I had to keep moving.
It wouldn’t be long until I had to say goodbye.
To Ollie and Talia.
Rebecca and Darren.
And Liam.
My dark angel that refused to let his light shine.
Liam
Ari acted like she’d never seen a pier before.
Maybe she hadn’t.
It wasn’t like I knew much about her besides she liked to draw, she had the deepest blue eyes I’d ever seen, and she liked to cook. Beyond that, she was a stranger to me. Our daily truths would hopefully help me to get to know her better.
We stood in the parking lot, waiting for my parents to park. A black SUV pulled in beside them, and my dad’s bodyguards stepped out. The four of them started toward us, and Ari looked up at me with questioning eyes. A piece of dark hair blew across her face, the strands sticking to her glossy lips, and before I could stop myself, I’d reached out and plucked the hair away from her lips. I quickly let go like my fingers had been scalded.
“Who are those guys with your parents? They look scary.” Her eyes shifted nervously back and forth. Something told me she was two seconds away from bolting.
“You seriously don’t know, do you?” I couldn’t keep the mystified tone from my voice. That girl…she shocked me at every turn.
“No,” she said slowly. She looked up at me with confused eyes. “What should I know?”
“My name is Liam Wade,” I enunciated my last name, “and my dad is Mathias Wade.”
Did she seriously have no clue?
A line appeared between her brows, and her nose crinkled in thought. Finally, her lips parted in a perfect O.
“Oh my God,” she breathed, shaking her head, “now it all makes so much sense.” She glanced up at me, and I was taken aback by the fact that she wasn’t looking at me any differently. She’d figured it out, and it didn’t matter to her. That was a first. I was used to people figuring out my familial connections and immediately looking at me with stars in their eyes and outstretched hands.
“What makes sense, exactly?” I questioned, shoving my hands in my pockets. My parents were seconds away from joining us.
“Why you crave privacy so much,” she replied, gathering her hair and sweeping it down one side of her neck.
My parents and the two bodyguards stopped in front of us. I’d grown up my whole life having guards follow us pretty much everywhere. Back home in Virginia, we’d had more privacy away from the media and they weren’t really necessary unless we ventured into D.C. or New York City. On tours they were always present, and when we’d stayed in L.A. during recording times. I’d attended a normal high school for my last three years of school, but before that I’d been homeschooled. I’d basically put my foot down—Willow and me, that is—and demanded to have a little bit of normalcy. All of the band members had agreed that it was time for their kids to live semi-normal lives, so thanks to us, everyone went to a regular school. Although, while most of us went to a public school, the band’s bass player, Ezra, and his wife, Sadie, had put both of their kids, Everett and Everly, in a private school.
“Shall we?” I waggled my finger in the direction of the pier.
I didn’t find the pier all that exciting; there were a few shops and restaurants, plus an arcade, and that was about it.
“Lead the way,” my dad said with an amused smile.
He and my mom were up to no fucking good, and we’d yet to have a “talk”, so I knew it was only a matter of time until they cornered me. They wouldn’t leave until they got me to talk, I’d deduced that much, but at least for now they were distracted trying to play matchmaker.
Ari fell into step beside me as we headed out onto the pier. My parents and the guards trailed behind us, and I heard the quiet whisperings of my parent’s hushed voices. I knew they were talking about the two of us, so behind my back, I gave them the finger. My dad chuckled and said loud enough for me to hear, “No doubt he’s my kid.”
Ari glanced over her shoulder behind us. “What’d you do?” she asked, no doubt having heard my dad.
“Nothing.” I grinned innocently down at her.
She rolled her eyes and snorted—I knew I’d looked anything but innocent. At least I tried.
She glanced to her left at a little boy and girl standing with their father, fishing over the side of the pier.