Because of Liam

by Erica Alexander

  “I don’t know, but whatever this is, it’s mutual. I forgot all about them too.”

  A huge smile spreads over his face. He kisses my belly, fixes my robe, and gets up. His hands cup my face again and he kisses me, my taste on his lips. “I’ll let you finish getting dressed. Don’t take too long. I’ll wait for you to eat.”

  He walks to the door and turns just before opening it and looks at me with an intensity that makes my heart speed up.

  We may not have put a name to this thing between us yet, but I’m pretty sure I know what it is.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Graduation is over. Our names were called. We walked the path—didn’t trip—and got our fake diplomas. The real ones will come in the mail in a few weeks.

  Bruno, Pat, and to everyone’s surprise, Olivia, the boys’ mother came. I know it’s an olive branch gesture and a small step in the right direction, but Logan and Liam are still a long way from forgiving everything their mother allowed to happen. But they talk often and their parents’ divorce is expected to be finalized in the next three or four months. Their father has not tried to contact either of them since the day the boys confronted him. They both say it’s better off this way, but my heart hurts for them. I have always taken my loving parents for granted.

  Isn’t it what parents are supposed to do? Love their kids unconditionally? I never questioned their love. They never questioned my trust in them. It just was. Some of our friends would say we were lucky to have the parents we had, but I never really paid much attention to it until I met Liam’s parents. What a couple of fucked up people. Talk about priorities being mixed up. I feel lucky. I feel blessed. I should let Mom and Dad know.

  We had a late lunch at a fancy restaurant. But besides the happy celebration atmosphere, Mom kept glancing at me and Skye. I’m not surprised. She always knew when something was up. Since we were kids, we couldn’t get away with anything. Ever! Mom’s sixth sense has a sixth sense. And right now, I can see and hear the alarm bells going off in her head. But she’s biding her time until we get to our place. The six of us are sharing the space in Logan’s SUV. It’s big enough to fit all of us comfortably. I know my parents are not going back home without us talking first.

  As soon as the door to our apartment clicks closed, it happens.

  “All right, I have been patient enough. Someone tell me what’s going on.”

  Logan and Liam look at each other and then at Mom, like the proverbial deer in the headlight.

  “What do you mean?” Logan tries to deflect.

  Skye just shakes her head at him and waves her hand. She looks at me for permission and I nod.

  I take over from there. “We may as well sit. This is not the kind of talk one has standing up.”

  Dad, as always, is completely oblivious to everything, but he has been with Mom long enough not to doubt or question any of her weirdness, and I swear it’s exactly that—her weirdness—what he loves most about her. Or as he likes to put it, Mom’s woo-woo ways.

  The boys look at me and Skye and hesitate, then each takes a seat next to us. Mom and Dad sit across from us, the coffee table marking neutral ground.

  “Something happened. Something I didn’t tell you or Skye or anyone for that matter. I should have, but at the time, I was confused, angry at myself, and ashamed.”

  I take a deep breath and both Liam’s and Skye’s hands reach out at the same time to take one of my hands in theirs. They smile at each other and lend me the support and strength I need to go on.

  “Mom, Dad.” My lungs fill with air and expel it, one last attempt at delaying the pain my words will cause them. “I was raped.”

  Mom’s gasp fills the silence, instant tears swimming in her eyes. Liam’s fingers squeeze one of my hands, as Skye holds the other to her chest. Dad’s always smiling face darkens. I rush to fill the empty space those three words I spoke created.

  “I don’t remember anything. I was drugged and up until about a week ago, I had no idea who did it.”

  “When?” Dad asks the one-word question.

  “Nearly a year ago. I’m sorry it took this long to tell you, to tell anyone, but it has taken me this long to come to terms with it.”

  “Who?”

  The silence falls heavy between us. I know as soon as I say his name my parents will recognize it. They know Skye dated him for a few weeks. They know how much I despise him. I feel like a coward all over again because his name refuses to leave my lips.

