I pulled back to look at him. For some reason he looked so sad; he had tears in his eyes as he just continued to hold me. He knew about my father, Jake had been covered in bruises once and had blurted out the truth to him. Jake and I had both begged him not to say anything though, and he never has.
“What are you doing here, Liam?” I whispered, wiping my face, but the tears continued to fall.
He pulled me onto the bed, rocking me gently, just like Jake always did when I cried. I looked at his chest and realised he was in Power Rangers shorts and t-shirt. I frowned, a little confused as to why he would be wearing that, it was freezing outside. Then it dawned on me that he was wearing his pyjamas. I looked at the clock to see it was almost half past eight. I’d been crying for over an hour.
“I saw you through the window. I just wanted to come and make sure you were alright,” he whispered back, still hugging me tightly.
I looked back at the window. Liam’s room was directly opposite mine and I could see into his room, which meant that he could see into mine. I bit my lip, oh God he’d seen me crying, I must look so weak to him. The only people I ever cried in front of were my mother and Jake.
“I’m OK. You need to go,” I whispered, pushing him again, trying to get him off of my bed.
He just shook his head. “I’m not leaving until you stop crying,” he stated, pulling me down so that we were now laying on my bed, facing each other. He had his arms wrapped around me so tightly that I couldn’t even squirm away. I felt safe and warm. I scooted even closer to him, pressing my whole body into his and sobbed on his chest.
I woke in the morning, still tightly wrapped in his arms; I gasped and looked at the clock 6:20 a.m. “Liam!” I whispered, shaking him.
“Ahh, what, Mom?” he asked with his eyes shut.
“Shhhh!” I hissed, quickly covering his mouth before he spoke again. I can’t believe we fell asleep, this is so bad.
His eyes snapped open and he looked at me, shocked, then looked around my room. “Oh no, did I fall asleep?” he whispered, sitting up and rubbing his hand through his hair, which was sticking up everywhere but actually looked better than when he has all that yucky gel in it.
“You need to go home, Liam. Quick!” I hissed, pushing him towards the window. He opened it and started to climb out but I grabbed his hand making him stop. He looked up at me a confused expression on his face. “Thanks,” I whispered, smiling gratefully at him. I really needed that hug last night, that was probably the nicest thing Liam had ever done for me.
He smiled back. “You’re welcome, Angel,” he replied, smiling and climbing out.
I watched as he went through the hole in the fence and climbed back into his own window. He closed it and waved at me, I waved back and then went to go get dressed. The thought of Liam sneaking over here and being in the house when he wasn’t allowed, made my stomach hurt. We were so lucky not to have gotten caught. I dreaded to think what would have happened if his parents had gone into his room in the night and saw his bed empty, or what would have happened if I hadn’t have woken up early. I shuddered at the thought of what my father would do if he had walked in here to find Liam in the house at night-time.
~ 8 years later ~
I woke to the familiar sensation of being crushed; I wriggled, pushing my shoulder backwards. Liam shifted his weight off of me slightly. He was spooning me from behind, breathing deeply into the back of my hair. His heavy arm was draped over me, pinning my arms to my chest, he was holding my hand tightly, our fingers interlaced, his leg was slung casually over mine. I could feel the usual ‘morning glory’ pushing against the small of my back.
I quickly silenced my phone alarm and elbowed him in the stomach. “Six o’clock,” I mumbled sleepily, closing my eyes.
“Ten more minutes, Angel. I’m still tired,” he murmured, pulling me tighter to his chest.
“Nope, no ten more minutes. Last time it turned into another hour, and Jake nearly caught you in here,” I mumbled, elbowing him in the stomach again.
He moved his arm and pinned my hands down to the bed near my head, in a praying position. “Just ten more minutes, Angel,” he whined. I sighed and closed my eyes again. There was no arguing with him when he was like this, I just didn’t have the energy this time of the morning to get into a fight with him. We both drifted back to sleep, instantly.
“Amber, you had better already be up!” my brother shouted, banging on the door. I jerked up and so did Liam, it was almost half past seven.
“Er…. yeah I’m up already, Jake,” I shouted back, glancing at Liam who was rubbing his face, looking a bit dazed.
