Mercy

Chapter 20

After our discussion on Wednesday night Liam had become quiet attached to me. He would wait for me after some of my classes and give me rides home from work. He said he didn’t like the idea of me walking home in the dark. I knew I would be fine and I told him I would be fine but he insisted; and to be honest I kind of liked the attention. The only person that had ever really cared about my wellbeing was my Gran, so it was a nice change. You would think people would get used to seeing us together but they didn’t. At least I was getting used to all the stairs and whispers. I get that he has a bad reputation and seeing him act this way is apparently very different but I still don’t understand what everyone’s fascination with it was. People can change, can’t they?

            I tried not to think about it too much. Let’s just say I had a bad habit of overthinking things. It was hard enough to put my guard down but the last thing I wanted was for my overthinking ways to cause whatever this was to come crashing and burning. For once I was enjoying life and I wasn’t ready to give that up yet.

            Today was Saturday which meant we were headed for an overnight beach trip. I was actually pretty nervous; even though Liam and I have spent a lot of time together I hadn’t spent much time with him and his friends. The few times I had been around him and his friends it was just plain awkward. You could tell Liam had trouble with balancing out his personality. When he was with his friends he was colder, sarcastic and maybe even a little tough. When he was alone with me it was the complete opposite, he was warm and kind, very accommodating and funny. There was always a visible struggle for him to keep up both personalities at the same time.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Sam, the guys are here are you ready to go?” Lacy yelled from the living room. I rushed around throwing the last few items in my bag and headed down the hall way. Lacy was waiting at the door, a huge smile stretched across her face. She threw her arm over my shoulder as we made our way out to the car. “Sam, you have no idea how happy I am that you melted the ice kings heart or we would have trash lounging around the beach house.” Ouch, even though I knew about Liam’s promiscuous past, it still stung a little every time someone brought it up. I just smiled and nodded, I have really got to work on the whole not being so emotional thing.

            Lacy quickly jumped into the back seat of the black SUV that was parked out front. Liam was seated in the driver’s seat; he leaned over and pushed the passenger door open, giving me his signature smile. “Let’s roll, Little Bit.”  Usually he saved my little nickname for when we were alone, but this time he didn’t hold back. Was this a sign he was warming up to the idea of people seeing him like I do? I have got to stop overthinking things I thought to myself as I climbed in and shut my door. Once we were on the road and I had settled into my seat I felt his hand gently squeeze my thigh. I flashed him a small smile and turned my eyes to focus out the window again. Most of the ride was filled with Alex and Lacy arguing about everything and the random comment from Liam. I kept quiet; listening to them was enough entertainment.  Liam was pretty quiet too, which was a little odd for him. He wasn’t extremely social but he wasn’t usually this quiet.

            We were about half way through our trip when we decided to pull over at a gas station to grab some snacks and stretch our legs. Alex and Lacy ran inside as if it were some kind of race; Liam and I lingered back at the car. “You okay?” I chirped as I stretched my arms over my head; a small strip of skin on my stomach showing. He watched me quietly a grin smeared across his lips. “I am now…” He joked as he reached over and began rubbing the exposed skin. “Liam! Quit!” I giggled loudly as his fingers tickled my skin. He pulled me closer, pressing a few kisses to my neck. “What? You act like you being sexy as fuck is somehow my fault.” His voice purred into my ear sending chills up my spine. I quickly cleared my throat and pulled away slowly. “You are being so unfair.” I laughed, crossing my arms over my chest. “Hey it isn’t my fault you want to jump me and have your way with me.” He grinned, leaning against the SUV. My cheeks burned and I quickly shook my head, “N-no I don’t…” I lied, trying my best to sound convincing. “Sure thing, Little Bit.” He winked, turning around to climb back into the car. Alex and Lacy were making their way back over to the car; Lacy must have noticed my flustered appearance because she quickly commented on it. “Did you all have a quickie or something?” She laughed as my cheeks burned even warmer. Liam laughed, giving me a wink before turning to face Lacy, “Lace, give me a little credit here. I am not a quickie kinda guy.” That was it, my cheeks had reached full volcanic level as I climbed back into the passenger seat. I quickly sank into my seat hoping that it would swallow me whole. Liam started laughing when he saw my reaction to the conversation; giving me a wink before he pulled back out onto the road.

