bChapter /bb124 /b

    “Now get the fuck out of my house.”

    For a moment, I don’t react. Can’t. My mind doesn’t know which version of him to obey the one who kissed me, or the one who just shoved me out of his life.

    My hands move automatically, my feet following like they belong to someone else.

    As I descend the stairs, careful not to slip on shattered ss or shattered pride, all I can

    think is-

    –

    If I had gone to the game, he’d still want me.

    This is my fault.

    Love just looks like this sometimes.

    A secondter, my body loses the battle.

    I ck out and tumble down the stairs.

    When the memory finally fades, I can feel Liam’s hands are in my hair again, gentle and unhurried. He tugs loose the braid I’d made that morning and presses his forehead to mine.

    It should be a perfect moment. It’s soft. It’s safe. He smells like aftershave and sun and something bitter I can’t ce. He’s not asking anything of me – just being with me. Just seeing ollime. /li/ol

    And still, I flinch.

    It’s small, barely a twitch

    —

    but I feel it. And worse, so does he.

    His hands still instantly. “Did I hurt you?b” /b

    My lips part, but no soundes out. I shake my head too fast, too hard. “No. No, you

    didn’t.”

    But something inside me is screaming.

    I pull away, just enough to create space, and wrap my arms around myself. Like I’m trying to hold myself together.

    Liam doesn’t say anything right away. He just watches me, his expression unreadable–but

    b1/3 /b

    Chapore 124

    Rind. Always Rind

    And then he asks, gently Did someone else?

    My breach leaves me

    I not once

    My throat burns with the memory, with the sound of Zane’s voice echoing in my skull, the Beel of the floorboards under my feet as I fell on the ss and swallowed my pride. Again and

    again and again

    My chest tightens my voice barely a breath. I don’t know how to let someone love me bif /bL

    don’t have myself first.

    That breaks sorting in techn

    Liam sits up, gently pulling me with him. He cups my face in his hands – not forcefully, not demanding–just so I’ll look at bit

    His chum’s wige my my tears. His voice breasts

    You never have to cam love. Silk Ne mine. Not anyones. You are not too much, and you are not broken. You were hurt. And I swear to you, I will never use your hurt as a weapon.

    And then slowly–Rete su turning calm after a storm- he leans in and presses the softest kiss to my forehead. It’s not hungry like yesterday’s. Or iming like it was a moment

    ago. lust… present.

    “I don’t want you to give me the pieces of you that you think are lovable, he whispers into my hair. “I want all of you. Even the scared parts. Especially the scared parts.”

    I break them. But not the way I used to – alone, hollowed out, empty.

    This time, I fall apart into someone’s arms.

    And I reallise ever since I met him, I haven’t had to hold myself together all on my own.

    Liam pats my brad gently as I bcry/b, like I’m something delicate. I sniff and squint up at him through bwet /bshes. “Stop that.”

    He grins,pletely unfazed. “Why would I? This is prime patting real estate. He leans inb, /bburies his face in my hair, and inhales dramatically. “God, I love your hair. I love getting lost in your curls when I kiss you. And you always smell so sweet–do you use cookie–scented perfume

    23

    or something?”

    I blink at him. “On my hair?”

    He shrugs like it’s a perfectly reasonable question and resumes patting me, looking proud of himself. “Cam uses cologne on his. Honestly, I don’t question anything anymore.”

    Iugh, a soft hup of sound that loosens something tight in my chest. “He’s kind of a

    weirdo.”

    “You have no idea,” Liam says, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. His hand stays in my hair, warm and steady. I should pull away, but I don’t. I lean into it instead.

    “I talked to my brother’s ex,” I say quietly, the moment turning softer. “Adrian.”

    “Yeah? Was he cool?”

    “The sweetest. And kind of aputer wizard. So I asked if he could help dig up dirt on Stone.” My voice drops a little, like if I say it too loudly, it might jinx it. Liam’s fingers drift down from my hair to my cheek, slow and tender, brushing the edge of my jaw before settling right above my corbone.

    His expression hardens–just a flicker. “Trust me, that won’t be hard. That guy’s practically a scandal waiting to happen. Almost got busted for steroids a while back. The league covered it up, but it’s all there, buried deep enough for someone smart to find.”

    I lift my head, my pulse picking up. “Wait, seriously?”

    “Yup. And don’t even get me started on the NDAs. Last year alone, he had more women sign silence agreements than most people date in a lifetime.” His thumb brushes my corbone, gentle again. “Even if you hadn’t said anything, I was already on it.”

    My lips twitch. “Really?”

    Liam grins, then reaches up to pinch my nose. “I was just waiting for you to catch up, genius.”

    bChapter /bbComments /b

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