Chapter 253: 09 | knight in neverland-1

0 9 k n i g h t   i n   n e v e r l a n d Liam could see that I wasn't in a good mood the next day, if the frown etched between my eyebrows was any indication. It hadn't been there before, but the second he sauntered up to the shack, the expression on my face became as black as thunder. "Did someone die?" he asked jokingly, leaning his tanned forearms on the counter. Marcel, who was on shift that day, immediately met him halfway, leaning forward to give him a kiss. Thanking the customer I had just served, I tucked the wad of cash under the strap of my blouse and turned to Liam. "You tell me," I shot back, enigmatically, "Are you still breathing?" "Whoa, whoa, what's with the attitude?" "I'm mad. Can't you tell? You - " I reached forward to poke him in the chest. My finger was sharp, and he winced. " - were supposed to let me or Marcel know about the hazings in advance." Liam still seemed unfazed and with a shrug, said, "you got Dots out in time, what's the big deal?" My frown deepened. Liam had now begun to refer to Miles as Dots, just as Marcel did, and he looked like it was still some sort of a big joke to him. "The big deal is that we almost couldn't get him out. If Ean hadn't been with me, Miles would've failed that last round." "He wouldn't." "How would you know?" "Because I was the one who planned that round. Meaning I knew everything that was going to happen, and Dots was going to go through no matter what." "You planned it?" I echoed, eyes narrowing as I glared at him. "The whole dunking their heads into the toilet thing?" Marcel made a disgusted noise at that, but Liam simply nodded proudly. "Classic middle-school hazing. Hardly original, but completely manageable." Manageable? Where Miles was concerned, it was not manageable. At all. My chest constricted as I remembered the frightened expression on his face, the haunted look in his eyes and the way his nails dug into my skin. It was all I could do to keep a tight hold on my temper and force myself not to yell at Liam. After all, it wasn't his fault - not totally anyway. He must've figured middle-school hazing would be easy to handle in general, and he'd gagged one of the other boys to make sure Miles would go through. Still, when it came to Miles, I found myself overreacting more than I normally did. There was something fragile about him that I hadn't seen in anyone else. To break him wouldn't be hard to do at all, but the consequences were always disastrous. "What's the matter, Darce?" Liam said, when I kept up a mutinous silence. Without glancing at him, I busied myself with folding the new batch of towels. Marcel was tending to the line of customers, but I knew that she was keeping a close eye on me. Liam too continued to survey me intently, until something eventually seemed to dawn on him, and his eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me Marcel was right and that you actually have a crush on Dots, of all people." "What's the problem with that?" I sniped quickly, but almost right after the words left my lips, I belatedly realised that I'd pretty much dug a grave for myself. And as Liam stared at me in disbelief for a moment, before bursting into a fit of amused chuckles, I knew I had to lie in the grave I dug. "This is rich," Liam mused, mirth in his eyes. "Of all the guys in the world, Miles is by far and large the last person I would've expected you to like." "I don't have a crush on Miles." My voice was even and flat, although, if I was being entirely honest, I hadn't a clue about the way I felt either. Hell Weeks were the only thing on my mind at this moment, and I was going to see Miles through it, simple as that. Feelings, while important, needed to stay irrelevant for the time being. Liam simply grinned. "Dots and Darcy. Even your names sound incredibly cheesy." "Shut up." "Oh, come on, I've never seen you having a crush before, this is new." Even if I didn't have a crush on Miles, I was pretty sure the thought of it was eventually going to go into my head if Liam kept that up. Words had a way of putting ideas into one's heads and were more effective than anyone could've ever imagined. "Marcel," I said to my cousin, who had a knowing smirk playing on her face, "Please tell your boyfriend to leave before I throw something at him." "Baby, please leave before Darcy kills you," Marcel repeated, obligingly, pushing herself quickly up on the tips of her toes so she could press a quick kiss to his lips. Liam kissed her back briefly before pulling away. "I'm going. But on a more serious note," he began, leaning across the counter with a grave expression on his face. The glint in his eye told me that he wasn't joking. "Get your priorities right, Darcy." "My priorities are fine, thanks." "You know what I mean," he returned, cryptically, before turning to leave. At the last second, however, he hesitated and glanced at me, fingers tapping thoughtfully against the counter top. "One last thing." "What is it?