“You and I both know he's not leaving without you.” Moon rolls his eyes at the possibility. “His coach is going to give him hell, though. Are you going to make him choose between you and his career?”
“No,” I explain, “I would never expect that of him. He'd just be missing one game; I go back home in time for his next one. If he can't missonegame and take some yelling from his coach, then that says a lot.” He was the one who said he'd buy NASA and go to the moon if what I wanted was there. This is far from that.
“You're standards are insane.” Moon shakes his head as if he's amazed at me.
“It's the bare minimum!” I defend myself. “My brother quite actually called his coach to quit the team just to try to prove a point with his girl, not even get her back.”
Moon thinks about it for a second before nodding. “Okay, yeah, I see why your standards are so high, but your brother is Sire Griffin. Liam is anamazingplayer, but he's in the hot seat with his coach and always has been.”
“And why's that?” I ask a question I already know the answer to.
“Because of his anger issues and—” Moon cuts himself off as he realizes my point.
“Liam is constantly bumping heads with his coach, him missing a game will for sure cause a fight, and it's not necessarily a setup, but I know Liam is going to choose me and have to get yelled at by his coach. How he reacts to that will tell me if he really did at least try to get his temper in order.” I explain.
I guess you can say it's a test, along with whether or not he decides to open up to me aboutanythingthat's a hint of personal because, as his girlfriend, I want to be able to talk to him about those things. I still don't know what happened to his sister or what his mom is sick with, and I'm not forcing him to tell me everything, but he should be willing to try, and he has yet to. Mainly because I set the no-speaking strike, but I'm going to give him the option to open up to me.
“You can't tell him.” I force Moon to act like this conversation never happened, and when he does, I flip the conversation to him. “Did he tell you anything about Capri?”
Moon sighs at the sound of her name and looks up to the ceiling. He claims he fell in love with her, although he only saw her picture on Liam's phone when she called him.
“He's given menothing.” He sits up as he remembers something. “I should tell him you told him to tell me!” He shootsup from his seat as he races for the door, and I'm hysterical as the door shuts.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Liam
“Iwant to discuss yourtriggers, Liam,” Rose, my therapist, continues. “Your family seems to be one of them, but can you think of another instance where you got really upset?”
“When people annoy me.”Like now.
Anger management therapy hasn't been the worst thing ever. I've been doing it for three weeks now, and it definitely got easier. I just hate how much she wants to talk about my family.
“Have you ever lost your temper with Sage?”
I look up at her, my brows slightly pulled together, and she only watches me through the video call as if the way I simply breathe will tell her my answer. “I've gottenmad,but I never lost my temper with her. Why are you asking me that?”
“What does mad versus losing your temper mean?”
“Losing my temper is like storming off to break a punching bag with my bare hands. She's never made me that mad, and I don't think she ever can.”
“Why not?”
“Because I love her?” My head tilts slightly to the side as I study her. “Where did you say you got your degree from?” I scan the diploma on the wall behind her, but it's too far for me to read it.
She stifles a laugh, and I'm not sure why because I was genuinely asking.
“Let's circle back to the root of your anger.”
“I don't want to talk about this anymore.” I can actually feel the pressure in my temples intensifying.
“It was a big step for you to tell me about how both your dad and your sister passed away, but the last week, I've been trying to bring up your dad, and it ends in you hanging up on me, yet you keep answering when I call back. That shows me you genuinely want to get your anger under control.”
“I do.” I shuffle in my seat uncomfortably.
“That's good. When you booked your first appointment with me and filled out your questionnaire, you said you wanted to start anger management because you didn't want to be angry around your kids. Is Sage pregnant?”
“I fucking hope she is,” I mumble, but she hears, and a smile touches her lips as she writes in her notebook. “Unfortunately, she isn't.” I don't even think of the possibility.
