Unrequited (Chosen #3) (13 page)

I stood up and started towards the bedroom, prepared to start packing again.

“Get yourself ready, too. You will be joining us on our trip to Texas.” I didn’t look back for his reply. He didn’t even deserve one more word out of my mouth.

As I was about to turn the door knob to our room, I heard footsteps leading to the foyer. I marched back to find Teagan’s back heading for the elevator. I quickly walked up behind him and threw him up against the wall. Hard.

“You fucking son of a bitch. What? Are you taking off again when Lizzie needs you? Is that what your scrawny fucking ass does when shit gets real? Did you know that Lizzie gave her heart to you and you stupid mother fucker tore it to shreds?” I seethed my questions in his face and he tried to break from my hold as he said nothing.

“Did you know that her brother was killed in a car accident that has left her whole family hanging on by a thread? You walk back into her world, into her life and you can’t even look Niall’s way. He is your God damn son and you want money? Is that it? How much was that rich bastard paying
you to cause more pain to my fiancé? I hope it has been worth this trip down memory lane. Please. Enlighten me. How much money did he offer you?” I asked.

I was trembling with anger. My fist was ready to punch him in the face. I wanted to strangle the life out of his stupid fucking Irish face.

He resigned to look at me coolly and said nothing. I punched the wall an inch from his head and his eyes widened at the sudden wreckage of plaster and insulation falling to the ground. I felt nothing.

“Tell me you sick bastard. How much money did our dear Mr. Martin Hughes pay you to ploy Lizzie into a relationship with you again?” I was infuriated. Spit was coming out of my mouth and my saliva hit his face like rain splatters.

“One and a half million American dollars,” he snapped, trying to stand up straight. I laughed. I laughed so hard that my face hurt.

“Nick?” Lizzie’s small voice came from behind me. I didn’t have to look at her to know she was scared. She had never seen me like this before and I didn’t know how much she had heard from our conversation.

“Elizabeth, say goodbye to Teagan. He will be flying home to Ireland on the next flight,” I stated, still looking pointedly at Teagan.

Teagan looked at her and had the audacity to give her a small grin. I smashed him up against the wall again and made him look at me. “You will never ever fucking dare to look at
that woman again. You don’t deserve her to even breathe in your direction. She will not talk to you, smile at you, or even look at you after you leave this apartment. You deserve nothing. You will go the fuck away and you will
stay
away.”

I closed my eyes preparing myself for what I was about to do in front of Lizzie. With my teeth clenched, I firmly growled, “I will have my accountant send you two million
American
dollars and a contract that states you will not disclose any information about Lizzie, Niall or me to anyone for as long as you live. You will never contact us again or ask for more money from me or
anyone else
regarding Elizabeth and Niall O’Malley. If you so much as breathe our names again, your sweet little Moira will wonder why her boyfriend is locked up in American prison. Do you fucking understand me, Gallagher?”

He didn’t say a word. With his eyes still looking behind me at Lizzie, he nodded and I let him go. He slid back against the wall and I turned to face the love of my life. She was crying. When she looked at me, I didn’t see disappointment or anger. She
wasn’t
scared of me. I saw her love for me radiating through her tears and I knew she understood everything. She turned to Teagan and choked out a sob.

“You…are
the
worst human being I have ever known,” she whispered to Teagan. “I pray to God my baby grows up to be like his real father instead of his sperm donor.” Teagan gave her a troubled look and stood up to his feet.

Lizzie came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I pulled her closer, hoping my trembling body would stop with her touch. We watched Teagan get into the
elevator together in silence. When the elevator doors closed, we both blew out breaths in unison. We stood there for a while embracing each other. Something huge just happened for us. It was a critical part of our path that will help to shape our future together.

TWENTY ONE
- SAM

I sat in the lobby at Fifteen Beacon for two hours on Saturday, waiting for Nick to come pick me up. Although he had hung up on me the day before, I knew he considered my meeting with the O’Malley’s to be important. I had left my new apartment a mess. My shampoo was in the kitchen. My clothes were in the pantry. My television wasn’t hooked up but the cable box was. My shoe collection took up the whole living room.

Did I need that many pairs of shoes? In Texas, I wore so many different pairs; I hardly ever wore the same ones twice. In Boston, I stuck to two comfortable pairs. I needed a night life again so I could wear those shoes. I thought about asking Nick to go dancing with me. Well, once he wasn’t angry with me anymore.

Wait a minute, to hell with my shoes. Where the hell was Nick? I never even told him I was moving out so he had to come here to pick me up. I was going to face Conner’s parents today per
his
request and he was late.
Seriously screwed up
. He was the one that put this dreadful idea into my head and it was the only thing taking up head space for days.  I tried calling his home number but there was no answer.

I hated voicemail. I had used it once before. I left a message for a good friend about a year ago and she never called back. Tested and failed. So when Nick didn’t answer, I just assumed he was on his way to get me. Every single time I
called him I sat back down on the leather couch and thought, “He will be here in twenty minutes”. Then twenty minutes passed by and he still didn’t show.

