Page 87 of Wants and Needs
“Maybe not well enough,” he snaps.
“Hey, what’s going on?” This isn’t like him, and I guess he realizes that because he takes a deep breath. When he looks my way I can tell he’s staring at my forehead, and that can’t be a good sign.
“This is an invasion of your privacy and you don’t deserve to have a picture of you on any gossip site. It’s not what you want, is it?”
“Liam, I knew the possibility of us being photographed together existed when we made the game plan for the ball. I don’t care about the stupid gossip site. And if this really was the grave robber, then I’ll get a restraining order or something, but I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.” I speak slowly. “Is this all you talked about with Tristan?”
“No.” He shakes his head once. “I took Parker and William with me and we have a fraction of a plan for what to do next.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?” I ask softly, and his face smoothes over marginally.
“It’s as good as it’s going to get for now.” He pauses for a moment and I take the opportunity to walk closer and grab his hand.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Did you avoid telling me about Dirk coming here because you think I can’t handle it?” he asks bluntly.
I reel back. I thought we’d finished talking about him.
“No Liam, I?—”
“Because I can handle it, you know?”
“Yes,” I insist. “I told you I just didn’t give it that much importance.”
He looks me in the eyes then, and I hold my breath, hoping he’ll believe me. I’d never shield Liam from something important. I’d actually never shield him, period. He’s proven to me time and time again how resilient he is.
“Do you want to go get something to eat?” I ask quietly.
“Not really. I just want to go home,” he mumbles, and I’d have found it as adorable as always if he’d left it at that. “Alone.” He slips his hand from mine, then his mouth stretches in the quickest and fakest smile I’ve ever seen.
“I just came by to tell you about the article, but now I really need to just not be around anyone. You should go be with your friends before they leave for their trip.”
“What? No, I want to support you. I’ll see my friends soon enough.” I scoff at the idea of needing to spend time with them. I’ve been spending time with them plenty. “Whatever you need, I just want to help in any way I can?—”
“Then go home,” he snaps again, almost shouting.
I take a moment to think about what I should do here. The last thing I want is to leave Liam alone in such an angry state, but maybe that’s what he needs?
The only other time I’ve seen him upset was totally different. He went completely silent after our first Dirk ambush, but this time he’s clearly pushing me away. Does he want me to leave him alone or does he need me to?
I wish I knew what to do here, but I don’t, so instead I speak softly.
“If you want to be alone, I can understand that.”
He looks away and nods as his throat works on a hard swallow.
“That’s what I want.”
“All right,” I whisper.
My plans of spending the weekend helping him through this huge disappointment go up in flames as he simply... walks away.
As frustration bubbles up inside me I remind myself that walking away like that is what he needs, and that we’re not over because of what just happened—if we were over I’d like to think Liam wouldn’t have an issue letting me know plainly.
I just have to respect his wishes, and then I’ll try again tomorrow. If supporting him the way he needs is staying away, then I’ll do that.
In no mood to be a salesman, I close the gallery a bit early then order myself a car to take me home. Yes, it will probably take three times as long, but I don’t care. It’s thirty bloody degrees outside and no British person is built to sustain that kind of heat.