“Good. I’m going to have breakfast. Hurry up will you. Liam’s driving today so be ready to leave in thirty minutes,” Jake called through the door, before stomping off down the hall.
“Jeez, Angel, why didn’t you wake me up?” Liam accused, frowning.
I looked at him warningly and gave him my best death glare. “I did, you jerk! You said ‘ten more minutes’ then pinned me to the bed to stop me from elbowing you!” I growled sarcastically, doing a bad impression of his voice.
He chuckled and pushed me back down on the bed, pinning my hands above my head and rolling on top of me. “Pinned you to the bed? Were you dreaming about me again, Angel? I could make that dream come true for you,” he mocked, with his face inches from mine.
“Yeah, you wish! Now get the hell off me, Liam, and go get ready. You’re driving today, apparently,” I hissed, nodding to the window. He sighed and pushed himself off me, pulling on his jeans and t-shirt. He climbed out of the window, silently, sliding it back down after him. I walked over and locked it before heading in for the quickest shower ever.
Exactly twenty-six minutes later, I trudged into the kitchen with a frown, Liam was there leaning casually against the counter, eating my cereal. Damn it, every morning! His brown hair was messy in his usual just got out of bed look, which to be honest he did get out of bed and it looked just like that. All he ever did was run his hands through it a few times and add a bit of wax.
He looked the same as he did every morning, like a freaking supermodel. He wore low slung ripped jeans that showed his boxers a little, and always made the girls swoon. Today he wore a white t-shirt that showed off his perfect sculpted body, and an orange and grey checked short sleeve shirt over it, which he wore completely unbuttoned. His blue eyes were glittering with amusement as he looked at me.
“Running late this morning, Angel?” he asked with a smirk.
I gave him a drop dead look, making him chuckle. “Shut up, Liam! Why the hell are you eating my cereal again? Don’t you have any food at home?” I asked, snatching the bowl from his hands and eating the contents. He just watched me with an amused smile.
Jake threw me a juice box. “You do look a little harassed this morning, Ambs. Everything OK?” he asked, looking at me a little concerned.
I glared at Liam again as he started to laugh. Of course I looked harassed, I had half an hour to get showered and dressed. “Slept in,” I muttered with a defeated sigh.
Jake had no idea that Liam slept in my room with me every night, if he did he would go crazy. Jake was very protective of me, he always had been, but he had gotten worse since my dad had left when I was thirteen. Well, I say left, but in reality Jake and Liam came home early from hockey one day to see that my father had beaten me senseless, and was trying to rape me. Jake had finally snapped, and he and Liam had beaten the crap out of him, almost killing him in the process. They had thrown him out of the house and told him that if he ever came back, they would kill him. He never came back though, that was three years ago.
A little while after that, my mom got a job with a huge electronics firm, she was the PA to the director and so she travelled a lot. She was gone twice as much as she was here, so we only saw her for about one week a month, if that. Jake was my only supervision, although at times it was more like I was the one taking care of him.
Liam was also very protective of me, but we still didn’t get on - even though he had literally spent every single night wrapped around me in my bed for the last eight years. He had snuck back into my room the following night after seeing me crying again and we had ended up falling asleep again. After two weeks it had just became a regular thing. It wasn’t something that we ever talked about, I just left my window unlocked and he let himself in once his parents had checked in on him to make sure he was asleep. We had never once been caught in eight years. We’d come close a couple of times though. A couple of years ago, Liam’s mom had found his bed empty, but he took the hit and lied, saying he’d snuck out to a party and stayed at a friend’s. No one suspected he was next door with me.
He still teased me like crazy and annoyed the life out of me just as much as he did when we were kids, but I always knew he would be there for me if I needed him. It was like he had a split personality. By day he would annoy me, making me crazy and angry all the time, and by night he would be the sweetest boy in the world and would cuddle me, making me feel safe and secure.
“You’re looking hot today, Angel,” Liam stated, with his trademark smirk, looking me up and down slowly, making me squirm.
Yeah, right! My brown hair was still damp because I didn’t have time to dry it because of his stupid ‘ten more minutes’ so I had pulled it back into a messy bun. I had thrown on my dark blue skinny jeans and red V-neck top and pulled a black hoodie and black converse. I had added the bare minimum make up, as usual, just a little mascara to make my grey-green eyes stand out, and some clear lip gloss. I did not look hot. Freaking asshole! I gave him the finger and walked out to his car. Leaning against it, angrily, waiting for them to grace me with their presence.
