Mia

"That's creepy," I said, standing up from the bed.

Liam raised an eyebrow. "Good morning to you too."

I groaned.

"You were hovering over my face while I slept. That's not normal."

"I just want my charger, " he said, nodding toward the nightstand behind me. The black cord was still plugged into the wall. "You're lying on it, by the way. Under your pillow."

I groaned, looking back. Sure enough, a corner of the cord peeked out from beneath the pillowcase. Heat rushed to my cheeks. "You could have asked. "

I stood from the bed to open the curtains.

He shrugged.

"Where's the fun in that?" He pushed off the wall and walked toward the door. His shoulder brushed mine. Deliberately, I thought or maybe I was imagining things.

He unplugged the charger and held it up. "See? Not a burglar."

"I still think you're creepy."

His lips curved up.

"And I think you're dramatic," he pocketed the charger and turned to face me. The morning light came through the window, turning his messy blonde hair almost golden.

His eyes found mine. "You're gonna stand there glaring at me all day, or are you coming down for breakfast?"

I crossed my arms. "I'm not hungry."

"Liar. You haven't eaten since yesterday. Chloe said you skipped dinner."

I bit my lower lip.

"She cares about you," he stated. "So do I, unfortunately. Now move your feet."

I laughed for the first time in a while.

He pushed the door open and walked out. I followed him. Not because he told me to but because my stomach growled loud enough to betray me.

The kitchen smelled like bacon. I could hear Chloe humming, the clatter of plates but at the bottom of the stairs, Liam stopped, blocking my path.

"What?" I asked, my heart racing at how close we were.

He studied my face for a long moment. I hated when he did that... Looked at me like he was reading a book I hadn't agreed to lend him.

"Derek," he whispered. "He never deserved you."

The words hit softly in my chest. I didn't know what to do with them.

Compliments from Liam always felt like traps, sincere enough to hurt and vague enough to leave me guessing.

"You don't know anything about my relationship," I said and walked away from him. My shoulder hit his chest harder than necessary. He didn't move. He just laughed under his breath and the sound followed me to the kitchen.

After helping Chloe in the kitchen, I went back to my room to take a bath. I stared at myself in the mirror.

I splashed cold water on my face. Borrowed Chloe's brush from the counter. Pulled my hair into a ponytail. The woman staring back at me was still tired, still broken, but at least she looked human.

I took a breath. Then another.

You survived worse, I told myself. You survived three years of Derek. You can survive breakfast with Liam.

I opened the door and walked to the dining room.

The table was set for four.Chloe sat at the head, already piling eggs onto her plate. She smiled when she saw me. "There she is! I was about to send a search party."

"Sorry. I needed a minute."

"Sit, sit." She waved at the chair next to her. I moved toward it. My heart seized when I saw the fourth person.

She was beautiful.

Tall. Long legs in white jeans. Hair like black silk pulled over one shoulder. She held a coffee mug with both hands and smiled at me like she already knew who I was.

"Hey," she said. Her voice was warm. "You must be Mia. I've heard so much about you."

I looked at Chloe. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've..."

"That's Vanessa," Liam said. He was already seated across from me, buttering a piece of toast like this was nothing. "She's staying for breakfast."

Vanessa. The name shoved the air out of my lungs. Liam's girlfriend.

Chloe had mentioned her. Once. Maybe twice. I'd not taken her seriously because there was no way Liam could get a girlfriend. But here she was.

"It's so nice to finally meet you," Vanessa mumbled, flashing her white teeth at me. "Chloe talks about you all the time. I feel like I already know you."

My chest tightened.

"Thanks." My voice came out strange. I cleared my throat and sat down. "You too. I mean... Chloe's mentioned you. A few times."

Liam didn't look up from his toast. Chloe, oblivious as always, launched into a story about a delivery driver who'd left a package in the bushes. I laughed when everyone else laughed. I nodded when everyone else nodded. But my eyes kept drifting to Vanessa's hand on the table. Her long fingers wrapped around the mug. No ring. Not that that meant anything.

