by LeAnn Ashers
“Man, I love that woman with everything in me. I would rather cut off my own arm than lay a hand on her. I would never hurt her. Ever.” Ethan looks him dead in the eye. My heart skips a beat at his words; hearing him say he loves me will never get old.
“Liam,” I call and move behind him. Tears blur my vision because Liam is trying to protect me even though he doesn’t even know me.
“That is one thing for certain you never have to worry about, him hurting me.”
“I’m sorry, man, it’s just—”
Ethan raises his hand and stops him. “I understand, and I’m glad to know you will protect her.”
I smile at Ethan when he walks over and kisses me. “I have work.”
“I know. I’m going to take him shopping after I clean the kitchen.”
“Love you.” He kisses my temple and smacks my butt before heading up to get ready for work.
“Let’s get these dishes done, shall we?”
Liam follows me without a word. “So what grade are you in?” I ask as I hand him a dish to rinse.
“I was supposed to start junior year two weeks ago.”
“Want to go register for school today while we are out?”
He shrugs nonchalantly. “Come on, you’ll meet pretty girls,” I tease.
He blushes and looks away. Aww, that blush is too cute. I have the sudden urge to pinch his cheeks.
Liam backs away from me, his eyes narrowed like he knows what I’m thinking. I start to lift my hand, but Ethan presses his hand to my back, leans around, and kisses my cheek. I turn around and hug him tightly, hating that he has to put himself in danger every day.
“Be careful, okay?”
“Always,” he assures.
I raise my head for another kiss, which he delivers quickly because Liam is standing right beside us.
“By the way, one of Kyle’s men is going with you guys today. He will be here in thirty.”
“Okay.” I nod and squeeze his hand.
“Laters, baby.” He kisses the top of my head one last time, walks out of the kitchen, and then I hear the front door slam closed.
“You didn’t tell me he was a cop,” Liam huffs while drying a plate.
“Well, it never came up.” I shrug and pull the plug out of the drain. “Put the plates in the cabinet here,” I point to the cabinet beside the sink. “I’m going to get dressed. Do you want to wear something of Ethan’s or are you okay with your clothes from yesterday?”
“I’ll just wear my clothes.” He places the plates in the cabinet one at a time and stacks them perfectly even.
“Okay.”
I dry out the sink and walk up to my room, where I dress in a pair of skinny jeans and a white flowy tank. I know I need to hurry because Kyle’s guy is going to be here any minute.
I quickly put on some mascara and my matte lipstick that is just a few shades darker than my lips, then brush out my naturally straight hair.
I check inside my purse to make sure my wallet and phone are inside before I walk out of my room and yell, “You ready, Liam?”
“Yeah.” The sound is coming from directly behind me. Screaming, I drop my purse and cover my heart in fear.
Liam is biting his bottom lip, his face red, trying to hold in his laughter.
“Hahaha, laugh it up.” I roll my eyes.
He bursts out laughing, then picks my purse up off the floor and hands it to me. I put it on my shoulder and walk down the steps. Just as I pass by the front door, there is a loud knock, startling me again into a yelp, which makes Liam start laughing once more.
I raise both my hands and flip him off, which makes him laugh even harder. I shake my head and peek out the window. I see a man with an MC cut on standing in front of the door.
I unlock the door and throw it open. The man standing before me has an amused expression on his face. My guess is he heard my girly scream.
“You ready, Liam?” I turn my head to look at him.
“Yeah,” he answers and leans down to slip on his shoes. I see the hole covering the toe part of the shoe, his white sock peeking through. The bottom of the shoe is coming apart from the fabric of the top.
Liam rises up. I look away quickly, not wanting him to catch me staring. It makes me so angry with my parents. The MC guy turned away the same time I did, and I know he noticed the same thing.
“Are you riding with me or riding behind?”
“Behind.” He turns to the side so Liam and I can walk out the door. I lock up and click the remote to unlock the car. The MC guy straddles his bike and starts it. The motorcycle rumble is so loud it feels like the ground is shaking.
