One Chance (Part One)

by T. Renee Fike

  I drop on the bed taking Liam down with me, not caring that his body weight is on me. He moves off me quickly and pulls out to discard the condom before coming up beside me.

  “I love what you do to my body,” I mumble.

  “Me too,” he says with a sexy smirk, “Do you want to watch a movie?”

  “Sure, just give me a moment to move,” I say feeling slow.

  Liam starts laughing at me, “Did I wear you out that bad babe?”

  “No, I say as I flip over, we will be doing that again,” I say as I grab ahold of his dick, stroking it up and down.

  It doesn’t take him long to remove my hand, “Let’s take a short break,” he says still laughing and smiling at me.”

  “Why?”

  “My little nympho, I’m not going anywhere. We have all night,” he says as he kisses my forehead.

  “Good, you better not leave,” I say as I snuggle into his side, “I love you.”

  “I love you too baby.”

  “Do you think we can make it?”

  “In marriage?” he asks sounding confused.

  “Yeah.”

  “I get it’s not going to be easy with me traveling for football and you in school, but I love you Hails, I think we can make it through anything, but we have to trust one another.”

  “I do trust you.”

  “I trust you too baby, but promise me, if you ever have a concern, come talk to me, don’t run from me.”

  “I promise,” I say as I lean up to seal it with a kiss.

  The rest of the evening is spent hanging out with Liam until we head to bed for the night.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Before I know it school is out, Liam’s now graduated and its two weeks until our wedding. I still haven’t talked to Kenzie or Brody, even though they have both tried to contact me numerous times. Brody and Kenzie are still together, though I’m not sure why. It makes no sense to me, but it’s no longer my problem. I told Mom that Kenzie is a bridesmaid and I asked her through text in which she replied absolutely. I believe it’s smarter to have her stand beside me, than possibly causing problems for me later. This way I can see what she’s doing before she does anything.

  Liam and I are home figuring out the last of the details before the big day. He bought a house in Michigan by the school; that way, we can still be there together when he has time off. Quinn is going to live with me during the football season, which I’m so happy with.

  “What do you need me to do?” Mom asks as she comes into the living room.

  “I think I have everything done, we just need to wait to hang it all up.” Liam and I are getting married in my parents’ backyard. There’s plenty of room and we have a gazebo that will work perfectly. Rebecca and Quinn are coming to stay with us next week to help with the decorations and anything else that could come up. It’s going to be a small ceremony, just family and a few friends.

  “Don’t you think we should talk?” Kenzie asks when Mom leaves the room.

  “Sure, have a seat. What do you want to talk about?” I ask nonchalantly.

  “Are you seriously going to marry him?” she asks bluntly.

  “Yes, why would I not marry him?”

  “You two are never going to last. You haven’t even been dating a year.”

  “So, I know him, we’ve known him forever. Why wouldn’t we last?” I ask angrily.

  “He’s going to cheat on you.”

  “He wouldn’t sleep with you,” I deadpan.

  “It’s not like he didn’t want to,” she says with a serious face.

  “I think if he wanted to, then he would have.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “How are you and Brody still together if you want other people?”

  “Because I love him.”

  “Then why did you try to sleep with Liam for over a year Kenz?” I ask infuriated.

  “Seriously Hails, we both wanted that man since we were kids. Why would I not try to get him?”

  “Because he was with me.”

  “But he wasn’t with you. He was sleeping with you, there’s a difference.”

  “So you won’t try to sleep with him now, since we are together right?”

  “I haven’t tried to sleep with him in a while. Do I wish it was me with him instead of you, yes. You don’t deserve him Haley.”

  “Why don’t I?” I ask angrily.

  “Because you aren’t as outgoing as he needs. He needs a girl who’s there, who can talk and stand up for herself and you aren’t that girl, and you never have been.”

  “I stood up to you.”

  “Look how long that took you. You’ll never be able to give him what he needs.”

  “Yet you ask Brody and he’ll say the opposite, that Liam’s can’t give me what I need. Why is that?”

  “Because he doesn’t think sometimes.”

  “Seriously Kenzie, what the hell is your problem with me?”

  “You have what I want.”

  “You’re right I do and I’m going to marry him, whether you like it or not.”

  “We’ll see about that,” she says before walking out of the room.

  Deciding I need to see Liam, I need him to put me in a better mood. I decide to head across the street to see him. I walk across the street and enter his house. I don’t hear anything, so I figure he’s probably in the game room, so I head for the stairs. As I start to descend, I can hear arguing coming from Brody and Liam. Great.

  “You will never be good enough for her,” Brody shouts.

  “Why not?”

  “Because, I know you. You’re going to cheat on her and she doesn’t deserve that.”

  “I haven’t cheated on her at all. What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Please, all those women throwing themselves at you, it’s only going to get worse when you travel, but don’t worry I’ll be there to pick up the pieces,” he says smugly.

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “I’m gonna transfer to Michigan. I’ll be there for her when you fuck up. I’ll take care of her, allow her to realize it should be me that she’s with, not you.”

