I braced myself for a blow as soon as the door knob turned and clicked. Whether it was my mother and her cloud of exhaustion stepping through the front door or my father with his self-righteous attitude, I would have to conversate, and at this moment I had no desire to with either of them. I loved Mom, but the little time I did see her or spend time with her, she was always dozing off and looking so beyond exhausted that I felt guilty.

I swallowed every word I had thought to try and muster up to greet my mother when my father walked in. He still kept his appearances up; he was in a navy blue suit, his blonde hair slicked back in a perfect comb over, blue eyes immediately finding me on the couch. He set his briefcase on the kitchen table, eyes still on me as he shrugged out of his suit and hug the jacket on the coat rack to the left of the front door, just under the mantle.

"Hey, sweetheart." He tried at a smile but it faltered seconds later. "How was school?"

I battled the urge to snicker and shrugged a shoulder instead. "It's been fine."

"I'm sorry. For all the arguing and—"

"I don't understand why you don't just get a divorce, Dad." I closed the playbook on my lap and rose to my feet. "It'd be what's best for everyone."

His hardened blue eyes softened a little. "Sweetheart, we'll get through this. Just like we got through everything else."

"Hate to break it to you, Dad, but not all of us sit here and try and act like it never happened." I snapped, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "Like you didn't have another daughter. Like you didn't go and cheat on Mom while she was grieving over her dead daughter. My dead sister."

He looked as if he were ready to blow a blood vessel with how tight his jaw was clenched and how rapidly his eye was twitching, he even raised a hand as if he wanted to slap the sarcasm right out of me. He composed himself a second later, turning his back to me before whispering, "Go to your room and don't come out until you're ready to apologize."

*

Unable to sleep as per usual, I alternated between writing up the new plays in the Playbook and reading. Around three, in the midst of an intense climatic scene in my book, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Bookmarking the page, I set it on the bed beside me and grabbed my phone, eyebrows shooting up when I saw the contact I definitely hadn't put in.

Sexy Scott: You up?

It was so immature, so childish, I couldn't help but laugh.

No.

I felt my smile fall the second a loud slamming sounded from down the hall, my mother's yelling following it. I rolled over on to my side, squeezing my eyes shut to contain my tears when I saw the next text from Liam.

Sexy Scott; Look outside

I frowned, sliding into my fluffy pink slippers and heading for my bedroom door. I opened it as quietly as possibly, keeping my footsteps light in an attempt to keep from giving my parents any indication I was awake. As soon as I walked into the living room my eyes went to the curled up ball that was my mother on the couch, still in her scrubs. Dad hadn't even given her the opportunity to change before he started with his bullshit. I grabbed a clean blanket from the closet beside the washer and dryer, throwing it over my mother. She stirred for a moment, but if she was awake didn't want me to know because she tightened her grip around the blanket and buried her face against the lumpy old pillow under her head.

I shook myself form my daze before I could lose control and break down and headed for the kitchen, drawing the blinds and immediately gasped. Liam Scott's extremely loud, lifted truck was parked in front of my house. Afraid it'd wake my parents, I grabbed the keys and shoved them into the pocket of my sleep shorts, creeping out the front door and pressing it shut as softly as possible to keep from waking my mother. Once I was in the clear I stomped down the driveway and threw my hands up as I glared at Liam through the window.

"Hey, Reese!" He greeted with a lopsided grin. He had a lot of energy for it being three in the morning.

"Don't hey Reese me. It's three am, Liam. What the hell are you doing here?"

But his eyes didn't even remain staring into mine, but lowered and took in my wonderfully inappropriate attire. "Well don't you look all sexy in those pajamas."

Sexy definitely wouldn't be the word I'd use for them, but they definitely weren't the thing to be wearing in front of Liam Scott. My shorts just barely covered my butt and the shirt I was wearing was a sheer tank top that would most definitely be see through if I were under direct lighting.

"What do you want, Liam?" I repeated, hugging my arms around myself. Not only was it cold, but his comment had made me feel uncomfortable.

"Get in." He tore his eyes from me and looked ahead of him.

"I barely know you, Liam. I don't just get into strangers cars." I replied. "Plus, I'm barely dressed."

A hint of a smirk played on his lips. "I don't mind. But seriously, Taylor, stop being so damn dramatic. We're not going to be in public, we're staying in the car."

"I'm not going to get in the car with you and never come back home." My words triggered him. His hands immediately grasped the steering wheel so tightly the color drained from his knuckles, his jaw clenched almost as tightly as my father's had been this afternoon.

"Come on, Reese." Is what Liam finally says, even though I can tell by the look in his eyes there's much more he wanted to do instead. "Text your boyfriend if you need someone to know where you're at. I'll have you back home before your parents wake up."

Maybe it was the genuine curiosity of wanting to know why the hell Liam was in front of my house at three in the morning, or it could have been my lack of sleep that had me make the impulsive decision to agree to get in his truck.

Nope. It was most definitely the latter.

"Shit, sorry. I forgot your short." He said quickly and got out. I looked back at my house over my shoulder as he joined my on my side of the truck, glad to see that my parents must have been sleeping soundly. "Here."

I immediately jumped back and slammed into the door the second Liam's hand touched my hip. "Jesus, Liam. You're freezing."

He cracked a small smile. "Sorry. Let's get you in and I won't have to touch you again."

I slowly approached again and allowed him to help get me into the passenger's seat, thanking him with a nod before he walked back around to the driver's side. He drove out of the neighborhood for a few minutes, fingers tapping the outside of the steering wheel, shifting every few seconds uncomfortably.

He looked on edge.

"So what should I be more creeped out about?" I asked. "The fact that you know exactly where I live or that you showed up there at three in the morning?"

Liam laughed. It was a genuine, non-sarcastic laugh that even made me smile. "Funny, Reese, really. I know where you live because Andy dropped you off last week, remember? As for the showing up at three am, I know a fellow insomniac when I see one."

I raised an eyebrow. "There's no way you're an insomniac. You have a crazy amount of energy in the mornings. Do you do speed or something before coming to school?"

I couldn't help but think back to yesterday when I'd looked at him, how tired he'd looked. Maybe he wasn't lying.

"Ah, that my friend is the wonders of pre-workout. It pretty much is speed."

I smiled at the unexpected response, training my eyes on the darkness ahead, ready to ask where exactly we were heading when I felt something drop on my lap. I looked down, not able to hold back my shock as I brushed a hand over the warm fabric.

"Aren't these like sacred for you players?" I asked. "I was always under the impression they were your guys' most prized possession. Especially when the season is about to start."

Liam sent a quick glance at the black and red Letterman on my lap and shrugged. "You're shivering. Nobody's going to see. Nobody is going to judge. It's just for tonight."

I stared at the jacket for a moment before unbuckling my seatbelt and slipping my arm into the oversized sleeve. By the time I pulled my hair out from beneath the collar I was swimming in it. "Thank you, Liam."

He nodded curtly. No smile. No smirk. No anything. His face was as emotionless as it had been yesterday. This was the most non-assholey Liam I'd seen, and I couldn't decide whether or not I enjoyed being in his company or not.

I rested my head against the window, fiddling with cuff of the jacket as I allowed my eyes to wander over Liam. He was tense, his hands gripping the steering wheel, his teeth gnawing at the inside of his bottom lip. The further we got from my house, the deeper into the darkness we drove, the more on edge he seemed to get. With the dim light of the moon the only illumination in an otherwise dark car, I caught, even if only for a fraction of a second, Liam allow his guard to drop completely.