He rests his arms on the pool’s edge and cocks his eyebrow. “You’re awfully confident. Why would you think anything happened that night?”
“Please don’t act like I’m an idiot. I’m not. I know Saint, and I know you. Neither of you would’ve left me alone if it wasn’t to go get some type of payback.”
He looks almost impressed. “I warned Saint not to underestimate you.”
Flattery will get him nowhere. Not today.
I look him dead in the eyes. “Did you guys hurt anyone?”
Slowly, he makes his way to the ladder nearby so he can climb out of the water. I watch him, unmoving, as he walks to stand right in front of me. He’s tall enough that I have to tilt my head back to meet his cold gaze, and it’s so easy to forget how much of a work of art his body is, covered in both tattoos and muscle.
“Why would you ask me that?” he rumbles.
What the hell am I supposed to say to that? That I know he’s a murderer? Not that I can really blame him. Still, I know he’s capable of violence against those who’ve wronged people he cares about. The question is really, how deep does that wrath run?
In the end though, I don’t have to say anything, because he can read me like a fucking book.
“Saint told you, didn’t he?” he hisses, leaning into me, fury contorting his dark features. “About what happened our sophomore year? About what I did?”
My breath catches in my throat, and I struggle to come up with a response. “Liam, I—”
“Fuck!” he shouts, jerking around and stabbing his fingers through his wet hair. “That piece of shit! We swore we’d never tell anyone about that, and what does that motherfucker do?”
“Liam, please—” I start, but he pivots back around and cuts me off, pointing an accusatory finger in my face.
“I don’t know what you think of me, but you have no room to judge. None.”
I flinch away from him. “Wait, what?”
But why am I surprised? If Saint’s giving away Liam’s secrets, no doubt he’d toss around mine like confetti.
“After what you did to Jon Eric?” he scoffs. “At least what I did I did to protect someone else, not just myself.”
Stumbling back, I hollow in my cheeks as I process what he just said. “What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t kill Jon Eric.”
“You don’t have to pretend with me, Mallory. He fucked with you for months, why—”
“Do you really think I did it?” I demand, wrapping my arms around myself. “That I’d be capable of that?”
Now he looks confused. There’s doubt in his eyes, and he looks me up and down but doesn’t answer me.
“Liam!” I snap. “Do you really think I killed Jon Eric?”
“That’s what Saint told me.”
His answer is like a kick to the stomach. Why the hell would Saint say that to him? He knows I didn’t do it. At least, that’s what he’s led me to believe. Is Liam getting played here, or am I?
“I have to go,” I murmur, turning from Liam and walking as fast as my legs will carry me toward the pool exit.
“Mallory, hold on,” he calls after me, but I wave him off. Furious tears sting at my eyes as I burst out into the hallway.
I don’t know what Saint’s game is, but he’s not dragging me into it. Not this time. I’m going to hunt his ass down and demand an explanation.
He’s going to tell me what his scheme is, or else it’s over between us. And this time, no matter what he does or says to me, I won’t go crawling back.
16
Saint’s not in his dorm room when I show up to pound on his door. Digging out my phone, I try calling him, but he doesn’t answer. I try again and again and again, but the truth is obvious. He’s ignoring me.
Fucker.
I try to think of what I can do, but the only idea I can come up with is to hunt him down at his beach house. That’s not an option right now, though, as I’m too broke to afford to get there and back. I could ask Loni to drive me, but things are still so uncertain between us, I don’t want to do anything to rock the boat. Asking her to help me hunt down my enemy/fuck-buddy would probably be a little much right now.
Releasing a frustrated growl, I decide I’ve no other choice but to wait for him to turn back up. He can’t avoid school or me forever, after all.
I’ll get the truth from him, one way or another. I just need a little bit of patience.
My patience is nearly gone by the end of first period the next day. To my utter frustration, I didn’t see Saint at breakfast. I told myself it was fine. That he could’ve eaten earlier than me, or maybe skipped a morning meal altogether.
When he didn’t show up in class, however, I nearly lost it. The sonofabitch is going to great lengths to avoid me. I fume the whole class time, paying absolutely no attention to anything our teacher says. When the bell finally rings and it’s time to leave, I shoot from my seat and storm from the room.
If this is how he wants to play it, fine. Let him be petty and cowardly. I’m done with him, for real this time, and I just need him to show up for five seconds so I can tell that to his dumb, asshole face.
“Mallory, wait up.”
I pause my furious march down the hall and peek over my shoulder, my nose crinkling when my blue eyes connect with familiar brown irises. Liam’s walking up to me, tugging at the sleeves of his blazer like usual.
“What?”
Dipping his head, he scratches at the back of his neck. “Look, I wanted to apologize for last night,” he mutters. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. It was insensitive and stupid, and I was an idiot to think you’d ever do some shit like that.”
His sincerity goes a long way to soothe the worst of my irritation.
I let out a deep breath and wave his apology away.
“It’s alright,” I say, the corner of my lip curling into a tired smile. And I mean it. That’s the one thing that Saint’s failed to realize about me—that a true apology goes a long way because God only knows the amount of crap that I have to be sorry for. “Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I’d probably think I did it, too.”
“Still, it was pretty shitty of me,” he replies.
Taking in a cleansing breath, I bob my head. “We’ve all done terrible things. At least you were still willing to help me, despite what you thought I did. I appreciate that, Liam. You … you have no idea how much I appreciate that.”
When he grins, his whole face lights up. “Nobody’s perfect.”
I can’t help the chuckle that slips from between my lips. “Very true.”
“Why do I keep finding you two like this?”
I roll my eyes and spin around at the sound of Saint’s growl, my blood pressure spiking so much I see red instead of a tall, ripped, and terrible god.
“Maybe if you stopped avoiding me, then randomly creeping up on me out of nowhere, we’d avoid these situations,” I tell him, hoisting my backpack higher on my shoulders. “Nice to see you, by the way.”
The way his blue-gray eyes narrow is excruciatingly satisfying.