I bit back a smile and elbowed her side. “No one said I was changing my mind.”

Kira started to laugh, but cut off abruptly and grabbed my arm. I didn’t need to ask why, because I was watching it too.

A girl who had shown up only about twenty minutes before had walked over to where Liam was lying down, put a foot on either side of his hips, and sat down on his lap—like it was an action she’d done a thousand times. The second she was down, Liam pushed up so he was sitting as well, and then the next movements were so fast that it was hard to see who leaned in and reached for the other first. As soon as their mouths were pressed together, I looked away and into Kira’s confused and apologetic eyes.

“Do you want to leave?” she asked softly, but I shook my head and glanced back at the pair and found Liam watching me as the girl said something to him and ran her fingers through his hair.

“No. No, I think we should stay.”

After all the times he’d made me feel sorry for pushing him away, I didn’t even care about the way it seemed like something was painfully squeezing my heart. If that was how he wanted to play after everything that had already happened . . . I was game.

June 13

Liam

I’D BEEN TRYING to find Kennedy and Kira for the past twenty minutes. It shouldn’t have been hard, we were all in my apartment . . . but so were about thirty other people. It only took five minutes for me to regret letting everyone come back here after our day at the beach. I should have known that our group of fifteen would quickly double in number, and the last thing I wanted was to act like I was actually enjoying the night when all I wanted was a chance to talk to Kennedy alone.

A pair of arms wrapped around my waist. Fingertips found their way into the band of my shorts, and I bit back a groan. Okay, I also wanted Cecily to stop trying to maul me every chance she got . . . which was also part of the reason I needed to talk to Kennedy. I hadn’t missed the way she’d been looking at me earlier after Cecily had kissed me—it’d been impossible to. Just like it had been impossible to figure out why Cecily was trying to bring back our relationship and make it public suddenly.

Sure, some people at work had known . . . but that had been it. Even if we had been at the same event or party, we stayed away from each other. That was the agreement. We only did anything in my office, or when we were alone in either of our places. Nothing more.

Grabbing her searching hands, I pushed them away and turned to look at her. Her dark eyes were pinned to me, the challenge in them clear. She wanted Kennedy to see this; she also wanted me to give in to her as much as she wanted me to publicly announce what we’d once had. I held her stare until I was sure she was listening to what I was about to say. “Cecily, you have to stop. Whatever it was we had is over—I thought I’d made that clear the other day.”

Her eyes narrowed marginally at my soft tone, and when her next questions came out louder than necessary, I knew I’d been right. She wanted a public scene—and she wanted one girl in particular to get a front-row seat. “Since when, Liam? What is your deal lately? You have never once tried to push me away from you, and don’t try to deny it. There are plenty of people who remember you pulling me into your office and the noises you had me making not long after.”

I grabbed the back of her neck and brought her close to me. “You really want to start this shit? No one will look bad after this except for you, believe that if nothing else.” Her eyes widened, and I knew I had her. She would do anything as long as she came out on top, and I would make sure she wouldn’t this time. With a heavy sigh, I released her and took a step away. “You know why things have changed, and you know they changed awhile ago. This weekend isn’t anything new. What I don’t get is why you’re suddenly letting someone make you act like you’re some insecure girl who’s been burned when there was never anything between us to burn.”

Her expression went flat, and just when I saw her anger coming through and prepared myself for whatever she would say, she turned and pushed through the people behind her—making her way to the door.

“Whew. Talk about drama,” a husky voice said next to me.

I turned and jerked back when I saw Kennedy standing directly beside me. But at second glance, my body relaxed when I realized the wrong sister was standing next to me. “Where’s Kennedy?”

Kira shrugged and turned to look behind her. “Dancing . . . somewhere. I don’t know, I lost her a little while ago.”

“I’m gonna go look for her.”

“You gonna save her from all the big and bad guys at your place, Liam?”

I smirked and gave her a questioning look. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

She held up her hands in mock surrender. “Didn’t say that. You just might want to be prepared for what she throws at you after what happened at the beach. I may have heard what just went down between you and that girl, but she didn’t, and I know she isn’t forgetting what she saw earlier.”

If Kira was warning me, I could only imagine how bad it was about to be. Turning around, I moved slowly through the people standing around drinking and dancing. I was just about to turn around to go back to where I’d left Kira when everything in me halted, and my blood boiled. My hands clenched into fists, and I had to force myself to stay where I was instead of going over to punch a guy sitting on the arm of one of my couches.

Kennedy was practically fucking his thigh along to the music, and his hand started wandering up her skirt as I sat there watching them. I knew I needed to turn around and go someplace where I couldn’t see them. I didn’t have a right to make her stop what she was doing, especially after she watched me with Cecily, but that wasn’t stopping me from feeling like it was my right.

A hand touched my arm, and when I turned, I found Kira looking at me with wide eyes—her head shaking back and forth. “She’s just doing it to get a reaction out of you.”

“Don’t—”

“No, Liam, I know her. I know what she’s doing! She wants to get back at you for this afternoon even if she won’t admit it!”

“Well, then it’s fucking working! But there’s no point to try to stop it when all she has done is push me away, and now I’ve finally given her a reason to.”

Kira’s eyes widened. “There isn’t?”

I ground my jaw and narrowed my eyes at her. “You and I both know she doesn’t want to be saved—”

“That doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be saved by you!” she yelled, cutting me off. “Liam, don’t let her continue to push you away. I know she needs you despite everything she’s done so far!”

My eyes darted to the side, and my body locked up again. Kennedy’s head had dropped back and the guy was leaning his head toward her chest.

Fuck this.

I moved from Kira’s hand and pushed forward through the crowd as fast as I could. As soon as I was close enough, I grabbed Kennedy around the waist and yanked her back before the guy’s mouth could touch her.

She was yelling at me. But with the music and my rage, I couldn’t make out her words as I pulled her away. It was taking everything in me to continue walking forward rather than going back and beating the shit out of someone who had no idea that the girl in my arms belonged to me. I practically carried Kennedy out of the main room, down the hall, and into my room. As soon as the door was shut, I turned and pinned her back against it.