Chapter 16

January, 2006, NYU

“Hey! Chanty!” Zach called out.

“Not hearing you, Zachary!”

“Liam wants to ask something!”

“Not hearing you! Go piss someone else off, Astor!”

“Will you go out on a date with him?!”

“Stop following me, Astor!”

And then she turned to the right, disappearing into a long hallway.

“I told you it won’t work,” Liam said, pushing Zach to the side with full force.

2013

Chanty could feel the different air inside the car. Neither of them spoke a word, both afraid that the magic that enveloped them would fade. She felt it was just a thin sheath of paper that could break with a word.

She didn’t know how fast Liam drove, but she knew that they reached her house safely. She unbuckled her seatbelt, climbed out of the car and led the way to her house. Liam followed close behind.

Chanty struggled with her key, but she eventually opened the door.

She didn’t dare flick on the lights. Now that they were inside her home, with the warmth and the muffled street sound of the outside, the intense yearning to pull Liam closer only got stronger.

And it seemed he felt the same way because their mouths closed in on each other the same time the door closed behind them. Liam reached behind him to lock the door while Chanty worked with his jacket with one hand and the buttons of his shirt with the other.

They inched their way to the living room, on the couch and rolled their way down the carpet, joining Willie’s colorful blocks. Liam’s left shoe was somewhere down the hall, his shirt probably on the couch, his right shoe across the room, and his jacket somewhere by the door. On the other hand, Chanty wasn’t even aware that she barely had any clothes on. She wasn’t sure which got off first, but she was pretty certain her underwear was coming next.

Liam could feel the rush of blood through his ear as his hands roamed around Chanty’s willing form beneath him. He wanted to show her what she could barely remember years ago. He wanted her to feel what he felt that night and not regret it afterwards.

Yes, he didn’t want her to regret it.

So, with what was left of his strength, he stopped Chanty’s restless hands from unbuckling his belt and gave her one last deep, shattering kiss before breaking away, breathless and angry at himself for stopping.

But he had to do it.

“What’s wrong?” Chanty asked, breathing heavily.

“I know you know this is going too fast,” he answered when he finally managed to catch his breath. He went to the couch and dropped down heavily, trying to control--well, everything. His arm went over his head and covered his eyes as he tried to concentrate.

“Liam, are you okay?” Chanty asked.

He felt her move and he stopped her. “Don’t! Don’t touch me or you’ll regret it.”

“I don’t think I’ll regret it, Liam.”

“You did the last time, remember?” he countered, his eyes still closed.

Chanty didn’t answer. He didn’t dare peek and see what she was doing because he might just jump on her and continue where they left off.

“I just want it to be done right this time,” he said.

“But Liam--”

“This is not working,” Liam cut her off, jumping to his feet. “I need a cold shower.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. After puking over me and after…this,” he said, waving his hand over the carpet without looking at her. “I definitely need one. Where’s the bathroom?”

Chanty immediately pulled her pants right back and grabbed a shirt from her closet the moment Liam entered the bathroom. She flew to her phone and dialed Angelica.

“Okay, please tell me you slept with him, please!” Angelica said as hello.

“No, that’s the point. We didn’t.”

“You stopped it? Are you crazy? Don’t get me wrong, Chanty, but Liam is hot.” Her friend said the last three words in a whisper.

“No, I didn’t stop him. He stopped me. It’s so embarrassing!”

“No, you mean he’s still the scared boy I knew he is! That coward! Where is he now? He left?”

“He’s in the bathroom taking a cold shower.”

Angelica laughed from the other line. “Wait, Cass needs to know this!”

Chanty waited as Angelica dialed Cassandra’s number. “What?” her sister-in-law answered.

“You’re still having a fight with Philip?” Chanty asked.

“Don’t mention that moron! Now, what’s up?”

“Chanty got turned down by Liam in bed,” Angelica said.

“On the carpet,” Chanty corrected with a grimace.

Cassandra and Angelica laughed. “What the hell happened?” Cassandra asked.

“We went on date. It was in the cemetery.”

Another round of laughter from both ends.

“And then I confronted him about what Ange told me earlier. I asked him if did have feelings for me back then.”

“And he said he did and he still does,” Angelica said it as a statement. There was no doubt in her voice.

“Yes.”

“Then you made out in the cemetery?” Cassandra guessed.

“Outside the cemetery,” she corrected.

Another long round of laughter.

“And I invited him to my house. And then we kind of started it and he stopped. Said he doesn’t want me to regret it later. Something about taking it slow.”

“Moron,” her friends said in unison.

Chanty groaned. “What do I do?”

“Where is he?” asked Cassandra.

“In the bathroom, taking a cold shower,” Angelica answered for her, stifling a laugh.

Chanty groaned further.

“Act natural, Chanty. Don’t let him think it affected you,” Cassandra said.

There was a long silence between the three of them before Chanty finally said, “I guess it’s only right we didn’t do it. I don’t want to regret it again, after all. I have to go. I think he’s coming out.”

“Wait--” Chanty pushed the red button before her friends could say anything further.

“Who were you talking to?” asked Liam as he appeared from the bathroom.

