“What do you mean? And how did you even find me?”, I ask as my thoughts become scrambled.

“I have a contact here who found you.” I open my mouth but he doesn’t let me talk, “I’ve known your location for a few months now.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re here.” 

“I wanted to warn you about your brothers being in the area, looking for you.” Esteban and Rafael. I had forgotten about those twin pieces of sh*t. I bet they’re here for the money I stole. “Also, The Kellers and your parents have teamed up to find you - looks like their hate for you has brought them together.” 

You’ve got to be kidding me.

My parents are leaders of a mafia back in my hometown. The Kellers are their biggest competitors.

“Your brothers seem eager to find you,” he continues, “they’re not looking for you with your parents though - they’re using their own men.”

God this is bad. What do I do? Should I flee again? Or just stay hidden in my apartment for a few months? I need to go back home and figure all of this out. “Thanks for the tip man,” I start, “you can go back now”. I awkwardly fist bump his chest and start walking away. But he stops me by grabbing my arm.

“Well,” he clears his throat, “it’s embarrassing but I have no place to stay,” he tells me, looking away. Coming all this way and not paying for a hotel? At least his family can’t track the booking, which is actually pretty smart. Besides, I bet he knows that I won't let him sleep on the streets. He knows I have a soft spot for him.

What an evil man, I think.

“Sure. You can come crash at my place tonight,” I answer, with a sigh. “But tomorrow - you’re out.”

He nods with a smile and we both walk to my apartment in silence. 

****

I notice bags in front of my door.

“So not only you knew my exact address - but you knew I’d say yes to you crashing at my place, uh?”. He gives me a guilty smile. 

We enter my apartment and head to the living room. Pointing at the guest room at the end of the hall, I say, “This is where you’re going to sleep tonight. If you put one toe in my room, I’m yeeting you out the window.”

“I’d like to see you try, you twig.”

I swear if he starts with this bullsh*t, he’s sleeping on a bench tonight.

I roll my eyes and go fetch a blanket in my room so I can smoke on the balcony. When I get back, he’s smoking one of my freshly bought cigarettes outside. I guess it’s my fault for leaving them on the counter.

I join him on the balcony. I take pity on him and wrap the blanket and on both our shoulders, creating a cocoon. He looks at me with a smile and offers me to smoke from his cigarette - which I accept because it’s mine and I’m not giving it back.

After an awkward moment of silence, I ask, “I guess you’re not going to tell me who your contact is ?”

“I’d rather not. You’ll pick a fight with them. Besides, I don’t think you’ll like who it is.”

“Meaning? I bet it’s Marcus, the bartender from the bar I go to on Fridays, the Hideout. He is such a snitch.”

“Don’t push it, I’m not telling you. All that counts is that no one knows where you are except me. I made sure of that.”

“Good. You’re the only one I trust anyway.” I regret those words as soon as they left my mouth.

“Is that so?”, he asks with a smirk. I swear he’s going to get a punch in the face tonight.

I can feel Liam hesitating to talk. He must have so many questions - the first one being: why did you leave me?  I fled. I couldn’t ask him to come with me - I know he would’ve followed.

But knowing him, he would never ask that. Not after the way we left things.

He breaks the silence. “I think you should lay low for a few weeks. You shouldn’t go to school.”
“No, that’d be suspicious,” I answer, “I came here to live freely - so I’ll keep doing that. I’ll stop going to the Hideout and I’ll be careful when going out. Besides, my friends will worry. I don’t want to lie to them - I already do that enough.” He doesn’t answer.

I can barely fathom what just happened. I can’t deny how happy I am to see him but I know that everything is about to go downhill from here. My pretended life has ended tonight.

The monsters at the bottom of the sea, the ones I’ve been trying to keep at bay for two years, are now calling my name again.