No one announced that they were leaving because of Liam.
That would have required a kind of bluntness most people did not possess.
Instead, the party dissolved politely.
Coats appeared.
Empty glasses were set on tables.
Someone remembered an early morning.
Someone else suddenly had to relieve a babysitter.
A couple who had arrived twenty minutes earlier apologized for leaving so soon, although both of them avoided looking directly at Liam.
Within fifteen minutes, the apartment felt twice its actual size.
The music was still playing.
That somehow made everything worse.
Sarah reached for the remote and turned it off.
Silence settled over the room.
Liam stood beside the balcony doors with both hands planted on his hips.
His face had gone from red to pale.
The remaining guests consisted of Sarah, David, David’s wife Elena, Ben, and Marcus, who looked as though he had no idea whether staying was supportive or intrusive.
I carried abandoned plates into the kitchen.
“Chloe.”
I kept walking.
“Chloe.”
I set the plates in the sink.
Behind me, Liam said, “Can you stop for one second?”
I turned around.
“What?”
His expression shifted the moment our eyes met.
That was the exact instant I recognized what he was doing.
He had lost control of the room, so now he needed a smaller battlefield.
Me.
“You seriously have nothing to say?”
“I’ve said several things.”
“You stood there and let everybody gang up on me.”
Sarah’s head turned sharply.
David muttered, “Come on, man.”
Liam pointed at him.
“No. Stay out of it.”
David stared at him.
“You just accused everybody here.”
“I’m talking to Chloe.”
I picked up another plate.
Liam stepped closer.
“You knew Jessica misunderstood things.”
“I found that out when she said it.”
“You could’ve cleared it up.”
“How?”
“By telling her I wasn’t trying to make her uncomfortable.”
“That wouldn’t have been true.”
His jaw tightened.
“You don’t know what I was trying to do.”
“That’s fair.”
I nodded.
“Maybe you can explain it.”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
The silence stretched.
Ben looked down at the floor.
Marcus began studying the label on his beer bottle as though it contained complicated instructions.
I waited.
Liam finally said, “I wanted everybody to have a good time.”
I looked around the destroyed party.
“That went well.”
“Elena,” David murmured, but his wife was already smiling despite herself.
Liam heard it.
His eyes hardened.
“This is funny to all of you?”
“No,” Sarah said.
He spun toward her.
“You’ve been taking shots at me all night.”
“Because you keep handing me ammunition.”
“Sarah.”
I spoke quietly.
She stopped.
I did not want a crowd defending me.
Not anymore.
That was the entire point.
I had spent too much time building a case for why my feelings deserved consideration.
I did not need witnesses to convict Liam of being a bad boyfriend.
I only needed to decide whether I wanted to remain his girlfriend.
And I already had.
I dried my hands on a towel.
“Everybody should go home.”
Sarah looked at me.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes searched mine.
I gave the smallest nod.
She understood.
David did too.
He picked up his jacket.
“Call me tomorrow,” he told Liam.
Liam scoffed.
“For what?”
“To talk when you’re not trying to fight every person in the apartment.”
“I’m not fighting anybody.”
David stared at him for a moment.
“Okay.”
He put his hand lightly against Elena’s back and guided her toward the door.
Ben followed after an awkward goodbye.
Marcus lingered near the entryway.
He opened his mouth twice before settling on, “Take care, man.”
The door closed.
Sarah was last.
She hugged me tightly.
Her mouth came close to my ear.
“You call me if you need anything.”
“I will.”
She pulled back.
Then she looked at Liam.
Whatever she considered saying, she decided against it.
That restraint impressed me.
She left.
The lock clicked.
For the first time all evening, Liam and I were alone.
The apartment looked wrecked.
Napkins lay under chairs.
Half the food remained untouched.
A wineglass had tipped near the couch, leaving a dark red stain on the rug.
One gold balloon had detached from its ribbon and settled into a corner.
Liam looked at me.
I looked at him.
“You embarrassed me,” he said.
There it was.
Not Jessica.
Not the lie.
Not my relationship with him.
His embarrassment.
“I didn’t tell Jessica you called me your roommate.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No. I really don’t.”
His hands curled.
“You stood there acting like some saint while everyone judged me.”
“I hosted your party.”
“Our party.”
I almost smiled.
Interesting that it had become ours again.
“You told me three days ago that if I couldn’t handle Jessica being here, I could leave.”
“That was not what I meant.”
“You have said that a lot tonight.”
“Because everybody keeps twisting my words.”
I leaned against the counter.
“Then explain them clearly.”
“I was frustrated.”
“That’s not an explanation.”
“I knew you were going to get weird about Jessica.”
“I did get weird about Jessica?”
He stopped.
I waited.
“No,” he admitted.
“Did I insult her?”
“No.”
“Make a scene?”
“No.”
“Tell anyone what you said before Sarah did?”
His mouth tightened.
“No.”
“So what exactly did I do to embarrass you?”