  Skye takes the weight of those words away from me and I’m grateful for her stepping in.

  “It was Jon, Dad.”

  My parents met Jon once when they came up to visit us. Mom didn’t like him much either, but she never did interfere with our lives. She voices her feelings, gives advice when we ask for, but always allows us to make our own decisions.

  Mom hasn’t said a word. It’s so unlike her to not say anything, but the silent tears streaming down her face, a face so much like my own, say it all. She’s hurting for me.

  I don’t cry. I don’t have any tears left in me and I’m done hurting over what he did to me. I’m taking my life back.

  “Son.” Dad looks at Logan. “You may not want to hear what I have to say next, being that you’re the law and all, but I must say I have a lot of land and some machines that can dig very deep holes.” He looks back at me. “Where can I find this piece of shit, River?”

  Dad never curses. Never. He’s completely in control, and cold rage along with the single curse word scare me more than words can say. I know Dad means everything he’s saying. If he gets a hold of Jon, he will kill him and bury him somewhere no one can find him.

  Logan steps in. “He’s under arrest, sir. His bail has been denied. River was not the only one he hurt. There are several others. He’s going away for a long time.”

  “My way is more permanent, son.”

  A corner of Liam’s lip tips up at Dad’s words.. Dad winks at him. Not a fun, amused wink. It’s more of an ‘I’ve got your back’ wink. Dad frightens me a bit just then.

  Mom finds her voice. “What can we do to help?”

  I look at Skye and the boys. “There’s nothing else to do but wait. We have a few girls who came forward and tied him to the place and time of their attack. We have video evidence as well. We think we may have some DNA evidence, but he was careful to cover his tracks. There are no witnesses.”

  “How did you find out?” Mom asks me.

  Liam speaks for the first time. “We overheard a conversation. Something he said to someone.”

  Liam can feel my discomfort. “Maybe I can tell you what he said another time.”

  Dad nods at Liam. He can feel my discomfort as well.

  “Logan, I don’t know if either of my daughters ever told you this, but I was a lawyer a long time ago, before I got bewitched by this lovely lady sitting next to me and decided to be a farmer.” This makes me smile. Dad sometimes calls Mom a witch, but it’s always in the most loving of ways, his special nickname for her.

  “Now, if I remember well, this boy”—venom drips at the word boy. Dad is refusing to address Jon by his name—“has a rich father and friends in high places.”

  “That’s true, sir, but we hope the DNA evidence is a match and it will be enough to get him behind bars for a long time and—”

  Dad interrupts Logan. “You know, on my first day of college, I was a very green eighteen-year-old. On that day I met my roommate, and we went on being roommates for the next four years and then another four when we went to law school together. That man would turn into a best friend of over thirty years.”

  I’m wondering where Dad is going with this.

  “You know the name of that man, son?”

  Logan looks confused. “I don’t think so . . .”

  “I bet you do. His name is George Lafayette.”

  Logan smiles. Mom smiles. I look at Liam and Skye, and they are just as confused as I am.

  “Dad? What about Uncle George? Wha
t does he have to do with anything?”

  “Oh, nothing much,” Dad says. “Except that George is a state’s attorney.”

  “Is that like a district attorney?” Skye asks.

  “Yep.”

  “River, did you know that?”

  “No. I haven’t seen Uncle George since we started college.”

  “Does this mean what I think it means?” It’s Liam turn to speak.

  Logan’s smile is even bigger now.

  “River, if there’s one other person, besides your boyfriend here, who would help me dig that hole, no questions asked, it’s your uncle George.”

  “I’m feeling really dumb right now and maybe I should have paid more attention in Social Studies class or watched more CSI, but what can Uncle George do to help us?”

