Liam is crawled on top of Liam, his little body looks so small on his chest. They’re both sleeping exactly the same. Mouth slightly open, a slight snore leaving both. Isabelle walks in not even noticing Liam is here, she stops when she sees him, and I wonder if she recognizes him. She didn’t know him well though she has never taken to anyone as fast as what she did to him. Even with Jake, it took her a bit to warm up to him.
“Mom, that man looks so familiar,” she says a bit too loud. Liam opens his green eyes and looks to Isabelle. He blinks a few times when he sees her, unsure. Then looks at me, then down at his chest. Little Liam is snuggled in and not planning to move by the looks of it. My heart jumps, I have to put my hand on my chest to contain it. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted and more. Then he opens his mouth, and it disappears.
“He’s impossible,” he says, looking down at him, then back to me “How do I move him?” I step forward, and Isabelle stands there watching not saying a word, which is very unlike her. I bend down to pick him up, Liam’s eyes bore into me. I try to look, to see what he’s seeing—a woman who hasn’t washed her hair in days and I stink. I’ve been running around all day. Not to mention I don’t have a drop of makeup on, and my skin is breaking out.
“He looks like you.” His breath is on my face. I don’t look, I can’t look into his eyes.
“He looks like you,” I say, once I pick him up.
“I was wondering if you were going to tell me?” This time, I look at him.
“You know?”
“I am not dumb, Rose. I put two and two together. Five years… isn’t he almost five?” I nod my head, he is. “You wouldn’t leave your son with a stranger. You thought since I was the father, I would look after him. I’m going to tell you this now, don’t do that again.”
He stands, turns to look at Isabelle, her face is in shock. “Liam,” she says like she somehow remembers him. She runs to him and wraps her arms around him. He stands stock still, she hugs him tightly then let’s go when he doesn’t respond. He doesn’t look to me or to any of us as he walks out the door.
“Why did he leave?” Isabelle says. “He’s been gone so long.”
“He needs time to think, hunny.” I kiss her head and carry Liam to his room, next to his bed sits a photo of Liam—his father.
I spend the next few days with no contact at all from Liam Black. He hasn’t been to his house, and no one has seen him. He’s ignored all my calls, much like the old him used to do.
I wake one night to a sound in the house, it’s loud. I check the clock and see it’s three a.m. I have a bat next to my bed. I’ve had one there for the last five years, never been able to get rid of it. The nightmares sometimes feel too real. It comforts me knowing I have something.
“Fuck!” I hear as I sneak out. Someone is definitely here, and it’s not Jake. He’s gone out of town. I hear them bang into the kitchen bench, a harrumph comes from that direction. I sneak around and see a dark figure, then I swing the bat and knock the person on the back of the head.
“Mom,” Hayden screams from behind me flicking on the light. I look down to see Liam on the floor, face down and blood coming from his head.
Fuck!
Why on earth did he sneak in?
To scare the living shit out of me?
I still haven’t dropped the bat, and I still haven’t stopped shaking. Hayden runs to the freezer and grabs and icepack and runs back to Liam, who’s asleep on the floor. He jumps when Hayden places the pack to his head.
He manages to sit up against the counter, his head hanging down.
“I didn’t know it was you,” I say to him. I look to Hayden and he walks back to his room.
“Sure, was this payback from the gun?” His hand still holding the pack when he asks the question. I want to say, yes it is, and that he deserves it, but I didn’t mean to. And I feel terrible that I physically hurt him, I’d be the last person that would want to hurt him.
“No.” He goes to stand, a bit shaky on his feet as he does. “Why are you here, Liam? Its early, we’re sleeping.”
I notice then, he winces, he’s hurt, and not from me and my stupid bat.
“What happened?” I ask stepping forward. Lifting his shirt, it takes me a moment to gather what I’m seeing. I stare too long, not having seen him this way in so long. His ribs look bruised, like someone has kicked him there multiple times, his lip is cut and blood drips down to his chin.
“Misunderstanding…” is all he says looking down at me while I still hold his shirt up, taking in his bruises, as well as his toned body. “Finished perving?” I drop it then and take a few steps back.
“You can’t sneak in this early, you scared me.” He did, it brought back too many memories. Ones I’m now trying to shake off.
