Pretty Boy

Chapter 3

"Well fuck you too", Liam muttered under his breath as he got the stupid text from his parents, specifically his dad saying they won't be able to make it for dinner that night. It was always a goddamned text and some fuck all reason why they have to cancel.

"Sorry, Liam, a meeting came up"

"You have to understand, Liam, it's an important event"

"Liam you're not a kid anymore, you can't still want us to attend every one of your childish games", his dad said to 12-year-old Liam who was just picked for the football team and had been so excited to tell his parents. So excited for them to be proud of him.

He sighed at the memory, tossing his phone on the king size bed that way too big for him. His room was blank, he had no real personal items because it didn't really feel like home. Home for him, was the people who were supposed to love and care for him and considering he didn't really have that, it would be best for him to not get attached.

Getting adopted had been a dream come true for him. It was his chance to get away from rat infested garbage dump his mother had called home. Liam still sometimes woke up at night, sweating, a scream building up in his throat because of nightmares of rats crawling all over him.

In the beginning, everything had been perfect, but now Liam could barely remember a time when his parents doted on him, made him feel like family. He felt like an unwanted guest. He hated it. But because he had to be strong man for him to take over his dad's company, he pushed the feelings away.

He was Liam McLane, asshole billionaire kid who got everything handed to him and was the legal heir of a successful company. He had to keep up the McLane name. He had to.

Liam sighed, slumping against his chair. Man, that shit was exhausting.

A sudden text alert made him startle and he picked up his phone. A smile took over his face as he realized who it was from. Harley.

He seemed to do that a lot, lately. Make Liam smile.

H: charlie said it was u who ate my candy that true?

L: Maybe

H: *gasp* how dare you

L: I said, 'Maybe'

H: i can literally hear u coming up with a lie

L: I'll you buy you more of your favorite

H: Man you're the best

L: You know it ;)

It was dangerous territory but Liam still found himself grinning like an idiot as he read their conversation again and again, making a mental note to hoard gummy bears. They were Harley's favourite and for some reason, he only ate the green ones. If green gummy bears mad him happy, green gummy bears he would get.

Harley was the light of his life and as dramatic as that sounded, it was true. He always had hugs and love to give to anyone. It was one of the main differences between the Hayes twins, Charlie was distant and closed off until you really got to know him but Harley was open, in a really approachable way. Almost a week had passed since their hook up and they hadn't really talked about it but Liam found that he couldn't just forget about it. He had tried but it only ended up with him getting hard and jerking off.

It was kind of pathetic.

And also terrifying knowing how Charlie would react if he found out. He was the only real family Liam had and he valued the Hayes' hospitality too much to shit on that. But the desire to build something with Harley was getting overwhelming, too overwhelming for him to ignore

The sound of his phone ringing shook him away from the horrible thought. He sighed, reaching for it expecting to find his dad calling him but to his pleasant surprise, it was his nana. His Nana was one of the people who he knew would love him unconditionally.

"Hey nana"

"Boy, your father tells me dinner's cancelled tonight"

Liam sighed harder, "Yeah nana, I know"

"Is it for another meeting?"

"Yeah, he can't help it", At least that's what his father told him.

He heard his Nana snort, "Of course he can't, I don't know where I went wrong with him"

"It's okay, nana, I'm used to it"

At that, his grandma offered for him to come over to her place.

Liam leaned back against his pillow, relaxing into it,"I don't wanna intrude"

Nana had always been a rock in his life, a solid free spirit who lived with her caretaker up in the mountains with her six dogs, all of them rescues. She had been there for him even when his parents weren't.

"Don't be silly, you listen to me, Liam, whatever happens, no matter how old you grow, you can come here anytime you want and I will bake you all the cookies you want, do you understand?"

The kind and determined tone of her voice made him want to crawl up on her lap and cry like a fucking baby, the way he used to when he was younger "Y-yeah Nana, Love you"

"Love you- Oscar, stop chewing on the carpet you wild mutt!"

"Nana-"

Liam was cut off as the call ended, leaving him in silence and a state of confusion.

He groaned, throwing his pillow across the room and pulling his comforter up to his chin like a grumpy child.

"Good fucking night", He muttered to himself. It was barely 8pm but he didn't care, he was already done with his homework and he didn't care enough to finish his assignments earlier than the due date. He just needed to get away for a while and sleep was the best get away he could think of. If there was one thing Liam was well versed in, it was overthinking and he hated it. He hated that he can never get his brain to just shut off.

Things were surprisingly pretty smooth the next few days, Harley and he exchanged a few words and it wasn't as awkward as he had thought it would be. He gave him gummy bears. His world was normal. Completely normal.

A trip to the library was all it took for it to get thrown off its axis.

Liam usually wasn't a sneaky guy; he valued people's privacy and didn't peek at someone's computer when it was open. But on a certain Tuesday afternoon, a certain pair of words on Harley's computer screen caught his eye when he snuck up behind the man.

........

AN: Honestly, this was such a bad chapter goodbye. Well just bear with me, it gets better. Don't forget to vote and comment!

Also quick question, how angsty do ya'll want this book to be?