Collided (Dirty Air Series Book 2)

I couldn’t help watching Liam’s press release on a loop over the past week. Everyone in the racing community talked about his agent’s deception, shock waves rippling about how something like that can be done in the first place. Liam kept quiet, not a single message or missed call popping up on my phone. Instead of brooding and gorging myself with ice cream, I used my sadness as motivation, shifting my focus from him to myself.

Over the week, I spent hours researching and making calls, inquiring about my areas of interest. Liam’s courage to stand up to his team lit my own fire. It gives me the strength to stand in my dad’s office, a library fit for a movie set, while he stares at me. The smell of books calms me before I take a seat in a leather chair across from him.

“You might as well spit out whatever’s bugging you.” He takes off his reading glasses and places them on his cherry wood desk.

“Well…I don’t know how you’re going to take it. But I can’t hold it in anymore,” I stammer, the words not coming out smoothly.

“Are you pregnant?” he blurts out.

My eyes water as I break out into a fit of coughs. “God, no.”

“Good. Now that we got that out of the way, what’s bothering you?”

“Whoa, you insinuated I was pregnant, and you segue into something else? Are you trying to tell me I need to lay off the Chunky Monkey? I buy one pint of ice cream…”

“No. You’ve been a blubbering mess ever since you left Abu Dhabi.”

I frown at my dad. “You need to be way less blunt with people.”

“Sorry. That was rude.”

“Yeah, thank you very much. Now I don’t feel so bad about dropping this on you.”

He shakes his head at me “I have no idea where you got your sass from.”

“Sir, you’re looking at the product of your own creation. Anyway… Spending time with kids inspired me to research what I can do with my creativity. I want to go to school for art.”

His elbows rest on his desk with his chin pressed against his hands. “Nothing you do with art will ever support you and a family.”

“I know that. But I did the math and if you die within the next ten years, your will should be large enough to cover my living expenses for about two hundred years, give or take a century. Until then, there’s always stripping.”

My dad lets out a husky laugh. I laugh with him, the sound foreign to my ears after a week of sulking.

“Jokes aside, what would you like to do?” His sincere tone touches my heart.

“I want to pursue art therapy. After spending time with Liam’s nieces, I realized I want to work with kids. What can I say? They gravitate toward me. I think it’s all in the height because they see me as an equal.”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll support you. Anything to bring a smile to your face because I hate seeing you sad and mopey.” He frowns.

“I’m not mopey. I’m a bad bitch who enjoys the comfort of pajamas and wine as a food group.”

“It’s okay to admit you’ve been sad. I don’t blame you after what you went through.”

I shake my head side to side. “I don’t want to talk about it…”

“Then why don’t you tell me more about this program you want. No daughter of mine is going to become a stripper, so I might as well see what I’m paying for.”

I pull out my laptop and show my dad the program I want to attend in Milan. The whole conversation with my dad went shockingly easier than I thought. A weight lifts off my shoulders that I didn’t know I was carrying around, my future looking brighter by the day.

For the rest of the afternoon, my dad spends time with me. He watches a couple videos on how art therapy helps kids of all ages before pulling me into a hug and telling me how proud he is of me.

Everything finally feels like it’ll be okay. Well, almost everything.

I run down the stairs of our house when the doorbell rings. The mailman must be dropping off my new sneakers, a you go girl gift from me to me. My order may have been a result of watching Tom Haverford telling me to “treat yo self,” but if my dad asks, I’ll feign indifference.

I open the door and bend over, expecting a package on the ground. My eyes meet a pair of Gucci sneakers that most definitely do not belong to our delivery guy. My back straightens, and I stare straight into a pair of blue eyes I know well. The same blue eyes I’ve missed more than I’d like to admit.

“Surprise?” He smiles at me hesitantly.

I freeze, unsure what to do.

“Blink twice if you’re still in love with me.” His rendition of the first words he said to me warms my heart, a steady thump reminding me how much he means to me.

Damn him, pulling a reaction from me from nothing more than a smile and a simple sentence.

Nothing has changed with his blonde hair perfectly parted, his beard trimmed tight to his skin, and his muscles bulging against his shirt. But his eyes look different and the same all at once. Lit up with happiness, humor, and a bunch of other stuff, creating an emotion rainbow.

I blink twice without thinking.

Liam pulls me into a hug, his arms wrapping around me and enveloping me with his scent. “I’ve missed you so damn much, but I didn’t want to come before I settled everything. It’s been hard as fuck to stay away from you for this long, especially when you are upset because of me. But you deserve my all, so I’m here to deliver.”

He lets go of me and pulls out a small jewelry box, snapping me out of my mental holiday.

“Whoa. No. You can’t just show up out of the blue and bring a ring box.”

