Someone To Watch Over You

Chapter 24

"Awe, damn it, Cat. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," Liam says, taking her phone from her hand and cringing at the state of it. "I'll buy you a new one."

Cat snatches it back and shoves it in her pocket. "Don't bother. I'll fix it myself."

"Please, Cat. I really didn't mean to..."

"What Liam? You really didn't mean to what? Startle me? Cause me to break my phone? Ruined my relationship with Alex? Throw me aside like I'm yesterday's garbage. What?"

Of all the things she spat at him, one stood out in his mind. "Ruined your relationship with Alex? You're not with him anymore?"

"Don't act so surprised. Isn't that what you were after with your little macho display on the golf course?"

"You know Cat, you could take some responsibility for some of this shit," Liam says annoyed. Cat always had a way of getting under his skin like no one else he knew could.

"What?!"

"Why didn't you tell me you got engaged to him? Do you know how many times I see you throughout the day? Never once did I see a ring. You didn't say a word to anyone about you being engaged, where it could get back to me. How did you expect me to react when your Father throws Alex in my face as the perfect son-in-law?"

Cat's eyes dart back and forth as she tries to take in this new information. Liam is all ego. That would have been quite a blow. Then she realizes he is playing her again. Wanting her to feel sorry for him.

"Like it would have made a difference when you found out. You LIED to me. You said you'd get rid of those pictures of Alex. I deleted them from your phone. I kept my part of the deal and you then deliberately get them back? Don't act the innocent victim now. You were planning this all along!"

Liam ran his fingers through his hair. "I wasn't. I didn't... look, it's not like you're making it out to be."

"Oh, really. So Alex and I can be together and you will not try to take this baby from me?" When Cat says this, she pulls her shirt tighter as she ran her fingers protectively over her stomach and for the first time Liam can see the telltale baby bump.

The sight of her really pregnant snaps something inside his head. She keeps it so well hidden that it is easy to ignore the reality that she is carrying his baby. His baby...

"Cat?"

Cat watched as an array of emotions flicker across Liam's face: anger, jealousy, frustration but then he looks... lost. He stumbles back a bit and sits down in one of the porch chairs. Reality suddenly takes the fight out of him. Cat cautiously approaches and takes a seat across from him.

"Liam?"

"All this time, I've been fixated on the fact that you left me because of him. I couldn't get over that you could move on so easily when we've been together for years. You didn't even give me the chance to do the right thing. You know me. You know I'd screw this up at first. I'm not good with sort of crap, but you were gone. Everything I knew, everything I loved, disappeared in an instant. Like I meant nothing to you... ever."

"That's not true! I loved you for as long as I knew you, but our troubles started way before this baby," Cat says touching her stomach, drawing his eyes to it. "Long before Alex showed up."

His eyes flew upward to meet hers. "If that's true, then why didn't you stay? Why didn't you try to fix it? Why didn't you fight for us?"

"Because there wasn't an us to fight for."

"How can you say that? I love you! I've never stopped," Liam's voice rises as he declares it.

"You left me long before now. All those girls..."