"Now can you see why I'm so afraid of you?"
The words landed wrong, true, in the ugliest possible way.
Liam stared at him, the remaining heat draining from his face until only hurt stayed behind, clean and sharp and far too visible. For a second, Arik looked as if he regretted the sentence before it had even finished leaving his mouth, but regret was not fast enough to catch it.
Liam let go of his shirt.
Arik's breath caught.
"Afraid of me," Liam repeated.
"Liam—"
"No." Liam lifted one hand with enough force that Arik's mouth shut. "No, you do not get to say that to me and then look like I stabbed you when I hear it."
Arik went very still.
Liam's laugh came out broken. "Gods. That is what this is, then? You hid the truth, you let Felix feed it to me like poison, and now I am supposed to stand here and understand that you were afraid of me?"
