Page 72 of Liam (Preston Brothers #4)

Liam

The summer is almost over.

And a lot has changed in a single season.

I see a future now, which is something that didn’t exist only months ago.

The problem is—the future I see didn’t necessarily align with my twin brother’s.

Sitting down and telling him I wanted out of the whole YouTube/Influencer thing was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

The fear of disappointing him has been the only reason I hadn’t done it earlier.

Obviously, Lincoln—being as in tune as he is with me—already knew it was coming.

He asked for six more months. We give it everything we have, film like crazy, and have enough in our drafts to last another year.

Maybe two if we’re lucky. That way, we have the income stream flowing in while we go off and do our own thing.

I agreed.

It was the least I could do.

But, honestly, it was probably the best thing we could’ve done for our channel, because having that pressure off us meant that we could have fun again—in a way I hadn’t felt since before we went “viral.”

Now, Linc and I are out front, recording ourselves washing Chicken. It’s not the best, most creative content we’ve come up with, but the views we get when we’re shirtless are higher than average. Clearly, it was Linc’s idea, and since views equals money, I can’t really complain.

I did, however, ask Addie’s permission first.

Her response? “I don’t care. Your fans have to lick you through a screen. I get to do it in real life.”

You know what’s fucking cool? Having Addie as a girlfriend.

The tripod is set up facing away from the studio, and Linc and I wash Chicken while naming our top threes.

Top three movies, songs, things we’re proud of, irrational fears—you get the idea.

It’s a topic we discuss often on the channel, because even though Linc and I are twins and we almost always think the same, the times we don’t always lead to ridiculous arguments where Linc curses and hurls insults at me, and I laugh at his reaction. Our viewers seem to love it.

“Top three celebrity crushes,” Lincoln says, slapping Chicken with a foam sponge.

“Go easy on her,” I say, squatting down and rubbing Chicken’s snout. “She’s just a baby.”

“She’s absolutely not a baby,” he says. “What even is the life-span of a pig?”

He grabs the towel on the roof of the minivan and dries his hands before reaching for his phone and tapping away. “What is the life-span of a pig?” he says out loud. “Ten to fifteen years.” He looks up. “When did we get her?”

Lucas and Logan had Chicken delivered to Leo’s dorm as a prank during his one year of college. They thought they’d ordered one of those miniature pigs. They were scammed. “When was Leo in college?” I ask.

Lincoln motions to the camera, as if I’d forgotten it was there. I hadn’t. “I’ll edit it out,” I tell him.

Because of Leo’s occupation and who the father of his wife is, he’s the only one of our siblings we don’t mention by name.

“Five years ago,” Linc answers my previous question. “She’s not a baby anymore.”

“That doesn’t mean you should slap her with shit!”

“Top three celebrities, motherfucker!” he shouts, spraying me with the hose.

I try to block the spray, but he just shifts his target. “Addie! Addie! Addie!”

He stops spraying. “She’s not a celebrity!”

“She’s a college athlete.”

“She’s a college athlete,” he mocks. Then he motions to the camera again. “You going to leave that in?”

“I’ll edit it out.” I also don’t mention Addie in our videos, not because I’m trying to hide the fact that she exists, but because we agreed to wait. Still, some viewers clued in on it already, because I left an inch of her toes in one of our shots. Insane .

Liam sprays me again. “You’re going to edit this whole fucking video out.”

I charge at him, grabbing the hose. Then I bust his rib with my shoulder, tackling him to the ground.

He lands with an oof , then a burst of laughter.

I push on his side, forcing him to roll over once.

Twice. Then quickly press my foot to his chest, aim the nozzle at his face, but don’t pull the trigger. “Top three celebrities, motherfucker!”

“We’re going to get demonetized if you keep swearing.”

“Oh, yeah.” I roll my eyes. “I’m the fucking problem.” I spray directly on his face.

“Fuck you!” he laughs out.

“Number one?”

“Julie Andrews!”

“She’s not a celebrity,” I mock, repeating his words. “And didn’t you break up?”

He laughs harder. “No, I mean the Julie Andrews.”

I go to spray him again, then stop abruptly. “Wait. Mary Poppins Julie Andrews or Julie Andrews now?”

“Neither,” he says. “ The Princess Diaries Julie Andrews.”

I spray his face. His chest. His nuts. “You’re fucked.”

“What do you want me to say?” he laughs out. “That crown makes my dick hard!”

I bust out a guffaw. “There’s something mentally wrong with—” I break off when a strange truck pulls into the driveway.

Unless you’re local, or have been here before, it’s hard to even see the opening of this driveway from the road.

“The fuck is this?” Lincoln says, shoving my foot away so he can stand.

The truck parks behind the minivan, and Linc stands beside me. I can feel the protectiveness he instantly cloaks me with. “You’re good,” I say, slapping his shoulder before making my way to the truck.

Dayna hops out first, then a man I assume is Griffin.

He eyes me, then Lincoln behind me. I can only imagine what he’s seeing—identical twins in nothing but gym shorts, both dripping wet.

One covered in dirt. Oh, and the 350-pound pig who comes to stand beside me.

I pat her head, a silent, “It’s okay, Chicken. ”

“Hi, Dayna,” I say. “It’s good to see you again.” I focus on Griffin. “You must be Griffin.”

Griffin rolls back on his heels. “Which means you must be Liam.”

My smile is instant. “Yeah.”

“And who is this?” Dayna asks, motioning to Chicken.

I scratch Chicken’s ears. “This is Chicken, our pet pig. Chicken, say oink.”

Chicken oinks.

Dayna giggles. “That’s wild.”