"So, Mia," Vanessa said, turning to me with those warm brown eyes. "Chloe tells me you just got out of a relationship. I'm sorry. That's awful."

I felt Liam's gaze lift. His eyes met mine across the table. I looked away first.

"It's fine," I said. "It was a long time coming."

"Still. Breakups are brutal." Vanessa reached over and squeezed my wrist. Her touch was friendly. It made my skin crawl.

"Derek was a jerk anyway," Chloe added, waving her fork. "You're better off."

"Agreed," Liam said, biting into his toast. It was the first thing he had said since Vanessa started the discussion.

Then the conversation shifted, which I appreciated. Chloe asked Vanessa about her work. She talked about a pitch she'd won. Chloe laughed at something she had said but I wasn't listening. The only thing I could focus on was how Liam watched her with a look that pierced needles in my heart.

I pushed eggs around my plate. My appetite had vanished.

"This is fun," Chloe said, leaning back in her chair. "We should do this more often. All four of us."

Hell no.

I forced a smile on my face.

"Mia's welcome anytime," Vanessa added. "You're practically family."

Mia

Dear Mia Chen,

Thank you for your application but it didn't pass the review. We wish you the best in your search.

I groaned and closed the laptop in anger. Five emails in three weeks. Each one started and ended the same way. My thumb hovered over the delete button.

"Another rejection?" Chloe asked. I didn't respond but she understood anyway.

"It doesn't mean anything," Chloe said from across the couch. She was painting her toenails, one foot tucked under her thigh. "You're gonna find something."

"I've applied to six places." My voice came out flat. "Five rejections. That's not a good average."

"So the sixth one says yes. You don't know yet."

I locked my phone and dropped it on the cushion beside me. The guest room was starting to feel less like a temporary stop and more like a cave I was hiding in. I'd been here for weeks.

Three weeks of waking up in Liam's bed...no, the guest bed... eating Chloe's groceries and using their Wi-Fi and feeling like a barnacle that had attached itself to someone else's life.

"It's not just the money," I said.

Chloe looked up. "Then what is it?"

I opened my mouth. Closed it. The real reason sat heavily in my throat.

I need to stop thinking about Liam. I couldn't say that. Of course.

So I said something else. "I hate feeling useless. I hate sitting here while you go to work and Liam does whatever he does and I just… exist. Taking up space."

"You're not taking up space." She set down the nail polish and scooted closer. Her arms wrapped around me. She smelled like coconut and something floral. "Mia. Look at me."

I looked.

"You can stay as long as you want. Forever, if that's what you need. I'm not keeping score."

My eyes burned. "You should be."

"Why? That's not how friendship works." She squeezed tighter. "You stayed with Derek for three years even though he was garbage. You think I'm gonna kick you out after three weeks? Please."

I laughed.

"Besides," she added, pulling back, "you're helping. You cleaned the whole kitchen yesterday. Liam said it hasn't looked that good since Mom lived here."

The mention of Liam made me feel something in my chest that I didn't want to feel.

Because thinking about Liam was dangerous. It led to other thoughts. The kind I'd been trying to drown in job applications.

Like last Tuesday.

I'd come home early from dropping off resumes. The house was quiet. I assumed everyone was out. I needed a shower. The water pressure in the guest bathroom was weak, so I'd used the main bathroom down the hall.

I didn't knock. Why would I?

The door was cracked open. The light was on. Liam stepped out of the shower. A towel hung low on his hips. Water dripped down his chest...his very bare, very defined chest. His arms. His shoulders.

He looked up. Our eyes met.

I screamed and ran to my room.

I hadn't looked him in the eye for two days after that. And I still couldn't get the image away from my brain. It was there when I closed my eyes. It was there when I woke up.

That was why I needed a job. Not just for money. For distraction. For anything that wasn't him.

I picked up my phone. One new email. My heart dropped. "Oh God."

"What?"

