I give him a bored look, but he returns it. When I notice his mom making her way over to us, I give her a smile as I wave her over. “Aria, I was just asking Liam for some baby pictures, and he said he didn’t have any?”
“I’m going to–”
His mom cuts him off before he can finish his threat. “I have plenty. Here, let me see that.” She reaches for her phone, and I snatch it from Liam and hand it to her as she sits next to me. She shows mewaymore than I wanted to see and sends me all of her favorites, which are almost all of them.
Liam’s entire face turns red more than once, and when I tease him about it, he says he’s hot and not blushing.
“Sure you are.”
“Shut up.”
I bite back a laugh as he pulls his hoodie over his head. I almost turn back to his mom, but my eyes land on the necklace around his neck. I reach for it and a smile touches my lips at the Dory charm he’s wearing.
I move the charm between my fingers, and there’s also half a heart next to it. I glance down at the charm bracelet he gave me,and next to my Dory charm is the other half of the heart he’s wearing.
I bite my cheek so hard I’m surprised I’m not bleeding. When I look back up at Liam, he’s already watching me. “How long have you been wearing that?”
“Since I bought it.”
I glance between his eyes and with the way he watches me I feel my entire body flush. I turn back to his mom but can’t seem to wipe my smile.
We spend the rest of the night with his mom, and Liam seems to be holding his breath more the later it gets, but his worry is for nothing because she seems fine the entire time. She tries to get me to spend the night and voices how Liam can't share a room with me, and I have to bite my tongue so as not to laugh at the way Liam teases her.
“She likes sharing a room with me.”
His mom sends him a glare before her brows raise. “Do not tell me you've been havingsexin my house, Liam.”
He bites back a smile before kissing her head. “Of course not, mom. I'm a virgin.”
A snort escapes me, and he sends me a teasing grin.
We hug his mom goodbye, and I smile at how light he seems on the drive home. His hand lands on my thigh as we pull up in front of his penthouse, but he turns to me before stepping out.
“Do you want to know about my sister?”
A smile touches my lips because he's trying. “Only if you want to tell me.”
He tells me he does, but it takes him a minute to find the right words.
“She passed away really young… she was three.”
I feel my breath get caught in my throat, but I only hold his hand and hold my emotions back as he goes on.
“She was being fussy all day and would only let me hold her.” He shakes his head at something before facing forward and glancing out the window. “It was New Year's Eve and everyone was raving about this party some girl was having.” He's quiet for another minute and I bring his hand to my lips before kissing him softly.
“My mom asked me to stay, but I wanted to go to that stupid fucking party.”
I force the lump down my throat, but he sounds like he's in so much pain. I almost tell him he doesn't have to finish his story, but he looks like he needs to as he goes on.
“Shanti started crying when she saw I was leaving, and I felt bad leaving her, but I thought she'd settle down after a while.” He shakes his head before his eyes fall shut. “My dad-” His voice breaks, and I blink away the stinging in my eyes.
“You don't have to finish, Lee,” I whisper, my mouth still against his hand.
He takes in a couple of breaths before shaking his head. “He had really bad anger issues.” He looks over at me now, and it's a little dark in here, but I swear I see tears forming in his eyes, and it breaks me. “If you thought I had anger issues, his was out of this fucking world. He'd black out and rip things apart.”
I don't like where this is going.
“She kept crying and crying, and he snapped.”
