Hero » l.p. au

Chapter 22

"I don't understand," He repeated for the fifth time, and if I had my eyes open, he would have surely seen my eye-roll. "How, what... did you know him before it... you know, before it happened?"

"No," I said loudly, so I was sure he heard me and wouldn't ask again. And again. "But when something like that happens, you don't just forget the person's face."

I shivered as I remembered that night; how the asshole was treating Liam's mum, and how he looked at me before he ran away, like the coward that he is. Well, was. I wasn't keen on genuinely wishing someone dead, but I actually thought he'd gotten what he deserved.

Liam sighed heavily, still probably looking at the page on the screen, and I knew he wasn't going to stop with the questions. Even if he didn't have new ones, he was going to repeat the ones he'd already asked. We'd been going in circles for the past ten minutes.

"I just..." I squeezed my eyes shut tighter as he started speaking again. "He was-he was driving last night, which meant he was free. Not arrested or anything."

I felt his hand on my forearm, which caused me to finally open my eyes and look at him. I could almost feel his worry radiating off him. "Didn't you talk to the police?"

"I did."

"Well why didn't they lock him up?" He said loudly, the anger in his voice making me cringe. "What the fuck? He... he tried to assault a woman in the middle of the street, then he almost fucking killed you... I... what the fuck is this?!" I jumped in my seat as he slammed his hands against the table, spilling a bit of my coffee on it.

To say the least, this is not the kind of reaction I was expecting from Liam. He almost seemed angry about the guy being dead.

"They didn't find him, I don't know what happened," I narrowed my eyes a little as I watched him, "Are you okay?" I asked slowly, which only seemed to add fuel to the fire, as he rubbed his face with both hands and shook his head as he chuckled - was what I'd said so absurd?

"I'm not fucking okay," He mumbled, "They could find him, he clearly wasn't that far away. I can't believe they did nothing about it. Nothing, Sally, fucking nothing."

I shifted in my seat, by now a little uncomfortable. I've never seen him angry and upset; genuinely angry and upset, before now. Usually both of us are pissed off in a way where making out could solve it, and then we'd continue our day as if nothing happened. A little dysfunctional, but it's all we've ever known.

Now though, now I was watching his knuckles become white from how hard he was clenching them, his lips pressed in a tight line and his heavy breathing, that he was obviously trying to control. I did understand him on some level, but then again, his reaction was a bit strange; I mean, it happened to me and he was the one bothered by it.

"Look, um..." I gulped nervously as I slowly moved closer to him, deciding against placing my hand atop of his. He looked like he could bite it off. "It's... it's over now. I mean, the guy, he..." I shrugged uneasily, "He's dead, Liam."

I knew he was angry, but I was still surprised when he shook his head. "No... last night he almost killed us- you, and that's the third time he got somebody I love in danger."

My stomach turned at his words, but I don't think he would have phrased it that way if he wasn't as pissed off as he was. So I decided to ignore it. "And then he just..." He looked at the screen again, and started reading the article. Great.

"'Landed off the road and died immediately'." Liam shook his head again, "No, that's not good enough. It was quick and painless, and he didn't deserve to die that way."

I widened my eyes as he abruptly stood up, and ran his hands through his hair before gripping the counter and leaning onto it. I actually couldn't believe what I was hearing; I couldn't believe that was Liam, my Liam, the guy who carried me through a park at three in the morning, and braided my hair out of fun at the festival less than 24 hours ago. I couldn't believe the vile thoughts that were going through his head.