Free Never Letting Go (Delphian Book 1) by Christina Channelle Page A

my intruder, my head bent down as if in defeat, looking at a pair of white tennis shoes.
    “You wore your shoes in the house,” I said plainly as a form of greeting.
    “Sorry.” He immediately kicked them off and my intruder was left standing in a pair of non-matching socks, one blue and the other, green. “This better?”
    I could actually feel the intensity of his gaze at the crown of my head. It demanded that I look up and meet his eyes. Blowing out a puff of air, I tilted my head up and finally caught his stare.
    “Liam.” My voice broke on his name.
    As soon as I spoke his name, he rushed toward me and enveloped me in a tight embrace, lifting me in his arms, and I wrapped myself around him like a lost puppy.
    “I’m sorry,” he said gruffly against my hair. “I’m so sorry.”
    I sobbed in his arms. Liam, my best friend. There were only two people in the world that I loved and he was one of them.
    Well, as of six days ago. He was now the only one.
    He stood me back on my feet as he closed the door behind him and we stood staring at one another. Maybe if we lived in an alternate universe it would have been he and I together. Everyone always thought that was how it would be. Best friends who have known each other all their lives, the fact that Liam probably knew every little thing about me, that I knew everything about him, down to each and every freckle on his skin; hell, even I had thought we would be together, eventually.
    But that was before I had met Ethan.
    “I should have been here for you.”
    I closed my eyes for a moment as I took a calm breath. “Liam, you were halfway around the world. I can’t expect that of you.” Liam had left town to spend his last two years of high school abroad in Spain on an exchange program. He’d always had a fascination with the place, where his parents were from.
    “But you needed me.”
    “What I need—” I broke off roughly. “What I need isn’t here anymore.”
    Liam winced at my words and I immediately felt sorry for speaking so harshly. I knew he was only trying to help, and me being a B-I-T-C-H wouldn’t make things any better.
    Or easier.
    “I’m sorry,” I said solemnly, reaching up to stroke his hair.
    Before I could bring my hand back to my side he trapped it with his own, tenderly squeezing my lean fingers as he slowly brought them down between us. The contact was comforting yet painful at the same time. “You shouldn’t have had to deal with this alone is all I’m saying,” he said softly.
    “I know that.” I looked up from our clenched hands to his familiar face. “Although, I did have Alexandra.”
    “That bitch?” Liam scoffed lightly.
    I smirked at his words. Alex was Ethan’s sister. She’d hated me on sight, never giving a particular reason as to why, or even a chance on any sort of friendship. She’d always stare at me with a look of disdain whenever we saw each other. I tried to be civil with her but it came to a point where there was only so much I could take, and it just became easier to ignore her negative energy. This was of course difficult considering I had been dating her brother and we had all gone to the same high school after I had transferred to his public school.
    I always felt she hated me because she thought I’d taken her big brother away from her.
    Liam glanced around my dreary room, noticing the stuffiness and piles of clothing that cluttered the ground. “How long have you been cooped up in here?”
    I didn’t answer and drew away from him, walking back toward my bed. I sank down into the mattress with a huge sigh; I wanted the mattress to envelop me and make me disappear from this world.
    Maybe if I did I could return to Ethan.
    Liam walked over to the windows and swung the curtains back and opened a window.
    “Hey,” I said angrily. I stood up again and marched over to him and grabbed his arm. “Knock it off, Liam. Keep them shut.”
    “No,” he stated firmly. “You need to breathe.” He opened