Right On The Money Honey - Michael Hardy

ELEVEN

Liz has been putting space between her and Michael, little by little. At first, he honestly didn't notice but now it's bothering him. She's sitting on the far end of the couch with her feet kicked up behind her while he's got his arm on the back of the couch as an invitation for her to cuddle up against him. She's always, always done that without hesitation but now she struggles to even look at him.

He's going to put an end to it.

He scoots closer to her and she doesn't notice. He moves a little closer and she glances at him from the corner of her eye. Michael slides his hand to her thigh with his lips brushing against her neck. She bites her lip. He moves up further under the oversized shirt she's wearing, his fingers brushing across the waistband of her shorts.

Michael smirks when she hears her breath hitch.

He pulls on the neckline of her shirt and starts pressing wet kisses to her shoulder, knowing she melts from them. Finally, her blue eyes meet his brown ones. She pulls away and stands to start pacing.

"What's up with you?"

She stops in her tracks, chewing on her thumbnail. "I know what happened."

"Know what?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Hardy." She hisses before she clears her throat. "I saw 'em marks on your neck."

"It was a weird rash-"

"Bullshit."

"Liz." He stands too, crossing his arms.

"I know that you fucked around with another girl, Michael." He looks down at his bare feet. "Why? Why would you do that?"

He shrugs. "I got super drunk with Morgan and these girls bought us drinks." She can tell he's telling the truth. "One thing led to another."

"Was it just the one girl?" He stands silent. "I get it." She blinks back tears and whispers shakily, "Life of a rockstar, huh." She turns on her heel and heads up the staircase to their shared bedroom where she digs around in the closet for her duffel bag.

Michael drops himself to the couch, his head in his hands before he pushes his hair back. He takes a deep breath then stands, heading upstairs.

"What're you doin'?" He states, shaking his head slightly when he sees her shoving things into her bag. He feels terrible, he really does.

"None of your damn business." She says back, keeping her head down as tears slip down her cheeks. "I trusted you, Michael."

"I fucked up, I know." He sighs heavily, lowering himself to the bed. "But you don't have to go. Stay and we can talk this through."

"What's there to talk about? Your dick was in girls who ain't me. That speaks for itself."

He presses his lips together as he looks down. "This is it huh?"

"You asshole." He looks up. "You ain't even gonna apologize to me." She slings her bag over her shoulder. "Fuck you!"

Liz tried to push past him but he stops her with a hand around her upper arm. He pulls her back into the room and snatches her bag off her shoulder, dropping it to the floor.

"What the f-"

Michael grasps the side of her face and kisses her hard, trying to change her mind, trying to get her to stay but Liz backs away from him and picks up her bag. "See ya 'round."

+++

"Welcome back." Lyn says, watching her sister settle back into her guest room. "Rhett said somethin' happened."