  “You little piece of shit,” I hear Liam shout; I race down the stairs.

  “What’s going on here?” I ask the two of them.

  “We’re just talking,” Brody says quickly.

  “Sounds more like arguing to me,” I say as I make my way towards Liam.

  “I don’t think you should come to the wedding. I don’t want you there,” Liam says infuriated.

  “Do you want me there, Hails?”

  “Not if you’re going to cause problems. I’m marrying Liam, you and Kenzie need to get over it, if you can’t, then you two shouldn’t be there,” I say sternly.

  “How are you seriously going to marry him?”

  “Because I love him. That’s what happens when people that truly love each other do, they get married Brody.”

  “Then you should be marrying me.”

  “No, you were to marry Kenzie, not me. It was never to be you and me. We were best friends; you started dating Kenzie. Why now?”

  “Because I didn’t realize how much I wanted to be with you until we reconnected,” he says softly.

  “Brody, if you can’t support me and Liam, then I don’t want you there. We are going to become family when Liam and I get married, you need to accept it.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “And what’s this about you transferring to Michigan?” I ask.

  “You heard that?”

  “Yeah, I heard that. Don’t transfer because I’m never going to be with you.”

  “One day, you’ll see,” he says before he walks away.

  “Never asshole,” Liam yells as Brody rushes up the stairs. “Sorry babe, you shouldn’t have had to hear that.”

  “I was getting the same bullshit from Kenzie.”

  “Seriously?” he asks surprised.

  “She’s going to try to stop the wedding. I don�
�t know what to do,” I say panicking.

  “Baby look at me,” he says as he lifts my chin for me to look into his gorgeous blue eyes, “You and me, that’s all we need to worry about. They can say what they want, we are still going to get married, do you hear me?”

  “Yes, I just don’t want them to ruin our day.”

  “They won’t, no matter what they do, they won’t ruin it because we won’t let them,” he says before he gives me a chaste kiss.

  “God, I love you.”

  “I love you too baby. I think we need to tell our parents though, so they know what’s going on.”

  “I think you’re right.”

  “Do you want to start with mine or yours?”

  “Mine, let’s start there first.”

  “Okay, let’s go,” he says as he leads us up towards the stairs. We make our way across the street, I’m happy to see that Kenzie isn’t home, it will make talking to my parents that much easier.

  We fill them in on what’s been happening and what both Kenzie and Brody are saying and trying to do. My parents are shocked, to say it lightly. They can’t believe what she’s trying to do and they inform me that no matter what, she will not ruin my special day. I couldn’t be more thankful for them right now.

  Once we tell my parents we all walk over and fill the Masters in on what’s happening too. Denise informed us she could tell something’s been going on with Brody, but couldn’t figure out what, now it all makes sense. Mr. Masters advises he will talk to Brody, to not worry about anything.

  For the next week and a half Kenzie and Brody have left us alone, it makes me even more nervous because tomorrow’s the big day and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I shouldn’t have to worry about my own sister trying to stop my wedding, but that’s what I’m worried about. Ridiculous.

  “I can’t believe you’re getting married tomorrow,” Quinn says happily as we talk in the living room.

  “I know, me either,” I gush excitedly.

  “It’s going to be great, he loves you Hails,” Rebecca says kindly.

  “I know he does,” I say feeling blessed.

  Before long, Kenzie comes walking into the house with none other than Meg.

  “What is she doing here?” Quinn snaps as all three of us stand up quickly.

  “She is here to talk to you Hails,” Kenzie says looking smug.

  “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say,” I say looking directly at Meg.

  “Fine, don’t hear me out, but you can at least look at the pictures,” she says as she hands me a small baggie.

  “What pictures?” Quinn asks as she grabs the bag.

  “I told you he wouldn’t be faithful to you,” Kenzie says joyously.

  “Yes he is,” I argue. I watch as Quinn goes through the few photos.

  “Please, these photos show and say nothing,” she says shoving them back towards Meg.

  “Look again, they are time stamped,” Meg says looking pleased with herself.

  “What are they?” I ask as I walk over to see the damn photos. I grab them and go through the six photos.

  “So what, he hugged you, it’s not the first time,” I say as I move through them.

  “Keep looking,” Kenzie says. The second to last photo is a picture of Liam kissing Meg and the last one shows him carrying her up the stairs.

  “You could have changed the date on the pictures, this proves nothing. You two dated before,” Quinn argues.

  “It was a month ago sweetie,” Meg says looking proud.

  “Liam wasn’t with you a month ago,” Rebecca snaps.

  “Yes he was. He came back to Michigan for a few days and met up with me.” Meg says merrily.

  “Did he go back to Michigan a month ago?” Quinn turns to ask me.

  “Yes he did,” I say feeling sick.

  “We had sex, lots of it too,” Meg says, trying to rub it in my face.

  “Get out now,” Quinn yells.

  “Fine, but I told you that you would never marry him. He’s not over me, never will be. You’ll never be me Haley,” she says before walking out the door.

  “I told you,” Kenzie says arrogantly.

  “Get out,” Quinn snaps.

