Page 23 of Claiming Ours (Anchor Bay #2)
MEMPHIS
“ S orry for slamming you against the wall,” the angry fucker I now knew was Liam grumbled as he assessed the damage he did to the door.
“Twice, which fucking hurt like hell. What are you made of? Steel?” My joke, attempting to ease the tension in the room, just earned me a glare over his shoulder. “And no hard feelings. Like I said, I get it.”
He just nodded, letting me know he heard me. “Earlier, you said ‘heard his girl scream.’ How did you know that?” Liam asked, attention on the doorframe, but I knew he was watching me for my reaction too. The man didn’t trust me, which I somewhat understood since I was a literal stranger.
My lips parted to respond with the truth of my slight stalking when Baylee spoke up, cutting me off.
“Memphis told me he was at the bar last night, which means he saw you carry my drunk ass out.” She shot me a wink.
Guess that meant if I wanted to stay on Liam’s good side—if he had one—I shouldn’t tell him about the unannounced or noticed observations from the shadows the last couple of days.
“I’ve known him for years. Dean, Memphis, and I all grew up together. ”
A wash of sadness engulfed me, making my lungs freeze at the mention of Dean’s name. By the downturn of the corners of Baylee’s lips, it seemed a similar feeling hit her too.
Pursing her lips, she forced the forlorn expression away with a tight grin.
“Memphis was Dean’s best friend. The two were inseparable when Dean and I started dating.
I felt more like the third wheel with the three of us than Memphis because he was there first, I guess,” she teased.
Her light eyes sparkled when they connected with my own. “We did everything together.”
“Well, not everything ,” I added. Longing dipped my tone, which of course Liam picked up on, based on the curious, single eyebrow-raised expression he sent over his shoulder.
Baylee studied me, too, with a furrowed brow before shaking her head as if clearing her thoughts.
“Before you burst through the door like a mad bull, Memphis was filling me in on what he’s been up to since I last saw him.
Which was, what, that time I came home to visit Dean the summer after year two of veterinary medicine at A&M? ”
Lead formed in my stomach, making it drop to my feet.
That visit was right before Dean and I had our falling-out.
After he distanced himself from me because of that fight, I started hanging out more with a group of so-called friends who led me down the toxic path I wished like hell I’d never taken.
It took years for me to find my way back on the right track, sober and holding down a fulfilling job as an EMT.
“That was a long time ago. What brings you here now?” Liam asked, rotating to lean against the wall to face me straight on with an unreadable expression.
Fuck, he was intimidating.
Giving myself a second to work out an answer, I picked up the knife from the floor, which reminded me of how quickly Liam had disarmed me of the weapon. I eyed the sharp blade, then him. “Where did you learn to do that?” I asked, sliding it into the sheath that was normally covered by my jacket.
“The Army.”
“Liam was a Ranger for years before retiring and coming to Alaska.” Baylee smiled at Liam, whose features softened with her attention on him.
“Baylee, you asked where I’ve been the last few years. I guess a little bit of everywhere, but most recently Florida is where I call home. After my stint in rehab?—”
“Rehab?” Bailey asked, head tilting to the side.
I nodded, hating having to fill her in on all the shit in my past. “I got mixed up with some not-so-great influences who, unlike you and Dean, didn’t have my best interests in mind.
” Liam’s assessing stare intensified as I spoke.
“Alcohol and prescriptions were my downfall, fueling one party after another. That continued for years before I was ready to get the help I needed. My life was in shambles. I was barely surviving day to day.”
“Memphis,” Baylee murmured. Her hand found mine, interlacing our fingers, and squeezed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t realize you?—”
I shook my head to dismiss any thoughts of her feeling guilty.
I ran my free hand along Elvis’s head in cathartic strokes.
“I did it, all of it, to myself, Bay. I didn’t realize how deep in it I was until it was running my life.
I woke up needing a drink, wanting a pill to quicken that escape from reality. ”
“Barely surviving?” Liam asked, sounding genuinely interested. “What does that mean?”
Disappointment in myself and embarrassment over how bad it had been pumped through my veins, making a hot flush creep up my neck. Thank fuck for the tattoos.
