He rubbed a hand down his face and groaned.“Ugh.Yes, that’s him.”His face fell, and he added, “Maya, I’m so sorry.I was rereading your messages from earlier.I panicked, and … I heard a man’s voice and thought you had someone here.”
Ishouldhave been mad.Hell, I should have torn him a new one for accusing me of having another man here, especially after everything that had happened between us.But I didn’t have the energy to feel indignant about his accusation or to care about his apology.
Not tonight.Not after what happened with Nana.Not after my own mind had been screaming at me for hours about what a failure I was.
I heaved a sigh, shoved my duffel bag to the floor, and flopped backward onto the bed, suddenly so drained I could sleep for the next fifty years.Liam’s soft footsteps announce his approach before the mattress dips beside me.For a moment, we sit in silence.
“So…?”he prodded, his hand resting on my arm, his palm warm on my skin as he teased the edge of my shirt sleeve.“Will you tell me what you were listening to?”
“That was part of my Alan Rickman playlist.”My voice was flat, emotionless as I explained.““Sonnet 130”.My favourite.”
He huffed a muted laugh and shook his head.“You and your Alan Rickman.I should have known.”
“Hey, don’t disrespect the Rickman reverie.”I yawned, each word a chore.“He recorded audiobooks, voiced animated characters, did poetry readings … the works.There’s an Alan Rickman for pretty much every occasion.”
His gaze was heavy on me.“And you just … listen to them?”
Looking away, tipped my chin.
“Why?”he asked, his tone cautious.“The real reason this time.It has to be more than liking his voice.”
I hesitated.As far as anyone else knew, I listened to Alan Rickman because I liked his voice.Other than Nana, I’d never told anyone the whole truth.Even Andie and Sierra didn’t know the extent of it.But I couldn’t think of a single reason not to tell Liam.Not when I’d be leaving in the morning.
“It’s depressing,” I warned, my voice low.“Are you sure you want to know?”
Liam laced his fingers through mine, rubbing his thumb along the side of my hand.His warm palm soothed my nervous energy, but I didn’t deserve comfort right now.“I want to know,” he said in a soft voice.
I dropped his hand and scooted to the head of the bed, pulling my knees to my chest.Liam followed, sitting beside me, his hands folded in his lap as he waited.
“On the evening of my eighteenth birthday, my parents kicked me out.”
Liam’s head snapped up.“They did what?”
“Okay, technically, they didn’t ‘kick me out’.It wasn’t a knockdown drag-out fight or anything.”I swallowed hard.“But the result was the same.”
He stared at me, his body rigid.“Why would they do that?”
I shifted, wrapping my arms more tightly around my legs.“My parents were really young when they had me,” I started, choosing my words carefully.“They had to move out of their parents’ homes and support themselves—and take care of me—before they’d made it out of tenth grade.”
Liam let out a low whistle.“Oh, shit.They were practically babies themselves.”His brow furrowed.“But why did that meanyouhad to leave when you were eighteen?Unless …” His eyes widened and he gasped.“They kicked you out for being pregnant?Those hypocrites.”
“What?!No!”A startled laugh burst out of me before I could stop it.“If there was one thing my teen parents taught me, it was the importance of using birth control correctly.”
His lips twitched.“That makes sense.”
“You have no idea.”I rolled my eyes.“They insisted I sit in the front row of every single sex ed class.The bathroom cabinet was alwaysstuffedfull of condoms, in case I needed them.And bystuffed, I mean we had every size, shape, and colour you can imagine.It was … excessive.They inspected and replaced them frequently, too, so there’d be no worry of an expired condom slipping into the rotation.”
Liam snickered, but his expression sobered as he studied me.“Okay.They were young.So they wanted to make sure you wouldn’t end up in the same position they did.And?”
I braced myself.Here went nothing.“They figured they were done raising me when I turned eighteen.”
Liam’s brows pulled together.
“In their eyes,” I continued, fighting to keep my voice steady, “I was an adult, ready to take care of myself.They’d raised me, and now it was their turn to focus on each other.”Not that they hadn’t been doing that all along, anyway.I’d been almost invisible to them my whole life.
Liam exhaled roughly.“I mean … technically, I guess you were an adult.And plenty of kids move out right after high school.”
I let out a brittle laugh.“I wasstill in high school.”
