Tell Me It’s Right (Sweetspire #1)

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

LIAM

I hang around for another half hour or so until Gracie falls asleep before slipping out and hurrying to the shop for my afternoon appointment. The design is on the more complicated side—a mixture of vines, flowers, barbed wire, and chains—made trickier by the way it coils around my client’s arm, but no matter how hard I try to concentrate, my mind keeps getting pulled back to Gracie’s room.

The tension that had grown between us—whether it was even there or I’d just imagined it—disappeared in an instant when I dropped that nickname.

It needed to be done, but God, I regretted it the second it left my mouth.

It used to roll off my tongue so easily before. Now it feels like I’m grinding it out through my teeth.

Because the truth is, in the hours I spent at Gracie Collins’s bedside today, not once—not even for a second—did it occur to me that she’s Leo’s sister.

But I’ll do well to remember it.

The appointment takes up the rest of my afternoon, which means, unfortunately, the timing works out perfectly. I pull up to the Brooks mansion about five minutes early, but by the looks of the cars in the drive, I’m the last one here. I debated not showing up at all, but when Dad announces an emergency family meeting , it’s usually best to suffer through it than deal with everything you’ll get from him after if you don’t.

I frown as I head toward the front door, not recognizing the car parked closest to the front. Judging by the Pennsylvania plates, it’s a rental. Is that…is Makayla here?

I push into the entryway without knocking, my hands starting to sweat. Dad’s always had a talent for being overdramatic, so I didn’t give much thought to the summoning out of nowhere. But if Mak flew in after not being home in nearly a decade, what if something is seriously wrong?

I stop short at the dining room, where everyone is already seated—Dad, Christine, Casey, Asher, Taylor, and—sure enough—Makayla, though her kid and husband aren’t here. She grimaces when she sees me and drops her gaze.

That’s not a good sign.

“Oh, Liam!” Christine beams as she rises to her feet. “So glad you could make it. We have a seat for you right here!” She gestures across the table to the chair between Taylor and Casey.

“Hey, Liam,” says Casey with a big smile as I approach, and I rustle his hair as I sit.

“Hey, bro,” offers my older brother, along with a slightly too forceful pat on the back.

“Taylor” is all I say.

“Glad you could finally make it,” grunts Dad.

My eyes flick to the clock on the wall—two minutes until seven—but I grit my teeth. It won’t make a difference.

The table has all the fancy shit on it, and everyone here is dressed like they’re ready for Easter Sunday. The moment I walked through those doors in jeans and Vans, my opinions became obsolete.

Hell, who am I kidding. It happened long before that.

A server appears from the kitchen a moment later and starts pouring champagne.

I eye Christine, who’s still grinning like she physically can’t stop, then my Dad. They usually do red wine for these kinds of meetings.

“We won’t hold you in suspense for too long,” says Christine. “But before we get to celebrating, Makayla, would you like to do the honors?”

Mak smooths her hands down her sweater set and offers the server a closed-lip smile as they pour her glass.

“Well, Dad and I have been discussing the possibility of this for years. The Brooks Candy Company has been a national brand for generations. Of course, we’ve expanded along the boardwalk and around town with other businesses over the years, but we’ve gotten comfortable. Expansion hasn’t been a priority. So we got to talking about what would be scalable while still staying true to the Brooks brand.” She smiles and waits until everyone has their champagne before raising her glass. “To the new sister company with healthy candy alternatives, True Sweets!”

“Cheers!” says Christine as she clinks her glass against Makayla’s then Dad’s.

I exchange a glance with Asher at the other head of the table. He presses his lips together to hide his smirk then downs his entire glass in one swallow.

Taylor elbows me under the table. Sighing, I pick up my glass too and clink it against Casey’s sparkling apple cider.

“Of course, this is more than just another business,” Mak continues. “I really want to keep the Brooks heart in it.” She turns to us with the same puppy dog eyes she’s used her entire life. “I’d really like if we could all work on this together. Just the siblings. And I don’t mean a little bit here and there. I mean full-time employment. A real role for everyone. One that plays to all of our different strengths.”

Ah, here we go.

All eyes turn to me like they already know I’m going to be the problem.

“I think it’s a great idea,” I say.

Makayla blinks. “Really?”

“Sure.” I shrug and set my drink on the table.

I don’t give a fuck about candy—never have—and I certainly don’t give a fuck about one that claims to have fewer calories or however they’re going to spin this to convince people this is healthier . The thought of working for that day in and day out makes me want to repeatedly bash my head against a brick wall.

But it does seem like a natural next step for the business. It’ll probably do well.

“I just don’t have the room for anything else on my plate,” I finish.

Silence falls over the table as the server returns with the first course.

“Liam,” Mak starts, and I already know I won’t like anything she has to say by that placating tone, like she’s talking to her toddler. “This is a real opportunity?—”

“I don’t see why you need me.”

“You would be great with design!” offers Christine, and I know she’s just trying to be helpful, but I can’t help but glare at her.

“Plenty of people design.”

“But none in the family,” Mak all but whines. “You’re the only artist we have. And you’re my brother .”

“You’ve also got three more of those,” I mutter. “Casey’s a budding artist.” I pat the back of his chair, and he grins and sits up straighter. “Give him another ten years or so.”

Now it’s Mak’s turn to glare at me.