He shakes his head from side to side as he stares at the box. “I don’t know whether to be amused at your assumption or pissed you look horrified. Here goes nothing,” he mumbles under his breath as his cheeks flush.

I love nervous Liam. It’s a rare occasion saved especially for me.

“Sophie Marie Mitchell, I would like to announce first and foremost that I have never known someone as incredible as you. When I met you almost four years ago, I had no idea you’d pop back up in my life years later, acting and looking the way you did. I’m not one to believe in fate or destiny for that matter. But seeing you at that gala, fuck if I’d believe in anything for you. Literally anything. When you talked to me about the stars and the sky, I knew I had to spend more time with you. The girl whose eyes twinkle as bright as the very things she loves to watch. And while you were busy staring up at the vast nothingness, I’d watch you while envying a damn sky. A sky for fuck’s sake. But at the time, I didn’t realize I wanted you to look at me that way. With unconditional love.”

My eyes cloud as I stare into Liam’s eyes.

He takes a breath and smiles at me again. “The more time I spent with you, the more I fell, but I was too stupid to realize it for what it was. I was scared to let someone in after seeing what my brother went through, but there you were, not taking no for an answer. You challenged me in every way. You gave me all of you while I hid behind a mask, and with that, I let you down. It’s something I never want to do again for the rest of my life. At least not without heaps of make-up sex and apologies because I want to be a man you can count on. One who is worthy of your affection, I love yous, and orgasms.”

“Leave it to you to make me laugh and cry all at once.” I swipe away a tear that lost the fight with my tear duct.

“I love you so fucking much. I never want to go another day without saying it or a moment without you knowing it. Fuck friends with benefits. Give me all the damn benefits, love included because I’m a stupid fucker for thinking I could let you walk away from me.” He pops open the lid of the jewelry box, revealing a pair of diamond star earrings twinkling under the sunlight.

My eyes betray me, the tear I shed before turning into a waterfall. “You’re a little stupid. But that’s okay because I still love you.”

His smile grows wider at my words. “I researched all about stars. And the funny thing was how I thought you were my star—a bright spot in my life keeping me constant company no matter how dark everything else got. But in reality, we’re stars because they are born in pairs. They’re created by a big fucking boom of dust and shit, forming into something beautiful and eternal. You’re stuck with me for life because we’re a duo.” He leaves no room for opposition.

“And if I say no?”

“Then too fucking bad. You can’t deny a cosmic boom.” He pulls me in for a soft kiss with a promise for more.

I cup his cheeks and hold his eyes hostage. “I love you. For meeting me where I was at and helping me grow into who I am. For never giving up no matter how many times I shut you down. And for showing me what it feels like to love someone else and be loved in return in all the ways that count, even when you weren’t able to admit it to yourself. When words weren’t an option, you showed me with everything in you. I love you from your dirty brain to the tips of your ridiculously expensive sneakers.”

His lips find mine again, his tongue invading my mouth, welcoming me back.

Liam breaks away from our kiss. “Before I forget because you’re sexy as fuck and I lose my shit around you.” He pulls out my little laminated list, showing me every checked item.

“Okay…” I look up at him with confusion until he flips it over.

My eyes mist again, happy tears mixing with shocked ones. Liam wrote a ton of new items. He kisses away the tears streaming down my face while I read, missing a couple that trickle down his Sharpie creation.

Join the mile-high club.

Get married.

Buy our first Christmas tree.

Make a mini Sophie.

Design Sophie’s art studio.

Spend Christmas in Germany.

Fuck Sophie’s backdoor.

Buy the house first (see other).

Make a mini Liam.

Have a quickie while the kids play outside.

Visit space (ambitious).

Watch our child’s first kart race (either gender because feminism rules).

Buy a dog (if you’re a cat person it’s over).

My eyes blink at the final item. Move to Italy and join Vitus. Liam hits me with a goofy smile, warming my heart.

“You’re moving to Italy? For Vitus? You forgot to mention that in your little speech!” I wrap my arms around his neck.

“I didn’t because that’s not the most important thing anymore. What good is racing if I can’t spend all my time with the person I love.” Liam twirls us in a circle while running his nose against my neck. A couple of my neighbors leave their houses to check on the noise, but I wave them away.

“You’re so getting laid.” I kiss him softly on the lips.

“Now that’s what I like to hear.” He plants me back on the ground so we can be face-to-face. I giggle as he pecks my face with a bunch of kisses, leaving no area untouched by his lips.

“I can’t believe you’re moving here. Like for real.”

He sends me a breathtaking smile. “Anything for you.”

Heart, please don’t melt on the doormat.

“Well, now that you mention it, I did envy your McCoy Menace. You know, the one you drove in Monaco?”

“I offer you the stars and you ask for my car. You truly are a girl after my heart.” Liam looks at me with every ounce of love in his eyes.

“Didn’t you hear? I already have it.”