"Elena," he said smoothly, his voice the kind that only came from too much privilege and too many years of being told he could have whatever he wanted.
"Thomas?" she asked, surprised for a moment then frowning in a way that made it clear that she had not been hoping to see him. Her voice was sharp but not loud, controlled in a way Elena always seemed to be when she was trying to shut something down before it even began.
Liam had been on his way over to her, but the sound of the name had made his pace slow. He hung back long enough to hear without joining the conversation just yet. He observed the man before her. His sharp eyes taking in the perfectly fitted blazer, the polished shoes that showed no sign of ever having known mud, and hair so smooth it had probably been slicked back with professional help this morning. Liam knew that look. Old money arrogance. The kind that didn't have to yell to be heard because he'd been handed the microphone his entire life.The kind that had a way of making everyone else around him feel like they didn't quite belong.
Thomas's eyes roved over Elena the way someone might inspect an object they had once owned and lost by accident, only to find again. The look wasn't one of appreciation—it was appraisal.
"I was in the neighborhood." Thomas smiled, the slight upward curl of his lips meant to convey a casualness, a flippancy as if just being here was a spontaneous idea and not a planned event."I heard you'd switched schools." He continued. "I wanted to make sure it was true." Thomas paused, his gaze lingering on her, traveling over her plain T-shirt and jeans like he couldn't quite make it line up in his head with the person he knew from photographs, from seeing in gala gowns and pearls. "This is… unexpected."
Liam felt the muscle at the corner of his jaw tense, his teeth clenching together.Unexpected. Like that was a judgment. As if the fact that he was seeing her without a strapless gown and heels was in any way beneath him. Liam's hands clenched at his sides.
Elena crossed her arms over her chest, a minor barrier between herself and Thomas. "It's none of your business where I go to school."
Thomas laughed but it was not the kind of laugh one shared with a friend. It was quiet and self-satisfied. The sound of a man who knew he was the smartest person in the room. "I always did have a soft spot for that defiance," he said. "But you're still the same girl who used to sit at the Vincent galas like she was dying to be anywhere else." Thomas leaned against the building he had been standing against. "I thought you might be ready to come home. Ready for a life that might bore you after a few years of running from it."
"This is my life now." Her voice was cool and sure.
Liam took a step before he was fully aware of it. It was the kind of move he didn't plan and didn't have time to strategize over. It was simply a move that happened because his instincts told him to be between Elena and the kind of man who still thought he could talk her into doing what she did not want. He took his place at her side—not touching her but so close to her that Thomas would have to shift his stance in order to talk to her without also acknowledging Liam.
"Don't listen to him, Elena," Liam said, his voice quiet but not faltering, the kind of voice that belonged to someone who didn't need to raise his voice in order to make himself heard.
Thomas turned to look at Liam for the first time, the rough fabric of his jersey not matching the expensive hair still slicked back in a way that probably cost more than a new jersey every time it was styled. Thomas didn't speak anything back to Liam that was cruel, but the small raising of his brow as he looked over him did just as much damage as a retort. It was the look of a man who had decided Liam was beneath his consideration. "And you are?" he asked.
Liam didn't offer a name. He didn't want Thomas to have that. "Leaving," he said instead. The word simple and with no room for argument.
The corner of Thomas's mouth turned up into a smirk. "You haven't changed much Elena," he said, like he hadn't even noticed Liam speak. "You still let other people speak for you."
Liam saw the hit go through. Her shoulders stiffened ever so slightly and her mouth opened in a way that made it clear she was about to speak back. Before she could, Liam's hand grazed her elbow—not a grab but a gentle touch that pressed just close enough to her that she would be forced to turn and move in his direction without him having to actually hold onto her. "Come on." He said softly, his voice low enough that only Elena could hear. "He's not worth it."
They left without looking back. The sound of Thomas's expensive shoes on the cement faded behind them but Liam's heart did not slow.
When they reached the parking lot, Elena finally spoke. "Why did you do that?" Her voice was a mix of surprise and something that bordered on insult.
"Because people like him don't hear no unless you're loud," Liam said. "And I didn't want to hear you waste your breath on someone who doesn't deserve it."
She opened her mouth to speak, perhaps to protest, perhaps to argue that she could handle herself but then she closed it again. "You didn't have to…"
"Yeah," Liam said, his voice quieter now but no less certain. "I did."
The air between them felt thick, weighted with things unsaid. She looked at him as if she might be able to see it in his face, but he held his expression steady. He would not give her that visual confirmation of how close he had been to inserting himself in between Elena and Thomas, how close he had been to stepping into Thomas's space, how ready he had been to let Thomas know in a way words could not quite convey.
Elena might have assumed Liam had done it to protect her pride. But that was not the reason. The truth of the matter was far less noble. It had been about making sure Thomas understood in a very clear and unambiguous way that Elena was not someone Thomas could approach. Not someone Thomas could reach for. Not someone Thomas could tug back into whatever rarefied world he thought she was meant to belong to.
Liam left not too long after, using as an excuse that he had somewhere to be, but the truth was not that. He was mad. Mad at Thomas for showing up, mad at himself for letting it bother him, and most of all mad at the knowledge that was what Elena's past was filled with. Men like that. Men who believed they could have her because they had been once so close to her. Men who looked at Elena like she was a trophy that had been taken from them, that they might one day take back again.
The thought stuck with him as he walked away.
One thing Liam knew without a doubt as he walked was that she did not belong to Thomas. She did not belong to anyone. And if he had his way, she never would. But the other part of him.
The part that had flared the second he heard Thomas say her name, the part that had wanted to step into the space between them before he was even fully aware that he had decided to, wanted her to belong somewhere. Wanted her to belong with him.