The drive to school was the same as usual, they sat in the front talking about football and parties, and I sat in the back listening to my iPod, trying to ignore Liam smirking at me in the mirror. We pulled in to the school and the car was immediately swamped by people, the same as every morning. Liam and Jake were considered ‘hot players’ at our school. They were seniors and every girl’s dream, the boys wanted to be friends with them, and the girls wanted to sleep with them.
Liam laughed as I cringed getting out of the car, trying to avoid the horde of skanks that banged into me because they were trying to throw themselves at him. One girl elbowed me on purpose. I looked at her in her tiny skirt that looked more like a belt and her top that showed her stomach, and grimaced. Jeez, she is such a ho!
“Holy crap, Jessica, did you know you left your skirt at home?” I asked with mock horror.
She scowled at me and I heard Liam and Jake laugh. “Whatev’s, you do know that the emo look doesn’t work for you, right?” she spat back.
I just laughed and walked off. It was usual for Jessica and I to have these sort of comments for each other. She had dated Liam for a little while, well, if by dating you mean ha**ng s*x a few times, and then getting dropped. She still wasn’t over it and wanted him back, much to his disgust.
“That wasn’t nice, Angel.” Liam laughed, as he caught up with me and threw an arm around my shoulder. He bent his head close to mine. “Sorry about this morning,” he breathed in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. I elbowed him in the ribs making him chuckle and pull back. “And ignore Jessica, I think you rock the emo look,” he added, with a flirty wink.
Jake slapped him on the back of the head. “Dude, that’s my little sister!” he scolded angrily, pulling him off me. Liam just laughed and winked at me again, making me roll my eyes. Liam pulled away and walked straight up to what looked like his newest lay. He smiled at her seductively and she blushed as he immediately started flirting with her.
I found my friends who were practically eye shagging Jake and Liam with dreamy expressions. “Hey, Kate, Sean, Sarah,” I chirped as I walked up to them.
“Hey, Ambs, did you ride in with hot piece of ass one and two again today?” Kate asked, staring after my brother as he walked off.
I laughed and shook my head. “Nope, just plain old Jake and Liam same as usual.”
Kate sighed. “How the hell can you be unaffected by how freaking hot they are? I mean, you’re so lucky to live with Jake! I would love to watch his hot ass walk around all day,” she purred, fanning her face.
I pretended to gag. “Kate, that’s my brother and his as**ole friend! How on earth can you get past the man-whore behaviour? Both of them are jerks.” I shrugged. I didn’t get why, but every single girl in this school was in love with them. Jake was a great person, but he treated girls like objects, and Liam, well Liam was just an all-round jerk.“They are the two best players on the hockey team and look like sex gods, and I wish I could get past it,” she said suggestively, waggling her eyebrows with a grin, making me laugh. She hooked her arm through mine and pulled me towards our first class.School was good, as usual; I was quite popular due to the fact that my brother and his best friend were the most wanted boys there. They looked after me of sorts, which basically meant that they warned all the guys to stay away from me, which actually suited me fine because I didn’t want to date. M
I woke at six o’clock as usual to my alarm going off; I silenced it and tried, unsuccessfully, to move away from Liam. I had my head on his chest and my leg draped over his crotch, which as usual, was already full of the ‘morning glory’ that happened to all boys. He had his hand on my knee, pinning my leg there, and his other arm wrapped tightly around my waist. As I tried to move, he tightened his hold, mumbling something in his sleep about not wanting to go to college anymore.I moved my arm and tapped his stomach. “Six o’clock,” I mumbled, tapping him again when he didn’t open his eyes.He groaned and tightened his grip, pulling me so that I was completely on top of him. I could feel his erection pressing between my legs. I gasped at the feel of it, it was strange but it actually felt nice. What the hell is wrong with me? This is Liam for goodness sake! I tried to wriggle free, but i
