When My Heart Stops, I'll Give It To You

(35) Road Trip

When My Heart Stops, I'll Give It To You

Chapter 35: Road Trip

Nessa's P.O.V.

"Wanna play a game?" Liam asks suddenly, biting the head off his sour gummy worm. We had stopped by the gas station after his truck had gotten us as far away from the safe house I wanted. He started his car again and pulled it out of his parking spot until we were back cruising on the seemingly endless road.
"I guess so," I sighed, kicking my feet up on the dashboard.
Liam gave me a dirty look before hitting my feet down. "Rule number one of Liam's road trip: respect the car, babe."
"Rule number two, you're not allowed to refer to yourself in third person." I instructed, snickering.
"That's real cute. No, rule number two: Liam is the only one who makes the rules. Got it?" He insisted, rolling his eyes.
"Fine. But only because you're my driver," I paused, listening to the smooth sound of his truck gliding on gravel. "Can I ask you a question?"
"It depends if I want to answer it or not." He shrugged, glancing at me from the corners of his eyes.
Resisting the urge to roll my eyes at him, I continued. "Why did you really come with me, Liam? I mean, I know you said it was because you promised you would protect me, but there has to be another reason."
"Nah, I don't want to answer that. Try not to be so curious all the time, babe," He smirked, turning his head to look at me. "You should try to be like me and not give a shit about anything or anyone."
I shook my head, leaning back in my seat. "I don't believe you at all, Liam. You have to care about something."
"No one has ever gave me a reason to care," He paused, the lights of other cars flashing across his face. "Why would I care about someone who's only going to leave my ass when things get tough? Save the heartache."
I stared at him. I mean, really stared at him. His messy, uncombed hair, sparkling brown eyes, dark pink lips turned up in the corner and his jaw clenched tight so that it was defined. His hard grip on the steering wheel and the quick glances he kept doing to look at me.
I realized then I was fond of him. I liked the way he talked and his opinions and outlooks. I liked how he put teasing and humor in everything he said and smirked all the time. I like how he did whatever he wanted and didn't regret anything later, how he lived in the moment. He was possibly the greatest friend I've ever had.
Finally, I spoke again after thinking over what he had said. "I don't think you should think like that. You have a lot of people who care about you already. Chase, Christopher, Amber.."
Liam shot me a beautiful grin. "Aw, c'mon, babe. You're not gonna list your name in there?"
I blushed and stared at my lap instead of his humor lit eyes. "That's not the point. I know you love them."
"Possibly. But I would be okay if I lost them. I've made sure I didn't get too close to that group."
"But why? Why are you so scared of caring for someone?" I pressed, wanting to know.
"I'm not scared, Ness." Liam insisted, winking at me.
"Prove it." I snapped stubbornly, crossing my arms.
Liam and I stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. I was about to yell at him to look back at the road when he abruptly pulled the car over into the grass and put it in park. Pulling off his seatbelt, he turned his whole body towards me before leaning closer and closer until I could feel his hot breath on my neck. "I'm not scared." He repeated, his eyes staring intently into mine as if they held the answer to every life mystery in this world.
"Prove it." I repeated also, smiling now and not shying away from the close proximity of his lips from mine. And just like that, he was placing his fingers on my neck and pulling me into his lips. Liam was kissing me. He was kissing me and Christopher was gone and I ran away from the safe house and my dad was going to die and I was kissing Liam. Just like that, everything seemed to stop and slowly fade away and all that was left was Liam and I. My heart was going so fast I thought it might be unhealthy.
Then I began to kiss him back.
I could him grinning against my lips which only made me pull away and laugh for a moment before kissing him even harder. Liam tasted like cigarettes and peppermint.
He slowly began to slide his hands under me and picked me up off my seat only to set me back down on his lap effortlessly. My back hit the honk on the steering wheel, but the loud noise didn't stop us for a moment.
Liam pulled away and grinned up at me perched on his lap. "Did I prove myself?"
"Nope," I smiled, beginning to leave trails of kisses down his neck.
"Nessa," He breathed out, gently grabbing one of my hands and using his other hand to turn my head to look at him. "Listen, this never has to happen again. In fact, I'll pretend like it never did. I don't want you to make reckless decisions with me to get back at Christopher."
"What?" I frowned, feeling a little confused and hurt. "That's not what I'm doing, L-"
"C'mon, Nessa. I like you a lot, I do. But I don't want this to be how 'we' happen. Don't do anything you'll regret, babe." He picked me up again and softly placed me back on my seat.
"I'm not using you to get back at Christopher, Liam. Can you honestly not accept the fact that someone cares about you?" I asked, not being able to help my eyes from dropping down to those pink lips I had gotten to kiss moments ago. Now I was just rattled and confused about every emotion I felt. I suddenly missed Christopher more than ever.
"Let's just go, " He sighed, backing the car out of the grass gradually.
"To where?" I snapped, still pissed off.
"My favorite bar. It's time to start living, babe." Liam answered smoothly, smirking.

w/c: sorry that took so long, I've been studying for exams this week 😬 anyways ily all so much ty for everything. you're all babes 👌💕