve figured it out.

  “Cut!” Jim the director shouted for what was probably the twentieth time. Liam had worked with the guy on a handful of other videos, and the two had actually become friends. Though, Jim looked like he wanted to throttle him at the moment.

  “Can I get a minute?” Liam pulled the strap from his shoulder and set his guitar down, leaning it against the speaker.

  “Sure, I’m getting a smoke,” Jim said before he moved away from the cameras.

  “Five minutes,” the woman next to Jim shouted to the room.

  As the crowd dispersed, Liam’s manager Gary moved from where he’d been standing on the edge of the room and went up on the stage. “Man, you really need to not look like someone just killed your dog.”

  “I need a fucking shot.”

  A small smile turned up Gary’s face. “You and me both. Whiskey?”

  Normally that would be Liam’s poison…but not now. “Tequila?” he asked, thinking about the last time he’d been in that room doing shots with Harper.

  “Sure thing.”

  Both men jumped off the stage and headed for the bar. The man behind it was actually one of the regular bartenders at the Second Hand Guitar. Everyone in the crowd got two free drinks. It was part of the ambience after all.

  “Cheers.” Gary held up his glass in the air when they got their shots.

  Liam clinked it before they both tossed it back.

  “What’s going on with you?”

  “Harper left today. And this stuff with Kiki is making her second-guess everything.”

  Gary knew everything about Harper. Liam had to tell him what was going on as the days around Sofia’s due date were off limits to booking anything. There was also the fact that Liam wouldn’t be in videos where he was acting out anything of the love variety with another woman. And last but certainly not least, the Kiki fiasco bullshit bomb that was about to explode.

  That’s what managers were for, right? Well, that and drinking a shot of tequila in the middle of the day. But it was five o’clock somewhere.

  “You’re pretty torn up about her, huh?” Gary asked.

  “I love her more than I’ve loved anyone, but she doesn’t know if she wants to spend the rest of her life with me.”

  “And you need to make her realize that she does.” Not a question from Gary, but a statement of fact.

  “Yes.”

  “You finish this shoot up today, you can be on a plane to her by tonight.”

  “Seriously?” Hope flared in Liam’s chest.

  “Most of this video has to do with the other three couples. They get all of the shots with you and you’re done, my friend,” Gary said as he reached for his pocket. His phone must’ve been vibrating because he picked it up and put it to his ear. “This is Gary.”

  The murmuring on the other end was barely audible as the crowd of people around Liam talked.

  “What?” Gary asked, his eyes coming up and landing on Liam. “Okay, I’ll be right out.” He hung up, sliding his phone in his pocket. “I’ll be right back.” He reached out and grabbed Liam’s shoulder. “You get up there and kill it. Understand?”

  “Yeah.” Liam nod
ded, taking a deep breath before he turned around and walked through the crowd.

  He got back up on the stage, grabbing his guitar and pulling the strap over his head. He glanced up, catching Gary as he passed by Jim. The two men spoke for just a second. Gary probably telling the guy that Liam was going to pull his head out of his ass. Jim nodded before he headed back to the camera.

  “You ready to get this shit done?” Jim asked as he settled in.

  Liam took a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  His fingers strummed the chords of the guitar as the lights focused in on him. “Love at first sight was something I’d never seen. But you walked in and became every one of my dreams…”

  It was at that moment that he saw her. The crowd disappeared and it was only Harper standing in the middle of that room and looking up at him.

  “Violet eyes and the lips of a goddess. I knew I’d want more than just one kiss…”

  Her mouth curved up in a smile as she watched him, and her eyes closed for just a second as her body began to move to his voice.

  “A day, a week, a month, a year. It would never be enough. I want forever, honey. Forever, honey…”

  Her eyes opened and she looked up at him again. “Forever with you,” she sang along.

  He kept going, Harper’s mouth moving in sync with each and every word of the song until he got to the very end. “I need forever, honey. Forever with you.”

  The second his fingers strummed the last chord he was pulling the guitar from his body and jumping from the stage. The crowd parted and when he got to her he pulled her into his arms, his mouth coming down hard on hers as his fingers speared in her hair.

  He tasted her mouth for a good minute before he pulled back and looked at her. “You didn’t get on the plane.”

  “I didn’t get on the plane.” She shook her head. “I was wrong. I don’t need any more time Liam. No more catching up. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. None of the other stuff matters. This is what matters.” Her hand moved to his chest, her palm over his heart. “You and me.”