Page 105 of Because I Liked A Boy
We hit the side doors hard enough to make them shudder. A guard blocked the threshold, gun at his hip—but Liam didn’t slow. His shoulder drove into the man’s chest, sending him sprawling into the wall. The gun clattered uselessly across the floor.
“Go!” Liam bellowed.
The night air slapped me cold as we burst into the alley, Penny sobbing against my arm, her shoes skidding on stone. I hauled her up, adrenaline turning me into iron. Liam was right behind us, blood streaked at his collar, his tie long gone.
A black car screeched into view. Liam’s. He slammed the fob, doors unlocking with a sharp click. He wrenched the back door open and all but shoved Penny inside.
“In!” he barked.
I climbed in after her, my breath ragged, heart a drum against bone. Penny clutched me, fingers clawing into my arm like she’d never let go again.
Liam slammed his door, engine roaring to life just as more guards spilled into the alley, shouts cutting across the night. Tires screamed against wet stone as he wrenched us into the street, the car fishtailing before gripping hard.
In the rear-view, men scattered after us, one lifting a phone to his ear, another pointing furiously. My father’s figure stood framed in the ballroomdoorway, black against the light, his smile sharp enough to cut.
Penny sobbed into my shoulder. Liam’s knuckles were white on the wheel.
And me? I stared into the dark ahead, my promise burning hotter than the fear.
We were out for now.
The car devoured the city in violent bursts, headlights smearing across wet glass, horns ripping the night open. Liam drove like a man possessed, every turn sharp, deliberate, threading us through streets that blurred into a smear of neon and stone.
Beside me, Penny clung tight, her sobs hot against my neck, her nails carving crescents into my skin. I wrapped both arms around her, my body still vibrating with the violence of escape.
And then I saw it. A pair of headlights behind us. Too bright. Too close. Wrong.
“Liam…” My voice barely scraped out.
“I see them.” His jaw was locked, his knuckles bone-white on the wheel. He slammed the accelerator, the car leaping forward like it wanted to break free of the road. Tires screamed, horns blared, but the lights didn’t fall back. They stuck. Closer. Hungrier.
Penny whimpered, curling against me tighter. “Bella…”
“Shh.” I smoothed her hair with a hand that shook anyway. “I’ve got you.”
The speed built until I couldn’t breathe, my body slammed back into the seat,my chest caged in terror. Street lights strobes too fast, too bright, turning everything into snapshots: Liam’s hands clenched at ten and two. The sweat at his temple. Penny’s tear-streaked face pressed into me.
“Hold on!” Liam barked. He wrenched the wheel, the car fishtailing, tires shrieking against wet asphalt. For one heartbeat, hope surged we’d lost them. But then the lights surged again. Closer. Blinding.
That’s when I felt it. The car jolted beneath us, the pedal sinking wrong under Liam’s foot. His curse ripped raw from his throat. “Brakes aren’t responding.”
My blood iced over. Not again.
Memory detonated inside me Nathan’s scream, the shattering glass, the smell of smoke. The silence after.
“Liam—” My voice cracked, broken. “Not like this. Please, not again.”
He fought the wheel, fury carved into every line of him. “I won’t let it happen!”
But the city didn’t care.
The car hurtled faster, engine howling, tires barely gripping the slick road. Ahead, traffic lights bled red through the rain. Behind, the headlights stayed locked on us, merciless.
“Why aren’t they backing off?” I choked, panic shredding my voice.
“They don’t want to,” Liam snapped, voice guttural with rage. “They want us broken.”
The engine screamed louder, the world tipping into madness. The mirror flashed, and for one sick second the headlights weren’t headlights at all they were Nathan’s eyes. Wide. Terrified. Begging me to save him.
