Chapter 8

She flipping hung up on me! Is she crazy?! Thea’s got no idea who she just let in her house. I can’t tell her who they are. They’d probably kill her if she knew what Mack knew. That’s half the reason Liam killed him.

After ten minutes, I sat in the car waiting for Thea to call the number back. Nothing. Another five minutes went by before I got a call.

“THEA!” I felt like a piece of the world was just lifted off my shoulders. “I’m so glad that you’re okay.”

“I’m glad she’s okay too... for now.”

The voice wasn’t Thea’s. This voice was deeper, angry. He got to Thea before me. Before I could save her from him. “Damn you Liam.”

“Hey now, I told you I can take the lives of anyone you care for or have ever met. I even told you I’d go after Thea first.”

“Where is she?” I asked.

“On her couch, fast asleep. Did you know she loves her brandy? She has an entire shelf just for that. It even has a sticker that says ‘don’t touch my brandy!’ I don’t know why, brandy’s disgusting. She should try bourbon.”

“Leave her alone.” I quickly snapped.

He was right about the brandy, though. I’ve tried it and it’s nasty.

“I promise I won’t kill her and no one will kill her. Even people I don’t know. I’ll protect her.”

“Yeah, the last time you said that you promised me something, they ended up dead.” I said. I could feel the tears pricking at my eyes. Seeing him get killed and seeing the dead body was killing me. I cared for him. And now he’s gone.

“You can trust me.” Liam reassured me. And I don’t buy his act for one second.

I chuckled at his words, “A promise from you is like me saying I’m going vegan. And that’s not happening because meat is pretty freaking good.”

“I swear on my mother and father’s soul that if you come back, I will protect her as long as you stay at my home. And she will not get tortured at all.”

“I wanna see her first.” I said. It’s a good deal, and the price to protect those I’ve cared for and met is worth being stuck in a stupid house for who knows how long.

Oh, gosh, I’ve just become Belle and Liam is the freaking Beast. Though that movie is pretty good. Even if I become Belle, it’s worth it.

“Fine with me. But you’re gonna have to convince her you never called her and that you are fine. I’ll tell you more about what you’re going to do when you get here.” Liam paused. I could tell he was waiting for me to say something. “How far are you?”

“About ten minutes.”

“Get here before I decide to hurt someone else.” Liam threatened and quickly hung up the phone. Once that phone call was over, I dumped the phone into the nearest garbage can and sped to get to her house.

Once I got about a mile away from Thea’s house, I left the car and walked to her house.

And there stood Liam with two guys I don’t think I’ve met before. And if I did, I didn’t recognise them. Liam came up to me and yanked on my arm. I flinched in pain and yanked my arm from him.

“I’m here. Now, what do you want me to say to my best friend?” All I want is to cry, but I can’t show any more weakness. I showed him once, and it cost Mack’s life. I’m not letting Thea into this mess because of me. Who knows how she'd react to all of this.

“You need to clean up. You look like shit.” Liam said.

All I want to say to him right now is that it’s his fault for that. After all, he’s the one who tortured me. Well, he could’ve done more damage if he really wanted to. I think I saw guilt in his eyes while he was torturing me. Who am I kidding, he doesn’t have any emotions. Only hatred. And even if he showed any remorse, then why keep torturing me? And how did I not know about my parents being in a mafia? Were they going to make me take over when they died?

I can’t think like that right now. If I do, then more questions are going to come and I won’t get answers from Liam. And right now, only Thea matters to me. I have to get back to reality. The world isn’t peachy at all. I learned that lesson a long time ago...one I never forgot.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” I said.

He handed me a pair of new clothes with some makeup to cover the bruises that were sure to show up more tomorrow.

The clothes he gave me weren’t that bad. The shirt he gave me was a maroon hoodie with white stripes on them (although it’s kinda hot outside), and a pair of long black jeans. So basically it was my outfit, but with longer pants and longer sleeves. And the makeup he bought covered all the bruises that I could see. I went inside to change into Thea’s bathroom and waited till she woke up. Liam somewhat told me what to do. Actually, no, he didn’t. He just told me to lie. That’s it. Thea’s smarter than she acts.

Thea started waking up and looked at me, confused, “MELODY!” Thea shrieked. She sat up and hugged me. I flinched when she started squeezing. She let go, and glanced around the room, looking for anyone else.

“There were three other guys here. Where did they go?”

“I’ve been here the whole time, Thea. We had a couple of drinks and you passed out. Don’t you remember any of that?”

Thea looked puzzled. “No, you said don’t talk to the guys who were in the house. They put a cloth over my mouth and I passed out.”

“Thea, I’ve been here the whole time. We’ve been hanging out for the past two hours.” I lied. All of this is already making me want to cry.

“No, you’re lying. What really happened, Melody?” Thea asked.

“We got a little drunk, that’s it!” I yelled. Rarely, I yelled at Thea. I’ve known her my whole life and I’ve only yelled at her when I was in that... relationship with Tom. And like this time, he had threatened Thea’s life. Unlike Liam, Tom almost killed Thea. She got in a crash once because I told him we were over. The next day I got a phone call saying that she was in a crash. She got hit with another car, but they never knew who the other driver was. But I knew. I got a phone call telling me that if I didn’t listen next time, she wouldn’t survive.

“Melody, what is going on with you? You only yelled at me with Tom. Is something else going on that you’re not telling me?” She asked. I could see that look in her eyes. The one that always got me to say what was really going on.

“Do not mention him.” I snapped. “And the reason we got drunk was because I’m leaving the country for a while.”

“You’re what?!”

“I got this amazing chance for college to go see Europe, and if I like it, I’m going to move somewhere over there.”

Thea started crying. This was killing me. She’s my best friend. Well my only friend.

“You can’t be going! You’re lying to me.”

“Thea, I swear I’m telling you the truth.”

“I don’t believe you.” Thea said sternly. She was giving me one of her famous death stares.

“And why not?” I asked. She was smart and if she answered the way, I think she’s going to answer, then my response was going to kill the both of us.

“Because we’re best friends, Melody. And I can tell when you’re lying, that’s how close we are. And I don’t like you going out of the country. If you even think that, then you’re wrong.”

There it was the answer I didn’t want to hear.

“Well, I told you the truth. And yet you say I’m lying. I care about our friendship Thea... but if you won’t even let me live out my life because you think I’m lying, then you don’t know me at all.”

“That’s the thing I know you.”

“Apparently not. And until you accept that I’m figuring out what I want to do with my life, you won’t see me.” I know I’m being dramatic about this but, it’s the only way to get through to her. Even if making it seem like a stupid way to say goodbye then I really need to work on ways of lying better. And the more dramatic I am, the more she won’t push me. It sounds dumb, but that’s how she works. It’s just who she is.

Her eyes went wide, “Melody...”

“Goodbye Thea.” I said. Before she could say anything, I ran out the door and could hear her screaming my name. I kept running until I reached where Liam told me to meet him. That’s when everything started hitting me. I’d just done the hardest thing in my life. My best friend thinks I hate her. I lied to her, and I even snapped at her.

“Let’s go.” Liam said. He went to grab my wrist, but I walked faster and opened the door. But before I did, there’s one thing that he deserves.

“Hey Liam.” I looked at him and he looked at me, obviously annoyed.

“What?”

I don’t know what I want to even say to him right now. He’s a jerk. And at that moment, I did the most ridiculous thing I could’ve done in this situation. I punched him right in the face. Before he could react, I quickly slid all the way in. I heard the car door slam.