“Thank you.”
I’m on the move then. I grab my purse, leaving all my clothes there. I’m more likely to come back if I have a reason to.
As if the four men you are head over heels in love with aren’t reason enough.
Liam is already in the car waiting by the time I get out there.
The ride to the airport is silent. He lets me keep my thoughts to myself. It’s so odd to be around Liam without his laughter. It makes me sad.
She took that from us. Val took that video and leaked it, stole that from us.
For that alone, I hope Val and the people who published the story get bitten by one thousand fire ants in their crotch. They deserve even worse than that.
Finally, we pull up to the airport. Liam leans back and grabs a hoodie from the back seat and hands it to me.
“What’s this for?”
“I don’t know what it will be like in there.” He nods toward the airport. “But just in case, I figured you could put the hood up and maybe slip on some sunglasses once you get through security or something, so no one recognizes you. The last thing you need is to be hassled while trying to get home.”
“Thank you,” I whisper while stroking the sweatshirt.
Liam pulls out his wallet and slips out a credit card, handing it to me.
I frown when I see my name on it when I take it.
“What’s this?”
“We were going to give it to you. It’s linked to our account. So you can buy anything you need. We never want you to be without again.”
My eyes tear up. “I can’t take this, Liam. I’m not with you for your money. If I take this and use it, it makes what they are saying true.”
Liam grabs my face, pulling me in close. “Fuck them. Fuck the entire world. They don’t get to make assumptions about us. Let them say whatever they want to say. They have no bearing on what happens between us. That card is so that you can fly home whenever you need to, and then you get your ass right back here to me, to us. You spend that money because we love to spoil and dote on you. You aren’t a gold digger. You aren’t a whore. You are ours. I refuse to let them take that away from us.”
“Okay,” I whisper.
“Say it. You are ours.”
“I’m yours. All of yours.”
He crushes his lips to mine before pulling back.
“You go do whatever you feel like you need to do. We will be right here waiting for you to come back. We will wait forever if we have to because once we love you, we never give up on you.”
I start to sob. His words are beautiful. I consider staying.
Then I remember the suffocating feeling of being around them, feeling like I’m such a failure.
In the end, I kiss Liam once more before getting out of the car.
“I love you, Liam. Believe in me.”
He nods. “I love you, Rora. I’ll believe in us enough for the both of us.”
As I watch him drive away, I can’t help the tears falling from my face. I watch for a moment before heading inside.
Then I head right up to the ticket agent.
“One ticket to New York, please.”
