Chapter 75

Aria’s POV

Logan’s words bothered me more than they should have. I would never be angry about Liam’s devotion to William, his son, but thought of his continued running off to serve all of Sophia’s desires left me with the same unresolved frustration I had felt six years ago.

Liam had changed in some ways, but I doubted this aspect would be any different. Since we weren’t living together anymore, I didn’t hear the phone calls. Nor did I see him drop everything to rush to Sophia’s side.

With the distance between us, I had no idea if it was still happening, but I imagined it was.

So when I left the gym and returned home, I was still stewing in my anger.

Seeing Liam sitting on my front porch only made things worse. He stood as I parked my car, then came over to me as I got out.

“Logan isn’t with you?” he asked, looking through the windshield at the passenger seat. He seemed relieved by that fact.

“No, he isn’t.”

I tried to step around Liam but he gently touched my wrist, stopping me. “Aria. Can we talk?”

“What’s there to talk about?” I said shortly. I bit back a cutting remark about how we’d probably just be interrupted for him to chase after Sophia again.

I was angry at Liam but a comment like that would be unwarranted. I really needed to calm down.

“I know you are pissed at me, alright? And I’m not saying I don’t deserve it.”

“If you and Logan have issues, you should talk them out. With words. I shouldn’t have to come running whenever I hear you two are in the same room as each other.”

“You’re right. Logan and I both were itching for a fight.”

“You went there, Liam. You were looking for him. For this.”

“Maybe, but only because…”

At his silence, I turned to look at him closer. “Because what?”

Sighing, he pushed his hand through his hair. “I didn’t know why at first. Jealousy, I guess, because he was there for you when I wasn’t. But then he said some things to me… About how the person I’m really mad at is myself.” Liam straightened, looking me in the eye. “He was right.”

I blinked, not having expected that.

“I thought I went there to punch Logan in his smug face, but in hindsight, I think the opposite is true. I wanted him to hit me. I should have been there for you and for Joe, but I wasn’t, Aria. And I hate myself for it.”

“That’s no excuse for starting a fight, Liam. You can’t do that. You can’t punish yourself for the things you did or didn’t do and expect to feel vindicated. It’s mindless…”

“I know that…” He frowned ever so slightly. “I don’t feel any better. Aria, I failed you, and I’m sorry for it.”

This apology, I never thought I’d get. Six years ago, Liam didn’t take responsibility for anything he did. Now, I saw some trace of that when he tried to pass half the blame off on Logan, but what he was saying now…

I wanted to believe him, so badly. But there were too many other things standing in the way.

“You can make up for it now, by being there for Sophia and William. They need you, and they always will. If you get banged up in these mindless fights, who’s going to take care of them?”

Liam’s POV

What the hell did Sophia have to do with any of this? William, I could maybe understand. After all, I had agreed to take on a fatherly role with the kid, since Sophia had yet to establish any other positive role models in his life.

But Sophia?

For years, I’d been at her beck and call, overwhelmed with guilt and loss at the death of my best friend, her brother. I tried to step in to support Sophia, as he would have done.

All she did was take and take and try to take even more. Despite the clear boundaries I’d tried to establish between them, she’d even somehow gotten it into her head that we were meant to be together romantically.

I had only ever wanted to be like a brother to her. Over the past few years – more and more in the past few months, when Aria returned to my life – I had pushed Sophia to the sidelines, hoping she would learn to survive on her own.

She couldn’t depend on me for every little thing. Hell, once she had called me, claiming it was an emergency, only for me to rush over and find a pickle jar with the lid on too tight.

“William needs them for his lunch,” she had pouted. “Don’t you care about his nutrition?”

If it wasn’t for William, I might have sworn her off entirely by now.

Her brother would have wanted me to look over her, not to enable her terrible behaviors. Though sometimes, admittedly, it was difficult to clearly see the lines.

Aria looked at me like my silence had admitted something. I had no idea what.

“You should go,” she said. “They need you.” She turned away, and I immediately felt like I was losing her.

“I’m important in their lives, yes, and they are important in mine. But they aren’t the only ones. Aria, I want to be here for you and Joe too. There’s enough of me to go around.”

Her eyes found mine again, hers suddenly ice cold.

Did I say something wrong?

“Aria.”

“You stick to Sophia, and maybe I’ll go back with Logan,” she said. “Maybe that’s how things should be.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, my voice raising slightly in my surprise and anger.

She ripped her arm away from my touch. “I mentioned his name, so are you going to go fight him again?”

God knew I wanted to. Why was it always Logan she turned to? Even now, when I was standing here pouring my heart out to her, she wanted to run right back to him.

Did I really not stand a chance? Was it always Logan all along?

She didn’t wait for me to answer. Instead, she stormed into her house, slamming the door closed behind her.

Joe’s POV

Joe watched the entire argument between his mom and Liam play out from behind the living room window. Isabella, who had been babysitting him, was in the kitchen getting lunch ready. Joe had asked for chicken fingers.

His mom was upset, her face crumpled up like it got whenever she had to give Joe a lecture. I’m not angry, I’m disappointed…

Joe hated those talks.

From the look of it, Liam did too. He seemed just as upset as Aria.

When Aria rushed into the house, Joe hid behind the curtain so that he could keep watching Liam.

Liam stared at the house long after Aria came inside of it. Joe didn’t really have words to describe the look on Liam’s face. Part surprise, maybe. But the rest looked like the kind of hurt that came from losing something important.

Inwardly, Joe worried if this fight between his mom and Liam would mean that Liam couldn’t come over anymore.

Joe pressed his hand on the window, wanting to call out to Liam, but not wanting his mom to know.

Liam didn’t see him. Turning toward his own house, he left the driveway and Joe behind.