Page 76 of Liam (Preston Brothers #4)

Addie | One year later

Liam’s fast asleep when I enter the bedroom, and so I press my lips to his cheek. “Morning.”

He groans, one eye opening first, then the other.

“I’m leaving.”

“What time is it?”

“Early. You can go back to sleep, but where are the keys?”

He sits up, forcing his eyes to open. “Didn’t you tear my jeans off in the bathroom last night?”

I smile. “Oh, yeah.”

All our “intimate” moments must be had in the bathroom now, since they’re the only rooms in the house with a lock—kind of like the cabin.

“We need to get the fuck out of this house,” he mumbles.

“Soon,” I say, pushing down on his shoulders until he’s flat on his back again. “Go back to sleep. I don’t like sleepy-grumpy Liam.”

“Mmm,” he groans, and a second later, he’s fast asleep.

I creep into the bathroom next door to the bedroom—Lucas’s old room—and grab his jeans off the floor, find the keys in the pocket.

A few months ago, Liam and Lincoln decided to move into the cabin permanently, which meant building an extension.

I don’t think Liam thought about the consequences of it, because it meant him having to move back into the main house until it was completed.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to share a room with Lincoln anymore, but the whole lack of privacy thing is really getting to him.

I quietly make my way downstairs and into the kitchen, halting momentarily when I see Tom and Alyssa sitting at the counter, drinking their coffees. “Morning, Addie,” Tom beams.

“Morning!”

“You’re up early,” Alyssa notes.

She moved into the house a few months ago, and it’s been quite the adjustment for the twins and Lachlan. It had been twelve years since Lucy moved out and into the cabin, so they’d gotten used to only boys in the house.

Tom on the other hand—considering he raised seven kids under this roof—likes the extra company.

Apparently, the night I came over after visiting Pierson was Tom and Alyssa’s two-year anniversary.

For two whole years , they kept their relationship a secret, and now they look back on it and laugh.

Neither of them knows why they hid it—fear of judgment, they guess, but clearly, they had nothing to worry about.

I open the fridge and pull out the containers of leftovers from the night before.

We’ve gotten into somewhat of a routine in the Preston house.

I spend most nights here and will occasionally offer to cook dinner—though it’s never expected.

Liam always helps, and Lincoln pretends to, so…

that part hasn’t changed. “I’m trying to catch the boys before they leave for work,” I say, checking the time.

“And I’m running late. I’ll see you tonight!

” I rush outside to the minivan and get behind the wheel.

Yes, I drive now. Liam was the one to suggest I battle this particular fear, and since he’d fought off so many of his own—being in places he wasn’t accustomed to, traveling farther out of town, and actually getting on a plane—I kind of did it to make him proud, like I was of him.

So, we started with the golf cart, then moved on to the ATV, then the minivan.

My therapist says it wasn’t a dread of actually driving that held me back; it was not being able to control my surroundings.

So, in a way, Liam and I had the same fears, just for different reasons.

My driving again came in handy for the summer road trip Liam and I took.

We packed a backpack each, some snacks for the road, and took off.

No destination in mind. Just a single song to start a playlist—“The Way” by Fastball.

Thankfully, we didn’t meet the same fate as the couple the song was written about.

Roman made sure to check over the van before we left, and Lincoln met up with us a few times just to “check in.” In other words, he missed his twin.

I’m glad he was able to meet us, though, because Liam sure missed him, too.

Also, Liam allowed Logan access to our location so at least one person knew where we were at all times. Just in case. He said it was so Logan could ride “shotgun,” whatever that means.

Speaking of Logan…

I find it very coincidental that he was the one in the car video when Lincoln revealed the story about my ribbons. And he was also the one who put the filing cabinets in the cabin rather than the main office. And he was the one who set up that specific job for me…

I brought it up to him once, and he merely shrugged, said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But he had this little smirk on his lips, and I was positive he knew…

He knew exactly what he was doing.

And I couldn’t be more grateful to him.

Now, I don’t drive out onto the main road.

