Page 321 of The Lies We Play

Her face changes.

“For what, Hal?”

“The assholes made him believe he almost killed you,” Creed says from behind her. His voice is a growl now, low and furious. “I told you, you didn’t do shit, Hal.”

Livia nods without taking her eyes off me. “You didn’t do shit. In fact, I believe what you did saved us.”

“Was I drunk that night?”

Creed makes a sound behind her.

“They also made him believe he was an alcoholic,” he says. “A wild party animal who’s been visiting rehab since I was a teenager.”

Livia laughs.

And the room opens.

It is exactly as I remember.

The sound comes through me, and suddenly I can see her at a bar with a book and a drink beside it, wearing a jersey with the number nineteen on the back, looking at me like she has decided I am worth being suspicious of.

The image is gone almost instantly.

But it was there.

I was there.

Livia lifts her hand and touches my jaw.

I turn into her palm before I can stop myself.

Need moves through me so fast it frightens me.

“Hal,” she says softly, “the wildest part about yourself was us.”

“You?” I ask.

Her thumb strokes once along my jaw.

“Creed and I were a luxury you allowed yourself. Your life was boring when we met you.”

“Afterward, it was still boring,” Creed says, “but with good sex.”

Livia rolls her eyes.

I almost laugh.

Almost.

The feeling is unfamiliar enough that it scares me too.

She puts her hand, very slowly, on the center of my chest.

Palm faced down.

Over the place where my heart is beating too fast, and for once it doesn’t feel like anxiety. It feels like my body is trying to answer her.

“Do you remember this?” she asks.