“That’s a nice-ass bike,” Liam says with a little awe in his voice. He looks out the back window, watching the man behind us as we get onto the highway.
“Maybe you can get your own someday.”
He psshts and looks out the window. “Yeah, right.” His shoulder sinks slightly.
“Anything is possible, Liam. You aren’t in that life anymore. You have endless opportunities now.” I grab his hand and give it a squeeze. He squeezes back but doesn’t say anything. I know what he is feeling. The feeling of complete hopelessness from years of getting shit put into your head, of being told you will have nothing and will never be anything in life. That’s why I got a small part time job while I was in high school and got a full ride scholarship, so I didn’t end up like them.
Thank goodness I don’t need to go to the bank anymore. My money goes straight into my bank account now. The money is adding up now more and more. I got my degree I asked to be sent in the mail a few days ago. So now that I’m getting paid to be a counselor at the center, my pay got raised by a lot. Apparently, they shit money there. I know the place runs on donations and the MC club. They own close to forty businesses all over Texas, according to Chrystal.
I turn off the car once we pull up in front of the mall. The MC guy is at my side instantly when I get out of the car. He has tattoos running up and down his arms and scruff on his face with a scar that runs from his lip to his temple.
Liam hops out and shuts the door. Clicking the clicker, I lock the doors. Liam walks beside me, and I can’t help but notice how handsome he is. He will be absolutely gorgeous once he grows into his body. He also has that bad boy look about him.
He opens the door for me to enter first. Once he’s back beside me, I ask, “Where do you want to go?” He looks at me, shocked for a second before he shrugs.
“Liam, get whatever you want. Lead me where you want to go,” I insist. He smiles at me and then walks in the direction of American Eagle. “I’m going to sit outside on the bench, okay?”
“Okay,” he says and walks inside, straight to the jeans.
“That’s your brother?” The MC guy asks as I sit down on the bench.
“Yeah, I just found out last night.” I sigh and rub my forehead. “My mom left in the middle of the night. Told us to keep him, that they didn’t want him.”
“Fuck,” the man growls and sits down on the other side of the bench from me.
“Yeah, I know.” I sigh again and lean against the back of the bench.
“He’s been hit,” he tells me hesitantly, trying to gauge my reaction.
“I know,” I tell him sadly. “But never again.”
“I’m Torch.”
Looking over, I see him holding out a tattooed hand. “Braelyn.” I shake his hand quickly. We look into the department store at Liam, who is only holding one pair of jeans. I roll my eyes, stand up, and walk inside the store to him.
“Liam, get more than that!”
“Hang on, I’ll be back. Get more pants.” I point at the jeans on the shelves. He stares at me wide-eyed. Smiling, I motion for Torch to follow me to the ATM I spotted at the entrance. I withdraw a paycheck’s worth of money. He is literally starting from nothing. I have no bills, so this money is just sitting in my account.
I walk back inside the store and hand Liam all the money so he can pay himself. H
e takes the money from me and holds it loosely. His eyes are about to bulge out of his head.
He counts the money. “Braelyn, this is over two thousand dollars,” he croaks.
“You are my only brother, Liam. You deserve this.” I lean forward and kiss him on the cheek. He blushes then takes out his wallet and slips the money inside. “I will be outside waiting when you are done.”
“Thank you, Braelyn,” he says, his voice barely a whisper.
“You’re welcome.” I smile and walk back out to the bench.
Liam pops back out of American Eagle thirty minutes later. I check the bag to look inside and see eight pairs of pants and underwear. Nodding my approval, I hand it back to him.
“Hey, Liam, do you like video games?” I ask as nonchalantly as possible. Torch chuckles at me. Slapping my hand behind me, I hit him on the belly.
“Who doesn’t? They got this fucking awesome new Call of Duty game out,” he says excitedly. I grin on the inside as I wait for him to step inside the next store across from the game store.
I look at the time on my phone. Ethan is on break right now. Perfect. It rings twice when I call him. “Hello?”
