Page 48 of Puck'n Bully
My brows furrow as I realize you don’t even need a keycard or passcode to enter the premises. A sliver of concern takes root in my gut. This place doesn’t seem safe enough for a solitary guy like Liam.
I enter the dark, shadowy foyer and follow Liam up the staircase. Beats of rap music blare from some apartment. As I walk past the first floor, I hear several people shouting and arguing in some foreign language.
I hang back as Liam walks down the second-floor corridor and unlocks a door. From what I can see, it’s dark inside but Liam disappears too quickly for me to notice whether someone’s inside or not.
I should turn around and walk away. It’s none of my business if Liam has found someone who’s proud to show him off to his friends. A part of me even wants that for him. I want to see him happy.
But the thought of someone else making him happy makes me angry and jealous. I hate thinking of someone else laying claim to Liam, both body and soul, when he belongs to me.
Liam had opened up to me and accepted me. I can’t let him go to someone else. He’smine,damn it!
How can he keep ignoring me when I’ve been desperately trying to reach out to him? How can he still pretend like he hasn’t wrecked my head and heart and everything in between with his cold silence?
Liam is on the other side of that door. I can’t let go of this opportunity to clear things with him once and for all.
Marching forward, I knock on the door.
No answer.
What’s taking him so long to answer the door? Is there really someone else with him? I knock harder as my frustration heightens.
Still, there’s no answer.
My patience finally snaps. “Liam, open the damn door right now!” I shout, banging my fist on the door.
A few seconds pass by as my heart hammers in my chest.
And then...soft footsteps.
A moment later, the door cracks open an inch. Liam’s bright blue eyes peek through the gap. “Hayden?”
“Open up,” I say in a rough, commanding tone.
The door opens wider. “Hayden, what the hell are you doing here?” Liam asks, looking surprised.
My gaze drinks in the way his messy blond curls fall over his eyes. His plump lips pout at my intrusion. An old, slightly oversized T-shirt hangs off his slim shoulders.
Liam’s expression steadily morphs from surprise to caution.
Something inside me breaks at the sight of him looking like he’s about to slam the door shut in my face. There’s no way I’m letting him go today.
I push the door wider and walk in, nearly shoving Liam to the side.
“You can’t come in!” he shouts but I ignore him.
My gaze roves over the tiny apartment, taking in the sparse furniture and worn-out appliances. A glossy Spiderman poster hangs from a wall above his bed, reminding me of Liam’s bedroom in the old beach house.
I can’t believe he left that beautiful place to come to Knightswood. All because of his damn love of Physics and everything nerdy.
This is the same guy who’d waded into a churning sea to save my black soul from drowning. He didn’t care about the thunder and lightning as he risked his own life to pull me out of those waters.
I’d fallen for him right there but I still left him behind in that beach house. I gave him a chance to untangle his fate from mine.
But no. Liam had to come to Knightswood. For his damnresearch.
“Hayden?” Liam calls out in a soft, uncertain voice.
I stay silent as I face him.
