smirk on his face fading as he studies me from head to toe. I start fidgeting with my sleeves, grateful that I put on a long-sleeved shirt before all this. “But then I thought, where would a broken heart go, to try and silence their pain? But not just any heart, your heart.”
More tears threaten to spill as I look into his eyes. God, this guy.
“You’re not like any other girl I’ve ever met, Cupcake, and I’ve met my fair share of crazy, predictable girls.”
“I’m not crazy,” I rush to defend, making Rye and Liam pause. I think I look crazy because they both stare at me with frowns on their faces. I fucked that up, didn’t I? “I mean, I’m not like all your other harem of girls.”
“Of course, you’re not,” Liam scoffs. “Have you met you? You’re Mia Montague, the motherfucking Ice Queen of Clintwood Academy.”
A ghost of a smile touches me as I think back to when he said exactly the same thing at the hospital when I visited him.
“And that’s when he reached out to me on the Gram,” Rye says.
“I thought I told you not to post pictures of me,” I whisper, slightly annoyed but even then, I’m unable to look away from Liam. He’s really here. Wait, if he’s here in Rye’s flat, then…
“He’s not here,” Liam whispers, a cloud of anger flashing across his face. “He needs a time out.”
I ignore the stab of disappointment that creeps up on me, shaking my head.
“What?” Rye questions. “I didn’t catch that.”
Not wanting her to know what Liam just said, I shake my head at her. “You didn’t answer my question. Did you post me?”
“I didn’t post you, silly,” Rye says with a sigh. “Liam really did reach out to me out of nowhere,” Rye explains. “Of course, I was already following him.”
“Of course,” I whisper, rolling my eyes. Is there a sane girl in this world who isn’t following this fool on social media?
“And I told him that you were staying with me.”
I stare up at Liam, waiting for him to judge me but instead, he just shakes his head.
“Thank you for taking her in,” he says, “I owe you one, Rye.”
Rye gives Liam a sly smile and I know what she’s going to say. “Well, when you put it like that, I think I can think of a few things you can help me achieve.”
Liam winks at her again and I almost groan as I see him work a bit of his charm on Rye, who embarrassingly looks like a hyena in heat with the way she’s looking at Liam. If she could eat him up, I swear she would.
“Rye, can you give Mia and me a moment?” Liam questions kindly, which is so at odds with his usual demanding nature. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s hiding quite a lot of emotions right now and that makes my heart beat faster.
“Of course, if you need anything, I’ll be downstairs,” Rye says. “But don’t forget Mia, we have to leave in two hours to make it for your audition.”
“I said I’m not…” But before I can finish, she’s already out the door.
The moment the door clicks shut, Liam changes right in front of me. He goes from flirty to pissed off in a just a second.
“Liam?”
“You ran,” he starts, his voice clipped and hoarse.
“Liam, I…”
“For all your supposed strength, and your well put together persona to match your confident, bitchy attitude, in the end, you ran, Mia.”
Mia, not Cupcake.
I’m so shocked by what he’s saying that for a moment, I just stand there, staring at him.
“I mean, you had my mother pass on your little run away message, you couldn’t even grow the balls to tell me to my face?” he demands, now pacing from one end of the room to the other, clenching and unclenching his fists.
“Seriously?” I whisper and he stops pacing, stopping to look at me. “That’s what you’re here to say?”
“Well, no, it’s just the beginning,” he says, and I feel the sobs coming.
“Because everything is about you, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes.” He says that like it’s pretty obvious and I should be in the loony bin for suggesting otherwise. Can’t fault him for being honest.
“You know what, Liam? If you’re here to judge me and make this all about how I’m a coward for running when the woman who I thought gave birth to me died, then you can turn around and leave,” I whisper, as tears