Liam's eyes opened on the third day after his surgery. Like really opened. Not the drugged flutter, but this clear focused gaze that landed on me.
I practically jumped off of the chair I was sitting, tears welling up in my eyes.
"Lee"
"Hel?" His voice was dry, weaker than his drum solos, but still music to me.
I was out of the chair, clutching his hand, tears already blurring everything. "Liam! Oh god, Liam" Words tumbled out – love, fear, how much I missed him, how scared I was. I tried not to conveyed everything through tears.
But he squeezed my hand just a little and it shattered the last of my control.
He couldn't talk much, he was still weak, but his eyes said everything. His eyes said he loved me. He said he missed me. His eyes said he'd burn down the world for me.
He saw his ring on my finger. A slow smile touched his lips. "Still… mine?" he whispered.
"Always, if you would have me" I choked out, kissing his knuckles, his cheek, everywhere I could reach without hurting him. "I'm forever yours, Liam. I love you so much. Please, never scare me like that again."
His eyes darted to the bouquet of expensive flowers and balloons everywhere and he blinked.
"You know, don't you?" He asked me wincing.
"...That you are Atticus Scott's grandson? Yeah, I know" I whispered this intense sadness coming over me, and along with it was shame.
"Baby, I should have told you..."
Yes, you should have. I almost yelled at him. If you did, I wouldn't have done what I did!
"I don't want to talk it, Liam" I told him istead. "You are alive, I want to focus on that. I'm gonna go get the doctor. I will be right back"
I didn't give him a chance to talk, I simply walked out before I broke down and confess everything to him.
Once in the hallway, I pressed my hand to my mouth to stop myself from crying out.
It was the instant I knew my life would never be the same ever again.
I was utterly screwed. I knew that the instant he opened his eyes.
***
Days passed. Liam grew stronger. The Scotts, having paid the bill and ensured "appropriate care," vanished back to their world without Liam and we never spoke of them again.
Never discussed how his grandfather owned half the country or how, his sudden money was going to affect our relationship...we simply buried the fact that he was Atticus Scott's grandson.
Instead, we returned back to our normal...the normal I craved for with my whole heart where the apartment was filled with laughter again and quiet guitar strings, and Liam's drum pads.
A normal where I was still a virgin and he was the man of my dreams. It was like the website never happened and Alexander never happened. It was just us again planning our fairytale wedding. Liam and Helene.
And I wanted more than anything to live in that bubble because I genuinely thought the worst was behind me. I mean I could explain the lack of hymen later. Most girl were born without them anyway.
Except one sunny afternoon as we lay on our worn couch with wedding magazines scattered around us as we looked for a wedding venue, I had no idea my fairytale life was about to be over.
"That one," he said, nodding at a picture of a barn, it gave Hallmark barn wedding vibes, I loved it
"It feels like us, simple and elegant. Let's get married there, Hel. Let's booked it and get Married in three days. I want to be your husband now not in three months or a year but now. I love you Helene James and, I don't want to wait anymore because people die and bad shit happen all the time. I don't want to wait anymore. Marry me in that darn barn on Friday"
"Really?" I asked, leaning into him, my heart impossibly full."Yes. Of course, yes!"
"Yes?" He asked me genuinely surprised.
"Hell yes!" I screamed and he kissed me.
I mean why not. This was the man who wrote songs about me and who I sold myself for, of course I would marry him in a heartbeat...of course, yes.
The future, our future, felt tangible, bright... It felt reachable.
We kissed, slow and sweet. God, we were so in love.
"I love you, Helene James," he murmured against my lips. "Can't wait to make you Helene Scott"
"I love you too." I whispered back. "Forever if you would have me."
He kissed me. My happily ever after was within my grasp until I picked up my phone to post on tik Tok that I said 'yes'
It was when I saw it. A video from a gossip news account I didn't follow. The headline screamed at me:
VIRGINITY SOLD FOR MILLION$$$: Inside the Elite Auction Site That's Shocking the World!
I stopped breathing as the entire room spinned. The thumbnail showed a blurred, pixelated image that could have been any young woman, next to the unmistakable, stylized logo:
SellTheVirgin.com.
My thumb jabbed the screen in panic, making the video full-screen. And then I heard the breathless voiceover:
"...exclusive sources reveal a secretive online auction platform catering to the ultra-wealthy, where the ultimate 'luxury experience' is being sold... a young woman's virginity bids reportedly soared into the millions for a single night with the anonymous buyer..."
It started as a ringing in my ear and then my legs gave away and I was half way to the floor when Liam caught, he gasped in pain as he did.
"Helenie!"
"Sorry" I murmured like a robot. "Excitement made me dizzy"
He led me to a chair and made me sit down.
"I will get water for you"
Breathe. Okay. Breathe. I tried to get myself under control but it wasn't working.
I'm fucked!
liam returned with the water. "You okay, babe?"
I slammed my phone face down on the couch cushion, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. "Fine!" My voice came out too high, too tight. "I'm fine"
"I will go order food. A gallon of Coffee doesn't qualify as breakfast. I have told you several times. BRB, Strings"
"Thanks, Heart" I said like a robot.
I sat rigid after Liam left, afraid to breathe properly. The phone felt like a bomb under my thigh.
How long till they know it was me?