Our eyes met.
For a split second, there was something there. Something that looked like—concern? Protection? The same intensity I’d seen before, that pull between us that made everything else fade away.
He still—
But then Liam’s green eyes went cold. Hard as ice.
He shoved the guy away from me without a word and turned back to the chaos, like I was nothing. Like I wasn’t even there.
Why?
Before I could process it, someone else slammed into Liam from the side. They both went down in a tangle of limbs and curses, rolling across the beer-soaked deck.
“ENOUGH!”
The voice cut through the noise like a blade.
Derek Shaw appeared on the porch, Jace right behind him—the captains from both teams pushing through the crowd, grabbing guys and pulling them apart.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Derek had Liam by the arm, hauling him back.
Jace grabbed Tyler and Braden, physically separating them. “STOP. NOW.”
The fight broke apart slowly—guys still breathing hard, bloodied knuckles, split lips. The deck was a mess of spilled beer and overturned furniture. People from inside were crowding the doorway, phones out, filming.
Marcus was on the ground, nose bleeding, Braden helping him up. Blood dripped down his chin, staining his white shirt.
I looked around for Liam, and found him on the other side of the porch, the brunette girl at his side, a wiry guy with dark curly hair and glasses hovering nervously nearby.
His knuckles were split open, and there was a cut above his eyebrow already swelling.
“Are you okay?” the girl asked him, her hand on his arm.
“Fine,” Liam said, his voice rough.
He didn’t look at me.
“Party’s over,” Jace said, his voice hard. “Riverside—we’re leaving. Now.”
The Riverside crew started moving toward the exit, Tyler and Remy still throwing glares back at Marcus. Someone was helping another guy who’d taken a hit to the mouth, blood dripping from his lip.
I watched Liam go, the girl’s hand on his arm, guiding him away. The guy with glasses followed close behind, saying something I couldn’t hear.
Liam never looked back.
Not once.
“Fucking idiots,” Derek said, shaking his head at all of us.
I stood there, heart still racing, hand pressed to my ribs where someone had caught me with an elbow. My knuckles throbbed. The party was still going inside—most people hadn’t even noticed what happened out here, or didn’t care.
But I’d noticed. I’d seen the look in Liam’s eyes before they went cold.
For just a second I thought that he still cared.
No. Couldn’t be.
He’d made his position clear on the water this morning. I was nothing to him.