"It's from the bar. The Copper Lantern." I stared at the subject line. Application Status. "I don't want to open it."

"Why not?"

"Because if it's another no, I'm going to cry."

Chloe snatched the phone from my hand. "Coward."

"Hey..."

She tapped the screen. Her face went still. Then her mouth fell open. Then she screamed.

"YOU GOT IT!"

"What?"

"YOU GOT THE JOB, MIA!"

*****

My first week at The Copper Lantern nearly killed me. My back ached. A man named Gary called me sweetheart and pinched my hip. Elena, a redhead with tattooed stars on her collarbones, showed me how to balance four plates on one arm. Rosa, the owner, barked orders and never smiled.

But I was good at it. I learned the menu in three days. By day five, I didn't drop a single glass.

I was wiping down the bar on a Thursday afternoon when the door opened.

My chest tightened as Vanessa walked in. Her black hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail. She scanned the room and then she saw me.

"Oh my God, Mia." She drawled. "I didn't know you worked here."

I shrugged.

"Just started." I set down my rag. "Can I get you something?"

"Just water." She slid onto a stool. "So. How are you settling in? Living with Chloe and Liam must be… cozy."

Something about the way she said cozy made my skin prickle.

"It's fine," I said. "They've been great."

"I'm sure." She accepted the water I poured and drank. "Liam's taking me to this incredible party this weekend. Marcus is hosting. You probably don't know him...he's in a different tax bracket. Invite only."

I kept my face neutral. I had no idea why she was telling me, probably to rub it in my face. But now that she mentioned it to me, I suddenly had the urge to go.

"Sounds fun," I said.

She kept on talking for a while and she left after she finished her water.

That night, I found Liam in the living room. He was watching something on TV, feet up on the coffee table.

"Your girlfriend came to see me today," I said, sitting beside him.

He muted the TV. "Vanessa? Why?"

"To show off, I think." I sat on the arm of the couch. "She mentioned a party. Marcus's party."

He shook his head. "I know where this is going. So, no...not happening."

"Liam..."

"It's not your scene. There are drugs. Fights. Marcus is an asshole who hits on anything."

"I'm a big girl." My voice came out sharper than I intended. "I can't go to the party without you. I wasn't invited and Chloe would also be going with Mark and after Derek..."

His jaw tightened. A smile turned up my face when the guilt tripping worked.

"Come on now, You really want to go?"

I nodded.

He sighed, rubbing his face with both hands.

"Fine," he said. "But you stay with Chloe the whole night and you don't drink anything Marcus hands you."

Mia

"Are you two ready or do I need to send a search party?" Liam's voice echoed up the stairs, impatient.

He had been waiting in the foyer for five minutes. Chloe was still curling her eyelashes in the bathroom.

"READY!" I screamed back.

I grabbed my purse and almost tripped over the hem of my dress.

It was the only nice thing I owned that wasn't stained or ripped, a black wrap dress I'd bought two years ago for a wedding. It fits differently now. Looser in some places. Tighter in others.

Chloe burst out of the bathroom. "Go, go, go!"

We rushed down the stairs together, laughing. My heels hit the hardwood. I grabbed the railing to keep from falling.

Liam stood at the bottom. His eyes swept over me once. Twice. I saw him take in a breath as his eyes roamed my body but in the next second he looked indifferent.

Then he looked at Chloe. "Took you long enough."

"We're women," Chloe said, kissing his cheek. "We have standards."

He rolled his eyes. I laughed. Then I saw her. Vanessa stood by the front door, her hand already on the knob.

She wore a silver dress, her hair was down with heels that were so higher than mine and she still walked perfectly.

"Ready?" she asked.

Something cold settled in my stomach. What had I expected? That Liam would escort me and Chloe like we were his dates? He had a girlfriend. A real girlfriend.

Vanessa's eyes landed on my dress. Traveled down. Then up.

"That's what you're wearing?" She asked, her eyebrows narrowing.

My stomach turned. My head lowered.

"It's what I have."

