Page 15 of Liam
When she’d pulled off the balaclava, she’d expected someone different. A man with scars and tattoos down his neck. Someone who looked rough and dangerous. The typical stereotype of every movie bad guy. He’d looked neither rough nor dangerous, apart from the rage in his eyes. He’d just appeared…normal. A man she wouldn’t look twice at if she passed him in the street.
Nylah spent so long under the water that her skin began to wrinkle, and her knee throbbed from being on her feet.
When she finally stepped out, she dried off and pulled on some leggings and a sweatshirt. Then she sat on the side of her bed, trying to massage some of the pain from her knee. Maybe job hunting wasn’t the best thing for her today.
With a long sigh, she grabbed her phone and plugged it into the charger. The second the screen lit up, notifications dinged.
Her brows tugged together at the two messages.
Liam: Hey. It’s Liam. I wanted to drive you home, but I can’t find you. Are you okay?
Liam: Can I come see you this morning? I’d like to check that you’re okay. I’m worried.
Crap. Maybe she should have made more of an effort to say goodbye to him last night.
Her gaze ran over the words again.I’m worried. She nibbled her lower lip, guilt but also something else settling in her chest. Something that felt hot and comforting…because she liked that he cared.
She was about to respond when Paisley’s name popped up on the screen. Her finger hovered over the cancel key. Usually, they told each other everything, but her best friend would worry if she told her about last night.
But if shedidn’tanswer…
Dammit. She hit the answer key. “Hey, Pais.”
“Hey. How was your first event last night? Engagement party, right?”
Despite everything, a smile she couldn’t stop spread across her lips at the sound of her childhood best friend’s voice—so familiar, she wanted to reach through the phone and hug her.
“I met some of those Project Arma guys,” she said, not really answering the question.
“Really? That’s kind of like meeting famous people. How were they?”
“Different from what I expected. Down to earth. Friendly. At least from what I gathered, the little I spoke to them.”
“That’s awesome. They’re all cute, too, so that’s an added bonus.”
Oh, they were more than cute. They were gorgeous. All sixteen of them.
She went to pull her legs up to cross them but gasped at the ache in her knee.Shit. For a second, she’d actually forgotten.
“What was that?”
Nylah wrinkled her nose and tried to feign innocence, knowing full well it wouldn’t work. “What’s what?”
“Don’twhatme. You sound like you’re in pain. What happened?”
She scrunched her eyes, taking a moment before responding. “Something kind of happened last night.”
The pause was long, and when Paisley finally spoke again, her voice was low. “What?”
“I’ll tell you, but you have to swear you won’t tell my brothers. Not even Cody when he gets all sweet and caring, saying he just wants to make sure I’m safe.”
“I would never—”
“Youdid. Eleventh grade? I broke up with Joel Tucker, so he shoved me against the locker? I told you not to say anything, but two seconds of pressure from Cody and you cracked.”
“I was seventeen, and your brother’s hot and intense. OfcourseI cracked. This is different. I’m a fully grown woman, and I live far away from him. I won’t say anything. Just tell me what happened.”
She ran her finger along a crease in the sheet. “There was a shootout at the engagement party.”
