A Vine Mess (Love on the Vine #4)

34. Liam

The moment Mellie pressed her lips to mine, I gripped her upper arms and shoved her away. I’d made it a rule my entire life to never take a rough hand with a woman, but when she refused to take no for an answer, drastic measures had to be taken.

“I told you no!” I shouted.

That was another of my rules: never raise my voice to a woman.

It seemed I was breaking all of them where Mellie was concerned. I should’ve known better than to follow her back here, to let her get me alone. I should’ve known she’d pull some shit like this.

“So you’re really happy with that…tattooed freak? You can’t be serious, William. There’s no way someone so common could be enough for you. She’s not good enough. And we were always so good together. Remember how perfect everything was? How good the sex was?”

I blinked at her slowly, then couldn’t stop myself from barking out a laugh, even though my skin was crawling at the memory that I’d ever been inside this woman. God, I’d been such a fucking moron. And I wish I could chalk it up to being a dumb kid, but I’d spent the better part of my twenties with this person, and I’d never recognized how…rotten she was. Right to her very core.

“You know what your problem is, Mellie?” I said, removing my cufflinks and stuffing them in my pocket. Her attention remained on my forearms as I slowly rolled up one sleeve then the other, revealing my tattoos—way more than I’d ever had when we were together. I relished the way her eyes widened. “You think because you have money, you’re better than everyone else on the planet who is beneath your tax bracket.” I stepped into her space, glaring down at her. Mellie was so much shorter than Ella, I was nearly folded in half over her. “But let me tell you something, Merlot . That ‘tattooed freak,’ who also happens to be my girlfriend and the love of my life, has more money than you could ever dream of, and she’s a thousand times the woman you could ever hope to be.”

Mellie’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, searching for something to say, but I held up a hand.

“Now here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going out there to find my girl, and you’re going to stay the fuck away from us the rest of the night. Got it?”

She only nodded, and I chuckled. The woman who always had something to say was finally silent for the first time in her life, and the quiet was pure bliss.

Without a backward glance, I stalked from the room and made my way back to the reception hall, beelining for the table where Gramps sat alone.

“Where is Ella?” I asked him. Her empty margarita glass, filled with half-melted ice, sat on the table in front of her chair. It appeared she’d been gone a while.

“She went to look for you,” Gramps said, lifting the sleeve of his shirt to check his watch. “She’s been gone maybe twenty minutes?”

“What the fuck,” I breathed, turning away from Gramps and sweeping the room, searching for purple hair and a pink dress.

But my girl was nowhere to be found.

“Do you know…did she see anything?”

“Do you mean did she see you leave with Merlot? Yes, she did.”

Fuck . Could she have found us? Had she heard the awful things Mellie was saying about her? Had she seen that kiss?

Fuck, I had to find her.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I clicked on her contact, but it went straight to voicemail.

Not a good sign.

I was frantic now, yanking at my hair as I willed myself to slow down and think . Mom crossed my path then, and I pulled her to a stop.

“Have you seen Ella?”

“No, sweetheart. Not for a while. Why, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I said, waving her off. “Everything is fine.”

“Okay…” She definitely didn’t believe me, but I didn’t care much, tuning her out as she sat down next to Gramps and told him she was divorcing his son.

“About damn time!” Gramps cheered, and though a smile tugged at my lips, it was quickly wiped away by the panic seizing my chest.

“I’m sorry, you guys,” I told them. “I have to go find Ella. ”

“Sure thing,” Gramps said. “Go get your girl. I’m going to tell your mom all the ways to milk your father for all he’s worth in the divorce.”

I shook my head, that smile threatening again, and raced from the room.

Please be here, please be here, I silently chanted the entire way up to our floor. With shaking hands, I inserted the key in the door and pushed it open.

“I gotta go,” Ella said into her phone, then ended the call.

I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. Of the sweats. Of the makeup smeared across her face. Of the complete lack of clothes and shoes strewn about the room like they had been when we left for the wedding.

Then I noticed her bags on the bed.

Fully packed.

She was leaving.

But why ?

“Wildflower,” I breathed. “What the fuck is going on?”

I chanced a step toward her, but she held up her hands.

“Don’t come any closer. And don’t call me that. That was a nickname from a man who loved me, and you very obviously don’t .”

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw you, Liam,” she said. Her voice was flat. Entirely void of emotion. “I saw you with Mellie.”

Fuck. Fucking fuck.

“Ella, please. You have to let me explain.”

“No!” she shouted, face coming alive with anger in an instant. “I saw you. There’s no talking your way out of this. No feeding me some lie to get out of it.”

“Goddamnit woman,” I said, rushing her and gripping her arms before she could dart away from me. “Did it ever occur to you that she kissed me ? And that I pushed her away immediately after? And that, after she insulted you, I told her you were the love of my life, a thousand times the woman she could ever hope to be, and to stay the fuck away from me?”

Ella stilled, her gaze fixed on a point somewhere in the middle of my chest. I had to admit, she was making a valiant effort not to look at me. Probably because she knew the second she did, she’d see the truth in my eyes.

Misunderstandings were embarrassing for the person who got it all wrong, but I understood why she’d reacted the way she did.

“Baby,” I sighed. “All the things we’ve said, all the moments we’ve shared…the love we’ve made—it was all real. I promised you I’m not like him, and I meant it. I would never do anything to jeopardize what we have.”

“You still let her kiss you.”

“I pushed her away immediately, which you would’ve seen had you stuck around.”

Ella’s shoulders relaxed, and at last, she looked at me.

The pain shining in her eyes fucking gutted me, and I hated that, inadvertently, I was the reason for it.

“I can’t do it again, Liam.”

“I know, baby. I know . I’ve been there too, remember?”

“It’s really over between you two?” she asked. “This weekend didn’t drag up any old feelings?”

“ No ,” I promised. “It’s been over for years. Since before you and I ever met. And then I laid eyes on this stunning, tattooed, purple-haired beauty, and I knew there’d never be anyone else. There is only you, Wildflower. There will ever only be you.”

Several tears overflowed from the well in her eyes, and I leaned in, kissing them from her cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, voice watery. “I…overreacted.”

“I know why you did, and I’m not begrudging you your feelings. But you can’t run away from me, Ella. If this is going to work, you have to talk to me. Stay. Be here with me. Believe me, and trust me. That’s what you were doing, right? Running?”

She nodded. “My car is supposed to be here…” She grabbed her phone from where she’d tossed it on the bed and tapped the screen. “Now.”

I shook my head, a soft chuckle escaping me. “You Delatou women work fast.”

Ella finally smiled, and it was the same as the sun coming out on a cloudy day. A welcome, warming appearance.

“Think we could get a second seat on that flight?”

She held up a finger, as if to say hold please , then began tapping away at her screen. A moment later, she glanced up at me. “I’ll do you one better, Wills. I upgraded us to first class.”

The anxiety that had been holding my chest in a vice grip since I rushed back into the reception and realized she was missing loosened its hold, and I gathered her into my arms.

“I love you, Ella Delatou. Promise me you’ll talk to me the next time something sets you off like this.”

“I promise,” she assured me. “And I love you, William Danvers. What do you say we head home?”

Home .

Damn, I loved the sound of that.