The Lies That Define Us (Us 2)

Went

Black.

Liam

“Can’t sleep?”

“Jesus,” Ari yelped, slamming a hand to her chest. Her blue eyes were wide with surprise.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s only me. Liam.” I raised the mug of hot chocolate to my lips—yes, hot-fucking-chocolate. I didn’t care if it was July and the middle of the night. I wanted some hot chocolate. “I still don’t know how I can possibly scare you at this point. This happens practically every night…or morning.” I glanced at the clock lit up on the TV, flashing that it was two in the morning.

“Right.” She lowered her hand, and I noticed how shaky it was by her side.

She’d been screaming again.

“You want some hot chocolate?” I asked her, lifting my mug.

Even from the distance between us I could see the sparkle in her eyes. “Hot chocolate?” She lit up, her smile wide.

I nodded from where I sat on the couch. “Yeah. Come sit down, and I’ll make you some.”

Surprisingly, she did sit down.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, standing up and brushing past her. My leg bumped into her knee, and I mumbled a quick apology. “Sorry.”

She let out a small laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I stopped beneath the archway and turned back to look at her.

She shook her head and reached up to pull her hair loose from the bun it was in.

“I didn’t know you could apologize.” She laughed some more.

I settled my face into a glare. “Don’t expect it to happen again.”

“Trust me, I’m not.” She chortled, still completely amused.

“Hey, I can apologize, it’s just rare,” I defended.

“And apparently never for the things you should apologize for,” she countered, looking at me seriously.

“Right.” I drew out the word. “I’ll be back with that hot chocolate,” I muttered, and hauled ass away from her.

It only took a few minutes to make the hot chocolate, and when it was done I added four mini marshmallows to the top. And sprinkles. Girls love sprinkles, right? It just looked like unicorn shit to me, but hopefully she’d appreciate it.

And why in the ever-loving-fuck am I thinking so seriously about sprinkles and whether or not Ari will like them? I was tempted to pick the fuckers out, but the little devils were too small for that.

I was giving the damn sprinkles way too much thought and stalling for time.

I grabbed the mug up and headed back into the family room. Ari had made herself comfortable on the couch, snuggling into the cushions with a blanket draped around her shoulders.

“Here.” I stretched my arm out with the mug, handing it to her roughly. A bit of the liquid sloshed out onto my hand, but I didn’t give a fuck.

She took the mug with a quiet thank you.

I took a seat as she lifted the mug slowly to her lips, testing the temperature. When she decided it was safe to drink she took a large gulp and let out a small moan.

“I haven’t had hot chocolate in years. This is delicious.”