“Good.” Cassie stands from her chair, walking around the desk to rest a hand on my shoulder. “That’s all I need you for today, so take your girl home Liam, she is too pregnant for all this stress.” She smiles warmly.

I wish I could force a smile back, but my mind is too busy. Whether we are in a relationship or not, the world is going to think we are. They are going to feel entitled to share their opinions about my life and I’ll have no way to combat it. I’ll be living a lie.

There is no way to prove to everyone what Liam and I truly are, when right now I don’t know myself.

Chapter Eighteen

May

Ellis

Liam’s hand slides up the outside of my thigh and his thumb rubs under the hem of my dress. The heat of his chest against mine takes my heart rate through the roof. I wonder if he can feel my heart beating against his.

Any thought is wiped from my mind when his lips drop to my throat, he nips and sucks his way up to my jaw and I feel heat flood between my legs. It still isn’t enough, I need so much more. But Liam seems content with teasing me. His hands continue to run up and down my thighs before sliding around to grab my arse over my dress.

“Please Liam,” I moan out and feel him smirk against my skin.

“Please what, Sunshine?” he whispers, not pulling back to look at me.

“More… Just more.”

It seems he is done taking things slow, because when his hands run back down again he hooks them around my thighs and lifts me before slamming me against the wall.

Shit, that hurt.

Wait, where is Liam?

Fuck. I try to open my eyes against the bright morning light. I’m praying this is another dream, but the fact my back feels like every vertebra is fusing together tells me it’s not.

Tears start to flow out of the sides of my eyes and creep towards my ears, but when I try to wipe them away my arms are like lead. A flare-up like this has not happened for a very long time. I knew stopping my meds was going to hurt, but during my last pregnancy no flare-up felt like I was undiagnosed again. Every fibre of my body feels like it is being turned inside out and ripped in half over and over.

I need to push through. I need… I need… Jack needs me. The pain needs to wait, I need to be a parent. What time is it? Shit, I can’t get to my phone.