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“I am trying! You are closer to me than anyone else, Liam!”
“That would be enough, if everyone else wasn’t dead.” She froze at my words.
I stepped in her face again and kissed her forehead. “I. Am. All. You. Have. Just as you are all I have—fuck Declan, Neal, Olivia, Coraline, even my parents. My family and loyalty start with you and you alone. The sooner you fucking realize that, the sooner we can get back to losing ourselves within each other and actually killing all those who stand against us.”
She said nothing, looking away from me, and I turned to leave. She didn’t stop me, because she was my Mel and hardheaded as fuck. I could say it to her a thousand times, but she needed to realize it herself. Tomorrow she would, and it couldn’t come fast enough. Then I would fuck her senseless for all the frustration she had caused me.
MELODY
Once he left, I laid back on the bed, trying not to think, but failing miserably.
I. Am. All. You. Have. His voice replayed in my mind even as I tried to push it out. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t just be happy with sex. I was willing to have sex. I wanted to have sex. However, instead of a quickie, I was laying on a bed alone. My mind felt so clouded. He was making it that way. I should have been thinking of ways to kill Amory and Saige, but instead, I was thinking of him, stupid fucking sexy Irish man.
I rose from the bed, fixing myself before walking out. I didn’t bother looking at Liam. Instead, I grabbed my things and walked off the plane. The moment I stepped out, I took a deep breath and smiled. I loved Cascadia. It was small, it was quiet, and it was green. I had hated it at first, but now the trees gave me peace. Nature was the only thing that made sense.
In front of the plane were Jeeps waiting to take us to the camp. I walked straight to Monte, and he already knew not to ask. Instead, he threw me the keys. Before driving off, I glanced back at Liam who glared at me. However, in the rearview mirror, I watched as he ran faster than any fucking man I had ever seen and jumped onto the back of the truck with ease.
He smirked at me before turning back to the rest of the men, fist in the air. They applauded him like he was something special.
“Camp Callahan begins now!”
Never mind, he was special . . . a stupid, special kid. I was tempted to turn sharply and send him into one of the tress, but he climbed into the front with me.
“If I wanted you to ride with me, I would have waited for you,” I said as he looked out at the small town we drove through.
“Why Cascadia?” he asked me, ignoring my comment completely. When I didn’t answer, he said, “This is a good time to be open, Melody, or does that only happen after sex?”
Stomping on the pedal, I drove us even farther, taking a path onto an abandoned road in the middle of the forest.
“I went to community college here. It’s small, rainy, and unknown. Cascadia is the place you go when you don’t want to be found,” I replied, turning left near the riverbank.
“You went to community college?” he asked, surprised, but of course he was. He was a rich kid from Chicago. I was a rich, too, but I was never really a kid.
“Yes, and I’m damn proud. Just because we have money doesn’t mean I wanted to waste it at some big fancy university, studying for a career that isn’t really an option. Nor did I want to deal with all the fake people who walked through the halls. I met Adriana here actually.” It was freshman year, and she looked so nervous. However, I saw what she could do one night after a few guys were just a little bit too rough.
“You didn’t want to go to school with two-faced people because you wanted to be the only one in the room,” he stated, causing me to stomp on the brakes, and he jerked forward.
“You don’t make me want to try. Do I lust after you? Yes. Any straight female would. Do I find you attractive and smart? Yes, and yes, again. But you are so very cocky, arrogant, possessive, and chauvinistic. You think you see me as an equal, but you don’t. You are pushy, annoying, and childish way too often. You piss me off! I signed that contract. I was going to try, but then you came at me like an animal. You disrespected me. You tried to make a fool of me. You insulted me, and now you think you can demand my love. You think you can force me to love you because my father is dead? Because you’re being a dick? I don’t give a motherfuck. I really don’t. So fuck you, Liam Callahan. I. Am. All. I. Have. That is how it has been and always will be.”
He stared at me wide-eyed as I unbuckled my seatbelt and stepped out into the forest. Grabbing my bag from behind my seat, I walked up the side of the hill by myself. I knew the forest well enough.
LIAM
I watched her walk away in shock, right before the pain kicked in. All I could see was red when I jumped out of the truck. I didn’t stop moving until I was right behind her. Grabbing onto her arm, I pulled her back and shoved her against the tree.
“We have already established that I am cocky, arrogant, possessive, and chauvinistic!” I yelled in her face. “And yes, I am pushy, annoying and childish often. But it is because I’m sick of being alone!”
I stopped, blinking a few times before stepping away from her. I hadn’t meant to say that. Fuck. I really hadn’t planned on saying that. I wanted to grab all the words and shove them back into my mouth, however it was too late. What was said could not be unsaid.
“Li—”
“I’m sick of being alone, and I know you are, too, even if you don’t admit it to yourself. I just want to skip this part.” I sighed, looking at her once more before walking into the forest.
I had no idea where I was going, but I just needed to get away from her. If I didn’t, I would say something else, which would be just as dumb. Somehow, my walking led me to a clearing of lavender flowers. They looked so soft that I took my jacket off and just lay down. Was every day of my life going to be a battle? Sighing, I took a deep breath, allowing myself to look up at the darkening sky. Being a city rat, I had never seen so many stars shine from the sky. I wasn’t sure what it was, but all of a sudden, I was drifting off.
I would head to the camp in the morning. Right now, I wanted to sleep in this moment of peace. Making sure my gun and knife were easy to grab, I allowed myself to relax.
MELODY
“Did he ever make it back?” I asked Monte as I looked out of the cabin window. The sun was starting to rise, and I hadn’t moved since I realized he hadn’t made it to camp. That had to be at least nine hours ago.
“No, ma’am. Are you sure you don’t want anyone to search for him?”
I’m sick of being alone! His words echoed in my mind, and all through the night, I couldn’t make it shut up. I had this weird feeling that something was going to happen. My gut told me something was going to happen, but I just wasn’t sure what that was yet.
“Ma’am?” Monte asked me again.
“No, we had an argument. He will find his way.”
“Should I let the men know?” he asked me, and I turned to him, glaring into his eyes. The men were settling fine.
They were already doing what they were supposed to be doing—relaxing, eating, practicing.
They didn’t need Mel and Liam drama right now.
“Ma’am, he’s back.” Monte pointed, and I followed his hand to the man fighting to get flowers off him as he broke through the tress. The idiot fell asleep in the forest. But then again, it was Cascadia. He was fine, nothing ever happened here. Rolling my eyes at him, I turned away from him just as a gunshot rang through the air. I had heard guns go off all night and in the morning, however, this one made me freeze. Every hair at the back of my neck rose.
