The Rebel - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,28
wrong when I felt how cold and humid it was upstairs, and as I walked into the front of the bar, I saw that two of the windows had shattered. There was rain and debris all over the hardwood floor and some of the booths. The worst had passed, but rain was still falling inside through a small opening in the roof that the storm had torn open.
I couldn’t process any of that right now, though. I gripped my phone in my hand, dialing Liam.
There was no answer, and I called again immediately.
I swear my heart did a damn twirl inside me when he picked up.
“Hello?” came Liam’s voice.
“Please tell me you’re okay,” I said.
“I just saw all your messages,” he said. “That. Was. Awesome.”
I let out a long breath, furrowing my brow. “What?”
“This was some Wizard of Oz shit,” he said. “I saw a mailbox blowing in the wind.”
“That could impale someone,” I said. “It could have impaled you.”
“It was fine,” he said. I could hear the adrenaline in his voice. “It was only in the air for about four seconds.”
“You need to be safe, Liam,” I said, my voice angrier than I had intended it to sound.
“I… was totally safe,” he said. “The drive home was dicey. But I headed down into the cellar as soon as I got there. Well, after watching the storm for a couple minutes out back. There was no service, but I got your messages a minute ago.”
“You were in your backyard during this?” I asked, furious that he would be so careless.
“My rose garden got ravaged,” he said. “But I’ll replant this week. God, are the storms always like this in Kansas? It’s wild.”
I clenched my teeth, looking at the water still coming in through holes in my ceiling. “Yeah. Really wild. Wild that I’m going to have to foot more repair bills now.”
“Shit. Is the bar okay?” Liam said.
“No. It’s really not,” I said. “But that isn’t why I’m talking to you. I’m going to need you to promise that next time, you’ll go to your basement immediately, and stay there.”
“Next time?”
“Yes,” I said firmly. “These storms happen here more than you might think.”
“Cool,” he said. I almost threw my phone across the room.
“Promise me. Right now,” I said.
He paused for a moment. “You do realize that less than an hour ago, I thought you were never going to talk to me again?” Liam said.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t… I didn’t know what to say,” I told him. “It doesn’t matter. I need you to be safe.”
He let out a frustrated groan. “You can’t have it both ways,” he spat, the anger rising in his voice.
He was doing something that most people never did with me. He was challenging me. It was maddening but also refreshing like an icy cold pool in summer, somehow. I wanted to wring his neck right now, but I also couldn’t help but notice that Liam still had the backbone he always had with me in the past.
He wasn’t afraid. And right now that was a problem, but also something I admired.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, trying to stay calm.
He sighed. “You can’t… say you never want to talk to me again, then act like it’s the end of the world if I’m in a storm alone.”
“You were being reckless, clearly—”
“I’m an adult, believe it or not,” he said. “I know I haven’t owned up to it until now, but I am. I can handle a storm. I can handle… a life without you, even if I really don’t want it.”
His words stirred so many emotions in me I barely knew how to react. For once, I didn’t have an answer. I didn’t have a solution.
I just had a whole big murky bucket of feelings, all of them centered around Liam.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, hanging my head. “I just wanted you to be safe.”
He was silent for a moment. “I’ll be okay,” he finally said. I didn’t know if he was trying to convince me or himself.
The phone clicked, and he was gone.
Liam was all I could see. His hand was clasped in mine, warm and perfect like my human puzzle piece. We were outside taking a walk under the canopy of green leaves, on a nice, sunny day. We found a patch of grass shrouded by a field of corn behind us, with a peaceful creek in front of us.
I got hungry for more. I leaned over him, claiming him with