“Hey, baby! Are you busy?” I ask him cheerfully as I look up at the games through the window.
“Nope.” I can hear his door shut.
“Where are you?”
“At the mall,” he chuckles.
“PERFECT!” I squeal.
“I’m getting Liam an Xbox and I need you to sneak it to the house.”
“I’m coming around the corner to the game store right now.”
I look around the mall but don't see him yet. “Wait, why are you here?”
“Babe,” he chuckles.
“What?” I laugh and walk into the game store.
“I'll follow you anywhere,” he rasps. Squeezing my legs together, I try to stop the throbbing I feel at his words.
“Smooth, Ethan.” I laugh.
I hang up and motion toward the store Liam is in. “Go outside and be a lookout, Torch.”
“I will once your man gets here.” He stops and looks behind him. “Speak of the devil.”
Ethan enters the store and stalks over to me. My stomach flutters the instant he smiles at me. He leans down and gives me a kiss.
“Liam is shopping. We need to hurry. Oh, I need to get him a TV too.” I stop and ponder what else to get him.
“Baby, get the Xbox and I’ll buy him a flat screen.”
“But…” I start to argue when Ethan presses his lips to mine, silencing me.
“No arguing.”
He turns around and walks out of the store. Torch comes back inside as soon as Ethan leaves.
Believe it or not, I used to be a small gamer nerd in college. Going down the aisle, I grab Call of Duty two and three then some other games I think he might like. Then I choose a Turtle Beach headset, another controller, a year subscription of Xbox live, an HDMI cable, the works.
“You were a gamer nerd, weren’t you?” Torch laughs when he sees all the stuff in my arms.
Blushing, I shuffle the stuff higher up in my arms. “Maybe.”
I head to the counter and set the stuff on top. “I want an Xbox One also, please.” He grabs the Xbox and starts ringing everything up. I swipe my debit card and put in my pin.
Items in hand, I hurry out of the store and see Ethan heading toward me. He laughs at the amount of stuff I bought. I look behind me frantically, praying Liam doesn’t come out of the store right now.
“The workers are going to bring the TV out to the truck for me. I’ll take everything home and hide it in our room. I assume you want to surprise him?” He chuckles and brushes a piece of hair out of my face.
Nodding, I hand him the items. “I love you.” I stand up on my tippy toes and kiss him quickly on the mouth.
“I will see you later.” He kisses my cheek one last time with a smack to my ass for good measure.
The workers follow after him with the TV. They barely make it around the corner when Liam pops out of the store. He’s weighed down by all the stuff he bought. I walk over and take some of the bags from him.
“What else do you need?” I ask as I look through the bags at the enormous amount of clothes, all of them in grays, blacks, and dark blues. I even spot a leather jacket.
“Just some toiletries.” He shrugs and tries to push the hair out of his eyes.
“And a haircut. But we can get that after we eat. I’m famished.” Torch grunts his approval.
My phone buzzes.
Ethan: OMW home.
“Let’s go.” Liam looks relieved.
As we walk out of the mall, I feel like someone is watching me. I glance behind me and see a couple of gang bangers with bandanas wrapped around their heads, pants almost to their knees. They are staring at all our stuff and talking amongst themselves. Straining to hear, I catch a few words. “Jump them… corner.”
I gulp and look at Torch, who is looking behind us as well. I take Liam’s arm and pull him faster to the car.
I click the remote as I all but run to the car. While Liam sets the stuff in the backseat and I start to get into the car, something pushes me down to the ground from behind. I look up to see one of the gang members trying to grab stuff out of the car when Liam pops out of nowhere, pushes him back, and rears his hand back to punch him square in the jaw. His eyes roll back in his head as he hits the ground with a thump.
His buddy has a knife on Torch, but he quickly twists his hand and frees the knife from his grip.
He stops and looks at us, then runs over, grabs his buddy, and drags him down the parking lot. Liam reaches down and helps me off the ground.