"It's beautiful," Liam said, looking at me. "You look nice, Mia."

Did he just compliment me? My head is going to burst.

Vanessa's smile tightened. She didn't look at him. She opened the door and walked out.

Liam's SUV was parked in the driveway. The passenger seat was empty. I reached for the handle.

"I'll sit up front," Vanessa said quickly, slipping past me and climbed in, pulling the door shut behind her.

I stood there with my hand still extended. The interior light clicked off. I couldn't see Liam's face through the windshield.

I climbed into the backseat. Chloe slid in beside me, already texting someone.

I remembered being twelve.

Chloe's family had taken me to the beach for a weekend. Liam was sixteen. He had a learner's permit. We'd fought over the front seat the whole drive down.

He'd called me a gremlin. I'd called him a toe. Finally, his mother had yelled at both of us, and Liam had grumbled but let me have it.

"You owe me," he'd said.

"I'll pay you back," I'd promised.

"You can't afford me."

I'd punched his arm. He'd laughed.

That was before Vanessa. Before Derek. Before I became a woman who watched the man she loved ignore her from the passenger seat.

*****

Oh God. The mansion was so big. I wasn't prepared. People spilled out onto a terrace that overlooked a pool glowing electric blue. Everyone was beautiful. Everyone was drunk. Everyone belonged here except me.

Liam parked. We walked in together, him with his hand on Vanessa's lower back, Chloe already scanning the crowd for her boyfriend Mark, and I just stood at the back alone and feeling awkward.

I shouldn't have come.

"There he is!" Chloe spotted Mark across the room and took off. "I'll find you later!"

And then she was gone.

I stood alone in a sea of strangers. A waiter passed with a tray of champagne flutes. I took one. I drank it in three swallows. I took another.

My throat tightened.

"New face?" A deep voice called from behind.

I turned. A man stood there. Tall. Muscular. Shaved head that gleamed under the lights. A gold chain rested against his chest. His eyes were dark and hungry and they were fixed on me.

"Marcus," he said, extending a hand. "I own the place."

I shook. His grip was too firm. He didn't let go right away.

"Mia," I said. "I'm here with..."

"Liam's crew? I know." His other hand found my waist. I sucked in a breath. "Liam didn't mention he was hiding someone like you."

I let out a shaky laugh. "I'm just..."

He pulled me closer. His thumb traced a circle on my hip. "You're just what?"

My heart hammered. I tried to step back. His grip tightened.

"Marcus." Liam said, voice strained

I'd never been so relieved to hear it.

Liam was suddenly there. His hand closed around Marcus's wrist.

"She's not interested," Liam said, stepping between us. His body blocked Marcus entirely. His back was to me. "Get away from her. Now."

Marcus held up both hands, smiling. "Didn't know she was yours."

"She's not anyone's." Liam muttered. "But she's under my protection. You touch her again, we have a problem."

Marcus laughed and backed away. "Enjoy the party, little bird," he called to me over Liam's shoulder. Then he disappeared into the crowd.

I exhaled. My hands were shaking. Liam turned. His face was tight, filled with rage.

I swallowed.

"Where's Vanessa?" I asked.

"Doesn't matter." He looked at my face. The empty glass in my hand. "How many of those have you had?"

"Two. Maybe three." I set the glass on a passing tray. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine." He grabbed my elbow. "Come on. We're leaving."

"What? No. Chloe's still..."

"Chloe can get a ride with Mark." He pulled me toward the door. "You're done here."

I let him pull me. Because I didn't want to stay. Because I wanted him to keep holding my arm. Because I was a liar and a fool and I didn't care anymore.

We burst out into the cool night air. The music faded behind us. The door swung shut.

Liam stopped, turning to face me. "You shouldn't have come."

"Maybe." I looked up at him. The moonlight caught his jaw. His mouth. So beautiful. So soft. "But you brought me anyway."

His jaw tightened. My heart raced in my chest. Before I could talk myself out of it, I leaned up and kissed him.