“I had wandered down there by accident. I was just curious.”
Liam wasn’t buying it. His eyes didn’t flick away from Nathan. “Why would you rifle through somebody’s stuff?”
“Because I don’t have any manners.”
“What were you looking for?”
“I told you, nothing. Just snooping. Boxes were made to be opened.”
“Then why did you ask my eleven-year-old nephew to lie about it?”
Sweat prickled at the base of his neck. They were in a tennis match. As hard as Nathan hit the ball, Liam came back with equal force.
“You should’ve seen his face when he told me,” Liam said.
It was most likely as heartbreaking as his expression when Nathan asked Walt to keep their secret. Something had broken between them, another relationship Nathan had irreparably harmed.
“How could you ask a child to do that, a child who looks up to you?”
“I’m sorry,” Nathan said. “I panicked.”
“Walt said you were searching for something.”
“I told you, I was just a curious little cat.”
“Nathan, this isn’t funny!” Liam bolted out of his chair, but then took a breath, reining himself in. He stumbled to the couch and sat on the arm. “That’s Mariel’s stuff. Mark and the kids are very sensitive about it. They don’t want strangers rifling through it.”
“Strangers.”
The word was a bucket of cold water at four in the morning, a brutal wake-up call. Liam seemed to realize what he said instantly.
“I didn’t mean…it’s a family thing,” Liam said.
Nathan nodded, the irony tugging at his chest. Liam didn’t realize his new choice of word wasn’t any better, a confirmation that Nathan would forever be on the outside.
“Just tell me what you were looking for. Please,” Liam said, his eyes softening, the blue warmth returning to them. “Just tell me the truth.”
He was giving Nathan an opening to reveal all.Tell the truth.He feared it would only make Liam kick him out. The truth wasn’t going to set him free. It was going to make him alone. The truth had already cost him a grandfather.
But this was Liam. Liam cared about him. He wouldn’t think of Nathan as damaged goods. Nathan had gotten closer to him than anyone else in his entire life. That had to count for something. That had to be worth the risk.
“Was it alcohol?” Liam asked just as Nathan was opening his mouth. “Were you looking for a drink?”
He sneered out the words, so sure of the answer.
“Yes.” Nathan nodded his head.
The disappointment washed over Liam’s face, his shoulders, everywhere.
“Nathan.”
“I thought I could find an old bottle of anything.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Liam sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “If you need help, we can get you help.”
