The Rebel - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,53

it again. You are too kind to me.”

“Just as kind as I need to be,” I told him. “I can’t wait. And I also can’t wait for the video to be posted, now, too. I’m going to funnel every last penny into paying off my outstanding bills before we’re on TV. Last thing I need is the electricity going out when we’re being filmed.”

“Electricity going out?” he asked. “Is it… that bad?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “As long as I pay it off by the end of the month, we won’t have our power turned off,” I said. A slight heat of embarrassment pooled in my chest. I wasn’t used to telling anyone about the financial situation of the bar, but for some reason I felt safe talking about it with Liam.

“Shit,” he said softly.

“But it’s okay,” I said. “The video money is going to cover it, no problem.”

“Right,” Liam said. “The video.”

“How is the editing process going? How long will it take, you think?”

“The editing has been... okay,” he said. “Still working on it.”

“Good,” I said. “Oh, and Liam, I had another question. I found out something about you today.”

“Oh God, what was it?” he said.

“You never told me you rescued a damn litter of stray kittens,” I said. “What is that about? You garden and you’re a saintly pet rescuer?”

“Oh, that?” he said. “I forgot about that.”

“And you posted about it on Twitter. At least according to Mark. I need to start following you on there, don’t I?”

Liam laughed. “I rescued some kittens in LA, yes. I’m glad that’s the reputation I have, and not ‘the man who comes really hard and gets railed.’”

“Why not both?” I asked.

I couldn’t stop smiling.

“Thanks for letting me know, Red,” Liam said. “I’m going to work hard on the video.”

“Fuck yes,” I said. “I’ll see you here on Saturday.”

“See you then.”

For once, I felt purely good about Liam. I had always loved him to the end of the fucking Earth, but in the past, I’d always been so worried about him. All of the stress and worry had clouded everything.

Now I didn’t feel like I had to worry. I didn’t have to think about what might happen if he came to the party already completely wasted. In the past it had always been a roll of the dice, worrying that he might show up somewhere completely sloshed or worse, not show up at all.

He’d been a complete wild card, and as exciting as it could be, it was also disappointing all of the fucking time.

But I knew that he would be here Saturday. I couldn’t wait to see him. Finally, for once, I let myself trust him.

And trusting someone felt really, really fucking good.

10

Liam

My phone started playing its little jingly ringtone right as I was walking out my front door. I jumped like I’d just heard a firework.

I slipped it out of my pocket and answered quickly, holding it up to my ear.

“Hey, Red, I’m sorry I’m late, I’m on my way—” I started, fumbling to keep the phone between my shoulder and head while also pushing open the front door.

“You little slut,” the voice on the other end said.

Definitely not Red’s voice.

I furrowed my brow, pulling down the phone and finally looking at the screen like I should have done in the beginning.

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered. It was Colin. I’d been ignoring his calls for so long that I figured he’d given up trying.

I was supposed to be heading out the door to go to the party at Red’s. My evening had already been a shitty roller coaster ride of anxiety, then self-soothing, then more anxiety again as I got ready to attend the party. In fact, every day since Red had invited me, I hadn’t been able to get my nerves down.

I hadn’t been to a party since I’d quit drinking.

I didn’t even know how to act at a party where I wasn’t drunk.

Alcohol had been my crutch for so long that I wasn’t sure who I was without it, especially with the added layer of oh fuck, I think I might still be deeply in love with Red.

I was tense, to say the least.

So when I heard Colin’s voice on the other end of the phone, rage mixed with my anxiety in a potent, insidious way.

“I can’t talk now,” I said quickly.

“What? I can barely hear you,” Colin said.

I sucked in a breath, clenching my teeth. “I told you we needed to just keep this to email.