My Best Friends Brother

Chapter 208

I still remember that day so fucking clearly, it was one of the best and worst of my life.

I stood in front of the judge and heard him tell me that Liam was mine, no going back, no more social workers, no more Chrissy – just mine. I lost it, even Stephanie lost it, Brie and Tara were a fucking mess. We all jumped in the bug the moment we got out and drove straight to Al's to tell Liam that he'd never have to leave me again... but I only had one thought running around in my head:

Miles.

Liam got in the car and I could see in his eyes he was thinking the same thing, even after all these years. I never lied to Liam, I didn't ever want him to feel responsible for Milo leaving but I wanted him to know how much he loved him, how much he still loves him. He's asked questions over the years and I've answered them as honestly as I could, he's a smart kid, he always understood.

We raced home and I grabbed my phone ready to fucking call him. Liam was bouncing around like a crazy person, we were both prepared to jump in that car and drive the half day trip to LSU just to turn up and tell him that we still wanted him to be our fucking family... Until I opened up his contact to see his profile picture had changed.

To one of him and his girlfriend.

Fuck...the pain. I can't even explain the pain.

Liam felt it from me, too.

The fates had taken a sledgehammer straight to my heart, destroying what little was left of it. I know it shouldn't have felt that way. I know what we agreed.

He told me not to wait, but I did.

Honestly, in my fucked up head, it was like I was losing him all over again. Like he was right there, his fingertips brushing against mine, my head buried into his neck on the dancefloor... then he was snatched away.

Liam got into bed with me that night when he heard me crying, that made me cry harder. I realised then that I couldn't be that person, he needed me to be so much stronger. Strong like him, he's my little hero.

So I decided then and there to stop putting my life on hold. I walked straight into my office the next morning and quit, Charlie didn't know what the fuck was going on but the moment he heard I was out of there he threw his own notice in and told our homophobic cunt bosses to try replacing the sticks up their asses with a nice dildo, before he linked his arm with mine and marched us both all the way to the coffee shop across the road before they could have us kicked out.

We had a good solid three hours of screaming at each other about how stupid we were whilst shooting espresso, until Rave opened for much stronger drinks.

Of course then when we calmed down, and Han had dosed us up on vodka soaking-up bread at their place before putting Liam and Luna to bed, we realised that we have been doing this job on our own for so long, what was stopping us from doing it for ourselves now?

We signed the lease on our offices two days later.

That Saturday, I put on my best suit, took my invitation and walked straight into the fundraiser... only to be greeted with a perfectly crisp set of green eyes right across the room.

Me and Xade picked up right where we left off, talking like no time had passed. I told him about Liam and he told me about Poppy, that girl is going to be a wild one, we smiled and laughed all night. It was nice, it was distracting.

Then we started seeing each other more; first just meeting up for lunch, then morning coffee, then after work drinks. He helped me and Charlie set up our offices, used some of his contacts from his own work and his sister to help us get started. It annoyed the shit out of Charlie, the human butterfly has always had hate for him, but even he has to admit that we wouldn't be where we are now without Xade.