Mo rushed to her, enveloping her in his arms as he cradled her, rocking her back and forth. “Come on, baby girl. Let it out. Let it all out. It’s okay.” He kissed her head as sobs wracked through her entire body.

“I can’t stay here, Mo. Please, just let me go. I’ll be in Florida. I still have that beach cottage. I just can’t be in this city, not when every street, every building, every park bench reminds me of everything I lost.” Olivia’s eyes searched Mo’s. “Please,” she whispered, her voice full of pain. “Let me go.”

Kiera walked over and sat down on the floor, wrapping her arms around her friend, her own heart breaking from how hurt she looked. She had seen Olivia at her absolute worst. The wreck sitting in front of her was far more tragic than anything she had seen in all her years of knowing her.

“If you really think that’s what you need to do, we’ll support you, Libby.”

Mo’s eyes flashed toward Kiera, shock etched across his gentle face.

“Thank you,” Olivia replied weakly.

“We couldn’t go to the wedding, Libby. It just didn’t seem right. Nothing about it seems right. Plus, we were your friends first. You need us more than he does today.” Kiera clutched Olivia’s hand.

She nodded, her breathing stabilizing. “I’m going to miss you both, but I have to go. You can come and visit anytime you want.”

Mo nudged her. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

Olivia smiled as she wiped the tears from her eyes, trying to compose herself.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay to drive?” Kiera asked, her face full of concern.

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. It will help take my mind off things. Give me time to think.”

“Well, let’s get you on your way then. It’s a long drive.” Mo winked as he grabbed a few of her suitcases, bringing them out to her car. An hour later, Olivia maneuvered her way through the Boston city streets for the last time.

~~~~~~~~~~

After begrudgingly waving good-bye to their friend, Kiera and Mo made their way to Kiera’s house by the community gardens to forget about the past few months. They were sad to see Olivia leave but understood why she had to go. The pain in her face was worse than either one had seen before.

They spent most of the day curled up on the couch, watching snow fall outside and reminiscing about all the good times they shared with Olivia. As the beer ran out, Kiera decided it was time to kick the party into second gear, not caring that it was nearly three in the morning. She poured several shots, both Kiera and Mo needing the liquor after all the drama of the past several weeks.

“To Olivia,” Kiera slurred, raising her shot glass, tears starting to form beneath her eyelids.

“To Olivia,” Mo responded, slinging his shot back in unison with Kiera. “Remember that crazy piercing phase she went through, what, her junior year of college?” he asked after the burn of the liquor subsided.

Kiera laughed, wiping her nose with her sleeve. “Yeah. I went with her to get her tongue pierced. I dragged her to a party that night and she did a few keg stands with a brand new stud in her tongue. It was all swollen and shit. God, it was a riot. She was so much fun.”

“The two of you together behind the bar at Scotch. Jesus. I think security had to work overtime those nights to make sure no one laid any hands on either of you. I can’t even tell you how many times I saw them kicking someone out.”

Kiera sighed. “Yeah. That happened a lot, didn’t it?”

“Sure did. But, man, she wouldn’t put up with shit from anyone. She used to be so quiet when she first started working there. And then this whole other girl came out of nowhere. Once she got behind that bar, she had this spunk. Remember the time she grabbed that guy in the nuts and twisted so hard I swear the entire bar heard them pop?”

Kiera laughed hard at the memory, tears that streamed down her cheeks now tears of joy instead of sorrow. “Yeah. We had some good times.”

“Yup.” Mo raised another shot glass and Kiera followed suit. Just as they swallowed the liquid, a loud knock sounded. Kiera looked at the front door, wondering who could possibly be pounding on her door at that late hour, or early hour, depending on how you look at it.

“Expecting anyone?” Mo asked, his eyebrows raised.

“No. Not really.” She got up from the table and stumbled over to the front door, pulling it open.

“What the fuck?” Kiera exclaimed in complete shock when Alexander pushed through, wearing a formal tuxedo. His bow tie was all disheveled and it looked like he had been running. Or drinking. Or both.

“Where is she?” he asked frantically.

“Who?” Kiera asked.

“Cut the crap, Kiera,” Alexander growled. “You know damn well who.”

“Oh, you mean the girl whose heart you stomped on last night and now it’s all bled dry on the dirty, nasty floor of a bar? Is that who we’re talking about here?” she spat out, unintimidated by Alexander’s size as he stood hovering over her petite frame.

“Damn it! Where is she?!” Alexander roared.

“Ya’ know what, Alex? I like you. I do. But you’re toxic to her. She poured her heart out to you, and all you did was spurn her, not even giving her the time of day. You did exactly what she did! And you continued to hold what she did to you against her! Leave her alone! You’re married now. You need to let her go so that she can move on with her life. She’s better off without you in it!”

Kiera returned to the table and poured another line of shots.

Alexander followed, stalking into the kitchen and nodding a greeting to Mo.

“Kiera, please. I need to know where she is.” He turned to Mo. “Please, Mo. I’m begging you.”

Mo shook his head. “I’m with Kiera on this one. You need to leave her alone. You should have seen how she…” Mo trailed off, the memory of one of his best fiends looking so broken and emotionally beaten permanently ingrained in his memory. He would do everything within his power to make sure that never happened to Olivia again.

“How she what?” Alexander asked quietly.

“How she looked!” Kiera exclaimed, spinning around to face him yet again, her green eyes on fire. “You’ve ruined that fucking girl. I love her like a sister and I’ve seen her go through a lot of shit, but what I walked in on earlier this morning, the hurt and unbearable pain taking control of her entire body, was more than I could bear to see. So she left, Alex.” She took a deep breath, trying to control her Irish temper. “Please. Go home to your wife.” Kiera downed another shot and turned back around, desperately wanting to put some space between her and the man that broke her best friend into millions of tiny pieces. The man that crushed her soul. The man the killed her spirit.