“I didn’t have anywhere to go. Jake and his men are at mine, the hotel is closed, I could sleep in my car, but I figured you wouldn’t say no to sharing a bed with me?” Cocky son of a bitch. “After all, you are the mother of my son.” His head cocks to one side trying to make me argue with him, he’s proving a point, one I’m not sure I want to be a part of.
“You should have slept in your truck,” I say walking away. “The couch is yours.” I manage to make it to my room, and I hear him following, hoping he doesn’t come in. He goes to the bathroom, connected to my room. Then he walks into my room, the lights are off, I can see him from the light of the moon which is shining in through the bedroom window. He’s naked.
“What are you doing?” He walks to my bed, doesn’t bother moving the covers. He lies straight on top of them, then turns to his side. I can’t help it, my eyes search his body, his piercings are all there, his nipples, his cock. Which is standing, and I am staring.
“I’m going to sleep.”
“Fuck no,” I say jumping from the bed, flicking on the bedside light. “Get dressed, and get on the couch.” He doesn’t acknowledge me, just lies on his back and closes his eyes. Bastard.
“Liam Black, I have kids here. Those kids come into my room in the morning. You need to cover your junk right this minute before I cut it off.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I would. Don’t tempt me.” He grabs the sheet and covers his lower half. If the sheet moved mere inches, everything would be on display. I crawl back into bed, he is inches away from me. I can tell he’s awake, and I don’t think I will be getting any sleep what-so-ever with him inches away from me.
“Will you tell me? Tell me how your life’s been for the last five years?” I ask, hoping he can spread some light on what’s been happening around him.
“I woke in an empty room, I didn’t recognize anybody. There was a woman there, she was holding my hand and telling me everything would be okay. That was the first time I woke. Then she told me who she was, she said she was my girlfriend, and that she had missed me. I didn’t believe her, I didn’t even know my own name, let alone who she was.”
“The same woman?” I ask, referring to the crazy brunette.
He nods his head. “A few months in, I still didn’t believe. Savannah tried reassuring me every day, filling my head with lies, telling me how much she loved me, how much the club loved me. One day I had a job to do for the club. I was their hit man. I found it hard to believe as well until they put a gun in my hand, and I knew, like instantly it was mine, and that what they were saying was true. So I did this job, except this job had cracks, cracks where I was the hit. I knew it, I had my suspicions. They wanted to test my loyalty. Four members of a rival club had caught me before I realized it was a setup. I never get set up now, I am that good. I make so much money for that club that when they lose me, they will lose all the benefits that come with me.”
“They knew you then?” They had to have known. To know what he did, to get him to do what he used to do.
“They must have. Anyway… this club kept me in a bathroom for days, tied me to the shower rods and tortured me. I didn’t once say anything, and it annoyed them. On the last day, one guy came in with a small pocket knife, and he reopened my scar from the gunshot wound to my back. He then untied me, dropped me to the floor and walked out. He made a mistake.”
“Don’t tell me.”
“You wanted to know, this is part of it… he didn’t know me, didn’t know what I was capable of. He thought I was too tired, too worn out to move. I stood, my feet were just able to hold me up. One of the days of the torture, I had a careless man. He tucked his gun into his boots, boots that were inches from me, I grabbed it and had been hiding it in the cabinet ever since. So I retrieved the gun and opened the door. Five men stood there, they heard the door open, they didn’t get a chance to do anything. I shot every one of them, then I collapsed on the floor. That’s when she found me again, bleeding out.”
“She was your savior?”
“No, she was the queen in a game of chess. One who fucked with the wrong person.”
“What did you do next?”
“I healed. The club trusted me. I killed for them, but I never fully trusted them. Always there was something eating away at me. Then there was you. I didn’t know who you were, but there were times when I was out with her. I would see a blonde with a kid, and I would stare. She’d notice this and pull me from it. But I always looked, and I always looked for those eyes.” He looks at me for the first time, his green eyes staring into my blue ones.
“My eyes?”
“That’s the reason I fucked her, let her around me, and believed her. It was her eyes, the blue in them, the crystal blue.”
“She loved you?”
“She said she did.”
“She did.” He’s not someone you fuck once and not want again. You come back, again, again and again.