I lift both my hands. “I’d shake your hand, but we’ve just been washing her, so…”

“No problem,” Dayna says, looking over my shoulder. “Roman told you we were coming, right?”

“Yeah.”

“He told us where to find y’all. I hope it’s okay we’re here.”

“Of course,” I assure.

Lincoln pipes up for the first time. “Say casa, Moo casa.”

I face him. “I don’t think that’s right.”

“No?” He shrugs. “Anyway, let me get Addie.” He runs toward the cabin.

“Does she have any clue we’re here?” Dayna asks, her hands folded beneath her chin.

“None.” I crack a smile. “She’s going to lose her mind.”

Lincoln opens the door, shouts, “Baby Baker!”

“Aww, that’s such a cute name,” Dayna coos, pushing into Griffin’s side.

Addie yells back, “Only Liam’s allowed to call me that!”

“She can tell you apart from your voice?” Griffin asks.

My cheeks officially hurt from smiling. “She’s literally the only one in the world who can.”

“Yeah?” Dayna asks, just as Lincoln shouts, “Come out here! Liam needs help with something!”

A second later, Addie appears in the doorway, and a second after that, she’s sprinting down the steps and crashing right into Griffin’s arms. Griffin’s head throws back with his laughter as he strokes Addie’s back. “I missed you, too.”

Addie doesn’t say a word, just goes from Griffin to Dayna and hugs her the same way. It takes me a second to realize she’s crying. There’s no sound to her cries, just the shaking of her shoulders as she’s wrapped in both her foster parents’ embrace.

The one thing that really hurt her when she decided to stay here and defer a semester was how much she would miss Dayna and Griffin.

For a few days, she was torn about her decision.

Wrote up a pros and cons list and everything.

In the end, the support she got through therapy won out, and in a way, selfishly, so did I.

Addie pulls back, wiping at her cheeks. Then her eyes widen. “The boys!” She runs toward the truck, then stops when she gets to the back seats. Her shoulders drop as she turns back around. “They’re gone?” she asks so quietly I barely hear her.

Dayna’s the one who answers. “They’re back with their mama, Addie. It’s a good thing.”

Addie nods, her chest heaving. She looks back in the truck. “You brought camping gear,” she says, making her way back to us. “You guys are staying?”

“Just a couple of days,” Griffin replies.

Dayna adds, “We don’t want to get in the way. We were just missing you, so…”

Addie hugs her again. “Obviously, I missed you, too.” She laughs quietly as she pulls away, stepping toward me, her arms out for a hug.

I stop her with a hand on her forehead. “I’m all wet and dirty.”

She shoves my arm away. “Like I care.” Then she slips under my arm, right where she belongs. “Did you know about this?” she asks, and I nod. Then she turns to Griffin. “I take it you’ve met my boyfriend?”

Right now, a train could come at me full speed, kill me dead, and I’d die a happy man.

“He has,” Linc answers before anyone else can. “And they’ve also met the better-looking twin.”

“Excuse him,” I say, shaking my head.

“Hey, Griffin,” Linc says, and I already know he’s about to embarrass the absolute shit out of me. “Which Julie Andrews? Mary Poppins , The Princess Diaries , or now?”

Griffin doesn’t skip a beat. “ The Princess Diaries . It’s the crown.”

“Ha!” Linc points a finger in my face. “I told you.”

I slap his hand away, focus on Dayna and Griffin. “Where are you staying?”

“There’s a campground not far from here,” Griffin answers.

“You should stay at the house. We’ve got plenty of empty bedrooms,” I offer.

“It’s okay. We like camping,” Griffin says, but the look on Dayna’s face says otherwise.

I bite back a chuckle.

“Well, camp on our land then. We’ve got plenty of that, too,” Linc says.

“No.” I shake my head. “I should’ve asked where you were staying before you got here.” I turn to Linc. “Isn’t that bougie hotel up the highway always asking to comp us? Can’t we just say we want to go and not?”

Linc nods, reaching for his phone. “On it,” he says, tapping away.

“Bougie hotel, you say?” Dayna asks, holding Griffin’s arm to her chest. “That’ll be a first.”

“Complimentary?” Griffin asks, eyebrows raised.

Addie hugs me tighter. “They’re kind of a big deal.”

“Where did you stay last time?” Griffin asks.

“Mia’s dad’s house,” Addie answers.

“Who’s Mia?” Griffin asks.

“Our sister-in-law,” Linc and I say in unison.

I add, “He’s in town at the moment, so it’s not available.”

Lincoln scoffs. “Mia would kick her dad out to host you…” He stands in front of me, just so he can pinch my cheeks. “If it made Widdle Wiam happy.”

“Would you knock it off!” I laugh out, shoving his hands away. I get he’s trying to humiliate me, and I can’t even be mad about it. I’d do the same. I turn to Addie. “I’ll call you after Benny’s game.”

“Oh, Benny…” she whines. “I told him I’d be there.”

“It’s okay,” I console, rubbing her arm. “I’ll tell him why you can’t make it. He’ll understand.”

“We can go to the game,” Dayna says. “What game?”

“Little league,” Linc and I answer.

“Baseball?” Griffin asks.

Addie throws her arms around my torso. “Liam’s their coach.”

“And me!” Linc says.

Griffin chuckles. “We’ll see you there then,” he says to me. Then to Addie, “Dayna hasn’t stopped talking about this town of yours. You ready to show me around?”

Addie laughs, turning to me. “You coming?”

I shake my head. “You go. Catch up. I’ll see you later.”

“Plus, we have to finish filming. We still gotta get Chicken washed and dressed.”

Addie tilts her head, her eyebrows lowered. “Dressed?”

I shake my head. “You’ll see.”