Louis gets up out of the chair he had occupied and comes to sit next to me on my couch. He then asks, “Who told you about that video?”
I’m certain he thinks my brother did. “It wasn’t Eddie; it was Em. She told me about Liam and what happened in St. Lucia, and…”
He closes his eyes when I say the last part, undoubtedly not thrilled about his wife talking to me about Liam. “Nothing happened!” he barks out, not giving me a chance to say anything different.
I’m sure even if something did happen, Louis doesn’t want to know about it. I nod, knowing that enough happened to make Liam wait for her here for over a month.
“Did he tell you something happened between them? Em told me everything; she told me they only slept in the same bed, but he didn’t touch her, right?” Louis demands and questions simultaneously, and we both know he doesn’t want to hear the truth so I change the subject.
“How can I see that footage? I’d like Liam to see it, too.”
“Are you two … together?” Louis asks, employing hand gestures.
“I haven’t slept with him, if that’s what you want to know, but yes, we have been intimate, as you may have seen from the surveillance cameras,” I tell Louis, feeling like a slut. I’m sure he already thinks of me as a serial man-eater. He has no idea how many men I’ve actually been with.
“Are you sure about this? You’ve already had a run-in with an English playboy, is this wise?” Louis questions me, and I know he has the best intentions, like Em or my brother, but he also doesn’t know anything about Liam. Well, I don’t know much about him, either, I only know how good I feel in his arms and how my body aches for him. I only know that I hope and pray that he wants to be my friend even after he knows what kind of a person I really am.
“Louis, don’t worry. I will tell Emily when it’s time. I need to see that video and I need for you to trust me. I just found out that Phillip Dashell is a friend of yours and was involved with Isa. I met Phillip when I was eighteen. I walked into his club and we almost slept together. I would never think that you’d associate with someone like him. But Liam just showed me a disturbing picture and I need to see that video before my head explodes with all the ‘what-ifs,’” I say, feeling the pounding of my heart in my throat. I hope Louis understands my concerns and doesn’t give me a hard time.
He nods, takes out an envelope from his pocket and hands it to me. “Everything you need to know is on that flash drive, including Isa’s book, which Emily read. I don’t have secrets from my wife anymore. I had a friendship with Isa and I cared about her deeply. Not the way I care about my wife but I never meant to hurt her. I have an idea of the kind of picture he showed you, Isa had lots of those pictures, and I’m not proud of the things I’ve done before I met Emily, but I will take the blame for them. Phillip and I haven’t been friends for years; yes, we were very good friends once and yes, I did things with him I would never want my friends and family to know about. I was an idiot on a destructive path together with him and Isa. We were all lost, looking for a quick fix in all the wrong places. I won’t ever go back to that horrible version of myself. Phillip almost cost me the love of my life, twice. I’m glad he didn’t mar you at eighteen. You should know he loved Isa in his own twisted way and probably resented me for being the man she chose to love over him. He pretended she meant nothing to him but I saw the truth. He did things to her to punish her for how she felt about me. He read and knew about that book before I ever did and that screwed him up even more. Sara, in this life, you can only control your actions and reactions, you can’t always help the people around you. You can try, and I did try, but some people can’t be saved.”