Liam’s POV
Two days since the lake house. Two days of watching Kat and Nate’s perfect performance continue like nothing had changed.
Two days of that closet scene replaying in my head on a fucking endless loop.
I waited outside the arena, my breath forming clouds in the air. Practice had ended twenty minutes ago, but I knew her routine by now.
She always stayed late, working on elements alone when she thought no one was watching.
The arena doors opened, and Kat emerged, her gear bag slung over her shoulder, her dark hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. She looked tired, but there was something peaceful in her expression that told me the ice had worked its magic on her.
“Kat,” I called out, stepping from the shadows.
She spun around, her hand flying to her chest. “Jesus, Liam! You scared me half to death.”
“We need to talk.”
Her expression immediately shifted to wariness. “About what?”
“About my brother. About your little performance this weekend.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, adjusting her bag and starting to walk toward the parking lot.
I fell into step beside her, my longer strides easily matching her pace. “Don’t you? Because I was there, Kat. I saw the whole thing.”
“You saw what, exactly?” Her voice was carefully neutral, but I could hear the tension underneath.
“I saw you lying,” I said bluntly. “When your father asked about you and Nate at breakfast, you hesitated. Just for a second, but it was there. You’re not really dating him, are you?”
She stopped walking so abruptly that I almost ran into her. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” I stepped closer, studying her face in the dim light from the parking lot lamps. “Because if you were really in love with my brother, if this whole thing was genuine, you wouldn’t have needed that split second to figure out how to answer a simple question about your relationship.”
“You’re imagining things,” she said, but I could see the panic flickering in her dark eyes.
“No, I’m not.” I felt a bitter laugh escape my throat. “God, I should have seen it sooner. The timing was too convenient, the whole thing too perfect. Nate swoops in to rescue the damsel in distress, and suddenly everyone thinks he’s the hero of his own romantic comedy.”
“Why do you care?” she demanded, her composure finally cracking. “Even if what you’re saying is true, which it’s not, why does it matter to you?”
“Because my brother doesn’t do anything without calculating the angles first,” I said, my voice growing harder. “He’s playing the long game, Kat, and you’re just another tool in his ambition. You think he actually cares about you? You think this is some grand romance?”
“You don’t know anything about what Nate and I have,” she shot back, but there was something hollow in her denial.
“Don’t I?”
I moved closer, close enough to see the gold flecks in her eyes, close enough to smell the faint scent of her perfume mixed with the clean smell of ice.
“I know my brother better than anyone. I know he’s been researching your father for weeks, reading every article about his training methods, his work with professional athletes. You really think it’s a coincidence that he suddenly developed feelings for you right after you arrived?”
I watched the color drain from her face, and I knew I’d hit my mark. “That’s not… he wouldn’t…”
“Wouldn’t he?”
My voice cracked slightly, betraying more emotion than I’d intended.
“Wake up, Kat. You’re being used, just like everyone else who gets in Nate’s orbit when he wants something.”
“And what about you?” she fired back, her eyes blazing with sudden fury. “What’s your excuse for being such a complete ass to me from day one? At least Nate treats me like a human being instead of some kind of threat to your precious ego.”
“My ego?” The words came out strangled, and I felt something dangerous rising in my chest. “You think this is about my ego?”
“Isn’t it?” She stepped closer, her chin lifted defiantly. “Poor Liam Carter, golden boy of Ridgeview, can’t handle the fact that someone else might be talented enough to steal his spotlight. So you lash out, you bully, you hide behind insults because you’re too much of a coward to deal with your own insecurities.”
“Don’t,” I warned, my voice low and rough.
“Don’t what? Tell the truth?”
She was close enough now that I could see the rapid rise and fall of her chest, could feel the heat radiating from her body despite the cold air.
“You want to know what I think? I think you’re scared. Scared that maybe you’re not as special as everyone told you. Scared that daddy’s money and family legacy won’t be enough to get you where you want to go. Scared that—”
“Stop.” The word came out as a plea rather than a command, and I saw her eyes widen slightly at the raw pain in my voice.
She stared at me for a moment, something shifting in her expression. When she spoke again, her voice was softer but no less cutting.
“You’re a coward, Liam. You hide behind your anger and your cruelty because it’s easier than admitting you might actually be human.”
She turned to walk away, and something inside me snapped.
Before I could stop myself, my hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, not hard enough to hurt but firm enough to stop her retreat.
“Don’t,” I said again, but this time it wasn’t a warning. It was a desperation, raw and unguarded. “Don’t walk away from me.”
She turned back, and I saw my own surprise reflected in her eyes. We both stared down at my hand wrapped around her wrist, at the point of contact that seemed to burn through both of us.
“Liam,” she whispered, and there was something in her voice I’d never heard before. Uncertainty, maybe. Or recognition.
I looked up and found myself caught in her gaze, trapped by the intensity of whatever was passing between us.
For a moment, all the anger and hostility fell away, leaving something naked and vulnerable in its place.
She wasn’t pulling away. Despite everything I’d said, everything I’d done to hurt her, she was standing there looking at me like she was seeing something she hadn’t expected.
“Why?” she asked softly, and I knew she wasn’t asking why I’d grabbed her wrist.
I opened my mouth, but no words came. How could I explain something I didn’t understand myself?
How could I tell her that she’d been driving me crazy since the moment she’d walked into my world? That every time I saw her with Nate, something inside me felt like it was being torn apart?
“I don’t know,” I said finally, my voice barely above a whisper.
We stood there in the cold parking lot, connected by nothing more than my hand on her wrist and the weight of everything we couldn’t say.
I could feel her pulse racing under my thumb, could see the confusion and something else—something that looked dangerously like understanding—in her dark eyes.
Then reality crashed back in, and I remembered who we were, what we were supposed to be to each other. I released her wrist like it had burned me, stepping back so quickly I almost stumbled.
“Forget it,” I said, my voice harsh again as I tried to rebuild the walls between us. “Just… forget everything I said.”
But she was already walking away, her shoulders rigid with tension, and I knew she wouldn’t forget. Neither would I.
I watched her disappear into the darkness, my hand still tingling from where I’d touched her, my chest tight with the weight of everything I’d almost said.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
30
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