Privacy, Please 🌶️

FREYA

My feet carried me swiftly out of the reception hall.

Liam was calling after me, but I didn’t stop.

When I emerged into the crisp night air and onto the sidewalk, I felt his hand grasp my shoulder.

“Freya—”

“What?” I said, turning to him angrily.

“Just wait—”

“No!” I shouted. “I don’t even know why I came here. Darla’s not my friend. She just used me to get ~Liam Henderson~ to come to her wedding. I’m done with her.”

I wiped a rogue tear that began to trail down my cheek. “And ~you~—I don’t even know what to say about you. I gotta go.”

“You’re leaving?” he asked me.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m leaving.”

“Figures…”

“What is~ that ~supposed to mean?”

“Of course you’re just going to leave me,” he said. “Like you left your father.”

Those last words landed like a punch in the face. “I confided in you about my father. Don’t you dare use it against me.”

I stormed toward the curb and waved my arm, flagging down the first taxi that passed.

“Freya, wait—” he protested.

“You know what, Liam? Next time you want to do me a favor, or whatever the hell this was…just don’t!”

I slammed the door in his face as the driver pulled off into the flow of traffic.

“Where to, miss?” he asked me.

“Um…”

My mind drew a blank.

It was then that I realized I had nowhere to go.

So reluctantly, I gave him the only address I could think of.

As he swerved through the streets, I checked the time on my phone.

It was one minute past midnight.

And just like in the fairy tale, the fantasy had ended.

My limo turned into a yellow cab.

My prince turned into a drunken asshole.

I was almost surprised that my blue dress didn’t transform into rags before my eyes.

***

I knocked on the door instead of using my key, and a few minutes later, Mason appeared in front of me.

He looked half-asleep. I must have just woken him up.

“Freya—what—” He looked around, confused. “What’s the matter?”

“Everything’s fine,” I said. “I just need a place to sleep. Can I use your couch?”

“Yeah,” he said, moving out of the door frame to let me in. “I don’t understand, though. Did something happen with Liam?”

“It’s complicated,” I replied.

“I told you it would be.”

“I know, I know, ~you told me so~,” I said, frustration mounting in my tone. I couldn’t endure a scolding from him…not after the night I had.

“Let’s talk about it in the morning,” he said, and started walking toward his bedroom.

“Hey, Mason,” I said. “Can I have one more thing?”

“Money?” he asked.

That stung.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “A hug?”

He looked bewildered by the request.

I don’t think that my brother and I had hugged in years.

Hesitantly, he took one awkward step toward me and lifted his arms.

I walked into his embrace, soothed by even his half-hearted attempt at being comforting, and cried my eyes out.

***

When I woke up in the morning in one of my brother’s oversize shirts and sweatpants, I felt like I needed to do a full-body stretch.

His couch paled in comparison to the high-quality mattress in my room at Liam’s apartment.

I reached for my phone and my heart leapt when I saw that I had several missed text messages from Liam—six, to be exact.

Liam

Freya.

Liam

I’m so sorry about last night.

Liam

I don’t know what I was thinking.

Liam

But I ruined everything.

Liam

Please come home.

Liam

I want to make it up to you.

~Ugh.~

As good as it felt to read those words, I was entirely unsure of what to do.

My pride was bruised, but my heart was longing for whatever apology he could provide.

Hearing the sound of Mason’s snores blaring in the other room, I decided that it was best not to wake him.

Instead, I fluffed the cushions on the couch, threw my jacket over the borrowed clothes, and snuck out the front door.

Freya

Omw.

LIAM

I was sitting on the edge of the black leather couch, anxiously awaiting Freya’s arrival.

~She’s never going to show up.~

~Why would she?~

But then I heard it: a key turning in the lock at my front door, followed by the sound of her light footsteps making their way down the hall.

Then she was standing in front of me, wearing a baggy T-shirt, her makeup from the night before smudged around her eyes.

Even like this, she looked beautiful.

She always looked beautiful.

I rose when she came in and then instantly regretted performing such a bizarre formality.

“Hi,” I said after a moment, realizing that the ball was in my court to initiate the conversation.

“Hi,” she replied.

“Will you sit with me for a minute?” I asked her. “I have something I want to tell you.”

She nodded and shuffled over to the couch.

I sat down again, next to her.

My hands were shaking, but I needed to tell her the rest of my story…

“I didn’t tell you this before,” I said, “but not long after Jenna died, my father left. The fighting between my parents became unbearable, and one morning all his stuff was gone. He just disappeared in the middle of the night.”

I felt Freya’s eyes on me as I pressed on.

“So then, it was just me and my mom. But that didn’t last long either. My mother died too. In a car accident. I was thirteen…and I was all alone.”