Instead, I drive through the Preston property, past the cabin, beside the lake and up the hill, parking right beside the fence.

A year ago, it was a chain-link fence with some wires cut so I could fit through the gap.

Now, it’s a wooden fence with an actual gate.

I hop out of the van and reach up, unlocking the gate so I can step through.

Our old trailer is gone now, and I was right here when the Preston Construction crew tore it down.

I like to refer to the day as “Goodbye Hellhole.” Tom even let Roman and I control the bulldozer.

To watch the walls crumble, along with the memories those walls contained, was one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever witnessed, let alone be a part of.

It was incredibly cathartic, and I laughed through my tears.

And Roman—he was right there to hold me through it all.

So was Wyatt.

And so was every single one of the Prestons.

There are two temporary double-wides on the lot now, and I open the door to the first one and call out, “Anyone here?”

Even though I technically live here, the last time I entered this early without announcing myself, I caught The Heidi slipping on one of Roman’s shirts.

There’s no Heidi here now, but I can hear the shower running, so I leave his lunch container on the kitchen counter and send him a text letting him know it’s there.

Then I jog across the driveway to the other house and open that door without knocking.

Wyatt’s sitting at the kitchen counter, downing a bowl of cereal.

“Good morning,” I greet, a little too loud and cheerful because I know how much he hates it.

I kiss the side of his head, and he grumbles something I can’t make out before lifting the bowl and drinking the milk.

It spills over the lip and leaks onto his work shirt, right over the Preston Construction logo.

I giggle.

He grumbles some more.

The first time Tom Preston met Wyatt was when he was here to support me during “Goodbye Hellhole.” Everything was going great until Tom asked Wyatt how Liam’s old truck was treating him.

Yeah. Of all the things I was clueless to, the fact that my boyfriend gave his truck to my best friend was pretty high on that list.

I wanted to be mad. Outraged. And when I pulled Liam aside to ask what the fuck , I looked into his eyes and was met with an ocean of kindness. How could I be mad at him for being exactly who I fell in love with? Besides, he explained, it’s not as if he needed it.

After that day, Wyatt and I started spending more time together, which meant that he and Liam did, too. And Lincoln, of course. Now all three of them hang out without me. They golf, hunt, do whatever bros do.

Oh, and Tom Preston offered him a full-time job, which he accepted.

Obviously.

“Morning, AB,” Griffin calls out, appearing from the hallway.

I can’t remember which came first—Wyatt working for the Prestons or him moving in with Dayna and Griffin.

The job was an offer; Dayna and Griffin didn’t give him a choice when they told him he was staying with them.

After they found out about our pasts and saw how he was currently living, the decision was made.

“Morning, Coach.” I hand Griffin the container with last night’s leftovers. “How is she?”

“She’s sleeping. She was up all night with the baby.”

Right on cue, the baby cries, and I rush to the bedroom.

Dayna sits up just as I enter. “I got him,” I tell her, picking up the baby boy from the crib. “You go back to sleep.”

“You don’t have class?”

“Not until eleven,” I whisper. “Go rest.” I don’t give her a chance to protest, just quietly slip out of the room and back to the kitchen. “He’s so cute,” I murmur.

“Give,” Wyatt says, and I hand baby Zane over to him. Zane came to Dayna and Griffin on an emergency placement right after he was born. That was two months ago. Right before Griffin officially started his new job as head coach of baseball and softball at West High School.

It didn’t take a lot of convincing to get him to at least interview for the position, but I did pay my old third-grade teacher a little visit beforehand.

Not only did I tell her and her husband how great Griffin would be for the job, but I also gave her the answers she needed.

She said she always wondered about me, and so I told her the truth so she never had to wonder again—I had been raised by three of the most incredible humans to ever walk this earth, and because of them, I can say that I’m good… and finally mean it.

Since Coach Harden wasn’t retiring for another year when Griffin interviewed, they could only offer him an assistant coach’s position, which was, as we already knew, part time and voluntary. It was an enormous risk to take—moving their entire lives from Raleigh to here on a maybe .