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“Move in with me,” King murmured barely loud enough for Liam to hear. Liam’s eyes widened, a mix of excitement and fear of jumping in too quickly assailing him. King’s smile was small, but reassuring, his eyes warm and affectionate. “You don’t have to stay in my room—I have a spare—and my table is big enough for you to study on.”
“Oh, and Liam, we’ll need your rent payment for the week. Fix that up before you leave.”
“Oh, hell no,” King roared as Lij’s patience snapped and he growled like a wild animal. “You do not get to hurt him like that then demand money from him. Not a chance. How dare you?”
His father’s face went red and his mother’s lips pressed together, her eyes narrowing into a glare. His father’s voice boomed around the open plan room. “Who do you think you are speaking to us like that in our own home?”
King stepped up, his broad shoulders intimidating even from behind. His back was as straight as a rod, his fists clenched. King was perpetually unflappable, his waters running so deep that Liam had never even seen a ripple on the surface. But this was an entirely different King. He was spoiling for a fight, and Liam didn’t have the energy to stop him. He was completely deflated.
Liam’s heart shattered in his chest. He was going to lose his safe space. The home he’d called his own for nearly half his life. There weren’t many happy memories there from when his parents were around, but even though he hadn’t changed the décor, he’d made his own happiness there. He’d fallen in love with Addy and King right out front and sitting at the table in front of him. He’d kissed King for the first time there. He’d laughed with Addy and she’d given him hope when he’d needed it most. He was going to lose the very place where those memories had been made. He closed his eyes and let the tears roll down his cheeks.
King murmured, “No. No, no, no,” and wrapped his arms around Liam. He held onto King like a life preserver, letting him prop Liam up. He borrowed his strength, needing it all just to stay upright. “I’ve got you. Come on, let’s go home.”
Liam nodded but he couldn’t let go of King. Everything would crumble at his feet if he did. He clutched at his shirt, holding him close as he buried his face in King’s chest. “I need you,” he whispered, and King held him tighter.
Lij was standing close, whispering as he said, “How about you take Liam to your place. I’ll get his things packed up and drive his car over.” He felt King nod, but his guy didn’t let him go. He held him tight until Liam could breathe again. When he pulled back, Liam wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and rested his hands on King’s arms.
“You okay?” He nodded and King smiled, his expression filled with sorrow. He wrapped his arm around Liam’s shoulder, and the three of them walked toward the garage.
He stopped at the foot of the stairs. “Lij, thank you.”
“Anytime, bud.” His friend walked up the stairs, stopping halfway up. “King?” His boyfriend paused and they looked over to Lij. “We need to talk.”
“When Adds gets back, we will.”
Lij nodded and turned again, heading the rest of the way up to his bedroom.
Liam really only had clothes and toiletries that needed to be moved. He kept his training gear in his SUV, and anything he didn’t immediately need was in a separate storage shed so he didn’t clutter the place up. Huh. Maybe Liam had been subconsciously planning for this day for a while. Either way, something shifted inside him. A weight lifted. For the first time, the steel cables of his parents’ disapproval that had tied him down were falling away. They were loosening their grip.
Liam was free.
“Mum, Dad,” he called. He didn’t bother turning back to them. He didn’t need to see their reactions. He was doing this for him. He’d gotten this far. Now it was time to completely sever the bond that had kept him going back for more punishment just so he could feel something with them. It was finally time to break free of their toxic clutches. “Consider this relationship over. It’s not the Bank of Liam anymore. Don’t ask me for anything again. It’s not gonna happen. I refuse to be treated like shit again.”
“Liam,” his mum snapped. “You don’t talk to us like that, or—”
“Or nothing. Lose my number.” He took his key off the chain and dropped it on the table just inside the garage, picked up the garbage bag of his uni materials, and let King grab his duffel.
He walked out, letting the door catch on the wind and slam closed. His mother would hate it. He smiled.
Carol was there waiting for him. She held her arms out and he stepped into them, holding the mother he wished he’d been born to close. “You okay, love?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I am now. Lij is inside packing for me. They told me to move out, but…” He sucked in a wobbly breath, hating that he’d let them see how much capacity to hurt him they had. “I couldn’t hang around and pack. I needed to get out of there.”
“I’ll see if he needs any luggage. You want to put your things in Addy’s room for the moment?”
“He’s moving in with me,” King replied with an affectionate smile. Liam nodded and after saying their goodbyes, King led him to the car.
“Could we maybe go see your parents on the way home?” he asked, his eyes filling with tears again.
“They’d love that.” King slid his hand over the centre console and threaded their fingers together, holding on tight.
Twenty-six
Adelaide
A
delaide unzipped her suitcase and dumped the last few days of worn clothes into the laundry hamper. She hated unpacking, but it was better than tripping over her own feet. King and Liam were downstairs with Eli, her mum, and Pop, waiting patiently for her to come down. She was scared. The tremble in her hands was more pronounced the longer she thought about what she had to say. It wasn’t that she was worried her family would disapprove. Or maybe it was. She was going to tell them that she was dating two men. Pop liked to remind her that they weren’t living in the 1920s, but even that might be too much for him. What would her brother think? She was dating his oldest and best friend. Her mother? She was the most open-minded of them all, but would this cross a line?
