Page 53 of Liam (Preston Brothers #4)

“Oh.” His shoulders drop as his eyes drift shut, and he takes a moment to breathe.

To calm the storm that had been raging inside him.

When he opens his eyes again, they go straight to Addie, now standing beside me.

“Listen,” he starts, his jaw set. “Olivia wanted me to come out here and apologize to you, but I’m not going to do that.

She lost her cool just now, which is very unlike her, but she has every right to.

” He pauses a breath. “I understand why you did what you did. I assume you’re trying to heal parts of you that are broken, but…

Liv and Dom are healing, too, and they don’t need you coming around to remind them of the tragedy they’re healing from.

” He squares his shoulders, crosses his arms. “I get that you might want redemption, but find it on your own. You showing up like this, it’s for your own selfish desires, pure and simple. So don’t do it again.”

“I won’t,” Addie’s quick to say, a sob catching in her throat. “How—how did she know it was me? That I was the one driving?”

Rhys sighs, as if resigned to the moment. “She was on the phone with her grandparents when it happened. The line stayed connected, and she heard it all. Even the aftermath—when the guy you were with told you to keep quiet. That he’d tell everyone it was him.”

I turn to Addie, watch the blood rush from her face, watch her eyes darting back and forth, like she’s trying to pull from a memory that isn’t there.

She blinks hard. Once. Twice. And then she looks at Rhys, but he’s already walking away.

“Rhys!” she calls, and he spins to us. “Will you um…” The crack in her voice shatters a piece of my heart, and I take her hand in mine. “Will you tell them…”

Rhys nods. “I’ll tell them you’re sorry.”

Addie and I stay unmoving as we watch him walk away, go back into the building. After a moment, she looks up at me, her eyes filled with tears and pain and anger and regret. “Roman?” she cries. “I want Roman.”

Without a word, I grip her hand tighter and take us to the other end of the building, where I know Roman will be.

The construction site is loud, covered in dust, scattered with drywall and scaffolding and temporary walls and posts, and we shouldn’t be in here, but we are.

I find Logan’s crew in the back corner and stay a few feet away from the power tools in action.

It’s as if my brother senses my presence before he looks up and sees it.

His eyes are narrowed at first—confusion—and then he sees Addie, and that’s all he needs to see.

All he needs to know. He takes a few steps to where Roman is working and says something I can’t make out.

The moment Roman turns to us, Addie releases my hand and runs toward him.

I thought she fell into my arms on the sidewalk earlier, but it’s nothing compared to how she falls into Roman’s.

It all happens so fast, he doesn’t even have time to react.

He seems to fall with her, catching her right before she hits the ground.

Addie’s kneeling on the floor now, her head in her hands, while Roman holds her face to his chest, wraps his entire body around her.

He’s her shield, and she—she’s never appeared so small before, so young, so breakable .

I don’t know what to do.

The room is suddenly quiet, no music, no tools. Nothing but Addie’s heart-wrenching cries that echo echo echo throughout. Or maybe that’s just in my head. In my heart. Ricocheting off my flesh.

“Everyone’s done for the day!” Logan yells. “Leave your shit and go!”

Not a single person on his crew asks questions. One by one, they file out, until it’s just the four of us.

I don’t know what to do.

Roman pulls away, holds Addie’s face in his hands and forces her to look at him. “Addie…” he whispers.

“I’m starting to remember,” she cries, shaking her head as she covers her eyes. “I don’t want to remember these things.”

Roman’s face blanches, his entire body locked up. Rigid.

Logan stands beside me, his arm brushing mine.

Addie shakes her head faster. Stronger. “I don’t want to. I don’t want to. I don’t want to.”

Roman’s eyes drift shut, and he presses his lips to her forehead. “You remember it all, don’t you?”

Addie stops moving. Stops sobbing. Roman cradles her jaw as she nods once.

“Fuck,” Logan hisses from beside me, and I turn to him.

He knows something I don’t.

They all do.

I don’t know what to do.

“How much do you remember?” Roman asks her.

Her breath hitches. Uneven gasps. One after the other. “I don’t know.”

Roman whispers something in her ear, and she turns her tear-filled eyes to mine. Another gasp. Another heart-wrenching sob. She turns to her brother, nods again.

I don’t know what to do.

He holds her a moment, and I don’t know if it’s to comfort her or himself. Then he helps her to her feet and makes his way toward us. “You got the keys?” he asks Logan.

Logan produces a set of keys from his pocket.

With Addie still tucked under his arm, he takes the keys, his wary gaze shifting between us. “We’ll meet you there.”