Page 29 of Liam (Preston Brothers #4)

Liam

I’m hiding.

Which, yes, is a bitch move on my part, but fuck it. I’m doing it, anyway.

To be fair, moving shit around at Lucy’s store took longer than expected.

She called it quits at around nine and asked Lachy and me to come back the next day, but we both agreed to just get it done.

We finished at around two in the morning, and so I’d granted myself a sleep in.

My body, however, had other plans. It woke itself up approximately thirty seconds before the front door opened, almost as if it was in tune with Addie’s arrival.

A moment later, I heard her make her way to the back room, where she’s been for the past two hours.

And during those two hours, I’ve been in my room… hiding.

I know I’m just delaying the inevitable, and a conversation needs to happen. I just don’t know how I’m going to bring it up. Or what, exactly, I’m going to say.

That’s the problem with having twenty-four hours to replay our last interaction, on repeat, in my head—I’ve had way too much time to think about it. In fact, it’s all I’ve been able to think about.

After another five minutes of mental gymnastics, I exit the bedroom to face the issue head on. But the moment Addie sees me, she beams , her smile full force, and I forget who I am and what my purpose is. “Have you been here the whole time?” she asks.

I nod. “Late night. Slept in.” Honestly, I’d been worried about how she’d be after how I acted yesterday, but knowing her as well as I do now, I figured she’d call or text if she was pissed at me. She did neither.

“I was about to call you,” she says.

“Yeah?”

“I didn’t know what time that boxing lesson is… if you’re still okay with me joining you.”

“Of course.” But first, we should talk. I try to get the words out, but what comes instead is, “We’ll leave in ten?” Weak . Addie has made me weak. Actually, that’s completely false. She’s made me the opposite. Which is what I need to tell her. Soon. Or eventually. Or at some point.

Fuck.

Addie’s still smiling, and the sight of it stirs up something deep inside me. Something I’ve been trying to push away for a while now. “I should get changed then.”

“All right.” I stare at her longer than I should, before turning away. “I’ll meet you outside.”

“Whoa.” Addie says, stopping just inside the gym. “When you said you had a gym in your garage, I assumed you meant a couple of mats and a punching bag.” She sweeps her gaze over the space. “This is?—”

“Extreme?” I cut in. “I know.” It was the first big purchase Linc and I made when we started making money off our content.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that I regret the decision, but we definitely didn’t need to go as extreme as we did.

In our young, dumb minds, I think we justified it by considering it a gift for everyone else.

We got enough equipment so all our brothers could be here at once, and it wouldn’t feel cramped.

That’s never happened. “It’s ridiculous. ”

“Not really,” Addie’s quick to say, assessing me from head to toe. “I mean, clearly you use it.”

I cross my arms, hide my smirk. “Are you flirting with me?”

She shrugs, stepping closer. “Is that what you were doing yesterday?”

Shit. She has me there, and flirting is definitely not what we should be doing right now. I clear my throat, try to find even ground again. “I don’t recall.”

Another step closer. “You don’t recall telling me you wanted to devour every inch of me? From my tits?—”

“Trust me, I remember what I said,” I interrupt, taking a step back.

“And, one: I didn’t tell you I wanted to.

I said I would if I were around you a second longer.

” That isn’t significantly better. “But—” I heave out a sigh.

“I shouldn’t have said that. I took things too far, and I’m sorry.

” There, I apologized. That was the first thing I needed to say, and now it’s done.

“You don’t need to apologize…”

“I do.” I swallow my nerves, push through my anxiety. “We should talk.”

Her eyebrows rise. “Okay…?”

I lead her toward the row of bench presses and have her sit down.

Then I sit on the bench opposite. And I…

I bite back a groan. Obviously, I’ve noticed Addie’s body before.

But it’s different now. She’s in her workout clothes—a sports bra and tight shorts—every inch of fabric glued to her flesh, leaving just enough to the imagination.

And what little is left has me imagining things I shouldn’t.

Especially in gym shorts, and especially with her sitting only inches away.

I’ve been sporting a half-chub since the moment she walked out of the studio, wearing what she’s wearing, and announced “Ready!” as if she didn’t just take all the oxygen from my lungs—or the ten-mile radius surrounding my lungs.

“Dammit,” I hiss, removing my shirt and slipping it over her head. “I can’t think with you looking like that.”

She giggles, slipping her arms through the sleeves, before casting her gaze over my now bare torso.

“Don’t look at me like that, either.”

Her eyes roll. “What are you going to do? Blindfold me?”

“Only if you beg.”

“Liam!” she gasps. Eyes huge. Jaw unhinged.

I sigh, exasperated with myself. Clearly, I have no fucking self-control when it comes to her. I rub at my eyes, murmur, “I need you to work with me here, Addie. It’s taking a hell of a lot of restraint not to…” I trail off, shaking my head to rid the thoughts.

Her eyes are right on mine, unblinking, unwavering. She taps my legs with the tip of her shoes and asks. “To what?”

“To bend you over that bench and fuck you raw. That’s what.

” I lean forward, ignoring her look of shock, and settle my elbows on my knees.

If I’m going to get through this, I have to push through the lust scorching through my veins.

“Listen… there’s a reason I left like I did yesterday, and it has everything to do with me, and nothing at all to do with you. ”

“Right.” She instantly pulls away, her eyes no longer able to meet mine. “Because even though you’re physically attracted to me, you can’t see me as anything other than that ten-year-old girl?—”

“Obviously, that’s not true,” I cut in.

“Because I hurt you once, so that means I’ll hurt you always?”

“Stop,” I plead. “You gave your reasons for doing what you did, and I understand, and I’ve forgiven you. You know that, right?”

She still can’t look at me when she asks, the insecurity in her tone making me weak at the knees, “Then what is it?”

I take a moment, trying to gather my thoughts. Thoughts that have run circles in my mind since I left her yesterday. “I like you, Addie. A lot.”

“Great,” she scoffs, rolling her eyes. “I’ve been friend-zoned.”

I heave out a breath, trying to find a semblance of clarity.

This all made sense when I came to my conclusion at some point yesterday, but now…

I don’t know. “I like being around you in general, but more than anything, I like the way being around you makes me feel . I don’t think you realize how grateful I am to you for pushing me.

For forcing me out of my comfort zone and encouraging me to see the world differently.

I want—no, I need someone like you in my life, and I really want that someone to be you. ”

Her cloudy eyes finally meet mine, and I inhale my first full breath since we sat down.

“And as selfish as it is, I don’t want to do anything to ruin that. I can’t take a chance on losing you, Addie, and I worry that taking the next step might do exactly that.”

Her blink is slow, releasing her tears, and she’s quick to wipe them away.

I reach over, settle my hands on her knees. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t want to make you cry.”

She shakes her head. “They’re good tears,” she croaks.

“Yeah?”

She nods. “As far as rejections go, that was a pretty good one.”

“I don’t want you to feel rejected.”

“I don’t,” she says, sitting taller. “I was kidding. It’s kind of the opposite of rejection, actually. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone hold me to such high praise.”

I smile. “You mean a lot to me, Adelaide Baker.”

She laughs through her tears. “Look at you, saying exactly what’s on your mind. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks.” I stand, grinning like an idiot. “I like to refer to it as The Addie Effect.”