38. Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Sage

" S o, what's up with you two? Because it looks like you're together but… not talking or having sex." Moon goes still before turning to me slowly. "You guys aren't secretly having sex, right?"

"What?!" I break into a laugh at how disgusted he looks.

"I laid in both your and his bed. Please tell me you're not having sex, Sunshine." He shoots up from the bed and quickly grabs Meeko.

"We're not having sex! We're broken up."

One of Moon's hands shoots up in surrender as he holds Meeko in the other. "Hey! You can be having break-up sex."

"We're not!" I tried to convince him for the last time, and he let it go.

"Fine, but I need some sort of update because you told me he was on his knees for you and that was hard to believe. Now, he's actually listening to you and not speaking to you. It's weird seeing him so… in love. It's like you can tell him to jump off of a roof, and he'll ask which one."

I let out a laugh, but he's not totally exaggerating. It's been two weeks that we've been in Italy and Liam hasn't said a singular word to me, but he's being perfect in everything else.

"Is he still sending you breakfast every morning?"

"Yup." With cute notes.

"And he's still waiting for you outside your room every morning at the crack of dawn just to walk you to your car and give you lunch?"

"Uh-huh." With even cuter notes to help me eat lunch.

"Hmm." Moon settles onto the bed with me again, lost in his thoughts. "Maybe his therapist is brainwashing him."

I break into a laugh, but he remains serious. I didn't believe it for a second that Liam was in therapy, let alone anger management, but he is, and he's apparently sticking to it. "These things aren't out of character for him."

I can say for certain that Liam would've been doing all these things to make sure I was eating if we were still together because he did, but rather than his handwritten notes, he used to text me throughout the day. His logic is that paper messages mean he's still not speaking to me, and I like the notes too much to tell him they are, in fact, a form of communication.

Moon lets Meeko onto the floor with the other kittens before turning back to me. "Maybe, but carrying you bridal style as he walks through a puddle with his thousand-dollar shoes? That is out of character for him."

I cringe but also smile at the reminder of yesterday. "He didn't want me to get dirty before work."

Moon looks at me as if I'm crazy, but I didn't ask him to do that for me. I was going to walk in a trash bag since there was no way around the puddle, but he just carried me once I said I was running late.

"Okay." Moon hugs the pillow as he lays on his stomach to continue our girl talk. I absolutely love that Liam flew him here on his jet because his company is making my stay here so much better. "I know you're standing your ground, but you're standing on a mountain on your damn tippy toes, Sunshine."

"I am not."

He gives me a knowing look, but I don't say anything.

"Well, what's it going to take for at least the no-talking strike to break because I honestly would've folded once she let Mel and Jordan use his jet to come see you after you mentioned you missed them." Moon looks at me more carefully. "You know those two definitely slept together on his plane right? Liam let that happen for you! Give my guy a break."

I tilted my head back with another laugh. "They did not sleep together on his jet." I asked Mel after Jordan was teasing Liam about it, but he was only trying to upset him. Surprisingly, Liam barely gave him a reaction, and I think whatever he's doing in therapy is working because all he did was tell Jordan to leave him alone after walking away when he normally would've cursed him out and threatened to hit him.

"Wait, aren't Jordan and Mel so cute together? I was so right about them!" I'm a genius matchmaker because they shared a room for the weekend they were here, and Mel told me all about that , and I'm so happy I got them together.

"Yeah, they're going to make cute babies, now back to Liam." Moon brushes me off.

"Oh my goodness." I throw myself onto the stack of my pillows. "Did he offer you a car again to help him?"

He glances off to the side at a fake camera before looking at me. "Maybe?"

We both erupt into laughter as I toss a pillow at him.

"He misses you, Sunshine."

I let out a sigh as he turns more serious and pull one of my pillows closer.

"He really wants to win you back, and if you aren't going to take him back, at least make it worth our time and get him on his knees in front of me so I can record before you send him away for good."

"You're a horrible person!" I shove him with a laugh, but then he turns serious again.

"I have to ask–"

"Do you?"

He tilts his head at me. "What's it going to take, Sage? Because he almost gave up his plane just to find you, and I believe the therapy thing is working. I think he actually likes it."

"He did not try to give up his jet."

Moon nods, and I bury my face in my pillow. He thankfully doesn't press me again, and I take a second to think, but there isn't really much to think about.

"I meant what I told him, and I'm glad he's in therapy for his anger issues, but I don't know when we'll get back together. I can consider it at the end of the trip. Jordan says his suspension ends next week. If he leaves without me, then I guess that'll be my answer."

"You and I both know he's not leaving without you." Moon rolls his eyes at the possibility. "His coach is going to give him hell, though. Are you going to make him choose between you and his career?"

"No," I explain, "I would never expect that of him. He'd just be missing one game; I go back home in time for his next one. If he can't miss one game and take some yelling from his coach, then that says a lot." He was the one who said he'd buy NASA and go to the moon if what I wanted was there. This is far from that.

"You're standards are insane." Moon shakes his head as if he's amazed at me.

"It's the bare minimum!" I defend myself. "My brother quite actually called his coach to quit the team just to try to prove a point with his girl, not even get her back."

Moon thinks about it for a second before nodding. "Okay, yeah, I see why your standards are so high, but your brother is Sire Griffin. Liam is an amazing player, but he's in the hot seat with his coach and always has been."

"And why's that?" I ask a question I already know the answer to.

"Because of his anger issues and—" Moon cuts himself off as he realizes my point.

"Liam is constantly bumping heads with his coach, him missing a game will for sure cause a fight, and it's not necessarily a setup, but I know Liam is going to choose me and have to get yelled at by his coach. How he reacts to that will tell me if he really did at least try to get his temper in order." I explain.

I guess you can say it's a test, along with whether or not he decides to open up to me about anything that's a hint of personal because, as his girlfriend, I want to be able to talk to him about those things. I still don't know what happened to his sister or what his mom is sick with, and I'm not forcing him to tell me everything, but he should be willing to try, and he has yet to. Mainly because I set the no-speaking strike, but I'm going to give him the option to open up to me.

"You can't tell him." I force Moon to act like this conversation never happened, and when he does, I flip the conversation to him. "Did he tell you anything about Capri?"

Moon sighs at the sound of her name and looks up to the ceiling. He claims he fell in love with her, although he only saw her picture on Liam's phone when she called him.

"He's given me nothing. " He sits up as he remembers something. "I should tell him you told him to tell me!" He shoots up from his seat as he races for the door, and I'm hysterical as the door shuts.