“Cassandra. She’s talking about how Philip is giving her hell,” she lied. “You’re going?” she asked nonchalantly.

He looked at her, his hair wet from the shower. He had on a pair shirt and sweat pants Philip would use whenever he stayed the night with Cassandra in her house. “Do you want me to go?”

“It’s your choice,” she said with a shrug. “But it’s late. You might want to have dinner here.”

“You’re cooking?” he asked with a smile.

“Yeah, sure,” she answered, jumping to her feet.

As she walked to the door, he caught her hand and pulled her to him. “We’ll take it slow, Chanty,” he whispered before claiming her mouth for a soft, lingering kiss. “So it will be worth it,” he added before letting her go.

Chanty was in a daze the following day. Liam went home early to get dressed with the promise to pick her up before going to work because she couldn’t drive her car.

“We need to take Willie from Zach later,” he said while on the road.

“Are you sure Willie’s fine?” she asked.

“You called them last night, remember? Willie’s doing great. Julianne’s taking good care of him.”

“Just tell Zach not to teach my son anything like joining a stupid reality TV show,” she uttered.

Liam laughed. “Julianne would kill him before you could.”

“What do you want to do tonight?” Liam asked while they waited for the elevator doors to open.

“What? Another date?”

“I told you, we’ll take it slow but not too slow,” he said with a wink.

“I need to rest, Liam. It has been stressful lately.”

“Then I’ll take Willie. We’ll both go out. That’s okay with you, right?”

Chanty turned to look at him. “Where?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll go with you and Willie.”

“Great. I have a great plan.”

“Please, no more rides.”

Liam chuckled. “No more rides for you. I bet Willie would like it someday though.”

She didn’t comment. She didn’t want to think this would be for a long haul. It was at that moment she was grateful nothing happened last night because it would only complicate matters later on. Liam might take the truth badly and he wouldn’t want to see her again. Sex would only complicate things if that were to happen.

For the rest of the day, Chanty kept herself busy. She went over the floor plans with Pete and talked with suppliers and other associates. She also received a call from Philip about some papers she needed to sign and she almost cried out in frustration when her brother told her she had to come get them herself at his house.

“And bring Liam,” he added.

“Why?”

“I want to talk to him about something. Don’t worry, it’s about work.”

“Can’t you get your ass out of that house and come here instead?”

“No, because I need to watch over my wife.”

“Why?”

“You know why. I can’t have her jumping out the window again.”

“Philip, she’s pregnant.”

“I won’t be surprised if she would do it. Pregnant or not, she always finds a way. And she’s not talking to me so you better get here and talk to her.”

“What do you want me to say to her? I’m at her side, you know that.”

“Yes, of course,” her brother answered dryly before hanging up.

Liam was racking his brain for the best date for Willie and Chanty when she popped her head in his office door.

“Cancel that date.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“We need to go to Philip later.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I need to sign some papers and he needs to talk to you about some business stuff.”

“Should I bring Zach?”

“I don’t know, should you?”

“I’ll just ask him. And we need to fetch Willie from their hotel later, anyway.”

Chanty nodded and said, “Okay, see you later.”

Once working hours were over, Liam flew to Chanty’s office and almost dragged her away from Pete. “Come on, we need to go.”

“Liam, I still need to--”

“Willie’s waiting for us,” he said and with a smile, faced Pete. “You’re done here, right?”

Pete looked at him in a dreamy fashion and nodded. “We’ve been done for hours. Go enjoy.”

“What’s the rush?” Chanty asked him.

“Nothing, I just want to get the hell out of that building,” he answered, driving the car to Zach and Julianne’s hotel.

“You’re up to something,” she noted.

“Nothing, it’s nothing,” he said with a smile.

Zach and Julianne said yes to Liam’s invitation. Well, it was only right considering Zach was supposed to be the one doing Liam’s work in the first place.

“I had promised my father the last time he was in the hospital, that I would try getting my hands on the business,” Zach reasoned when Chanty voiced her curiosity as to why Zach would suddenly get involved in his family’s business.

“He just wants to look good in Julianne’s eyes,” Liam said to Chanty when they were back inside the car with Willie at the backseat.

“We’re going to see Aunt Cass?” Willie asked.

“Yes,” they answered in unison.

“You’re coming with us, Liam?” the boy asked again.

“Yes,” he answered, looking at Willie through the rearview mirror.

“Eggzoiting!” Willie cried out.

“Where did you learn that word?” Chanty asked, amused. “Did Uncle Zach teach you that?”

Willie shook his head. “Aunt Ange did.”

With Zach and Julianne tailing right behind them, Chanty sensed something was not right. She knew Liam was planning something.

The long drive to Philip and Cassandra’s house was not boring at all because Willie and Liam seemed to have hit it off right away like the first time they met. They talked about things that Willie enjoyed and Liam seemed to enjoy talking about them as well. Like he genuinely enjoyed it.

Chanty was smiling at a joke her son shared with them which he learned from Zach the other night only to feel panic upon seeing the familiar car outside her brother’s house.

She felt blood draining down her face and she groaned.

“Grandma’s car!” Willie shouted, pointing right ahead.

Chanty couldn’t breathe. Her grandparents and her mother were here.

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