“I couldn’t hold down a job, so I lost my car, my apartment—hell, everything except for Elvis here.
” Squatting low to put us nose to nose, I scratched behind both of his ears in a silent thank-you for always being there for me.
“We lived on the streets for a while. Not a single person I went to for help took us in when I needed them most. That’s when I realized the friends I thought I had weren’t actual friends, and I was fucking alone.
” A hollow feeling grew in my gut, but one look at Baylee had it vanishing.
“So I did what I swore to myself I’d never do and asked my parents for help.
They got me into a treatment facility that I took seriously, knowing it was my one chance to get out of that life alive.
I completed the program and was determined to never sink that low again. ”
Streams of tears poured from the corners of Baylee’s eyes, trailing down her freckled cheeks.
A sharp pain had me pressing a loose fist to my sternum, knowing I was the cause of those tears.
I hated her being upset, but she needed to know, and I needed that weight lifted.
Speaking about the trauma and past to someone who cared had healing repercussions.
Step five of the twelve and all that was legit.
Arm draped over her slim shoulders, I guided her to my chest, curling her smaller frame in a crushing hug.
“I’m okay, Bay,” I whispered into her soft hair while stealing a whiff of coconut shampoo. “It’s a struggle that will always be there, but I got help when I needed it most and realized I was wasting my life.”
“I’m so proud of you,” she rasped with unshed tears in her lower lids. “What made you ready to get help?”
“Dean’s death.” She winced like my words were a physical blow but quickly schooled her features.
“After I found out, I lost days drunk and high. When I finally came out of that bender, I realized life was too short and I didn’t want to spend one more minute dependent on the contents of a bottle or pills.
I lost years of my life, put my parents through hell, and for what?
A brief reprieve from reality, but it being so much worse when I came to.
” I shook my head in disappointment at myself.
“It will always be a temptation, but every day is easier. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you at the funeral, Baylee. I’m so fucking sorry.”
I hated not being there, especially since it was my doing, but it hurt even more after my mom told me how awful Dean’s mom had been to Baylee at the memorial service and burial.
“But you were at the bar last night,” Liam stated with the hint of a question in his tone.
“Drinking gallons of Sprite helped, but yeah, the bar scene isn’t ideal for a recovering alcoholic.
But their food….” My stomach vibrated with a loud, rumbling growl just thinking about the nachos.
“I’ve tried other places around town, but no one has food like that , so I powered through.
And to answer your earlier question about what brings me here now.
” I inclined my head toward Baylee, who was still tucked against my side.
“I randomly looked her up one day and found her clinic website here in Anchor Bay. The memories of us three together, the good times we had, are some of my best. I guess I wanted to find Baylee and—” I lifted a single shoulder in a noncommittal shrug.
“—maybe see if we could be friends again. I miss Dean. Fuck, do I miss him, and seeing her reminds me of the good times, which makes that pain of losing him forever sting a little less.”
Liam continued to stare, not saying a single word, just studying me as I brushed comforting strokes down Baylee’s spine as she worked to stop her tears. As if confirming a thought only he heard, he gave a clipped nod and pushed off the wall.
“I don’t need to replace the whole door. It’s structurally sound enough. Just the latch and hinges are bent and need replacing.” He pointed at my chest. “You’re coming to the hardware store with me to get the parts I’ll need. We’ll grab lunch for all of us on the way back here.”
“That’s perfect,” Baylee said around a sniffle while wiping at her damp cheeks with the sleeve of her lab coat.
“I need to prepare for my next patient. Mittens, Mrs. Jones’s cat, is an angry beast with supersharp claws, meaning I need to gear up to keep from getting scratched.
Elvis can stay in my office until you get back. ”
My dog shifted his weight to Baylee’s legs, making her stumble to the side with a soft giggle.
Liam stared into my soul and hitched his chin toward the door in a not-so-subtle request to give him and Baylee a second alone.
As I walked down the hall, I couldn’t help but replay the events after the door burst open.
I was pissed that he got the upper hand so easily, though now knowing about his military background, I wasn’t too torn up about having my ass handed to me.
I had never been a fighter, though I learned to keep myself armed at all times after living on the street in those few months.