Fed up and anxious, I hailed a cab and gave the driver his address. I was
going
to talk to his parents whether or not he was pissed off at me.
Fucking asshole.
  I had given myself multiple pep talks. I stayed up all night writing down my feelings about what happened. I wanted to tell Conner’s parents that I blamed myself. I wasn’t just some bitch that killed their son on purpose. I lost a piece of me that night, too. I finally wanted to take the blame for all of it.

As I stepped out of the cab, I saw an angry looking blond guy practically running out of Nick’s apartment building. I squinted my eyes in confusion as he rushed passed me. He looked familiar but I shrugged it off. I watched him get into the same cab that I had just gotten out of and heard the Irish accent as he asked for Logan airport.
Holy. Shit.
That
is Teagan.

I dashed into the building and prayed all the way up in the elevator that Nick wasn’t left for dead. Teagan looked like he was running from or ready to kill and he was heading to an airport? That was not a good combination. Where was Lizzie? The answer to that question came all too quickly when I got off the elevator and saw Nick and Lizzie tangled up in a kiss like their lives depended on it. She was making little moans and he was clearly about ready to rip her shirt off by the way his fingers were pulling at each button. She put her hand over the fly of his jeans and whoa!!!

I cleared my throat but they didn’t hear me. He groaned her name and started to kiss his way down her neck as she closed her eyes, pleading for him not to stop. This was live porn and I was just standing here. I was invisible. I tried to think of something to do. Should I grab a magazine and wait? Should I push the button for the elevator again? Wait, hadn’t they heard me come in? Was this a joke?

I cleared my throat to the point I made myself start to cough. They both froze and turned to look at me. Nick sneered at me while Lizzie’s face morphed into a stunned disgusted look. It was a brilliant look. I wondered if she ever sat in front of a mirror and worked on that look. I certainly had it down. My father basically forced me to learn that expression by age three.

“I’m sorry for interrupting you but Nick? I have been waiting for you to pick me up. Two o’clock? Fifteen Beacon?” I held up my hands in surrender and took a step back as Lizzie started to come after me. Nick pulled her back and hugged her to him.

“Sam. Lizzie came home just now and we haven’t seen each other in quite a few weeks. We have other plans, so today is not going to work out.” He was dismissing me. He wanted me to leave.

I saw the moment Lizzie tensed up and Nick obviously noticed at her response, too. He watched her carefully to see what she would do next. With her mouth dropped wide open, Lizzie flew around to start pushing at his chest. She pushed him three feet back before she unleashed her rage.

“What, Samantha was your back up girl while I was gone? What the shitty creeps, Nick? You couldn’t go a couple of weeks without getting it on with someone?” she shrieked. Her hair was coming out of whatever hair style that particular style was and she looked like she was ready for a knock down fight.

He shushed her, then smiled down at her, and patted her ass. They had a silent conversation with their eyes for a few moments. I watched them in confusion as I tried to understand what they were saying. It was hopeless.

“Yes, baby, I screwed her brains out every second I could. She didn’t care that I called out your name and balled my eyes out the whole time we did it either.”

I snorted a laugh. He
did
call out her name but did he remember that? Shit, I wasn’t going to participate in this conversation. The weirdest thing happened. I saw Lizzie relax and she smiled back. She shrugged and started to pull her hair back into a pony tail.

“Did she do that thing you like with the two fingers on your…” I cut her off.

“Okay, I get it. Fabulous fucking joke. Seriously Nick, I have been up all night waiting. I have notes. I have everything prepared. This was
your
idea. Please take me to see them.”

Lizzie turned a quizzical look my way and crossed her arms over her chest. “Go see who?” she asked. I forgot that Lizzie may have a problem with me going so I was cautious as I looked back at her.

“I need to talk to Conner’s… um… your parents. I want to tell them why we got into the car accident.” I muttered the sentence and braced myself. I waited for her to blow up at me. I waited for her to say “hell no!” I waited for a Lizzie fit.  She stayed quiet until she turned to look at Nick and whispered, “Why?”

Nick kissed her forehead and whispered something in her ear that I couldn’t hear. She nodded a few times and then I heard a slight whimper come from her mouth. She was upset.
Great
. I couldn’t deal with this shit today. I already had enough drama going through my own head.

With her blotchy red tear stricken face, she came to stand in front of me. Her arms were loose at her sides and she didn’t look like she intended to punch me so I let go of my stance.

She blew out a breath and a thoughtful expression came over her. “I think I know why you came to see me that day, Sam. You know, the day you said I didn’t deserve Nick.” She turned to look back at Nick and scowled.

“I don’t know all of the details as to why but you were
faking it
. You were pretending to be someone or something to get back at me. I don’t know why and I don’t know if I even want to know. Believe me,
I
can be the biggest fake when I want to be.
No one
can pull off make-believe like I do. But if you do this…if you finally tell our family what happened and why Conner died, I will erase that conversation from my mind forever.”