  “Oh, he can bring in the heavy guns, so to speak, make sure we have the best prosecutors, put a lot of pressure on whoever takes up that piece of shit’s defense, make him pay for everything he did to you, those other girls, and more.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  After we explained all the details on how we got Jon to my parents, and they went back home, exhaustion hit me. All the excitement and tension of the day finally caught up with me. We said our goodbyes, Mom’s and Dad’s hugs were extra tight and extra- long. A lot was said in those hugs and in the way they both looked at Liam and Logan. Their gratitude is palpable. Knowing all the boys did to right this wrong and how much Logan is risking to get Jon behind bars—he’s putting his job at stake. What they did, what we did, isn’t exactly legal. But it served a purpose.

  When we come back into the house, the air is heavy with silence as we look at each other. This has been a day of celebration but also of confessions and pain. We didn’t intend to say anything to Mom and Dad today, but there’s only so much we can keep from my mother. Sooner or later, she figures things out. Had she been around from the beginning, she would have known months ago. Of that I’m sure.

  Logan puts as an arm around Skye’s shoulders and walks her to the door.

  “See you tomorrow,” he calls out before closing the door behind them. As if by some kind of mutual agreement, Skye leaves with Logan, but Liam stays with me. He looks at me, uncertainty in his demeanor. I extend my hand to him and he comes to me in an instant, pulling me into his chest and dropping his head to the curve of my neck.

  “I’m so tired,” I say.

  He kisses my forehead. “Come, I’ll help you get ready for bed.”

  “I’m sure you will,” I joke.

  “Nah, I think you could use a hot shower to relax you and then a long night of sleep.”

  “It sounds good to me. Now I just need to find the energy to do all that.”

  “I’ll take care of you.”

  Before I can reply, my feet are off the floor and he’s carrying me like a baby. He walks to the bathroom and stands me up. Unzipping my dress, he guides the sleeves down my arms. When I step out of it, Liam folds the dress and lays it on the side of the bathtub, then unhooks and removes my bra. I’m barefoot as my shoes came off as soon as we walked through the front door.

  “You won’t need these either.” His gentle thumbs hook in my panties and he brushes his fingers all the way down my legs as my panties go with them. I step to the side and he tosses the panties in the hamper and then reaches around me to turn the shower on. Grabbing a hair tie, he makes a high ponytail on top of my head and turns it into a bun.

  My back is still turned to him, I can hear as his shoes and clothes come off and land on the side of the tub next to my dress. One thing I always loved about this bathroom was that it has a separate tub and shower. Skye loves baths. I’m more of a shower kind of girl. We can share the bathroom and neither of us gets mad about the other taking too long. It works perfectly.

  Liam’s hands on my hips bring me back to reality and he walks me into the shower, then adjusts the water spray so it points down and doesn’t get my hair wet. I step under the stream of hot water and moan. I’m a firm believer that a long hot shower cures most things. Liam’s hands find my shoulders and start kneading. The combination of heat and touch undoes the tension that has been building up all day. He reaches for the soap and starts to wash me. His big hands cover way more skin than mine do. I let him. I stand there and let him wash me. His hands everywhere. It’s not sexual, but it’s sensual. After several minutes of his hands touching, massaging, and soaping me, he guides the spray along my body. He presses his chest to my back and I can feel how hard he is. My eyes have been closed this whole time, but as I turn around, I open them. A dripping wet and hard Liam is an image to behold. All my tiredness evaporates and I feel a surge of energy.

  “Take me to bed, Liam.”

  The water turns off. A towel wraps around me. His hands are gentle when he dries away the drops on my skin, patting here and there, the movements a caress. He dries himself quickly and with way less gentleness that he dried me.

  “Take me to bed, Liam,” I say it again.

  “Are you sure? This was a hard day for you.”

  “Every time you kiss me, every time you touch me, every time you make love to me, you chip away at all that hurt me before and you give me new, beautiful memories to hold onto.”

  His mouth is on mine in an instant. He tastes like forgiveness, like sunshine and happy days ahead. I thrive on his kisses.

