Page 21 of Liam

He sighs, the sound so loud, so heavy, it mirrors exactly how I feel on the inside.

I shift to the side so he can climb the few steps onto the porch, but he doesn’t go into the cabin. He carefully sets his equipment down, then parks his ass right next to me.

Great.Can’t wait to hear what he has to say.

I should look at him, or at least acknowledge his existence, but I seem to be frozen in the depths of my own mental state.

For a long moment, we sit in silence, and I really wish I knew what he wanted, because evenI’muncomfortable. “Just so you know, the cops came to my house that night…” His words kick-start my pulse, have me sitting taller, straining to hear what he has to say next. “They saw me on the ATV, and they knew it was Linc or me, but Linc was home all night, so my dad pressured me to tell them everything I knew.” He sighs, as if it physically pains him to have to divulge all this. “Ididn’twantto tell them whereyou were hiding. I hadn’t toldanyonebefore that night. Not my dad. Not even Linc,and I pretty much tell him everything.”

I face him now, try to keep my expression passive. I don’t want him to know how much he’s affecting me. My gaze meets his, and he was right earlier—he and Lincolndohave the same eyes. They’re the type of blue that makes you want to swim in their depth, unafraid of what’s beneath. But there is a difference he doesn’t sense, because it’s not one you can see,onlyfeel.

“The cops convinced me it would be the right thing to do,” he continues. “They said if they don’t find you first, then someone else might, and who knows what—” He chokes on a breath, his lashes lowering. “Who knows what someone else might do to you…” His throat moves with his swallow as he lifts his eyes back to mine. “I thought I was protecting you.”

My lips part, wanting so desperately to say something, anything, but nothing comes out.

“They said that they’d find your parents and that you’d be safe with them.” As if on cue, Roman pulls into the driveway, and we both turn at the sound. I get to my feet, shouldering my backpack as Liam watches me from below. “Did they?” he asks.

“Did they what?”

“Did they find your parents?”

I take a moment, deciding how much I want to let him in. Then I shake my head, but don’t say anything more before stepping away. I’m halfway to Roman’s truck when I find myself slowing down, then stopping completely. The constant guilt of forever being “saved” forces me to turn on my heels and face him. “I know what you’re trying to do, and I appreciate it,” I start, attempting to keep my voice even. Calm. “Maybe one day, I’ll even be ready to receive it.” A knot lodges in my throat, making it hard to speak, let alone breathe. “But right now, I’m going through something, and I—I justcan’t…”

Liam nods, as if understanding, but how could he?

I quickly turn away, my footsteps rushed. But I freeze when he calls out, “I hope you feel better, Addie.”

My eyes drift shut, my heart, my soul, my entire everything suddenly transported back tothatroom, tothatday.

I recognize his eyes first. Ocean blue. Kind. Worried.

I face him again, the image of him blurred by the liquid pain coating my vision. “Thanks, Liam.”

9

Liam

I’ve come to terms with the fact that Adelaide is here and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ve given up on avoiding her because that clearly didn’t (and wouldn’t) work, so now we coexist in the same space, acknowledging each other’s existence while never actually speaking a word. It’s been like this for two weeks now, and it’s a lot easier than it sounds. She shows up in the morning, dressed in her regular tank top and shorts, usually with a skateboard under her arm, and goes directly into the back room, where she works with the door open—I assume to take advantage of the air conditioning. I only know this because I have to see her when I use the bathroom. She comes out for the same reason or to grab her lunch from the fridge, where she has to bypass me in the living room, but again… we don’t speak.

Linc talks to her, though. Whenever he’s around, he always makes an effort to at least say hello, sometimes more. Linc brought it up once—why she and I don’t seem to interact, and I told him I had nothing to say to her. Linc didn’t push the issue, putting my response down to my being socially inept—which istrue, I guess. It’s a perk of being a practical hermit. But… my answer wasn’t a lie. I really did have nothing to say to her. After our little chat on the porch, I’d decided that I was done with Adelaide. I said my piece, she somewhat said hers, and whatever comes of it was inconsequential to how I would live the rest of my life. At the end of the day, she still set out to destroy me, and she won. And not once in the time she’s been here has she shown even an ounce of remorse for any of it.

“Is there anything you want me to bring up at the meeting tomorrow?” Linc asks from the passenger’s seat as I pull into the driveway toward the studio. Linc takes all the meetings with our team—agent, PR, marketing, etc. Sometimes he does it in person, but most of the time, it’s through video calls. I don’t exactly know when we went from two small-town kids making stupid videos to whatever it is we are now, but I’m sure Linc was behind most of it. I never wanted this level of recognition, or whatever you want to call it, but once he got a taste, he couldn’t get enough.

I shake my head, murmur, “Nah.”

“Nothing?” he urges. “No brand deals you want to get or?—”

“Nope.”

Linc sighs, tapping away on his phone. He only looks up when I slow our minivan just outside the studio. Adelaide is on the porch, likely on her lunch break. My brother and I step out at the same time, then open the back doors of the van to get our equipment. As soon as we reach the porch steps, Linc hands me the tripod, then sits down next to Adelaide. “What’s up, Addie?”

“Not much,” she says. “You guys filming today?”

I step into the studio and dump our shit on the couch just as Linc replies, “Yeah, we needed a change of scenery, so we filmed over at the skate park.”

“I totally forgot about that place.”

“It’s probably changed a lot since you were last there.”

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