New World

Elena decided that she was going to go back out to the forest whether Liam was there or not. She didn’t want him to go in the first place, and there was no way she was going to let him take that from her now.

She tiptoed out to the edge of the compound, watching closely for the guards as she usually did, and she was almost there when she heard his voice behind her.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

She spun around quickly, startled by the sound, and was met with Liam standing behind her, arms folded across his chest. He had a small smile on his face – one that was barely visible in the moonlight.

Letting out a deep breath, Elena tilted her head to the side before spinning back around and heading back towards the hole in the fence, just as she was planning to do. She figured ignoring him was better than acknowledging him and risking having him forbid her to go… again.

She slipped through the hole just as the guards did their switch, not bothering to look back to see what Liam was up to. She was already a few feet into the thick of the trees when she heard his footsteps behind her, causing her to spin around quickly.

“What do you think you’re doing out here?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest while she planted her feet firmly on the ground.

“I have to keep you safe, Elena.”

“But you said –”

“Never mind what I said,” Liam said quickly, shaking his head as he took a step closer to her. She wanted to take a step back and away from him, but there was something about the way he was looking at her that wouldn’t let her. “I can’t risk something bad happening to you”

“Honestly, Liam,” Elena said, her words falling from her mouth before she even had a chance to think about them. “I’d rather you not be here, and I’m not kidding this time. No deals. No funny business. I want you to leave.”

Liam’s eyes dropped, his lips quivering at words. She never imagined that what she said would actually hurt him, but he looked so caught off guard and confused.

“Elena –”

“Please, Liam. Just go.”

“I won’t do that, El,” he said, taking another step closer to her. He was so close that she’d be able to touch him if he held his arm out. “I’m not going to leave you out here alone.”

“I don’t want you here, Liam. It’ll be better if you just go.”

Liam shook his head, taking another, final step closer to her, so their chests were almost touching. Elena had to tilt her head back to look up at him, but she tried to hold her ground and did her best to look as confident as she could.

“Elena, I’m not leaving you here. Whether we’re just friends or something more, I’m not going to leave you out here where you could get hurt. You know I wouldn’t do that and you can’t ask me to.” Liam paused, running a hand through his shaved head as he took a deep breath. “I like you, Elena, I really do, but you and I both know your father would kill me if he saw us together.”

“Why are you so worried about my father? He adores you, Liam, probably more than he does me. You don’t have to worry about making him hate you. You could never.”

Liam chuckled, shaking his head. “Your dad loves you, El. More than anyone. He’d kill any guy that so much as touched you.”

“That’s not true –”

“It is, El. There’s no use pretending it’s not.”

“You’re an ass. You know that, right?”

“Of course.”

Elena didn’t know what else to say. All she could do was stand there and grind her teeth while she looked at Liam, his soft breath rolling off his lips and onto her face. She wanted to slap the grin right off of him, because there was nothing for either of them to be smiling about.

“Just let me stay? Please.”