Page 33 of Liam

Liam sighs. “I’ll be there in five.”

Seeing Lachlan Preston from afar makes me want to gather all the Preston brothers and force them to form a line from oldest to youngest so I can pick apart all their physical differences. I haven’t met two of them yet, but I bet they’d all look similar.

Lachlan’s eyes seem to narrow more and more the closer we get to him, and as soon as we’ve stopped at the curb, he opens the back door, throws his backpack inside, followed by himself, but he doesn’t sit. Instead, he slips the entire top half of his body between the two front seats and looks from me to Liam, over and over, again and again. He ends on Liam. “I need you to take me to the store.”

Liam eases off the brakes. “The hell you do. I’m dropping your ass home?—”

“No, actually,” Lachlan says, his tone serious. Almost pleading.

“Sit back and put your belt on,” Liam orders.

Lachlan does what he’s asked, saying, “I’ve invited some people over to the lake. I need to get snacks and drinks for them. It would be rude not to. Plus?—”

“Okay!” Liam snaps. “Just don’t take forever. We had plans.”

“You’re my favorite brother,” Lachlan says, and I find myself smiling. “Also, who is thewein your plans?”

I turn to look between the seats, but Liam introduces me before I can do it myself. “This is Adelaide. She’s working?—”

“Mini Roman!”

Within minutes, Liam’s driving through Main Street and finding a parking spot in front of the grocery store, but Lachlan doesn’tleave. He just sits there, expectantly. “Are you not coming with me?” he asks Liam.

“Why would I?”

“Because you hate being alone?—”

“You coming?” Liam cuts in, opening his door.

It takes a moment to realize he’s talking to me, and I nod, murmur, “Sure.” But I’m still stuck on what Lachy said. Liam hates being alone?Why?

As I follow the Preston brothers around the store, it becomes very clear, very quickly, that neither of the boys knows what they’re doing. Add that to the fact that Liam seems to be in a rush, and Lachlan is indecisive, and I can feel the frustration brewing between them. We’re standing in the soda aisle, where we’ve been for far too long, and I finally speak up from behind. “Do you need help?”

They both turn to me, identical looks of gratitude. “Please,” Liam groans.

I smile, focus on his brother. “How many people?”

“Like, eight?” It comes out more like a question than an answer. I push between them and gather what we need, dumping the items in the cart one by one.

Back home, Griffin and Dayna often host the team, including coaching staff, so “like, eight” teenagers is light work.

Within minutes, we’re at the registers, checking out, and when the middle-aged woman gives the total, Lachlan looks at Liam.

“What?” Liam asks him.

Lachlan shakes his head, as if Liam should already know the answer. “How the fuck would I have money?”

“Language,” the clerk admonishes.

Lachlan rolls his eyes. Then repeats himself, inSpanish, “Y cómo chingados tendría yo dinero?”

I stifle my giggle while the clerk glares at Lachlan. “I meantwatchyour language. Notchangeit.”

Liam sighs, pulls out his phone, and pays for the goods. We head to the exit, Lachlan pushing the cart in front of us while Liam tells him, “You don’t have to be so disrespectful.”

Lachlan stops so abruptly, I almost run into him. He turns, looking from his brother to the clerk, then back to Liam. “You know she got charged last year for attempting to sell dogs online.”

“So?”

---