The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window (20 page)

I bit my lip
to make me stop and shook my head. “Nothing,” I lied,
smiling at him. He bent his head forward and
kissed me again, asking for entrance and I pulled away again.
“Liam, seriously, your mom is watching us,” I whispered to his
puppy dog face. We both looked over at Pat who was staring with a
huge grin on her face, like she was watching the cutest thing in
the world.

Liam
stood
up and held out his hand to me.
“Let’s go listen to some music in my room.” He frowned a little at
his mom who was still watching us like some kind of crazy happy
woman.

I grabbed his
hand and let him
pull me up and into his
room. I hadn’t been in his bedroom for years. I think the last time
I was in here was probably about two years ago when I came in to
change my clothes after we had a huge water fight and Jake and I
had gotten locked out. His room was much the same as it was then,
but it now had more stuff on the walls. Like his signed hockey
shirt that he had gotten for his birthday from his parents this
year, and his trophies that were all lined up on some
shelves.

He put on
some music quietly and I walked over to the bookcase to see two
framed photos. One was of Jake, Liam and I at the park where we had
gone for a picnic when
we were kids, I
was probably eleven or twelve. The other photo was of me and my
dance crew, taken at one of the competitions that we had entered. I
picked it up and looked at it curiously.

“
I love that
photo,” Liam said, smiling at it as he stood
next to me.

I held it out
to him
. “When did you take
this?”

“
About two
months ago at the club on Richmond. You won first prize and you
were jumping all over the place, excited.” He smiled and rubbed his
thumb over the picture, before putting it back down.

I walked over
to his bed and
sat down. “Wow, your
bed
is
uncomfortable! No wonder you like sleeping at mine,” I
joked, running my hand over his duvet. He laughed and came and sat
next to me. I couldn’t help but notice that he looked so handsome
when he laughs. I pushed him down on the bed and moved so I was
straddling him, I put my forearms near his head and bent down so
that our faces were almost touching. “So, Liam, I want you to tell
me something,” I breathed, running my hands through his
hair.

“
Can I kiss
you first? Then I’ll answer anything you want.” His gaze flicked
down to my lips for a split second
,
before returning to my eyes.

I crashed my
lips to his. His arms immediately went around my waist, pulling me
closer to him, one of his hands tangling in my hair. He traced his
tongue along my bottom lip slowly and I didn’t refuse him this
time, I opened my mouth, eagerly. His taste exploded into my mouth
as he slipped his tongue in, massaging mine passionately, making me
moan. Kissing Liam seemed to get better and better each time. I was
burning with the need for him to touch me, but I was also conscious
that his parents were just down the hall and knew that we were in
here together. I pulled back after a few minutes, we were both
breathing hard. He was running his hands slowly down my body from
the top of my head down to my waist and back up again, looking at
me lovingly.

I was a
little startled by the look on his face. What his mom said was
true. He really was in love with me; I could see it in his
eyes.

“
So
, what is it you want to know,
Angel?” he asked, gripping both of his hands on my ass and
squeezing gently. I was almost distracted by his hands; I mean, if
he just moved them a bit further down and towards the centre more,
they would be exactly where my body was screaming for him to be. I
shook my head to clear away the lustful thoughts, and smiled at his
handsome face.

“I want to know why you call me Angel.”

He gasped and
blushed slightly. I smiled reassuringly at him. He groaned and
shook his head quickly. “No way. I’m not answering that,” he
whined, giving me the puppy dog face that I couldn’t
resist.

“
Come on, you
said you’d answer anything I wanted,” I encouraged. He frowned and
shook his head. O
K, I’ll try another
tactic. “Please?” I begged, pecking his lips. “Please?” I
whispered, kissing him again. “Please?”

He moaned and
took a deep breath as I kissed down his neck. “I call you Angel
because, I honestly believe that God put an Angel on this earth
just for me,” he admitted, cupping my face in his hands making me
look a
t him. I took in a shaky breath. So
it was true what Pat said. My heart was racing in my chest as he
continued to speak. “The first time I saw you I thought you were an
Angel straight from heaven. You were so beautiful that you took my
breath away. You still do, every day.”

“
That has to
be the sweetest thing I have ever heard, Liam,” I murmured, kissing
him tenderly. He kissed me back and r
olled so I was underneath him. “I could kiss you all day,”
I whispered, as he kissed down my neck, nibbling gently on the skin
and making me moan breathlessly.

“Mmm, that sounds like a good plan,” he
mumbled against my skin. I wrapped my legs around his waist and
pulled him closer to me, kissing him with everything I had. He
pinned my arms above my head and kissed me again before trailing
kisses across my cheek to my ear. “I love you, Angel,” he
whispered.

My heart
stopped and my body began to tingle but I didn’t know what to say.
“I…
. I…. Liam…. I….”

He kissed me
again
, stopping me from speaking. I felt
his grip loosen on my wrists, so I wrapped my arms around his neck,
pulling him closer to me. “You don’t have to say anything. I’ve
felt like this about you for years, but you’ve only just stopped
looking at me like your brothers asshole best friend. I just wanted
to say the words to you, that’s all. I’ve been waiting to say them
for a long time,” he said, smoothing my hair away from my face. I
wrapped my arms around his neck tightly and kissed all over his
face, before finally kissing him long and hard on his perfect
mouth.

Chapter 12

We must have fallen asleep because I woke up with
Liam wrapped all over me. I looked at his clock. Holy crap, it was
past nine! Jake would be home already. I nudged him awake. “Hey, I
gotta go, it’s after nine,” I stated, urgently trying to unwrap him
from me.

He
groaned.
“Ten more minutes, Angel,” he
muttered sleepily.