  “Sweetie, there has to be an explanation to this,” Rebecca says.

  “I think they changed the date, it makes sense,” Quinn says sounding hopeful.

  “I need to be alone. I’ll be back later,” I say as I grab the photos and my purse and keys before heading out the door. I know I should have confronted Liam right away, but right now I want to process what the hell I just heard and look at the photos.

  I drive to the beach to my favorite spot, knowing I can have some peace and quiet there.

  Liam

  “Do you want to pass the football with me?” Isaac asks.

  “Sure,” I say as I snatch the football from him as we head outside. I look across the street towards Haley’s house and see Kenzie talking to Meg. “What the hell?”

  “Isn’t that Meg?” Isaac asks.

  “Yeah, why the hell is she here?”

  “You may want to go find out, considering you’re supposed to be getting married tomorrow,” Isaac states.

  “Shit, I’ll be right back,” I tell him as I jog across the street. “What the hell are you doing here?” I ask Meg.

  “Just came to shed some light on things,” she says smugly.

  “What things?”

  “I came to apologize. What I did to Haley was wrong of me, so I apologized to her.”

  “You came the whole way out here to apologize? Why do I not believe you?”

  “Believe what you want baby, but it’s the truth,” she says as she walks closer to me.

  “I highly doubt that.”

  “Baby, how can you marry her? She’s not good enough for you,” she says as she gets closer.

  I take a step back, “She’s better than you could ever be. Stay the fuck away from her and away from me,” I say before walking into Haley’s house to see what happened. “Where’s Haley?” I ask Quinn and Rebecca who are sitting in the living room.

  “What the hell did you do?” Quinn asks looking pissed.

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Liam, Meg brought pictures, she gave them to Haley,” Rebecca says, sounding calmer than Quinn.

  “Pictures…pictures of what?” I ask confused.

  “Of you and her making out and you carrying her toward a bedroom,” Quinn yells.

  “I haven’t made out with her, what the hell are you talking about?”

  “It’s time stamped, the same time you went back to Michigan to hang out with the guys Liam,” Quinn says getting in my face.

  “I didn’t do anything, I swear.”

  “Pictures say differently.”

  “Where’s Haley?” I ask, getting more pissed off by the minute.

  “She left.”

  “What the fuck do you mean, she left?”

  “She left,” Rebecca says.

  “When’s she coming back? We’re to get married tomorrow.”

  “I doubt that’s going to be happening now,” Quinn says angrily.

  “When is she coming back?” I ask again slower this time.

  “We don’t know. She went to cool off,” Rebecca says.

  “Where did she go?” I ask looking between Quinn and Rebecca.

  “She didn’t tell us,” Rebecca says nervously.

  “Did you do it?” Quinn asks hastily.

  “No, I didn’t sleep with her I swear it. Yes she was at the damn party, why I don’t know, but she was drunk, really drunk and trying to hang on to me. She said she wanted to lie down and asked if I could help her. I didn’t want to, but what the hell was I supposed to do?”

  “So what happened?” Quinn asks with a look.

  “I tried to help her walk, but she couldn’t, she was that drunk, so she asked me to carry her.”

  “And you did,” Quinn snaps.

  “Yes, I picked he
r up and carried her to an empty bedroom. I put her on the damn bed and I left, that’s it, I swear.”

  “Then what about the picture where you’re kissing her?” Quinn asks looking heated.

  “What?” I ask confused.

  “There’s a photo from the same night showing you kissing her.”

  “Fuck,” I say running my hands through my hair.

  “How could you do that?” Rebecca asks angrily.

  “It’s not what it looked like,” I argue.

  “Then what was it?” Quinn asks.

  “Yes she kissed me, but I pushed her away, I didn’t kiss her back,” I say defending myself.

  “The picture says otherwise,” Quinn says looking serious.

  “I swear I didn’t do anything with her. I would never do that to Haley.”

  “You need to explain that to her,” Rebecca says softly.

  “I will as soon as I can find her,” I say leaving her house to grab my phone to try to call her. I call her numerous times, but the damn thing just keeps going to voicemail. I walk downstairs to where Kenzie is with Brody, “Where the fuck is she?”

  “I don’t know,” Kenzie states.

  “I’m not playing a fucking game here, where does she go when she’s pissed off?”

  “I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew,” she snaps.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? She’s your fucking sister for Christ’s sake. Do you not want her to be happy?”

  “Yes, I do want her to be happy, but I want her to find her own guys, not mine.”

  “I’m not yours,” I scream.

  “But you could be.”

  “No I couldn’t. I will never be yours. I want nothing to do with you.”

  “Calm down,” Brody says.

  “Hell, you shouldn’t want anything to do with her either,” I snap, feeling pissed off at the world right now.

  “It will be fine. She’ll be back soon and you can talk.”

  “How do you know she’ll be back soon?” I ask curiously.

  “She always comes back; she’s just angry and hurt.”

  “Yeah, because of this jealous bitch and Meg.”

  “I didn’t make Meg do anything,” Kenzie defends.

  “You also didn’t do anything to stop her either,” I shout.