“Which was?” I ask.
“‘Your ass looks hot in those jeans,’” he says. “Wow, you should have seen that man destroy his own life with what he started calling me and saying about me. It was magical, Gabriel.Magical. I should have recorded it for you. I really think you’d have enjoyed it. And the whole time, I just said things like, ‘How does me being gay hurt you?’ and ‘How could you call your own cousin those horrible words; he couldn’t stop crying the last time he saw you!’ I laid it on thick.”
Slowly, so very slowly, his words settle in my mind. “Please… I think I’ve gotten confused by some parts of this. Let’s start over… you… schemed up a way to get Tomfired?”
Liam grabs my face and pulls me in, his hazel eyes locking onto mine. “No one, and I mean fucking no one is going to hurt you and get away with it. I don’t fucking care if they didn’t leave aphysicalscar on you; I will destroy their fucking lives.”
I swallow hard as desire spikes inside of me. His words are so possessive, and still… they do nothing but make me feel safe. Make me feel happy. Make me feel wanted. He could claim me, and right at this moment, I would hand myself over withouthesitation. How is it that this man who should terrify me makes me feel thrilled instead? I lean into him, my lips parted, and I see the softest smile before he kisses me.
“Anything you ever need, I will give it to you, Gabriel. It doesn’t matter how wrong it is. I will give it to you.”
And I know he would. I could point at a person and ask for their life, and he’d hand it over without hesitation.
What is wrong with me to find nothing immoral about this? What happened that caused me to forget who I once was? Was it Tobias holding me in that dark room followed by the stench of blood and death? Those endless hours in the darkness wondering how my life would end?
I know Liam is changing me. The person I was five years ago would never have sat back and watched—or hell, actually helped—a man kill another.
And yet here I am, body aching for his touch, mind consumed by him. It’s as though when he says it, I see nothing wrong with the idea that he has to destroy Tom’s life.
“Why… why did you do all of that for me?” I ask.
“Because I love you. And there’s no fucking person who will ever hurt you if I get my way,” he says. “He will regret it. And clearly, he’s learned nothing in over fifteen years. He’s the same toxic human he was back then. Your parents are very loving; why have they allowed him to stay in your life after all of that?”
“I allowed it, not them. The year it happened, my mom stated that if my cousin was at any family event, we weren’t going. It split the family apart, and so I just… I caved. My grandma was really upset, and I ended up feeling like it was my fault the family was divided. I just felt too guilty tearing the family apart when half of them were going, ‘It wasn’t that big of a deal.’ I just… learned to put up with it.”
“You won’t have to put up with it anymore,” Liam assures me. “I made sure that Tom iswellaware that if he mentionsthat I was involved, I will show his girlfriend the pictures of him cheating on her.”
“You… have pictures of Tom cheating on her?” I ask, interest more than a little piqued. An opportunity to destroy the happy life of my bully? Sign me right up. Being kind to someone like him doesn’t seem to be a requirement. I’ve put up with it for all of these years… why should I always be the one to turn away?
“Do you want them?” he asks with a smile. “If you want to send them to her, I will happily hand them over.”
The idea of ruining this man’s life for humiliating me is so fucking tempting. It’s not like the stunt he pulled back then was the only thing he did to me. He was an asshole. He was a miserable fucking human, and the idea of ruining his love life…
“Send them to me.”
Liam looks thrilled. “Oh? Are you sure? It could get back to your family that you did it.”
“I don’t care,” I say. “Send them to me.”
The pictures arrive on my phone and I’m almost giddy when I text my mother for Tom’s girlfriend’s number since I don’t have it myself. She asks why but sends it anyway. I fill up the text message with pictures and realize that there’s not even a smidgen of guilt that hits me.
I press send without hesitation and look up to catch Liam’s eyes.
“Was that a bad thing?”
“I don’t believe you could ever do anything truly bad,” he says with a grin as he leans in to kiss me. “You can do no wrong.”
“Eh… You’re the only one who thinks that,” I reply, but I kiss him again. There’s something so thrilling about doing something a little bit bad.
A hand smacks against the window of the car, snapping me out of the illusion that Liam and I are the only people in thismoment. “Stop swapping spit and help your dear sister,” Layla shouts.
I jerk back from Liam in surprise before glowering at my sister. “I think… we’re needed.”
“I suppose we are,” Liam agrees.
“Should I feel guilty?”
“I don’t know what that feeling is,” he says, and I realize that he might not be lying. The only time he ever seems to feel more extreme emotions is when it comes to dealing with me. Quite often, he seems to know how to mimic emotions that he feels like he should show in order to blend in. But the longer I’ve been around him, the better I’ve gotten at identifying which are fake and which are real.
