Page 35 of Liam (Preston Brothers #4)

I’ve never cried as much and as hard as I did once they left me alone in that room, head-butting and kicking the door, desperate for someone to notice. Occasionally, the same cop who detained me would storm in—just to yell, “Shut the fuck up, you little bitch!”

My throat burned from the force of my cries. My screams. My agony . Though, I only remember one word leaving my mouth the entire time— Roman .

I can’t recall how long I spent in that room, but I remember the click of the door handle when it opened for the last time.

I pushed out of my chair and retreated to the corner as my monster approached, then towered over me.

He grabbed my still-handcuffed arms and whispered, his mouth right to my ear, “Your brother messed with the wrong one.”

It was all he said before removing my cuffs and guiding me out of the room.

I expected him to take me to Roman, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, he led me into another room, where a female senior officer was waiting.

“Adelaide.” She smiled at me, as if that smile alone could erase the events of the night.

“Your brother’s been arrested, and I’ve been trying to find your parents. Do you know where they are?”

I shook my head, my heart as heavy as the tears that poured out of me.

“No.” Roman was the only parent I had, and I didn’t even know where he was.

I can still hear the sob that escaped me in that moment, and I hated it then as much as I hate it today.

That single sound displayed my weakness, made it easy for everyone to see.

To use . I lifted my gaze, read the name tag of the woman opposite me.

Misty Sanders. “ Miss Sanders,” I pleaded. “I want to see my brother.”

It took almost five years for my pleas to be heard.

Now, I sit beside Leo Preston, who’s wearing the same uniform as the demon in my nightmare.

He silently led me from the field to the highest spot on the bleachers and chose a seat in the corner, away from prying eyes and ears.

I feel like I’ve been here for an eternity already, and yet neither of us has said a word.

I’m reminded of the time Griffin and I did something similar. The location, the silence… the feeling of weighted dread tied with the fear of the unknown.

The pursuit of perfection includes redemption… and redemption is realizing you’re imperfect.

I’m finding it really hard to be perfect right now.

I want nothing more than to run.

Flee.

Never look back.

Leo clears his throat, and my bones rattle against my flesh. “How’d your elbow hold up the next day?”

I turn to him, confused.

He continues, his gaze trained forward, “My jaw, you ask? It was pretty bad. Had to tell my wife I got into a bar fight with a burly biker. Hard to explain how I checked in on an abandoned trailer in the middle of the night and let a girl half my size overpower me.”

My spine straightens, my eyes wide when understanding dawns. No. No. No. This can’t be happening. “I—” I swallow the fear lodged in my chest. “I’m so sorry.”

I expect him to lecture me, give me some form of reprimand. Instead, he laughs—this low hum of a sound, and relief washes through me as he shakes his head, turns to me, his blue eyes dancing with amusement. “Don’t even worry about it.”

“I…” I bring my hands to my face to cover my shame.

Maybe wearing a pretty dress impressed some of the Prestons. Or maybe not. But physically attacking one of them definitely won’t.

“Just so you know,” Leo says, “my dad has cameras there, and he saw movement and called me. I wasn’t there on official business, so there was nothing to report. You’re safe.”

I lower my hands, my eyes drifting shut. Humiliation flows through me in waves until I’m suffocating under the wake. “Does he know it was me?”

“Not unless you told him.”

“I appreciate that,” I tell him, then pause a moment, trying to come up with the right words to explain my behavior. “I panicked, I guess. To be honest, I think I heard your command and saw your uniform, and—” Fight or flight . “I haven’t exactly had the best experience with cops in the past, so…”

“That’s…” His chest rises, then deflates with his heavy exhale. “That’s completely valid, Addie.” He tries to smile, but it’s filled with so much sadness, I’m left to question what it means. How much does he know? How much does anyone here know about me?

The thought had been plaguing my mind lately, ever since my conversation with Tom. He knew more than I expected. More than I wanted him to. And then Lincoln…

He stopped smiling at ten, right around the time he became Twincest.

When I accepted Roman’s invitation to stay with him for the summer, all I expected was to spend time with him, maybe get to know him again.

Sure, I’ve spoken to Wyatt in the years I was gone, but he never even hinted about what people thought or said about us.