I laughed; he
looked so cute when he was sleepy. I giggled as I tickled him.
“Liam, it’s not morning, it’s still night-time, but I’ve got to go.
Jake will be wondering where I am!” I explained, finally prying him
off me and jumping up. He groaned and pulled me back down to him,
holding me tight against his body, smiling sleepily. I giggled.
“Will you stop! I need to go,” I said, laughing as he nibbled my
earlobe.

He shook his
head. “No, I don’t want you to go,” he muttered, as he kissed my
neck. I pushed him up and he groaned. “But I’m going to miss you,”
he whined, making me laugh even harder.

“
I’ll see you
in an hour. Anyway, I have homework to do,” I
said
, with a shrug.

He
sighed
in defeat. “Yeah, me too,” he
admitted, pouting slightly. I climbed out of his bed and went to
the door. “Hey wait. I’ll walk you out.” He grabbed my hand as we
walked down the hallway.

I stuck my
head into the living room
. “Bye, Pat.
Bye, Rick,” I called.

“
Goodbye,
honey,” Rick replied, not taking his eyes off the TV.

Pat smirked
at me.
“Bye, Amber. Did you guys have
fun?” she asked, giving me a wink. I blushed like crazy and nodded
not sure that my voice would come out if I tried to speak. Liam
rolled his eyes and pulled me to the front door, where he pushed me
against it lightly and kissed me until I was dizzy.

“
I’ll see you
at
half past ten, OK?” he whispered,
caressing my cheek.

I walked
quickly to my house
, turning back to
smile at Liam as I walked in the front door. Bless him, he was
standing on his porch checking to make sure I got home safe and I
live like thirty feet from him.

Jake was
sit
ting on the sofa, waiting for me. As I
walked in the door he looked at me, his eyes tight with anger.
“Where have you been? I’ve been worried! You could have left a note
or something,” he said, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“
Sorry, I was
over at Liam’s. Pat asked me to stay for dinner
, and I thought, seeing as you weren’t here, that I’d go so
I wouldn’t be here on my own,” I said with a shrug.

“
I love Pat’s
dinners!” he moaned,
his angry expression
leaving his face, to be replaced by a jealous one.

“
Well you
missed a good one too
, she made a
homemade pie and everything,” I teased, smiling wickedly as he
groaned.

“
Well
, I enjoyed my grilled
cheese,” he joked, making me laugh.

“I’m going to go do my homework.” I turned
and started towards the hallway so I could go to my room.

“
Ambs, wait a
minute
. I need to talk to you about
something,” he said, patting the couch next to him, looking
sad.

I plopped
down next to him. “What’s up, Jake?” I asked, concerned, he looked
really upset about something.

He took a
deep breath. “I spoke to Mom tonight.”

I
smiled
. “Yeah? Is she OK? Is she coming
home?” I asked, getting excited, thinking about seeing my mom
sooner than a couple of weeks. I’d missed her like crazy and the
time that she was here always seemed to go too fast.

He shook his
head. “She told me something, bu
t I don’t
want you to freak out about it. There’s nothing to worry about, I
promise.” He took my hand and looked at me, smiling
sadly.

Oh
crap,
this is going to be bad! “What is
it?” I asked, already imagining the worst. We were going to have to
move to china. She’d lost her job. She was getting remarried - but
I suppose that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, unless he was a
jerk. Hundreds of things were running through my mind, but the last
thing I expected was what Jake said.

“
Our father
has been in contact with her. He wants to see us
, apparently, make amends for what he did,” he spat through
his teeth, his sadness turning to blind rage.

I couldn’t
breathe. My lungs just refused to work. My heart was beating way
too fast as my body started to shake. He was coming back. He wanted
to see us. The last time I saw that man, he had ripped my school
shirt off me and had pinned me to the floor while he undone his
pants. He was about to rape me when Jake and Liam came in and beat
the crap out of him. Oh God, he was coming back. I replayed all of
the beatings he handed out to me and Jake, all the touching that
happened when I was alone with him, the whispered words and secret
smiles. My vision started to get black spots as I hyperventilated.
I was going to die I could feel it; my body was shutting down,
unable to deal with the memories and the pain.

I was vaguely
aware of shouting. “Just let go. I can help her!” a voice I
recognised, shouted.

“
Call 911 for
fuck sake. She can’t breathe!” Jake shouted.

“
Jake, let go
of her! I got this, I promise,”
the voice
said urgently again.

I was jostled
slightly and then I felt two strong arms go around
me
, pulling me into a hard chest; there
was a beautiful smell that I recognised as Liam.

Oh thank you
God
, Liam’s here! My heart rate started
to slow as I felt him press his lips to my neck and breathe slowly
and calmly down my back. I tried to match my breathing to his. I
concentrated on the feel of his steady heartbeat against my chest
and the black spots slowly started to fade. After a few minutes I
regained control of my arms and I wrapped them tightly around his
waist, clinging to him as if he was the only thing keeping me from
falling off the edge of the world. My father was coming back, but I
was with Liam, he wouldn’t let anything hurt me, I knew that. So I
started to feel safe in his arms. After what seemed like forever, I
was able to pull back to look at him.

“
You alright
now?” he asked, putting his hands on either side of my face and
pressing his forehead to mine.

I nodded and
licked my lips, they tasted salty
for
some reason, and then I realised I was crying. I wiped my face and
sniffed. I slowly became aware of my surroundings; I was still in
the lounge. I looked over to see Jake sitting there, shocked,
staring at me and Liam. His mouth was hanging open, his eyes wide.
I thought about stepping back, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move away
from Liam, he was my safety; he was the one I needed, the one that
would keep me sane through all of this.