How to Steal Your Best Friend's Fiancé - London Casey Page 0,95
the table and swept all the papers off it.
“Liam!” Emily snapped.
I faced her. “Em, he fucked us. I had everything under control. I’m sorry for what happened with Miranda. The way she showed up. That doesn’t mean we’re over. Jeff fucking followed us and talked to her.”
“How do you know that?” Emily asked.
I stepped toward her. “Trust me, I know.”
Emily stepped back.
“He told Miranda about us and then put you in this position. Leaving you feeling like you have no choice but to work with him. And he’s probably working with Miranda too. Playing both sides so she can screw you over one last time and he can get in your panties.”
Emily swung and slapped me across my face.
“How can you say that in front of people here?” Emily asked. “Making me sound like… like a…”
“No, Em, I’m not,” I said. “I’m telling the truth.”
“Now, you’ve made her cry,” Jeff said.
I whipped around and moved toward him. “I’m going to make you cry next.”
He put his hands up. “Don’t hurt me.”
“Then tell her the truth,” I growled.
“Okay, fine,” he said. “Fine. I talked to Miranda. Okay?”
“What?” Emily asked.
“Do you not remember the night at Paragen’s? I was there. Saw you both. I watched you the entire night. What did you want me to do?”
The anger rolled through my body.
It was Jeff.
I should have known from the second Miranda came back to the apartment and exploded on me.
“How… why…”
Emily’s questions floated in the air.
“You deserve better than this guy,” Jeff said to her. “And, yes, I followed you both. Just to make sure you were okay, Emily. That’s all. I didn’t take pictures or videos. But I knew Miranda enough to say something. She believed me right away. She said you two had been planning this behind her back. I couldn’t have it happen. Emily, I can do so much more for you. This guy is a loser…”
I lunged and swung.
What choice did I have?
My fist connected with Jeff’s jaw and he fell, taking two chairs with him to the floor.
There was a collective gasp in the bakery.
Then it was silence.
Jeff scrambled around to clean up the papers off the floor, collecting everything, and then running toward the door.
“I hope I never see him again,” I said. “If I do, I’m going to-”
“Liam, leave,” Emily said.
“What?”
“I said leave.”
“Em… you heard what he said. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I said to leave,” she said. “Right now.”
“Em.”
Her eyes met mine. “Get the fuck out of here, Liam.”
And there it was.
All of the truth.
More than I bargained for.
I got the truth of who told Miranda about Emily and I.
But now I got the truth from Emily…
She didn’t want me near her.
Chapter Forty-Two
Emily
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” I said to Lucy and Ember. “Any real decision I would have talked to you. I’m just… lost.”
“So you want to just close up for a few days?” Ember asked.
“I’m paying you both for the time off,” I said. “I won’t screw you over. But you both should think about what’s next. I can’t do this anymore.”
“All over Liam?” Lucy asked.
“No. He was just the final chip against the iceberg before it let loose. If that makes sense.”
“Splash,” Ember said. “I hate this.”
“I hate it too.”
“What did Jeff want you to sign?” Lucy asked.
I shook my head. “He’s a scammer. I shouldn’t have called him. I thought he could help. That was a big mistake on my part. I took this place over thinking I was going to help my family and it did nothing. I only hurt myself. Everything I do is for someone else and I end up hurt.”
“Liam?” Ember asked.
“I don’t even know. I don’t know why I did that. For him? For me? For us? I’m still hurt.”
“You don’t have to be,” Lucy said.
“Right now, I do,” I said. “I’ll keep in touch. I just need a break.”
I slipped through the back door and went home.
This was not the way things were supposed to go.
On days where I felt good, the vision was to have the bakery succeed. To grow and get busier and be able to comfortably survive and make sure Lucy and Ember were taken care of. On days where I felt like hell, the vision was to sell it all off, get sued by Miranda, and then crawl to Elise and ask to live in her basement for a little while.