Freya cupped her hand over her mouth.

“Oh my God, Liam,” she said.

But I wasn’t done yet…

“Ant was my best friend at the time, and I was already spending almost every night at his house. He begged his parents to adopt me, and I was shocked when they actually said yes.”

I could see that Freya wanted to ask more questions, but she sat patiently.

“On the day the paperwork was supposed to be signed, his parents backed out. I was put in the foster care system and completely lost touch with Ant. I didn’t reconnect with him until Wyatt hired Lucinda years later.”

She buried her face in her hands, processing what I had just told her.

“Listen,” I said, grabbing her by the shoulders. “I’m not telling you this so you can take pity on me. Or to make excuses for my behavior.”

She peeked up at me from between her fingers.

“I just operate under the assumption that, eventually, everyone is going to leave me. I haven’t been proven wrong yet.”

I could see tears forming in her eyes, and I hated that my words were causing them.

“I would leave me too, if I were you,” I said. “I shouldn’t have kept drinking last night. But I did.”

“It’s not the drinking that’s the issue, Liam,” she said. “Every time the men in my life drink, they become shells of themselves, and start dumping all of their pain and insecurity onto me. I’m not a garbage can.”

“I know you’re not,” I said as I pulled her soft hand into mine and rose from the sofa again. “If you’ll give me one more chance, I swear I’ll make it up to you.”

Freya let out a sigh, then looked me in the eyes and gave me a nod.

“Is that a yes?” I confirmed.

“It’s a yes,” she said.

I couldn’t have wiped my smile away if I’d wanted to.

“Come with me,” I said. “I have a surprise for you.”

She looked at me with a confused, hesitant expression.

“It’s a good surprise, I promise. Can you trust me?”

I waited with bated breath for her answer to this sizeable question.

But finally, she nodded again.

Freya stood and I led her to one of the adjoining rooms.

Normally, it was just another spare bedroom, but I had spent the morning repurposing it.

When I opened the door, Freya gasped and my heart inflated.

FREYA

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My eyes flicked around the room in wonder.

Liam had converted the spare bedroom into a full art studio.

There were countless paints, brushes, and canvases I could have never afforded to buy myself. It was something out of a dream.

I spun around, trying to take it all in, and eventually crashing onto the floor in disbelief.

Just weeks ago, I could barely afford a sketch pad, and now I had the best materials at my disposal.

Liam sat down on the hardwood floor next to me as I looked around at the greatest gift I’d ever received.

“I believe in you, Freya,” he said. “I hope you know that.”

“You didn’t have to do this,” I replied.

“I wanted to show you—to show how much—you mean ~a lot~ to me,” he stammered over his words. “Pretending to date you has been the most real relationship I’ve had in a long time.”

“Me too,” I said, shocking myself that I admitted it out loud.

I looked at Liam and noticed that his face was flushing.

“What’s the matter?” I asked him.

“Can I—could I just—can I kiss you?”

A bewildered smile washed over my face.

When Liam kissed me in front of the cameras, he always grabbed me and kissed me fiercely.

And it was always hot.

But there was something ~even hotter~ about him asking my permission.

“Yes,” I said finally. “Yes, you can.”

He leaned in halfway, and so did I.

And when our lips met, the world around us completely dissolved.

There was no audience. No paparazzi. No flashing lights threatening to pull us out of the moment.

It was just me and him melting into a perfect kiss.

My hands roamed around his back, finally landing in his blond hair. I gripped it tightly, pulling his face deeper into mine.

I felt his hands also tangle in my hair as a moan escaped his mouth.

I traced the tips of my fingers from his hair to his neck to his chest. I grabbed fistfuls of his T-shirt as I slipped my tongue between his lips.

His hands traveled down to my collarbone, hovering just above my chest.

He lightly grazed my breasts before working his way down to my waist. He squeezed it, holding me like I was a prized possession…

I slid my hand under his shirt and started to peel it up his torso.

I had been waiting for this moment, and I didn’t want to waste any more time.

I was just about to pull his shirt over the crest of his chin when he suddenly let go of my body.

Our lips parted for the first time since they locked on to each other.

I looked at him and his flushed face had gone pale.

“What’s the matter?” I asked him.

“Nothing. I just—”

“What?” I asked him urgently.

“Thank you, Freya,” he said, kissing me one more time on the forehead.

Then he pulled his shirt back down over his torso, stood up off the floor, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

One moment I had him in my arms, and the next, I was sitting on the floor completely alone.

~Did I do something to scare him off?~

I got up and peered out into the hall. Liam was nowhere to be found, but I heard the faint strumming of his guitar from his room.

~What the hell?~