  As I lie on my stomach, naked still, the sheet down to my hips, Liam brushes my hair off my shoulders and over to the side. His fingers trace random designs on my back, light as butterfly kisses. I relax even more and close my eyes, enjoying how gentle he can be considering the almost violent intensity with which he’d just taken me and I start to drift to sleep as his fingers continue to play on my back.

  I realize the touch is not random at all and he’s tracing letters on my skin. And just before sleep claims me, I make out the words . . . I LOVE YOU.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Well, having an uncle who is the DA really does come in handy. Even if Uncle George is not really my uncle by blood since both my parents are only children, I grew up with him around. We saw him often. He was like a brother to Dad and it made him a part of our family. He doesn’t have any kids and kind of adopted us as his own by proxy.

  It’s been three days since the trial that put an end to Jon Asshole’s raping spree. He thought he could get away with what he did, but there were enough witnesses and enough corroborating evidence to put him at the scene of all the rapes. And the DNA came through. It was a match. Add to that the testimony and video we had of his attempt on Skye, thanks to Uncle George for making sure it was admissible in court, the drugs they found on him, and the prosecutors were able to prove intent as well.

  With Uncle George’s weight behind the prosecution and the media circus talking about putting an end to rape culture and rich boys’ privilege, the judge felt the pressure. Especially after that case with the swimmer guy who raped an unconscious woman. Jon was found guilty for each count of rape the prosecution brought against him and got between four and ten years for each of those cases for a grand total of thirty-seven years in prison. He will be nearly sixty years old by the time he sees freedom again. My only regret is not having said anything sooner. Maybe I could have prevented it from happening to someone else, but then again, if I had, he would not have been caught. I’m sure of that. Jon is smart. If he thought anyone had any suspicion or started talking about it, he would just lie low for a long while or go prey somewhere far away from campus.

  This is the thing I’ll never understand. Even though he is an asshole, Jon could be charming. He is good-looking and has money. There were always willing girls he could have hooked up with, but he chose not to do that. That was just not good enough for him. He needed the thrill of dominance and he likes it with a fight. He’s a sick bastard.

  For the most part, I’m myself again. I have learned to let go of the blame and shame. Every once in a while, it pops back up, but I think that’s normal. And with time it wil
l happen less and less frequently. I’m keeping busy with classes and my job at the clinic, and whatever free time I have is filled with Liam. If anyone had told me on that first day—the day I dumped my raspberry lemonade on him—that just a few months later I would be completely in love with Liam, I would have told them they were crazy. Insane. Loony. Nutty as a fruitcake. But look at me now. The thought makes me laugh.

  I feel movement behind me. An arm hooks around my waist and pulls me back until my whole body is enveloped in Liam’s.

  “What are you laughing about?”

  He nuzzles into my hair and speaks into my neck. His voice is rough and low with sleep, the heat from his bare skin warming mine. I love the feel of him all around me. Love the way his arm pulls me into his chest and how I can feel his hardness nestled onto my bottom. Gosh, I could wake up like this every day and be happy. Also save a ton on pajamas since the first thing Liam does when he comes to my bed is to strip me naked. He says he never wants to have anything between us again. Not even clothes.

  “Nothing really, I was just thinking about that first day we met and how far from that day we’ve come.”

  He manages to nuzzle even deeper into my back and hold me tighter.

  “I wanted to kiss you so bad that day.”

  “What?” I push away so I can turn and face him. “What do you mean you wanted to kiss me? You were so angry, I thought you were going to hit me.”

  “I’d never hit you and I was angry, but not at you. I was mad at myself because you took me by surprise and when I saw you, all I wanted to do was taste on your mouth whatever that drink was that you dumped on me.”

  “You did?” Wow. I can’t believe this. Would’ve never guessed. Not in a million years.

  “So, so much. And when my brother put his arm around you, I thought you were his girlfriend and I got even more pissed off because then you’d be off-limits and, in my mind, I already had you bent over the hood of that truck.”