I stood straighter and felt my feet slide out from under me; instantly, he grabbed me around the waist and leant backwards so that we both fell and I landed on top of him, his body breaking my fall. He chuckled under me; I pushed myself up to my knees so I was straddling him, then sat down next to him. I couldn’t stand up so I waited for him to get up first.“OK, attempt number two.” He smiled, pulling me to my feet easily. “Stand up straight and keep your feet still, I’ll pull you around until you can get your balance.” He kicked at my skates gently, nudging them to get them closer together as he gripped my hands tightly.I managed to stay on my feet for a while before losing my balance. Again, he grabbed me around the waist and leant back so that I fell on top of him. “Why do you keep doing that?” I asked, pushing myself into a sitting position again. I could feel the ice starti
After dinner Jake and Liam went out and got some drink for the party as usual. So I took the opportunity and had a nice long bath, making myself feel relaxed and refreshed. I groaned at the thought of another party. They didn’t get too wild or anything like that, but they would last until two or three in the morning. On top of lack of sleep, there would always be a huge mess to clean up in the morning, both inside and out.I sighed and wrapped myself in a towel. As I stepped out of the bathroom I walked straight into Liam. His hands shot out to steady me, grabbing my waist so I didn’t fall over. I clutched the towel tighter around myself as I tried to calm my shocked heart.“Wow, I like the outfit,” he teased, looking me up and down, slowly. I slapped his hands away and stormed into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me.As soon as the door closed, he knocked. “What, Liam?&rd
The next thing I know, he was gone. I looked up, puzzled, to see Liam pinning him against the wall, his arm across the guys throat. He looked so angry that I actually started to feel sorry for the guy, who was now starting to turn a little red from not being able to breathe.“You don’t f**king touch her! What, you think you can just waltz in here and kiss her even though she plainly didn’t want it?” Liam growled angrily.I started to feel sick, literally, stared to feel sick. I jumped off the counter and staggered for my en-suite, where I threw up what felt like several liters of vodka. I groaned and flushed and moved back to sit down when I leant against someone’s legs. I didn’t freak out though, I could smell his aftershave, I knew it was Liam.“You alright?” he asked, his voice sympathetic. But I couldn’t answer; I just leant over the toilet and threw
I woke in the morning with a pounding headache. My cellphone was ringing somewhere nearby. I stretched out my hand to get it, but I couldn’t reach. I stretched a little further and managed to knock it onto the bed so I could answer it.“Hello?” I yawned.“Amber! Where the hell are you? We’re supposed to be practicing,” an angry male voice shouted. I winced away from the sound and tried to get up, but Liam was near enough laying on top of me. He was pinning me on my stomach, his arm and leg thrown over me, and he was using my back as a pillow. It was actually surprisingly comfortable.“Justin?” I croaked, looking at my alarm clock, but the numbers were all blurry, I couldn’t make it out. I squeezed my eyes shut then opened them to see that the time was now 8:42 a.m.Shit!“Yeah. Who the hell el
I just nodded and turned up the radio. “I like this song,” I lied; I had no idea what it was but I just didn’t want to talk to him.He shot me a weird glance. “You hate rave music,” he said, frowning and turning it down. Actually, he was right, I did hate that stuff, but I would rather that than talk to him, the lying slut.We pulled up outside the studio where my crew rehearsed every Saturday, we were a street dancing crew and we were pretty good too. We had entered a dance battle last week against ten other crews in the area and had come second, winning over $1,000 in prize money. Not that we ever saw any of the money, it went straight on studio time and uniforms, music, and fliers or posters. I loved to dance, street dance was my favourite and anything that went with a hip hop beat got my vote. It had always been my dream since I was a little girl to have my own dance studio, maybe one day I&rsq
I got changed quickly and walked out to the car. Liam was already there, leaning casually against the car, chatting happily with Justin and Spencer, another guy from my crew.“Hey,” I chirped as I walked up to them.Liam smiled a beautiful smile at me. “That’s my cue boys, gotta take the lady on our first real date. See you next week,” he said, waving them away with a flick of his hand.Justin’s mouth fell open and he looked from Liam to me several times. “Date? But…. I mean…. what? I thought he was your brother’s best friend! You don’t even like him; you always say he’s a man-whore asshole. Whenever I’ve said to you about how hot he was, you just said that you wouldn’t touch his STD ass with a bargepole!” Justin said, frowning, and looking at me confused.I groaned and closed my ey