chapter six: *‘Cause Love Is All I Got*
Liam looked at the giggling girl in front of him and grinned. She was funny. She was simple.
She finally stopped laughing, her straight, white teeth gleaming behind her red lips. Her bright blue eyes and pitch black, wavy hair contrasted her pale complexion nicely.
“How are you single?” She joked, shoving him playfully.
He hid his wince at the rough contact she made with his still healing arm and instead leaned in.
“You want to change that?” He asked teasingly, his hot breath blowing across her cheek as he whispered the words in her ear.
He looked past her then and watched Sam chatting on the phone with who he was sure was Leslie. They were FaceTiming again and he was well aware they he was the topic of their conversation. In fact, Sam had the phone titled in his direction, no doubt showing Leslie exactly what he was doing. Perfect.
“You’re just saying that,” the girl finally answered playing coy.
He had forgotten her name and instead of saying anything he merely leaned back and threw her another one of his smiles.
“Why don’t you find out?” He winked at her and she giggled again.
He was somewhat interested in finding out her name again, but had no idea how to do it without telling her he had forgotten it.
She just laughed again, flushed, before turning serious, “Can I ask you something?”
He looked past her again making sure the phone was still titled in his direction before answering.
“You can ask me anything gorgeous, but it’ll cost you,” he said grabbing the beer next to him on the bar and talking a long sip. The fake IDs Leo had gotten for them all had worked perfectly.
“And what exactly?” She asked blushing once again.
“A kiss.” He answered confidently and watched smugly as she blushed even brighter before nodding her head.
“Okay, but you’ll have to eat one of my breath mints; I don’t like the taste of beer.” She teased.
He laughed genuinely before nodding his head for her to continue.
“How did you get that scar?” She gestured in the direction of the fading scar on his forehead.
Leslie watched in pain as Liam smiled and laughed and flirted with what she assumed had to be a breathtaking girl.
“She could be ugly?” Sam offered trying to make Leslie feel better before she insisted, yet again, on disconnecting the call. She was seconds away from pretending she lost signal or something.
Leslie didn’t say anything as she counted down the differences she could notice from staring at the back of the girl. For starters, her hair was black, she was very pale, and dressed very girly. And she also seemed tall. Great.
“You know what Sam, I think I’ve had enough,” She croaked out feeling heartbroken.
Wasn’t this the reason she didn’t come in the first place? So, why was she subjecting herself to it anyways?
Sam muttered something that sounded like “finally” but before she could disconnect the call the inevitable happened.
Leslie watched as Liam leaned over once again, but this time he snaked the palm of his hand on the girl’s neck before guiding her face towards his. Leslie watched in utter pain as he kissed the girl so passionately when they pulled away from each other they were gasping for breath.
And then, she watched in horror as Liam looked straight at the cell phone screen and smirked, mouthing the word “leave.”
She disconnected the call herself.
~~~
She had packed most of her things with a heavy heart. She couldn’t erase the look of malice in Liam’s eyes before he mouthed what he clearly wanted. Leave.
This was it, she had to go home.
The doorbell rang startling her. She sighed before going to check who was at the door. She wasn’t expecting Sam and the boys to be back until tomorrow. So, she was only moderately surprised to find out it wasn’t them. On the other hand, she had no idea why her brother was standing at the doorway with a rather impatient look on his face.
When she stepped out of the way, making room for Carter to get inside he grinned.
“Lil’ sis!” He yelled before grabbing her into a huge bear hug. She wheezed.
“G-get off me,” she gasped before he dropped her like a sack of potatoes. Leslie managed to balance herself and then crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance.
“Why are you even here?” She questioned.
He frowned, “Now, is that any way to treat your older brother? I don’t think so,” He answered for her, dropping the bag she hadn’t noticed he was carrying on the floor, and making his way to the kitchen, like he owned the place.
“What are you doing here?” She emphasized trailing after him.
He opened up the fridge, took out an Arizona that didn’t belong to him, and then turned back around towards her.
“I’m staying here for a couple weeks, you know, to look after you and such?” He replied casually opening up the can of green tea and taking a sip. Leslie wanted to punch the innocent look off his face.
Now, it was going to be a lot harder to go home.
“No, seriously,” She replied.
“I’m serious,” He offered going past her yet once again. This time he plopped onto the coach, kicked his feet up onto the coffee table, and contently sipped his Arizona Green Tea.
Leslie merely stood there-the shock paralyzing her. Who did he think he was?
She watched as he gulped down the rest of his drink in silence. Finally, when he simply raised an eyebrow in question she snapped out of it.
“You, my brother, are dead,” She growled before pouncing.
~
Liam watched as the car halted to a stop. They were back at the mansion and he was highly perplexed.
