Page 48 of Not Yet Yours

“Harriet?” Max says.

“I need to tell you, but I’m worried it’s weird now because Liam is your brother-in-law,” I say.

“Fuck that. You’re my best friend and you always will be. Now let me know what he’s done so I know why I’m kicking his ass,” Max says and that actually gets a genuine smile out of me. The smile fades quickly though when I remember what he’s done and what I have to tell her. This isn’t some cute little fight that will be blown over in a day or two.

“He’s married,” I say.

“What? He can’t be,” Max says.

“Why can’t he be?” I ask.

“Well, I mean he can obviously, but we would know surely?” Max says. “I mean why would it be a secret?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure no one would tell me, being that I was seeing him,” I point out.

“Ok, but I just can’t imagine a world where Cullen didn’t say anything knowing my best friend was dating his married brother,” Max says. “And I met Liam ages before you guys started dating. You would think a wife might have come up in conversation at some point.”

I shrug my shoulders.

“It does sound crazy I know, but it doesn’t change the truth,” I say. “He’s married, Max.”

“Wait,” Max says. “What makes you think he’s married? I probably should have asked that earlier, but I was shocked at the very idea of it then.”

“You and me both,” I say and flash her a quick grin which doesn’t really meet my eyes because I don’t really find any of this even vaguely amusing, I’m just trying to save face a little bit and laughing at the situation feels like the easiest and most natural way for me to do that. “I saw his marriage certificate. He said I could use his laptop in his home office because he got called to go into work. Only now I think work is his wife. But I digress. I used his laptop and there were some papers to be filed so I thought I’d be nice and file them for him. And I found the marriage certificate tucked away in a file.”

“And you’re absolutely certain that’s what it was?” Max asks.

I nod.

“Yes. Dammit. I should have taken a photo of it on my cell phone then I could have shown you and there would have been no chance of Liam gaslighting me and wriggling out of this,” I say.

“Why didn’t you?” Max says.

“I was too busy trying not to throw up or hyperventilate,” I reply.

Max reaches out and squeezes my hand.

“It must have been a big shock, whatever you saw,” she says.

“What do you mean, whatever I saw?” I ask. “Max, you do believe me, don’t you?”

“I believe you saw something,” Max says. “And I believe you think that something means Liam is married. I’m not sure I believe that yet, but I will help you get to the bottom of this one way or the other, I promise you that.”

I want to tell her not to bother, that if she doesn’t believe me from my word alone then fuck it, I don’t need her. But the truth is, I do need her. And I get it. It sounds completely crazy even to me. If this was the other way around, I think I would be handling it the same way Max is. I would believe she believed it, but not necessarily that it was fact.

Max has her cell phone out and she’s typing out a text message.

“Are you texting Liam?” I ask.

“No,” Max says. “I’m texting Cullen and telling him to get his ass back here right now. If he knows something about some secret wife of Liam’s and he’s kept it from us knowing you would end up getting hurt, then he’s in big fucking trouble.”

“I’m sorry,” I say when Max has put her cell phone down.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Max says. “Whatever it is that’s going on, it's not your fault.”

I smile weakly and she smiles back.

“Do you want a glass of wine?” Max says. “I know it’s early but if anyone deserves a drink it’s you after today.”