“You knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That things might blow up.”
I stared at him.
“I knew you might behave exactly like yourself.”
“That’s such a cheap shot.”
“It wasn’t meant as one.”
“You’re acting like you’re better than me.”
“No.”
I reached into my purse.
His eyes dropped to my hand.
I removed the white envelope.
“What’s that?”
I placed it on the kitchen island.
“Read it after I leave.”
His face changed.
“Leave?”
“Yes.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m going to Harper’s.”
“For the night?”
I looked at him.
“For longer than that.”
The anger drained from his expression.
“What?”
I moved toward the bedroom.
He followed.
“Chloe.”
I opened the closet.
The empty shelf was no longer subtle.
He stared.
“What the hell is this?”
“I packed some things.”
“When?”
“Over the last few days.”
His head snapped toward me.
“You planned to leave before tonight?”
“Yes.”
Something like shock moved through him.
Not heartbreak.
Not yet.
Shock.
He had believed this evening was about whether I would tolerate Jessica.
He had never considered that I might be evaluating him.
“You set me up.”
I turned slowly.
“How?”
“You decided I was guilty before the party.”
“I didn’t decide you were guilty of anything.”
“You packed your stuff.”
“I decided I didn’t like the way you treated me.”
“Based on one argument?”
“No.”
“That’s exactly what this is.”
I pulled a duffel bag from beneath the bed.
Only a few remaining items needed to go inside.
He watched me.
“This is insane.”
I folded two shirts.
“Okay.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Act calm.”
I stopped.
“You’d prefer I yell?”
“I’d prefer you act like this relationship matters.”
The sentence almost made me laugh.
Instead, it hurt.
Quietly.
Because that was what I had been trying to do for two years.
Make it matter.
Enough to discuss problems.
Enough to repair them.
Enough to believe each argument could lead somewhere better.
I zipped the bag.
“This relationship mattered so much to me that I spent months convincing myself things that hurt me weren’t serious enough to leave over.”
His face shifted.
“Like what?”
I looked at him.
“Do you honestly want the list?”
“Yes.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Try me.”
“You cancel plans and tell me I’m rigid for being disappointed. You make jokes at my expense and call me sensitive when I don’t laugh. You tell your friends private things about me and say I’m controlling when I ask you not to.”
“That is not fair.”
“You interrupt me, then complain that I talk too much when I try to finish a point. You decide what I’m feeling before I speak. You decide what reaction is acceptable before I have one.”
“You’re rewriting our entire relationship.”
“No. I’m finally refusing to edit it.”
He stared at me.
I picked up the duffel.
“Tonight wasn’t the reason.”
“Then what was?”
“The reason was yesterday.”
“What happened yesterday?”
“Nothing.”
I stepped closer.
“That’s the point. You told me your ex mattered enough that I could remove myself from my own housewarming if her presence bothered me.”
“I told you that because I didn’t want drama.”
“And you never considered what that sentence told me about my place in your life.”
His eyes flickered.
I continued.
“I didn’t leave because Jessica came.”
I lifted the bag strap onto my shoulder.
“I’m leaving because you made it clear that keeping me comfortable mattered less than proving you were entitled to make me uncomfortable.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s my decision.”
He laughed once.
A hard, humorless sound.
“You’re really throwing away two years over this.”
“No.”
I walked toward the living room.
“I’m refusing to throw away another two.”
He followed me.
“You can’t just walk out.”
“I can.”
“We live together.”
“You reminded me whose apartment this was.”
“That was in an argument.”
“You still said it.”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
He moved between me and the door.
Not threatening.
But blocking it.
I stopped.
“Move.”
His breathing changed.
“Not until we finish talking.”
“We are finished talking.”
“You don’t get to decide that alone.”
“Yes, Liam.”
I held his gaze.
“I actually do.”
For one long moment, neither of us moved.
Then I looked deliberately at the door.
His expression shifted.
He stepped aside.
I passed him.
My hand touched the knob.
“Chloe.”
I stopped but did not turn.
His voice had changed.
The anger was gone.
“Are you really leaving me?”
I looked over my shoulder.
“Yes.”
He stared as though he had never considered the word possible.
I opened the door.
Behind me, he said, “And that letter?”
“Read it.”
“When?”
“When you stop trying to win.”
I stepped into the hallway.
The door remained open behind me.
He did not follow.
At the elevator, I pressed the button.
My knees began shaking.
Not from doubt.
From delayed adrenaline.
The elevator doors opened.
I stepped inside.
Just before they closed, I saw Liam still standing in the apartment doorway.
For the first time since I had known him, he had no response prepared.
Click here to continue reading: PART 6: Harper Opened Her Door Without Asking Questions, but the Message Liam Sent Before Midnight Proved He Still Thought I Would Return
Liam Gave Me One Rule for Our Housewarming, and His Confidence Made My Decision Easier Than He Knew
Part 5 of 35