I guess I just assumed that any fragments of my existence here vanished the moment I did.

But this was my home— a town I’d lived in for most of my life, and…

the ghost of me still lived here, haunting those I left behind.

I think about Liam—about his reaction when he first saw me and the visceral hatred he had towards me.

I may have left, but my actions didn’t.

I look back out at the field, my gaze scattered, my mind spinning.

I try to recall every interaction I’ve had since my return.

How much do they know? Small towns live on gossip.

My brother’s arrest, followed by my leaving…

it’s not something that happens every day.

Miss Harden pops into my mind… I’ve always wondered what happened to you…

My breath catches in my throat, and I slowly face Leo again. “The backpack?” I choke out. “The photo and baseball… that was you?”

Leo smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why would you…?”

He shrugs. “I figured you were there for a reason, and once I worked out who you were, it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together…” he trails off.

My gaze lowers. “Where did you find them?” I ask him. “I thought I looked everywhere.”

Leo huffs out a breath, his gaze shifting, as if deciding whether to tell me. After a long pause, he finally reveals, “It was in your evidence bag.”

“You stole evidence?”

Leo’s quiet a beat. “How much do you remember from the night of Roman’s arrest?”

“Too much,” I murmur.

Leo nods. “Do you remember speaking to a female officer that night?”

“Misty Sanders?”

“Yeah.” His smile is genuine this time. “Have you met Laney? Luke’s girl?”

“Yeah.”

“Misty is Laney’s stepmom. She runs the entire department now. And Laney’s dad—Brian—is my dad’s head foreman, which makes?—”

“Brian one of Roman’s bosses?”

“That, too,” he says. “But what I was going to say is”—he motions to Liam, now walking toward us—“Roman’s as much of a brother to me as Liam is. Which makes you family… whether you like it or not.”

Liam

I eye Leo curiously as we pass each other on the bleachers, but his demeanor alone gives nothing away. Kind of the same with Addie when I sit down beside her. “You good?” I ask.

She nods, leaning into me slightly.

I pull out my phone, show her the screen. “I know Benny already gave you one, but I got us matching ones,” I tell her, enlarging the picture of the yo-yos I’d purchased last night. “Mine’s blue, yours is orange. We can practice together. Or with Benny.”

She smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “You don’t have to buy me things.”

“I know,” I tell her, shrugging and putting the phone down beside me.

“It’s not about the yo-yo. I think… watching you and Benny yesterday, and then him having fun today, I realized—I don’t really have fun anymore.

” Not until the past few days. “Not like when I was Benny’s age.

” I pause a breath, thinking a moment. I wasn’t exaggerating when I told Logan I didn’t want to keep living my life the way I have been—completely closed off to the world, almost afraid it would reveal too much of what I already knew was out there. Darkness mainly.

But—

Slivers of light have to exist in order to know what darkness is.

Just like light has to exist in order to create shadows.

And maybe that light isn’t blindingly bright.

Maybe it’s something you have to search for…

like a faded memory, or a whisper of hope, or understanding and acceptance.

Or… maybe it’s someone who makes you realize there’s depth to the darkness.

And maybe that someone’s sitting right next to me.

I look out over the field, my mind flooding with memories of better days.

Memories that included Addie. “I’ve been thinking lately—about how much of an illusion time is,” I murmur.

“One second I’m a kid, without a care in the world, and the next I’m…

this. Whatever this is. I just want a piece of that feeling back, you know?

And maybe yo-yos aren’t the answer, but maybe it’s a start. ”

“Maybe it’s a start,” she repeats in a whisper, facing forward, giving me the perfect view of her profile.

The sun’s turned her eyes the color of honey, and I die inside every time she blinks, restricting my access to them.

She heaves out a breath before turning to me.

“This is so random, but… I have this memory of you. I’m sure you don’t remember.

I mean, you’d remember, but for different reasons… ”

“Are you going to tell me, or do you have an edging kink?”

“No kink,” she says. “And I don’t even know what that means.”

“It’s—” I shake my head. It’s irrelevant. “Tell me the memory.”

“Okay. So… in third grade, we were in the nurse’s office together?—”

“Oh, I remember.” How could I forget? I’m surprised she remembers, though.

