A Love Like This (Mature Jocks Series #1)

Chapter 27 || He's Miserable, Liz

L I Z

Liz, I love you too

Liz, I love you too

Liz, I love you too

His hands grip my waist firmly as he whispers those words I've been aching to hear from him. I pull away from his grip and turn to look at him. Hurt, pain flashes in his eyes, he attempts to pull me closer but I back away.

"What?" I ask, my lips trembling as the cold evening breeze clothes us both.

"Liz, I love you too," he breathes and my heart cracks a little. "I've loved you for a long time, even when I didn't know it.....I've always loved you," his eyes begin to water. "Liz——,"

"When were you going to tell me?" I can no longer control the tears flowing down my reddened cheeks.

"Liz——,"

"When Aaron? What if I hadn't said anything?"

"Lizzie, please....I don't——," he pauses for while, "I've never done this before so I don't know how this works,"

"I want to go home," I mumble, more to myself than him, but he hears me anyway. Nick appears behind him and Diane behind me.

"I can take you home," He says, his voice travelling through my body like light.

"Diane can take me," I say, looking at the floor as Diane rubs my back. I can't bear to look at him.

"Alright," he gulps and I look at Nick. He gives me an understanding look as Diane and I make our way to Nick's Car. Yvonne arrives the scene and Diane gives a look, she nods and walks in Aaron's direction.

In the car, I take one final look at Aaron. He looks, distressed as Nick says something to him and he walks away. My heart breaks, I just need a moment to process the l-bomb we both dropped.

"You okay?" Yvonne asks as the drive begins.
I just nod, unable to move or say a word.
"He might be family, but you also mean much to me," She says again and I just nod. My phone beeps with a text. It's him.

AARON: I'm ready whenever you want to talk. I love you

I reply him with a heart emoji and I turn off my phone. I need to process everything that just happened. Dad, Mom, Aaron. Mom especially.

"Is she your whore or fuck toy?"

Nothing hurts more than hearing the person that raised you....say something like that, knowing fully well that there is no comparison between the two words, that they are one and the same. She didn't even look at Aaron, she looked at me like filth. The more I think about it, the more tears roll down my cheeks. And then those people at the party, looked at me like I was Aaron's fuck toy, and those women in the restrooms, talking about me, and the lady that walked up to me, asking me if I was his girlfriend. Turns out I don't even know who I am or what I am to him. And then the l-bomb I dropped, the l-bomb he dropped. Everything is just too much.

"It's okay, it's going to be fine," Diane says. "I can head over to his house and render him dickless if you'd like," she pauses for a while and a chuckle escapes my lips, "I know you won't want that," I nod, and we share a knowing look. She knows exactly what I'm thinking about right now. And I shouldn't be thinking about that.

"Shit," Yvonne says from the backseat and I turn to look at her. She looks worried, disturbed even.

"What's wrong?" Diane asks and she shifts her gaze to me.

"You don't want to see this, Liz," she says.

"What is it?" My voice comes out harder than I intended.