Page 55 of Liam (Preston Brothers #4)

Liam

It takes Dayna some time to calm Addie’s sobs before she’s willing to go to a bedroom and talk.

Meanwhile, I still don’t know what to do.

I can’t even tell if Addie knows I’m here. That I’ve been here the whole time.

I sit on the couch, Logan at the other end, Roman across from us in an armchair flanked by a side table. On it, a photo of Mia, Leo, and Benny stares back at me. We’re in Mia’s dad’s house—the one he stays in when he visits, and I can barely recall how the fuck I got here.

And I have no clue what the fuck is going on.

Still, I don’t speak.

I don’t ask.

Roman clears his throat, rests his elbows on his knees when he sits forward. “Do you know who Dayna is?” he asks me, and I nod. “Do you know about Addie’s parents?”

I nod. Again.

Because I don’t know what else to do, how else to feel. It’s like I’ve been dropped into a movie—one I’m somehow starring in, but no one gave me the script.

Roman heaves out a sigh, his gaze moving from the closed bedroom door to me. “Just so we’re clear, I asked Addie if she wanted me to talk to you about this, and she said yes, so I’m not revealing anything she doesn’t want you to know.”

I look to Logan, searching for a flicker of sense. He merely nods, encouraging me to listen. And so I face Roman again, squaring my shoulders and preparing for the worst. “Okay…” I say, finally finding my voice.

“Since Addie was little,” Roman starts, “she’s always dealt with negative emotions by shutting down.

She doesn’t talk. Doesn’t eat. Doesn’t sleep.

Doesn’t live in the present. And then something will happen—something that will flip a switch inside her, and suddenly, she’ll act as if nothing has happened at all.

That’s what she was like two nights ago, after you took her to the junkyard.

” His eyes remain on mine, as if watching for my reaction—one I don’t have.

“That night I called Dayna and asked her to come here. And Logan got the keys to this house, so we could all stay together. I needed her here, because I knew I needed help. I knew what was coming.”

It hurts to swallow the ache in my throat. “What was coming?”

“What you saw today.” Roman inhales a huge breath and sits straighter.

“Addie has a habit of dealing with her feelings by flatlining.” He holds his hand out in a straight line.

“And then something will cause her to crawl out of that darkness…” He tilts his hand, fingers pointed to the ceiling.

“She’ll climb to the peak, and then…” He drops his hand completely.

“And then she’ll jump. And she’ll fall, and fall, and fall. ”

I think about the four days I was away with Lincoln. Was she shut down that whole time? Flatline? Did bringing her to the junkyard make things worse? “I’ve spent the past two days with her and she seemed fine,” I mumble.

“Yeah… she was climbing to the peak,” Roman explains.

I lower my stare, my eyes as scattered as the thoughts invading my mind. “So what I witnessed today—that was her falling?”

“No. That was her hitting the ground.” He pauses a beat, a restless breath leaving him.

“I don’t know how much Addie’s told you about her life and her past, but…

she had it real rough when she was younger, right after I moved out.

When I moved back in, I tried to ask her about it—what all happened while I was gone, and she would just… ”

“Shut down?” I finish for him.

He nods. “If she did talk, it would be to tell me she didn’t remember.

And I don’t know why or when I accepted that answer as truth, but…

I did. And I shouldn’t have. Because I think she got so used to saying it that at some point, she started believing it herself.

And maybe that was for the best, but I don’t know.

I think the memories were always there, but she just—she pushed them so far into the recesses of her mind, that she could ignore it. ”

“Until she couldn’t anymore,” I murmur, my gaze dropping, my mind reeling, trying to make sense of it all.

I understand what Roman’s saying—I think—but the unease in my gut still hasn’t lifted.

I first felt it when Logan stood beside me in that building…

when I realized he knew something I didn’t.

I lift my chin, look from Roman to Logan and back again. “There’s more, isn’t there?”