Haven

Liam was half hanging out of his window, smirking over at the girl on his bed. He gave her a pointed look before putting the cigarette out against the wood and throwing it out the window, sighing as the rest of the smoke trailed out. "Don't ever start smoking, got it? That shit's bad for you."  

She only shrugged before rolling onto her stomach. "I didn't plan on it."  

"Good," he muttered, crossing the small space between the window and the bed, leaning forward to give her a kiss. "Because you're too pretty for it."  

She only rolled her eyes in response before relaxing against his sheets, scrolling through her phone absentmindedly before the bed shifted next to her. Liam was beside her now, and his facial expression had quickly changed into a tighter one, his eyes narrowing at the screen. He took it from her without warning and set it on his bedside table, his jaw clenching. "What did I say about that, Peyton? When you're here, you're with me. Not on your phone. Got it?"  

"Yes," she muttered, a little more than annoyed with his behavior. He raised an eyebrow at her, reaching forward to grab her chin between his fingers.  

"Yes, what?"  

"Yes, sir."  

It took him a second to let go of her chin, but as soon as he did, she visibly relaxed, though it seemed to go unnoticed by him. Sometimes she wondered if it was normal to feel as scared as she was next to him, but she just chalked it up to respecting him. She was supposed to respect him, anyway, so it wasn't that far off to be a little afraid of getting in trouble with him.  

She let out a sigh as he got up to start his music again, quickly joining her back on the bed. He smiled at her as he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her nose. She could hear one of her favorite songs starting to play in the background and he grinned before propping himself up on his elbow as he ran his hand through her hair. "I've found I'm scared to know I'm always on your mind. Even the best fall down sometimes, and even the stars refuse to shine. Out of the back you fall in time, I somehow find you and I collide."  

She giggled, burying her face in his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head. "I'm never letting you go, princess. Ever." 

Peyton gasped as she woke up, her heart beating against her chest. She had dreamed about Liam ever since she had come up to Vancouver, but this was the only dream that wasn't necessarily a nightmare. She had almost forgotten that he hadn't always been that bad, hadn't always been a monster. Once upon a time, she had been in love with him. Or, well, the idea of him – of what he could've been. She didn't want to believe that she never loved him because what other excuse to stay would've sufficed?  

She let out a sigh as sunlight filtered in through the window beside her. She wasn't sure what time it was exactly, but it had to be well in to the day. She was alone, which wasn't surprising because Jared filmed well past dark most nights, but it didn't get any easier. She knew that using Jared as a crutch wasn't the healthiest thing, but she didn't know how to stop it. She was so used to Jared being around, and as long as he was around, the nightmares were a little easier to deal with and she wasn't as scared.  

When her phone lit up in the sheets beside her, she was eager to accept the call when Carrie's name flashed across the screen. Before Peyton could get a word out, Carrie was firing questions off at her. "Are you okay? Is Jared okay? How're you dealing with things? Are you eating?"  

Peyton let out a small, humorless laugh at her questions, pulling her hair up into a ponytail, running her fingers over the blankets absentmindedly. "I'm doing about as okay as I could, I guess. I think Jared's okay, but I've dumped a lot on him. I'm eating and I'm not really dealing with things. I don't know how to, Carrie. Um, how're you? How's work?"  

'"I have the next two days off, I think. Doesn't usually happen, but I'm not questioning it. I was on a different floor this week, and it's drained me. Well, in between that and JJ. I don't know Danneel has so much energy, Peyton. I swear that woman is some kind of fucking alien."  

"Yeah? It's not weird there or anything?" Peyton asked, chewing on her lip. She could almost feel Carrie's laugh through the phone, a small smile spreading across her face.  

"It was at first, but I think it was because I was a little intimidated and I didn't know what to expect. Obviously, neither one of us can go back to the apartment, so I knew that I had to make this work. I'm not really sure when we're going to try to find something, or if they just want us to stay with them until the Liam thing's under control – shit. I'm sorry. Are you okay?"  

"No," Peyton muttered softly, pulling her knees up into her chest. "I'm not, but I want to be. I want everything to be the way it was before. I know you don't mind being there, but I know you miss the apartment. I'm sorry all of this happened."  

Carrie scoffed, holding the phone closer. "Why are you apologizing, Peyton? You didn't know this was going to happen. And it will be, I promise. As soon as they fucking catch him, we can go back home and everything will be better. Have you... You still having nightmares?"  

"Usually," Peyton admitted honestly. "But this last one... wasn't. Liam was just... nice. I forgot he could be that way, y'know? Like before all of the bad, he was just good. He was sweet." 
 
"I'm going to stop you right there, kid, because Liam wasn't ever really all that good. He was just at showing you what you wanted to see."  

"I know. No, I know that. It's just... I don't know. I'm sorry. I just feel like I'm going crazy. I feel just as trapped as I did before, but I don't feel like I should because Jared's here. He's trying to make me feel as normal as he can, but I think he's just waiting for me to have another meltdown. He's been acting weird since last night, and I think that's why I feel weird."  

"What happened last night?" Carrie asked, the question a little muffled.  

"I told Jared a little about things with Liam, and I told him everything about me."
 
"He didn't take it well?"  

Peyton sighed, her fingers moving to pick at the sheets again. "I don't think Jared would ever actually hurt anyone, but I honestly don’t know what he'd do if he saw Liam. He took that about as well as anyone would've, I guess. And I think he's willing to try to take on the role, but I'm not sure how I feel about it."  

"He didn't judge you, did he?" Carrie asked, the tone in her voice shifting.  

Peyton shook her head, only to let out a laugh as she realized Carrie obviously couldn't see her. "No. Not even close, really. He's just curious about it, I think."

"Good. Whatever ends up happening between you two or doesn't, I just want you to be careful, okay? Especially because of what happened. I know he wouldn't ever do anything like that, but if you do decide it's what you want, you need to sit down and have a serious talk with him about things."

"I know and I promise we will. It's still a lot for him to process, like I said. And I... I mean, I know I could definitely see him in that way, I'm just a little hesitant."

Peyton sucked in a breath as the trailer door opened, Jared climbing up the steps with a grin on his face, Misha a few steps behind him. Peyton held her hand over the phone, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked at the two men. "What's going on?"

Jared only shrugged, his hands deep in his pockets. He still had a flannel on and boots on his feet instead of his usual sneakers, and Peyton did her best not to make a face. She'd never admit it to Jared, but seeing him as Sam or even dressed like him was more than attractive. Misha cleared his throat before rolling his eyes, clapping a hand onto Jared's shoulder. "He's too shy to tell you himself, but I have no problem doing it. He wants to know more about things, and if it's okay with you, I wanted to help you two find what works best?"

"Uh, Car?" Peyton breathed, her heart nearly in her throat. "Can I call you back later?"

"Say no more, Peyton. I get it. Go spend time with them. Love you and be safe."

"Love you, too. You, too."

Peyton wasn't sure what she was about to get herself into it, but she was sure it'd be interesting.