Had she left? How would it feel to not have her around?
He didn’t want her to be there. On the other hand, he pancakes were pretty good.
He sighed deciding to get out of the car with everyone else and find out. Sam wasn’t talking to him, not that he necessarily minded, but it was getting annoying having her purposely jut her head the other way when he did as much as look in her general direction.
The girl at the bar (Katy? Maybe Julia? She had mentioned her name again later that night but it just kept slipping from his mind) had stuffed her phone number in the front pocket of his jeans, but he wasn’t sure if he’d call her. She lived quite a distance away and he didn’t particularly like her all that much. Her eyes weren’t soft, they didn’t care.
“Dude, what’s up with you?” Jonah asked shoving Liam’s arm gently to get his attention.
Liam grumbled something incomprehensible under his breath before walking to the door.
Leslie was on the floor- or rather a boy was on the floor- and she was sitting on his back. She held onto his right leg, folding it back with one hand, and smashing the boy’s face into the carpet with her other hand. He was struggling, but Leslie’s grip was strong and whenever he moved she pulled his leg back harder making the boy groan in pain. A few feet away from them a black suitcase was titled to the side.
Liam watched in shock as Leslie, too focused on whatever it was she was doing, didn’t even notice he was there.
“You better tell me why you’re here! I don’t believe any of the bullshit you’re spewing,” She yelled.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about!” The boy responded exasperated.
“The lies!” Leslie shouted.
Just behind Liam, Sam and the others walked into the house.
“What the he-oh,” Sam muttered before chuckling and going to sit on the coach as if ready to enjoy a show.
Just then the boy looked at Sam and his eyes widened.
“Leslie there are other people here, get off of me!” He yelled, but Leslie didn’t budge.
“Hey Carter,” Sam greeted smugly.
The boy, whose name was apparently Carter, glared at Sam before shouting, “Leslie, you really shouldn’t let stray dogs into a house that doesn’t even belong to you, it’s irresponsible and you should get off of me and go handle the situation. You never know, the mutt could pee on the floor or something.”
Leslie let out what sounded like a battle cry, “YOU DO NOT GET TO TALK ABOUT RESPONSIBILITY!”
Meanwhile, Sam sat on her knees, her hands in front of her, and barked.
Carter, now more than a little petrified at Leslie’s rage, decided to take a different approach, “Sam! Okay, sorry, you’re not a mutt, you’re a high class show dog, now please get your lunatic friend off of me!”
Sam gave him an unconvinced look.
“I’m a dog remember? I mean woof, no, woof, no, woof, no, woof.”
Liam, now accompanied by Jonah and Leo who had dropped their bags in shock, just stared in confusion.
Finally Leo snapped out of it. He looked in Sam’s direction, “You gotta love that girl,” she muttered before picking his suitcase back up.
Liam just continued to stare between Leslie and the packed black suitcase on the floor.
~~
Later Liam found out that Carter was one of Leslie’s brothers…and that he’d be staying with them. Which to him only meant one thing: he’d have to cut his shit with Leslie. Despite seeing Leslie basically kick Carter’s ass, the guy was big, and Liam had the growing suspicion that Carter was more than capable of holding his own in a fight.
But, as he lay on his bed staring at the ornate wooden ceiling, he mostly wondered why Leslie hadn’t left, why instead her brother had come… and whose suitcase had been on the floor.
What exactly was she planning…and why did he feel, almost well, due to a lack of a better word, pleased that she hadn’t left.
It was relieving.
Suddenly, there was a gentle knock on the door.
“Come in,” he called not bothering to ask who it was.
He watched surprised, although his face revealed nothing (as always), as Leslie timidly came in. Internally, he was even more surprised when she sat at the foot of his bed.
“I don’t appreciate what you did,” She stated, her voice soft but confident, her eyes examining her hands that lay on her lap, “and I’m sorry you don’t want me to stay, but my brother’s here now and I can’t leave until he does.” She paused and finally looked up at him,” I don’t know when he’ll leave and he still won’t tell me why he’s here, but as soon as he’s out of here, I-I,” She paused again and looked down, “I’m not leaving.” She wanted to add “for now” but her mouth stopped moving- cutting her short.
Liam betrayed nothing. The boy had developed the world’s best poker face and instead asked calmly, “Why?”
She should have said she wouldn’t leave because of her brother, she wanted to say that she’d leave soon, that he had hurt her enough, and that she would move on with her life- let him go- let him be free.
Instead she answered, daring to look directly into his cold blue eyes, “Because I’m stupidly persistent…or maybe just stupid.”
Something changed, ever so slightly, in his eyes.
A/N: Ah, I love Carter…and Sam, she’s pretty great too. Please vote and comment! Until next time, Evelyn xx