Her sad smile startled me. Lizzie O’Malley was genuinely smiling at me for telling her to leave Nick and by day’s end, telling her and her parents that I essentially killed her brother. I finally understood why everyone loved Lizzie. She wanted peace. She wanted love. She wanted people in her life to be happy. She didn’t hold grudges. She said what was on her mind and then lived her life the way she wanted to. There was
no way
my parents would ever like her. She was a different species all together. She was her own person.

I nodded my head and smiled back. I looked at Nick expectantly. I was ready to go. I needed to get this over with so I could move on with my own future.

He shook his head. “Still can’t do it today, ladies. We have a plane to catch.”

He raised an eyebrow at me and I knew exactly where that plane was going.
Fucking Texas.
I groaned and buried my head in my hands. For fuck’s sake, this day might turn out to be a drinking fest.

“I insist you join us, Samantha.” Nick didn’t even wait for my reply as he took Lizzie’s hand and headed back into their bedroom and shut the door…hard. I heard giggling and his carefree laugh from behind their door.

I rolled my eyes and contemplated my escape. It was then I heard a baby making noises. I walked around the foyer and headed for Niall’s room. He was in his play pen, talking to an electronic keyboard. I took the keyboard out and then picked him up. We sat down together on his floor and he smacked his little fingers on the keys. He pulled at my hair and I squeezed his big cheeks.

He looked so much like Conner and Lizzie. He said something in gibberish and I spoke back to him in regular English. I read once you have to talk to children in the language you want them to learn.
Or maybe someone else read it and told me because I can’t remember the last book I ever read. 
Slowly, Niall climbed up into my lap. He tried to wrap all of his hands into my hair while giving me open mouthed kisses on my cheeks. I laughed and put him back down in front of the keyboard. We played for a long time while his parents got it on in the next room. No place had ever felt more like home than right this moment.

An hour passed and Niall was getting tired, so I lay him down in his crib and softly sang a rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb. I would have made a dreadful mother.

“You would have made a wonderful mother.” Lizzie’s voice startled me from the song and I stopped rubbing Niall’s back.

I turned around and saw her sad face. “Nick told me everything. He told me so I could be prepared when you tell my mom and dad. I have to be the strong one, he says.” She puffed out her chest and lowered her voice in mock male fashion. I start out the door and a small smile crept over my face. When Niall’s door was closed, I turned to her so we were inches apart.

“You look so much like Conner. It’s unbelievable,” I said in bewilderment as I took in her whole face. She beamed at me and it felt like Conner was the one gracing me with his full wattage smile. I started to tear up. Heavy wet tears fell down my face as I continued to look in her eyes.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she whispered. She wiped away a few tears and a determined took over her face. “He was such an ass for pulling on that steering wheel. He always did crazy shit like that before. He thought he was invincible, Sam. Sometimes, I would get really frightened after he told me about some of his crazy nights out. He wasn’t invincible.”

“But I… I told him I couldn’t marry him,” I objected to her compassion. I was almost in her arms, my whole body begging to be touched in a loving way. She scoffed at my confession and then rolled her eyes.

“You guys would have worked it out. You could have told him you were a freaking nun and couldn’t marry him because of that! He still would have done something stupid that night. My brother expected to get his way about
everything
.” She rolled her eyes again. I could see she still had a little anger towards him.

“Can I hug you?” I whispered.

She came at me full force and she held me while I sobbed into her crazy red hair. She started to cry, too. Then she said, “He loved you.”

I pulled away and my questioning look prompted her to pull something from her back pocket. She handed me a photo of Conner and me. I had seen it before because it was the picture I gave to Conner only a couple days before he dies. I remember the day. We were lying on the grass near Boston
College. He wanted to show me his alma mater and some of his band mates tagged along. He was looking at me with the biggest grin on his face.

“I have never seen my brother look at a girl like that,” she stated seriously. “You got to him and that’s hard for any girl to do. Conner was a ladies’ man. But that photo,” she continued as she pointed down at the picture, “He is in love with that girl.”  I stared at the picture for a long time and nodded at it.

Nick came up behind Lizzie and gave her a small peck on the cheek. He put his arm around me and looked down at the picture.

He smiled at me. “He wanted you the minute his eyes landed on you, Sam. Poor bastard. He was in deep before he even knew your name.”

Lizzie giggled loudly and covered her mouth as she looked at Niall’s door. She motioned for us to go the living room. She sat down and I noticed she was holding her belly as she sat. Was she? Oh my god. She’s pregnant. She saw my jaw drop open and she smiled wickedly at me and then winked.

“You can keep the picture as long as you tell me the truth about one thing,” Lizzie said as she looked at me with the most serious, determined face.

I swallowed and nodded at her, expecting the worst. What was she going to ask me? Did I sleep with Nick? Did I fuck up her job? Shit, shit, shit.

“Your favorite song was never Butterfly Girl, was it?” she asked as she crossed her arms.

I smirked. I laughed out loud and looked down at the picture of me smiling back at Conner. I shook my head. “No, he told me he wrote that song for you. He said one day your wings would open up and you would fly.”