Page 104 of Best Kind of Trouble
“Are you kidding? Anyone would be glad to have him. He’s insanely talented. You tasted his beer the other day.”
“I’ve tasted it at competitions too. Heiscrazy talented, but that’s not the only thing people care about.” She picks at the laundry tag on the beanbag chair. “Everyone knows he got arrested after beating up the owner of Mountain Morning so bad he had to be hospitalized overnight.”
Something sours in my stomach. I hadn’t realized it was that bad. “That happened a long time ago.”
“People remember. That’s one thing you can be sure of in places like this.” She glowers at the door. “Like Cormac with his science project. It doesn’t matter that I knocked it over by accident, or that Liam had a good reason for what he did. Those things still happened, and people still remember. They always remember the bad stuff.”
“He had a good reason?” I nearly fall off my chair in my eagerness to hear it.
“Look,” she says, setting her glass down. “Gossip is like that telephone game. You never know how much of the truth you’re getting.”
I should probably pretend my interest is solely professional—that I want to make sure Liam isn’t some raging psychopathwho’s going to start punching rude tourists in the tasting room or drowning employees in our pale ale. But Nora has been good to me, and honesty should never be met with a lie.
“I really need to know.”
She nods. “Look, like I said, I don’t know the whole story, but it was over a woman. He was serious with someone, but then his boss hooked up with her at the brewery’s holiday party. Everyone found out, because the fire alarm went off and the building had to be evacuated. They were both only half dressed.”
“She cheated on Liam?” I blurt. I can’t imagine ever cheating on anyone—a betrayal like that would eat a hole right through me—but to cheat onLiam? Unthinkable.
“That’s what people say. But it went deeper. I guess Liam didn’t go after the guy until later. I think maybe you should ask him about all of this, though.” She laughs. “Or we could bribe Cormac to do it.”
I take a sip of my drink, buying some time. I want to confide in Nora, but it feels like a betrayal of Hannah and Sophie to share something so personal with a new friend first. At the same time, I can hardly call Hannah to complain that I asked her brother for sex and he gave it to me.
Even in my own head, it sounds stupid.
Iaskedfor this.
I knew he wasn’t interested in a relationship. It’s irrational to be angry with him because he made me want one.
“Nora?” a woman’s voice calls. “Nora, where are you? We’re about to start the cookies.”
Nora leans over to open the door, calling into the hallway, “I’m in my room with Briar. We’re having a private conversation.”
“Oh, did Briar arrive?”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Yes. We’ll be out in a minute. Goahead and get started without us.” She shuts the door again and plops back down. “See? They always get lost in this dreamy realm where they don’t remember other people exist. Did you know Mr. Peebles was my elementary school principal? It’s super weird, but Iamhappy for them. My mom deserves a good guy, and God knows if she would have ever even tried dating again if not for Hannah.”
“Please don’t tell Hannah I asked about Liam,” I say, my chest tight. “I don’t want her to think I have…you know, inappropriate feelings for him.”
Her stare is pointed. “But do you?”
I take a deep breath, hold it, then let it out. “Yes. But I need to get over them. You’d think I’d learn.”
She laughs, deep and throaty, and lifts her glass to clink it to mine. “I hear you there. My dad was a dirty cheater, so you’d think I’d have recognized all the tricks when Jonah came sauntering in and asked me out. But it’s always different when you’re in the thick of it.” She’s silent for a second before asking, “You think maybe you’re displacing your feelings onto Liam because he’s helping you like you thought Jonah was going to do?”
It hadn’t occurred to me, so I sit with the idea for a moment.
“Maybe partly,” I say, “but he’s also…”
“A hot, sexy asshole who rides a motorcycle and gets into trouble?”
“He has a tattoo that winds around his leg,” I gush. “And one on his arm too. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
I also can’t stop thinking about how he stood up for me at my parents’ dinner, and his insane offer to keep going there with me even though he clearly hates my parents, and vice versa. Or his encouragement of my dream. Or the excitement I feel every time I check our list of rules. But the way those things make me feel is a lot more dangerous than the pure lust I experience every time he touches me.
“You slept with him?”
I sigh and nod before burying my face in my hands.
