Page 76 of Shattered Melodies

Liam squeezed my hand, but his expression was distant, like he was lost in thought. “I…I think I need some time to process this, Caleb. It’s a lot to take in.”

I felt a flicker of disappointment, but I pushed it down. Liam had every right to need space, to need time to wrap his head around everything I’d just told him.

“Of course,” I said, my voice soft with understanding. “Take all the time you need.”

He pulled his hand away, turning back towards the shower stall. “I think I’m gonna head home for the day, if that’s okay. Can you let Hank know?”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat, trying to ignore the ache in my chest. “Yeah, sure. I’ll tell him.”

Liam hesitated, like he wanted to say something more. But then he shook his head, stepping back into the stall and turning on the water.

CHAPTER 21

Lost and Found

LIAM

The neon sign of The Oak buzzed overhead, casting a sickly glow on the cracked sidewalk. I gripped my sixth – or was it seventh? – beer, the bottle slick with condensation. Each sip burned less than the last, but the ache in my chest only grew.

Caleb’s words echoed in my head, a broken record of betrayal and lost time. ‘Your parents kept me away, Liam. They lied to you.’

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the memories, the what-ifs, the years of silence that suddenly made terrible sense. The bar around me faded into a blur of murmured conversations and clinking glasses, all of it meaningless in the face of this new, awful truth.

Caleb. Just the thought of his name made my chest ache, made the anger and the hurt and the confusion rise up like bile in my throat.

He’d said he was there, that he’d fought to see me after the accident. That it was my parents who had kept him away, who had lied to me and made me believe he didn’t care. But how could I trust that? How could I believe anything, after all the secrets and the betrayals and the years of silence between us?

I took another swig of beer, the taste bitter on my tongue. The bartender, a grizzled old man with a face like leather, eyed me warily from behind the counter.

“You sure you want another one, son?” he asked, his voice gruff but not unkind. “Looks like you’ve had plenty already.”

I scowled, slamming the empty bottle down on the bar. “I’m fine,” I snapped, my words slurring slightly. “Just keep ‘em coming.”

He shrugged, turning away to grab me another beer. But as I watched him, something clicked in my hazy brain.

The bottles he was pulling from the fridge…they weren’t the same as the ones he’d been serving me all night. They were lighter in color, the labels slightly different.

“Hey,” I said, my voice sharp with suspicion. “What’s the deal with those beers?”

The bartender paused, his hand hovering over the bottle opener. “What do you mean?”

I narrowed my eyes, the anger rising hot and fast in my gut. “I mean, those aren’t the same ones you’ve been giving me. They’re…they’re watered down, aren’t they?”

He sighed, setting the bottle down on the counter. “Look, son. I’m just trying to look out for you, alright? You’ve had a lot to drink, and I don’t want you getting yourself into trouble.”

I laughed, the sound harsh and humorless. “Trouble? Oh, I’m already in trouble, old man. Have been for a long damn time.”

I pushed away from the bar, swaying slightly on my feet. The room spun around me, the faces of the other patrons blurring together in a haze of judgment and pity.

I could feel their eyes on me, could hear their whispers and their snickers. Poor Liam, they were probably thinking. Poor, pathetic Liam, drowning his sorrows in cheap booze and self-pity.

Well, fuck them. Fuck all of them, with their perfect little lives and their happy endings. They didn’t know a damn thing about me, about the hell I’d been through and the demons I was fighting.

I stumbled towards the door, my vision swimming and my head pounding. I needed to get out of there, needed to escape the suffocating weight of their stares and their expectations.

The night air hit me like a slap in the face, cold and sharp against my flushed skin. I blinked, trying to get my bearings in the darkness.

Main Street was empty, the shops and cafes closed up tight for the night. The only sound was the distant hum of traffic on the highway, the occasional bark of a dog in someone’s backyard.

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