Warning Sign

Without even thinking, I grabbed his wrists to get a closer look. "How did you get those scars?"

He startled and withdrew from my grasp immediately. "What scars?" he snarled.

I looked up at him, narrowing my eyes. "These. Right here," I replied, standing to my feet, pointing to the evidence; one long, very prominent scar going up each arm. "How did you get those?"

"None of your damn business," he glared harshly at me. "We're done here."

My mouth hung slightly open as he gathered the rest of his belongings. "Wait," I finally said, "That cut above your eye is still --"

"I'll put a Band-Aid on it later," he interrupted.

"It might need stitches --"

"Then I'll have another scar!" he shouted, inches from my face before turning to walk away from me.

The corners of my eyes began to burn and I took a deep breath. "Why are you such a jerk?!" I yelled to his back.

Liam stopped and grumbled as he turned around to face me. "Why are you so annoying?"

"All I did was ask you a question!!" I roared, taking a few steps towards him.

"I don't owe you an explanation!"

"Liam! I'm just trying to --"

"To what?! Be my friend?! God, you really are pathetic, Kaelin." He closed the distance between us and stood toe to toe with me. "You don't want to be my friend. You just want to do your good deed for the day so you can go home and pray about it; 'Thank you Jesus for Liam' and all this bullshit that means NOTHING! There is NO God and the world is full of immature idiots, like YOU! Let it go and let me live my life knowing the real truth!"

I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of getting to me. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I used the sleeve of my shirt to forcefully wipe the tears before they spilled from the edges of my eyes. Liam continued to stare me down; daring me to challenge him. His expression turned from anger to what I could best describe as satisfied. Like he'd done his job and made his point.

He clenched his jaw. "So we're done, here."