Beautifully Broken Pieces (Sutter Lake, #1)(72)

I wanted to run somewhere Walker would never find me, but I would have to settle for holing up on my couch with a blanket pulled over my head. I swung into my driveway, and my jaw clenched. There was a large SUV parked to the side of my house, one I didn’t recognize. The last thing in the world I wanted was to be forced into polite conversation with anyone, especially a stranger.

I pulled down my car’s visor. Shit. I was a mess. I did my best to dry my tears and wipe away the tracks of mascara on my face. There was nothing I could do about the red eyes and cheeks other than put on my sunglasses. Grabbing my bag, I opened my door.

My eyes scanned from the strange SUV to the front of my house. A figure reclined on my front steps, a baseball cap pulled low, sunglasses on. Was he taking a nap? Then I noticed a guitar case leaning against the wood railing of the porch steps, and it all clicked into place. “Liam?”

The figure shot up to sitting and then moved to stand. “Hey there, Tay. How would you feel about a house guest? I really needed to get out of Dodge, and it had to be under the radar—” He paused mid-ramble to study my face. “Are you okay?”

That was all it took. I promptly burst into tears. And not the pretty kind. These were snotty, hiccupping sobs. Liam wrapped me in a tight hug. “Hey, hey now. Everything’s going to be okay. Whatever it is, we can fix it.”

“N-n-no we can’t.” I cried into Liam’s shirt.

“What could be so bad that it’s not fixable?”

“I-I-I fell in love with someone.”

Liam pulled back, lines creasing his brow. “You fell in love with someone?”

I nodded.

“And that’s bad?” he asked.

I nodded again.

Liam burst into a fit of laughter that had him leaning back to let it out. Rage flooded my veins. So many emotions had been pumping through my body for the past few hours, I was on overload. So, I didn’t take the time to think or calm my temper like I should have, I just wound my fist back and socked Liam right in the stomach. “It’s not funny, asshole!”

Turning on my heel, I stormed into the house, leaving Liam wheezing in my wake. I went directly to the kitchen and opened the freezer to pull out a bottle of vodka. I filled a glass with ice, a healthy pour of alcohol, and a dash of lemonade. Taking my drink, I walked out to the back deck and sank onto one of the rockers.

It felt like a million years ago when I had sat out here after a nightmare and decided that Sutter Lake would be my home for the next little while. In reality, it had only been months. So much had changed, yet I found myself longing for how things used to be. Alone was the only state of being that was safe. I had now learned that lesson the hard way for the second time. I could have friends, but I couldn’t open my heart to create a family. The risks were too great.

The sliding door opened behind me, but I didn’t turn around. I kept sipping my drink, staring at my beautiful view and listening to the water below. Liam sat in the rocker next to mine. Only the sound of the bubbling creek filled the air as we rocked.

Eventually, Liam blew out a long breath. “I’m sorry I laughed.” I said nothing in return. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

I turned, looking at Liam for the first time since he’d sat down. “First, why don’t you tell me why you’re here. Aren’t you supposed to be recording an album right now?”

A muscle in his cheek ticked, and he took a pull of the beer he had apparently helped himself to. “Some news is about to break that will send every blood-sucking paparazzi in a thousand-mile radius to my doorstep, so I thought it would be good to get out of LA for a while. Go someplace no one would expect to find me.”

I studied Liam’s face, a pang of guilt hitting me in the belly. He looked awful. He hadn’t shaved in days, and dark circles rimmed his bloodshot eyes. “Everything okay?” I knew it wasn’t, but I hoped he’d open up if I asked outright.

He tilted his head back, staring at the crystal-blue sky. “Not really. And it doesn’t help that I have an album due in a couple months and haven’t written anything decent in almost a year.” His head came back down so that he was again staring out at the horizon. “I think it’s time for a change of scenery. Do you think I could stay a while? Maybe this place will inspire me.”

“You can stay as long as you want. But to be honest, I was thinking of going back to LA.”

Liam’s head snapped in my direction. “You just told me that you had fallen in love with someone. And now you’re saying you want to go back to LA?”

It was my turn to stare out at the horizon. “It’s complicated.”

“Is he married?”

I scooped a piece of ice from my glass and pelted it at Liam. “No, you ass. You know I don’t mess around like that.”

He shrugged. “The heart wants what the heart wants.”

My chest squeezed at that painful reminder. “I don’t want my heart to want anyone. Or anything.”

“Tay,” he said softly. I refused to look at him, not wanting to see the pity in his eyes. He grabbed hold of one of my hands and gripped it tightly. My eyes shot to his. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“I’m not strong enough.”

Liam squeezed my hand fiercely. “You are one of the strongest people I know.” I bit my bottom lip hard to hold back the tears that wanted to fall. I wasn’t strong, I was a fucking wimp. I didn’t want the possibility of any more pain inflicted on my heart. Liam sighed, recognizing the doubt in my eyes. “Tell you what, why don’t we get wasted, and you can tell me all about this love of yours that has you wanting to run for the hills?”