Page 66 of Splintered Security
“Yeah?” Liam’s eyes bore into mine and harden to diamonds. “No.” There’s a long pause before he continues. “Fuck you.” Another gap allows me to hear a man with a raised voice followed by eerily menacing words spit from Liam’s mouth. “I’d like to see you try. It’ll be fun to watch you squirm.”
He clicks off and stares at the screen before looking up to me. “I’ll keep this for now.”
No argument here.
But I want to know. And I really, really don’t want to at the same time. Curiosity wins out. “Who was that?”
“Somebody who was stupid enough to threaten me.”
“Threaten you? They called me.”
“Yeah. But I answered. Fuckboy twat thinks he’ll come after me. We’ll see.” A grin pulls across his face. It would be downright boyish with the crinkles at his eyes if they didn’t glitter with promise.
“Aren’t you worried?”
“Not even a little.”
Alrighty then. We sit in silence as the minutes tick by until the buzz of my phone ringing rends the quiet. Once again, he answers. “Hi again.”
He’s getting too much pleasure out of this.
“Not today. Cute that you think you can make demands… Put her on. Am I on speaker?” He nods as if thinking. “And you would be?” His eyes flick to mine, and his voice lowers to a tone I’d never expect from him. “Can’t do that, Adrienne.”
I suck in a breath so loudly it cuts through the tension in the room.
His breathing is measured as his jaw ticks. “Right. Well then.” Another breath as he stares at his phone, sliding his thumb across it with a pattern of taps. “Not even close.” He pulls the phone away from his face and looks at it before returning it to his face. “Get on with it. Least you could do is make it quick.” He clicks off and turns the phone face down.
“What the hell have you just done?” I seethe.
“I made sure they knew we weren’t together, for one. For two?—”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. You spoke with my mom?” The tears run in earnest down my cheeks. I have no hope of stopping them and don’t care to right now. How dare he!
“You come off passive, but you’re feisty. You know that?”
“I don’t need your personality assessment.”
“Just saying.”
“Just don’t say. How about that?”
He turns an invisible key at his lips and mimics throwing it over his shoulder.
My mouth drops open. Rough and tumble. Cold and callous. I wouldn’t want to cross Liam in a sunny park. A dark alleywould be terrifying. And he just pulled that mime act after… my mom.
“How do you know Ren?”
He stares at me quizzically but says nothing.
“You are infuriating.”
He bobs his head with a smirk. Somehow, I know he’s been told this more than once in his life. Hell, I wouldn’t be shocked if it was more than once this week.
“Is my mom going to be okay?”
The burly man leans forward and plants his elbows on his knees, leveling me with his gaze. “I don’t know, Anni. But it didn’t sound good.”
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