“Liam,” sighs Dad, and I’m surprised it’s taken him this long to chime in. “No one wanted to push you after your grandfather’s passing, but that excuse only lasts so long. You’ve had fun with your store, and I think we’ve all been incredibly patient. But it’s time to stop fooling around and be the man this family needs you to be.”

I don’t even know where to start with that. He says that like the success of this family hinges on me and I’m being difficult, when in reality, he just hates having something out of his control. It would make his life so much tidier if I conformed like the rest of them.

I think he forgets that he might have taken over as the head of this family after Mom and Granddad passed, but he still only married into this legacy. He has created nothing. Granddad is the one who kept the brand alive when everyone thought it would go under.

“I’m sorry, is this a family meeting or an intervention?” Everyone else exchanges a look, and I bark out a laugh. “Everyone else already knew about this but me, didn’t they?”

“I didn’t!” offers Casey.

“Let me make myself very clear,” I say. “The shop isn’t going anywhere, and neither am I. It’s doing well. I’m bringing on employees?—”

Dad scoffs. “Pity hiring the Collins girl? Don’t insult me. We all know what that was really about.”

The Collins girl. As if he doesn’t know her name. As if he hasn’t known her for twenty-two years. I grind my molars. He wants you to react.

“Is that what this is for you ?” I counter. “Pity hiring the black sheep so you can parade us all around town to make everyone think we’re the perfect family?”

Dad slams a fist against the table and rises to his feet. “Grow the fuck up, Liam?—”

“Okay, okay.” Christine stands and holds out her palms like she’s trying to calm wild animals. “Let’s all take a breath. Mak has already started on some of the marketing materials and has some mockups. Liam, will you at least take a look at everything before deciding? Just give it that much of a chance?”

Makayla makes a noise in the back of her throat like she’s trying to signal something to Christine.

Christine smiles at her, oblivious, and gives an encouraging nod. “Go on. Show him. I’m sure we’d all like to see it, right, guys?” She glances around the table for support, her eyes wide and smile tight.

“Yeah, yeah,” coughs out Taylor. “I’d like to see it.”

“Sure,” offers Asher.

“I do!” calls Casey.

Dad’s still glaring at me from the head of the table, but I sigh and hold my hand out for Mak’s phone.

She stares at me for several seconds, and I can’t figure out what that look in her eyes is before she slowly sets it in my hand.

The second my gaze falls on the screen, the sight hits me like a physical slap. The blood in my veins runs cold.

Taylor leans over for a look and chokes on his drink.

“Makayla,” I say very, very calmly.

She sighs. “Liam, listen, it just?—”

I point the screen at her face. “Why. The. Fuck. Is my ex-girlfriend your spokesperson?”

“Okay, listen?—”

I toss the phone on the table, shove my chair back, and head for the door.

“Liam!” someone calls, and high heels click after me. “Liam.” Makayla grabs my arm a few paces from the door and forces me to face her. “When I first asked her about this, it was before you guys broke up.”

“And now?” I demand.

“Look, Liam, she’s…her career is on the upswing. She’s doing really well, and her socials audience is an exact match for our ideal customer. We’d never be able to find another model or influencer with her reach to do this for what we’re paying her. We’re going to reach an entirely new market with her. It’s just business.”

“Just business,” I mutter.

I wrench my arm away and yank the door open. I shake my head once, twice, trying to calm the rage billowing up in my chest. She doesn’t know the full extent of what happened with Hailey. No one does.

But that aside, to get far enough in the process with her to have these mockups without even asking me first? She never would have done this behind my back unless she knew she was doing something wrong.

“One big, happy family, huh, Mak?”

“Liam, I’m sorry to spring this on you like this?—”

“Best of luck with the new business. Seems like it’ll be a smashing success.”

“Liam—”

I slam the door behind me.

Sweat drips down my face and falls onto the wood floor in front of me. My muscles ache as I push again, and again, and again. But I don’t stop. Not until my arms physically fail midway through a push-up and I collapse against the ground.

It’s just business.

I turn the music up louder in my headphones, loud enough I should probably be worried about causing permanent damage.

I switch to the pull-up bar hung over the bathroom door and grit my teeth as I haul myself up over and over. But no matter how much my muscles scream, it’s not enough to drown out what’s going on in my head.

Blowing up my phone is one thing. But weaseling her way in with my family? Into the business? Makayla may not have understood exactly what she was doing, but Hailey sure as hell did.

Maybe it was stupid of me to not fully realize it until now.

I’m never getting away from her.

I’m never going to be free of her.

Fuck, this isn’t helping.

I drop back to the floor and rip my headphones off. Music continues to blare from them as I toss them on the bed and yank a shirt over my head.

I can’t stay here. I can’t be in this apartment, not when I can remember every place she used to leave behind little notes…can picture her laughing on the couch…hear her screaming at me from the kitchen as she took the plates out one by one and smashed them against the floor…see her blocking the door so I couldn’t leave…

I snatch my keys off the counter and jog down the stairs to my car. Once inside, I plug my phone in to charge, and the screen lights up, revealing the half a dozen notifications I’m ignoring.

Asher, Makayla, Leo, Fletch.

I turn it off, then put the car in drive.

I don’t know where I’m going. South, maybe. And as far as a full tank of gas will get me.