            After another hour on the road we pulled up the drive way to a large beach house. The house was covered with large glass windows making it look as if the entire house was made from glass. The house was trimmed in dark wood giving it a modern and very pricey look. Everyone began climbing from the car and gathering their things but I just sat their gaping at the house. This couldn’t be real; this had to be some kind of joke. Liam leaned against my open window and laughed softly. “You gonna spend the day in the car?” He asked, snapping me out of my daze. “This is where your family lives?” I choked as I slowly climbed out of the car. “Nah they don’t live here, it’s just a vacation home. They rarely even come up here anymore.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. He was wrong though; having a ‘vacation’ home was a very big deal to someone like me. I suddenly felt very out of place, what was I doing hanging out with someone like this? 

            Liam carried my bag for me as we made our way into the house. It was just as stunning inside as it was outside. The house had dark marble floors and decorated in shades of gray, black and crisp white. He pointed out a few different rooms as we made our way up the stairs to the second floor. “Up here is where we will sleep. All the guest rooms are downstairs so we will have up here to ourselves.” He flashed me a grin before pushing open the last door in the hallway. He stepped back letting me go in first. This must have been Liam’s room because it was decorated similar to the one at his house except this one looked a lot more expensive. There was a king size bed sat in the middle of the room covered in black pillows and blankets. All this extravagance made me feel slightly uneasy; I hadn’t even noticed that he had shut the door behind me until his arms slid around my waist. The uneasy feeling eased as he hugged me tightly to his body. He kissed softly over my neck and just as he turned me around in his arms there was a loud knock on the door.

            “Fuck…” He growled and gave me a quick peck to the lips before heading over to answer the door. I couldn’t see who was there but they were talking in whispers and I could hear Liam curse under his breath. He finally shut the door back and made his way back over to where I was standing. “I have to go take care of some stuff but the girls are all heading down to the beach so why don’t you throw your suit on and head down there with them? I’ll meet you down there when I’m done.” He smiled, leaning in a pressing his lips against mine before he turned and headed out the door.

After changing into my bikini I headed back downstairs to try and find Lacy. I hadn’t been swimming since I was probably 13 so I had to go and spend what little cash I had on a new suit. I had picked out a dark golden brown bikini. The top was strapless and the bottoms hugged tightly onto my hips; I felt way over exposed but I had this urge to look good for Liam. As I made my way out onto the patio I spotted Lacy standing there with a couple of girls I had seen at Liam’s house. “Come on bitch! I’m dying to feel the sand between my toes!” Lacy yelled when she spotted me. The girls that were standing with her gave me dirty looks like I had walked up and spit in their faces or something. “Go on, I’ll be down in a minute.” I responded quickly, not sure if I wanted to be around those girls. Lacy smiled at me before her and the other girls turned and headed down a sandy path which I assume lead to the beach.

            Instead of heading down after them I decided to hang around the house and wait for Liam. I wasn’t sure what he was up to but I’d defiantly rather wait for him than hang out with those other girls. As I made my way back inside the house I could hear a soft mumbling of voices so I headed in their direction. I found myself down a long hallway off the kitchen; the voices had become louder, one specifically being Liam’s. Tiptoeing closer to the room I could tell that Liam was now yelling at someone and man he sounded pissed. Even though I could hear him it was hard to understand what was being said due to other voices carrying on. I pressed my ear to the door to try and hear better and as soon as my skin touched the dark wood the door was jerked open causing me to stumble into a large man. He was tall with light brown hair and had an angry look on his face. His lips curled into a sickly smirk as his eyes looked me up and down. “Well, what do we have here?” He licked his lips like he was contemplating devouring me then and there. “I-I..was…” my voice trembled as he took a step closer.  The look he was giving me made my stomach turn sour; I stepped backwards but with each step I took he took a larger step towards me. Before I knew it I was pressed against the wall and his body was pressed firmly against mine. “Looks like we have a new toy.”