Page 27 of Treacherous

The second I pressed the send button I had an attack of second thoughts. When I'd told Liam I was moving to America, the night Uncle Max dropped the bombshell on me, Liam had made it clear that he wasn't interested in having a long distance relationship.

But when we didn't break up straight away, and continued seeing each other, I'd thought…I wasn't sure what I'd thought, but if I'd have known the outcome I wouldn't have done what I did with him.

Maybe I should let it be? The night we broke up was not a pretty one, with plenty of tears – on my behalf – and almost five months had passed since then…

My inbox pinged causing my stomach to erupt with butterflies.

To; Teagan Connolly

From; Liam Harte

Message; It's 05.30 in the morning. I can talk for a while. School's school. Got a nice American fella yet?

Wow. Okay, so he was in a pissy mood. Well, at least he'd messaged me back. Cracking my knuckles, I began to write back.

To; Liam Harte

From; Teagan Connolly

Message; don't be a dick, Liam. You're the one who decided to end things. It's not my fault I'm here and you're there. I'm suffering too.

I held my breath until my inbox pinged and then I dived into the message.

To; Teagan Connolly

From; Liam Harte

Message; I'm sorry, Teegs, for everything. The way I left things… It was a shitty thing to do to you. I know I hurt you and I know you may not believe me when I tell you that hurting you was something Ineverwanted to do.

Liam's words of apology didn't quite erase the rejection I still felt because of the way he'd treated me – and the horrible feeling I had that he'd used me – but they helped.

Another message pinged while I was replying to his first one.

To; Teagan Connolly

From; Liam Harte

Message; I can't be your fella anymore, Teagan, but I can be your friend. Tell me about school and your neighborhood. Have you joined a gym yet, or a soccer team?

Comfort flooded through me, making me feel a little less lonely.

To; Liam Harte

From; Teagan Connolly

Message; School is okay, and I made a couple of friends. The Hill isn't so bad, but my next-door neighbors are awful. There's this girl Ellie, and she hates my guts. God only knows why. But her stepbrother Noah is worse. He thinks he's so tough. I mean he's our age, but the guy is covered in tattoos, Liam. And he smokes and gets into fights…

And that’s how I fell asleep, curled up on the couch, emailing my ex-boyfriend about the boy next-door.

****

Noah

I was going to lose my shit over the girl-next-door.

It was Saturday night and I was still brooding over her antics this morning.

Who the hell did she think she was? No, scratch that, who did she thinkIwas, some junked up asshole who would slash her tires? It pissed me off something fierce to think she held that low opinion of me.

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