“Yeah, because you’d just broken your arm.”

“No,” I say, shifting my gaze forward. I can already feel the heat at the base of my neck, but I try to push through the nerves. “I remember because it was the first time I ever spoke to you.”

“What?” She nudges my side. “No, we’d spoken before that. Surely…”

“Nope. Not directly.” I face her again. “We were in the same class, played on the same team, but I was always intimidated by how pretty you were, so…”

“Liam…”

I shrug. “I remember sitting opposite you in that room, and I kept looking at you, then looking away.” I laugh at the memory.

“And I wanted to say something, anything. I just had all these words running through my head, and I couldn’t verbalize a single one.

Then when you were leaving, I finally found the courage, and said?—”

“I hope you feel better, Addie.”

I smile full force.

She smiles back—genuine this time—and it lights up the flecks of gold in her irises.

“What were you in there for?”

She breaks our stare. “I don’t want to ruin the memory,” she says through a sigh.

“Why? What happened?”

Her shoulders lift with her shrug. “I had a stomachache because I hadn’t eaten in days. My parents had disappeared three days earlier. That’s why Roman picked me up.”

“Shit, Addie,” I mumble, the sudden ache in my chest making it hard to see straight.

If I’d known…

If she’d said something…

If I had the courage to speak to her earlier, maybe…

“You know we were right around Benny’s age then,” she says, looking out at the field. I follow her gaze. “Look at him.” Benny’s on the sidelines, still dancing and laughing with the few teammates who have stuck around.

“You brought fun back into the game for him,” I tell her. “For me, too.”

She faces me. “Yeah?”

I nod, match her smile. “I’m telling you. It’s The Addie Effect.”

“Nah,” she says, shaking her head. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you do realize how amazing your family is, right?”

“I’m starting to see that,” I tell her honestly.

Prior to Addie coming back into my life, I took them for granted.

I’d have easily hopped in my car before daybreak and driven to nowhere, but now?

I can’t imagine my life without them. “Speaking of my family.” I tap her leg.

“We’re all heading back to the lake. Roman, too. You coming?”

“I can’t,” she whines, pouting. “I made plans before Benny invited me here, so…”

Right. Because unlike me, she has a whole life outside of work, and the cabin, and us . Not that we’re an us , but we’re definitely something.

I push down my disappointment and hesitate to ask, “Plans with who?”

“I’d tell you, but you might get mad.”

Helmet . I mean, I figured as much, considering he’s the only person around here she seems to have stayed in contact with. “Do you need a ride somewhere?

“No, he’s meeting me in the parking lot. Actually, he’s already here.”

I walk Addie to the parking lot, and, unfortunately for me, the rest of my family follow, carrying equipment bags and coolers and whatever dumb things they bring to these games. Wyatt’s beat-up truck is easy to spot, sitting idle, taking up two parking spots. Idiot.

I lean against the side of the minivan while the rest of the family load up their cars.

Addie stops in front of me, close enough that I could reach out, grasp the back of her neck, and kiss her to the point of claiming her.

I don’t. For reasons. Instead, I quickly tug on my jersey she’s still wearing. “This suits you.”

“That’s good,” she says, smirking. “Because you’re not getting it back.”

I lift my chin, look down at her. “It’s got my name on it.”

“Oh, I know.” She runs a hand over the fabric. “It’s kind of my way of claiming you, Preston .”

My eyebrows rise, and I push off the van, stand taller. “Claiming me, huh?”

She laughs quietly. “Well, according to you, I’m no Mike Tyson, so this will have to do.”

I lean in, lower my voice. “You know… I’d be kissing you right now if literally everyone wasn’t here.” I pause a beat. “Helmet can fuck off. The shit my brothers would give me—I can handle… but your brother? Scares the living crap out of me.”

“Yeah,” she says, rolling her eyes. “That’s the Roman Effect.” Then she pushes up on her toes and hugs me around the neck. I hug her back. We may not be able to kiss in front of an audience, but a mere wave or lame high five sure isn’t going to cut it either.

Arms around her waist, and mouth to her ear, I tell her, “Text me when you get home.”

She pulls back, smiling from ear to ear. “Yes, sir.”