Page 63 of Veiled in Brick

“Who was that?” I asked.

“Cassie,” he responded. “I’ll call her later.”

“Why’d you silence your sister’s phone call?”

“Because we’re talking about you and the look you have on your face.”

I ventured hesitantly, “What if it’s about your father? Do you think she knows he came here?”

Liam’s face pulled up into a scowl. “Yeah, we’re not talking about Carter right now.”

“Okay, okay,” I whispered.

“So,” he inquired again, prior gumption returned as if it had never left, “the look on your face?”

I groaned and spat out, “Is she pretty?”

Liam’s eyebrows raised. “Who, Kelsey?” I nodded, and he practically giggled. “Oh my God.”

“Liam—”

“You’re jealous.” He pointed at me. “Of a woman you’ve never met—will never meet, actually, since the summer semester is over in a few weeks.”

“Sorry that I don’t like thinking about you coming down her throat,” I grumbled.

His smile was as wide as ever as he said, “I’ll tell her to fuck off.” I scoffed, and he reiterated, “I will. Really.”

The mental image of him doing so relaxed me to the point that I muttered, “Okay.”

“I’ll tell Sarah to fuck off, too,” he said as he spoke to the sky.

My head whipped in his direction. “Who the fuck is Sarah?”

“Joking,” he told me with a broad grin. “Jealous Zoey is fun.”

“Sure, whatever. Are you going to call your sister back?”

“Yeah,” he replied almost immediately. “I’m sure it’s just ’cause I haven’t gone back to visit in a long time. Used to go like once a month—you know. I’ve, ah,” he groaned, “been busy. School, work I’ve found, all that. And now…”

“Now, what?” I pressed him as his words had trailed off into nothing.

“Now,” he said slowly, “you’re living in my apartment because some dude broke into yours—”

“And, what, you think I need protection?”

He rolled his eyes. “No.” I gave him a side-eye and he whined with a flip of his head toward the sun, “Okay, yes, but only because someone literally already tried to attack you. That’s fuckin’ scary, Zo’, I’m not leaving right now.”

“I can stay with Claire and Luke—”

“No,” Liam stressed the word in such a way that it left no room for argument, and I bit my tongue.

“Okay.”

Zest’s yellow sign hung in the distance, nearly a block away, and our footsteps slowed against the stones below. Liam looked about as if he were searching for something. I was going to question it, but I didn’t get a chance to for he had grabbed me by the wrist. He tugged me sharply to the left, and I laughed as he dragged me behind him.

We were in the alleyway between Zest and the establishment beside it—a tea shop that I had never bothered to enter. He walked me past a stack of boxes, pulled me hard enough that I stumbled, and planted my backside against the brick that spanned the walls on either side of us.

I caught my breath and asked, “What are you doing?”

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