“Holy shit, kid. You knocked his ass out,” Torch praises and laughs a little as they do that man handshake thing. Liam shrugs like it’s no big deal and gets in the passenger side of the car.
I get in and put the key in the ignition. I rest my forehead on the steering wheel as the adrenaline wears off. “You okay, Braelyn?” Liam asks softly and touches my shoulder.
I smile at him. “Yeah, I’m fine. It just shook me up.” With shaky hands, I pull out of the parking lot in the direction of the closest steak house.
~*~
A few hours later, Liam walks out of the barbershop looking like a totally different kid. My eyes bulge at how good-looking he is. He must have got all the good genetics, something I lacked to get.
He opens the door and sits down. Sucking my lips into my mouth, I just stare at him. Liam peeks at me a few times before turning fully to me. I grin and grab both of his cheeks between my finger and thumb, squeezing his skin between them.
“You look so cute!” I squeal.
He blushes to the tip of his ears. I laugh at him as I wrap my arms around his shoulders and squeeze him.
“Thank you, Braelyn. For everything,” he says against my shoulder.
“You’re welcome, Liam.” I squeeze him a little tighter. My phone buzzes on my lap. I pick it up to see a text from Ethan.
Ethan: Since I was already home, I went ahead and put up the flat screen.
Me: We are heading home now. Take the stuff out of the bag and lay it out on his bed.
I can’t wait to see his reaction. I know I may be spoiling him, but he deserves this, and if I’m right—and I know I am—My dad never got anything. Our parents aren’t the most nurturing.
My life has changed so much these past couple of months. I went from someone living on the streets, scared, haunted by demons, living in my own personal hell, to a life full of laughter and love. Earlier, when that man pushed me, I didn’t freak out, and now that I think about it, I haven’t been afraid like I used to be in a long time.
Ethan made me see that life doesn’t have to be scary and that not all people are bad. It was all I knew from the hell I grew up in and the hell of living on the streets. I have been hiding inside myself, which was a huge part of my problems. I had been scared of my own shadows before he taught me what it is like to feel sa
fe.
Now that I have Liam in my life, I’m filled with a new determination to make sure he doesn’t ever have to hurt or go without anything ever again. If I knew about him years ago, I wouldn’t have gone into myself like I did; I would have had something to fight for.
Lost in my thoughts, the ride home seems like seconds rather than twenty minutes. Liam is clenching and unclenching his hands when I notice the purple bruising on one.
“Are you okay?” I look down pointedly at his hand.
He shrugs. “These aren’t my first bruised knuckles.”
Sighing, I turn around the corner into Ethan’s neighborhood. “You didn’t have to do that.”
He looks at me like I’m dumb. “What was I supposed to do? Let him push you down and do nothing? Nah, you’re my sister and a man shouldn’t ever touch a woman like that unless he’s defending himself.”
“Wow...” I feel incredibly proud of him in that moment and don’t know what else to say to him. He is so young but so mature.
When we pull up in Ethan’s driveway, Ethan jumps off the porch to open my door for me. Torch waves at us all and drives away. Ethan grabs my hand and pulls me out of the car and straight to his lips.
Pulling away, I kiss the corner of his mouth. “Let’s get all this stuff inside.”
“No, you go on upstairs. I’ll handle this with Liam.” He gently tugs me toward the house. I’m tired, so I’m not going to argue. I walk inside the house and dump my purse on the couch, then walk up the stairs to Liam’s room so I can help put all his stuff away.
I am standing in the middle of the room when Ethan comes in first and winks at me. He sets the stuff on the floor and stands beside me. Liam sets the stuff down beside him and looks up to see what’s on his bed.
His mouth drops open. Then he turns around and spots the flat screen hanging on the wall. His hands shake as he looks back at Ethan and me. Smiling at him, I lean into Ethan, who wraps his arm around me.
“You didn’t have to that. You’ve done too much already.” His voice is shaky. I can spot tears in his eyes. He blinks them away and turns his head away from us.
“I wanted to. I bought the Xbox and games.” I point at Ethan. “He bought you the TV.”