The Road That Leads to Us (Us 1)

I wasn’t here to interrogate him, but I did want to remind him that he wasn’t as alone as he believed.

Liam squinted from the bright light of the sun, his mouth twisted in a grimace. He rubbed his fingers through his damp hair and a breath whistled between his lips.

“I thought by moving here I’d finally find who I am. I could pursue surfing, work on my photography, live my life. And while I do get to do those things, I’m not even one step closer to finding who I am. I have no identity. I’m simply my father’s child.”

I looked at him closely. “That’s not true.”

“It is.” He nodded, his teeth clenched. He turned to look at me fully and there was no mistaking the pain, the absolute torment, in his eyes. “When I went to get groceries yesterday there was a magazine with a picture of me on the cover. One of those little pictures they add on the sides of magazines—you know, not the main story, but something juicy enough to get your attention. It was a picture of us at Mo’s, but it was zoomed in on me drinking my beer and you know what it said?” He laughed almost manically. “’Mathias Wade’s son has a drinking problem.’” He shook his head harshly, his lips twisting in anger. “Mathias Wade’s son.” He mimicked with disdain. “Not only do they print lies, but they couldn’t even list my fucking name because I don’t matter.” He jabbed a finger at his chest.

Behind us we heard a small squeak and Willow stormed forward. “You do matter!” She cried, bending to jam a finger against his chest. “You matter to me, to your parent’s, to mine. You matter to all of us!” She threw her arms out wide. Stabbing her finger at him again, she said, “And since when do you care if you matter to the media? You hate the media! Or do you hate the fact that you’re not the center of attention? Is that what it is?” She shook her head and tore at her hair.

Turning sharply on her heel she stormed off and down the stairs to the beach.

Liam stood to follow her, but my hand shot out forcing him to sit back down.

“No.” I shook my head. “You’ll only make her more mad. Let me talk to her.”

His disapproval was evident on his face, but he nodded reluctantly.

I left him to sulk and followed after Willow.

I spotted her light blonde hair in the distance.

She sat in the sand with her knees drawn up to her chest and her face tilted towards the sun.

I took my time getting to her, but when I was only a few feet away she spoke loud enough for me to hear.

“I want to go home.” She dashed away tears from her face. “I was having so much fun before we got here. I thought seeing Liam would be great, but things are so different. I don’t want to be here. It’s sucking the life out of me.”

I dropped to the sand beside her.

I didn’t reach for her. I knew that in this moment she didn’t need my comfort.

“We can go home,” I told her.

“Good.” She nodded, rubbing at her reddened nose.

I hated seeing her like this, so broken and empty for Liam.

She stood then and dusted the sand from the back of her shorts. “I’m getting in the ocean first, though.”

I grinned up at her. “Of course you are.”

“And I’m stealing one of Liam’s surfboards. If it mysteriously ‘breaks’ you better not tell him it was me.” She pointed a finger in warning at me.

“Never.” I raised my hands in defense.

She smiled down at me. It was only a half-smile, full of sadness and regret. I didn’t like the sight of it on Willow one bit. “Thank you.”

I dipped my head in acknowledgment. I knew she wasn’t thanking me for not tattling, but for everything else.

She wiggled out of her shorts and tossed off her tank top so she was left only in a strapless white bikini top and teeny tiny bottoms that did little to cover the curves of her ass.

She kicked her clothes towards me and cracked a coy smile. “You coming, Wentworth?”

“Absolutely.”

She took off running and I went full-speed after her.