Page 52 of Falling For Liam
Sitting up so fast my head spins, I look down to the other side of the bed. It’s empty. My heart drops as I remember how angry he was. How his body shook with rage as he held me to him. His white-knuckle grip on the wheel as he drove us home. The darkness of his eyes that told me how badly he wanted to cause someone, namely Griff, some serious damage.
Those images eventually fade, and instead I’m reminded of how gentle he was with me despite the rage flowing through his bloodstream.
Tears sting my eyes as I replay everything from yesterday and I realise how bloody stupid the whole thing was. I realised my mistake the second our eyes met. I’ve no doubt that if he wasn’t stopped, he would have gone all the way and left me there for dead. I’d bet my life on it.
I’m never going to be able to repay Liam for what he did. How he even knew what I was doing is still beyond me. I didn’t tell anyone, yet when I needed him, there he was. My knight in shining armour.
It doesn’t escape my attention that the two of us have a lot of talking to do. I’ve kept him at arm’s length with everything that happened because I didn’t want to hurt him by giving him the details, but I’m realising that was probably the wrong thing to do. I owe him the truth.
Eventually, I drag my weary body out of bed and into the shower. I very gently wash my hair before pulling on a pair of leggings and a hoodie I’ve stolen from Liam. Bringing the fabric up to my nose, I breathe him in. His smell helps to ground me and reminds me that I really am safe now. Griff’s back in the place he never should have left, I’ve seen with my own eyes that David will eventually be okay, and I can now truly get on with my life. Cardiff and everything that happened there is behind me.
“Hey, I thought I heard movement,” Liam says, poking his head into the room.
“Hey.” Dropping my hairbrush to the dresser, I get up and walk towards him. My hands land on his rough cheeks before my lips press against his. I expect him to kiss me back but when he doesn’t, disappointment washes through me.
“Liam?” I ask, my eyebrows knotted together, “What’s wrong?”
“You need to come downstairs.” His voice is all matter-of-fact and doesn’t do anything to shift the dread sitting heavy in my stomach.
“W…why?”
“There’re people here to see you.” His eyes give nothing away. They’re hard in a way I’ve never experienced before. I knew he was angry yesterday, but I really wasn’t expecting this.
“Who?”
“Just get downstairs as soon as you can.”
He’s gone before I get to ask the question I really want to ask—if we’re okay. Although if what just happened was anything to go by, I don’t think I really want to know the answer.
After brushing my wet hair, I pull it up into a messy bun, take a deep breath, and head out to see what, or whom, I’m going to find waiting for me.
My guess is Nicole. She’s going to want to know everything about yesterday, and she’ll probably rip me a new one for being so reckless. But I’d have thought she’d have just invited herself up to tear into me.
“What the fuck?” I ask as I round the corner into the living room and find it full of people.
My mum turns at my voice and I see concern mixed with disappointment fill her features. She must push aside the latter because, in seconds, she’s up on her feet and heading my way.
“What on earth have you gotten yourself in to, Olivia?” she asks as she wraps her arms around my shoulders and pulls me into her. Being in her embrace is comforting, but I could think of someone else’s arms I’d rather be wrapped in right now.
Mum must feel that I don’t relax into it, because when she pulls back, it’s with concern.
Pulling my gaze away, I look over her shoulder to find my dad on the edge of his seat like he’s about to jump me, my brother Ryan, his wife Molly, Abbi and Jax all sat staring at me, waiting for answers.
I want the floor to swallow me up. Other than telling Abbi when they appeared last weekend, I’ve done everything I can to avoid telling my family the details of my life in Cardiff. But it looks like my time avoiding the truth has come to an end, and if the tension in Liam’s shoulders is anything to go by, I’d say this is all his doing.
“Why don’t you come and sit down, sweetheart? You’ve got some explaining to do.”
Groaning to myself, I do as Dad suggests while Liam disappears. I want to call him back—he needs to hear this as much as they all do, but he seems to have decided against it.
“Liv?” Molly prompts, grabbing my hand and giving it an encouraging squeeze.
I tip my head up to the ceiling and pull in a lungful of air, thinking about where I should start.
I stare directly ahead as I tell my story. I don’t leave anything out as I explain about David’s addiction, his brother’s issues, and everything that’s happened for me to end up here. There are gasps of surprise, cries of horror, and a few grunts of anger from Ryan and Dad, but I don’t allow any of them to stop me. I’ve held off doing this, but now the words are falling from my lips, I can’t stop them.
When I eventually get to the end of my nightmare and look to the people around me, they all look a little traumatised and I feel bad for just laying it all out for them. I know I should have told them all a long time ago that things weren’t good, but I was hoping to avoid the looks they’re giving me.
“That was a fucking stupid thing to do yesterday, Liv,” Ryan snaps. When I look over, I see the same anger in his eyes as Liam’s.
