Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
SIMON
The click of the call still rang in my ears, but it wasn’t as persistent as Liam’s cries. Mixed with his heaving, my shuddered breaths added to the symphony of panic blooming in our once quaint home. Tainted in a bitterness I never expected, I blinked, willing myself to move, because he needed me.
Practically crawling to him, my palm greeted his back, and I rubbed it in soothing circles. With the last remnants of his food spilled, bile followed, coating everything in a sick sheen.
At the end of his purging, I gently tugged him against me, cradling his trembling figure. Tremors racked his frame, and I struggled to keep him within my hold.
“I’ve got you.” Rocking slightly, I stifled my cries to focus on him. “God, I’m here… I’m here.”
His breath came hitched, each gap filled with a shattered sob. “I’m so… so… sorry… I’m so sorry… I-I’m so… so sorry… I’m so… so fucking sorry—”
“Stop.” The word fell harsher than I meant it to, but I drew his gaze to mine by hooking my finger under his chin. “Sunshine, stop. There is nothing you need to apologize for.”
“I-I… I didn’t tell… and now… now…” he whimpered, burying his face in my chest. “You… hate… You hate me…”
Curling my arms around his shoulders, I held him against me. Placing my palm at the nape of his neck, I slowly threaded my fingers through his hair. “No. I don’t, and I never will. I’m sorry you weren’t able to tell me when you were ready.”
“I-I’m sorry…” he whispered, the brokenness in his timbre fracturing my heart to pieces. “I… told you… I’m one… one of them…”
“I know,” I muttered, continuing my touches to ground him and provide him some form of comfort. “You don’t have to explain anything else—”
“S-Stefan… purchased me when I was three…” Tears rolled down his cheeks and onto the inked clock on my chest. “I grew up… with him… He… He beat and raped me, my… my entire life… I… I escaped when I was nineteen and joined the ranks… to try… to try and get away from him…”
Though he spoke only words, they pierced my chest like a serrated knife, sinking beyond my blood and into my very essence.
A sob ruptured from me as my fingers trembled, each brush through his locks harder than the last. Knowing he’d gone through all of that alone wasn’t an easy pill to swallow, and now…
now this fucking man was back to take him?
Jaw clenching, I sniffled. “I will not let him take you. Do you understand, Liam? I will not.”
“I-I wanted to tell you…” He looked up at me, his coffee-brown eyes wavering slightly. “But… I didn’t want you to look at me differently… Like I was tainted… or breakable…”
“I understand. I… I always knew there was something, which is why I didn’t press you that hard, because I saw the remnants of your fear. But just like you don’t view me as tainted or breakable, I would never do that to you.”
Swallowing, I swiped my thumb across his cheek, wiping at his tears that continued to fall. Releasing a shaky breath, I memorized the glow of his irises and the sadness within them. I vowed to never see them like this again.
“Liam, you are anything but broken. You are strong, caring, and devoted to helping others. You’re the breath I need to continue living, and the very essence that drives my heart to beat.
You are the purest, most radiant man I know, and it is a privilege to love you.
I know… I know your past will forever be a dark spot in your life, but there is nothing, nothing that would ruin you. ”
“I-I am not… pure.” Shaking his head, he sank further into my touch. “H-He… defiled me, Simon.”
“You are to me. No matter what happened, it does not impact how I see you, Liam. Will I murder him and delight in his fucking spilled blood? Absolutely. But nothing he did to you makes me love you any less or view you any differently. I promise.”
He fell silent for a handful of seconds before electing to speak once more. “He said… He said he would cut off Oren’s head if I told… told Thorne. But if we are starting this organization… how… how can I not?”
I grinned. “He said you. What if a cocky, no-good boyfriend told Thorne instead?”
“I don’t want you in danger, Simon… I can’t… I can’t…”
“I can handle it. I know you—”
“No,” he practically snapped. “You… You cannot handle him, Simon…”
My face hardened at his words. “What do you mean? I’m capable of a lot of shit, Liam, and hell, it’s not like I’m going to storm off by myself. With all of us, we’ll take this sick bastard down along with the rest of the fuckers Thorne mentioned in those folders.”
“Stefan is dangerous.”
“You know who else was dangerous? Andrew Valens, and we put a bullet through his fucking skull. Together.”
His fingers curled around my wrist, squeezing tightly. “Andrew Valens is nothing… compared to Stefan, Simon. That is what I mean…”
Mulling over his words for a few seconds, I exhaled.
“Then, we go to Thorne and Oren with this, and if you want to, discuss anything that might help us defeat him. I believe you, but what other choice do we have but to fight? Either you allow me the opportunity willingly, or I storm into his place—”
Breath hitching, panic threatened to overtake him once more. “N-No… No. No, no, no…”
Pressing my palm against his cheek, my gaze softened. “I, fuck, sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. I won’t go in alone if you say he’s that dangerous. I believe you, so we’ll do this carefully, okay?”
“P-Promise me…” he mumbled. “Promise me you won’t act recklessly. Simon, I can’t do this life without you…”
I nodded, bringing his head to rest against my shoulder. “I promise. Besides, I would like to keep the good leg, you know?”
A soft chuckle left him as he shook his head. “I can’t stand you…”
“Me either. Quite literally without this thing.” Patting my prosthetic, I grinned. “Good thing I have you for balance.”
He laughed again, this time longer, my attempts to lighten the mood working. “God… Why do you have to make such morbid fucking jokes? Let’s go over to Thorne and Oren’s. To… To discuss this…?”
“Well, I did technically explode—”
Swatting at my chest, he sat upright. “Stop it.”
“Alright, alright. No meat confetti joke then, I’m assuming?”
A groan left him as he worked to push himself off the ground. “No.” Glancing at his vomit, a tremor rolled through his body again. “I-I’ll… uh, I’ll clean that up, and then we’ll go over. Maybe call one of them to let them know?”
Raising my hand, I held it out to him. “Help me up.”
Fingers curling around my palm, he hoisted me from the ground. Using that momentum, my palm greeted his chest as I gently shoved him to the bed.
Smiling at my success, I gestured to the stain on the floor. “No. I’ll clean it up and call. You go freshen up, okay?”
“Sai, I can help—”
“No. Now take care of yourself. I’ve got this.”
He lifted a brow, offering me a challenging glance. “I thought that was your job? To take care of me?”
“I am, because if you think I’m allowing you to clean this up, or call after what occurred, you’re fucking mistaken. Now go, sunshine, before I force you into that bathroom.”
Blowing out a breath, the air caught a strand of his dirty-blonde hair. “Fine.”
“Good boy. Oh, and Liam?”
Having pushed himself from the bed and crossed the room, he looked over his shoulder. “Yes?”
“I love you.”
That was all it took for the darkness blanketing his expression to vanish, a soft smile replacing it. “I love you too, Simon.”
As his figure slipped into the bathroom, I focused on the mess at my feet. Gagging slightly, I raised my fist to my mouth to stifle it. I had agreed to clean it, but vomit… vomit made me puke.
I would do anything for him, just like I would tear Stefan’s body apart with my bare hands, spool his intestines from his gut, and hang him from the fucking rafters for what he’d done to my boyfriend.
And I would relish that accomplishment the moment it happened, because nothing, nothing was more important to me than Liam.