Page 92 of Burning Bridges Duet

“To be continued,” he whispers in my ear, and I can feel my cheeks flush with heat.

We all sit on the couch, and Jaxon hands me a plate with a burrito on it. I’m famished, so I take a big bite and hear them chuckling as I stuff my face. I don’t even look up and just flip them off.

“That was so good. Is there more?” I ask Jaxon after I’ve demolished my burrito.

“Sure, I’ll get you more,” he replies, blinking at me, then he stands up with my plate in his hands. When he comes back, they all watch as I eat the second one a bit slower.

“What?” I ask around a mouthful.

“Did you eat anything in the last three days?” Jaxon asks me, and I look to the ground.

“I had some coffee and a cookie from a gas station,” I reply with a shrug.

“Liv,” he nearly growls.

“Drop it, please,” I whisper, which he does, but I feel him fuming beside me.

I finish my food and set the plate down, all of them still watching me. Jaxon sits on my left side and pulls my arm over his lap, tracing the scar on my forearm with his finger. His touch is gentle, but I can’t help but twitch anyway. He looks up at me, the question written all over his face. Can I talk about it? They deserve to know. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

“He cut me while I was fighting to get my phone back from him,” I explain, stretching my arm out so the others can see better.

Chase is sitting on my other side, but River and Ryder stand up to come kneel in front of me. River pulls my wrist towards him, inspecting the scar.

“He also got me here,” I say, pulling back the collar of the oversized T-shirt to reveal the scar on my left shoulder. Jaxon bends over and reaches for the collar, stretching it out a bit more to get a better look.

“Motherfucker,” he mutters, and I nod in agreement.

“What happened, Liv? We saw an article about the trial, but we don’t know the details,” Chase asks, rubbing my knee.

“You don’t have to tell us anything if you’re not ready, beautiful,” River tells me after shooting Chase a glare, but I give him a grateful smile.

“I know I don’t have to, but I want to. I want you guys to know me, all of me,” I reply.

Jaxon nods and squeezes my shoulder, so I start.

“Liam and I grew up together. Our parents were best friends, and his family lived just next door. We did everything together—went to the same school, same classes, and got into dancing at the same time. He was my only friend, my best friend. I’d had a crush on him since I was like twelve, and everybody always said we were made for each other. When we were sixteen, Liam finally confessed his feelings for me, and we got together. We were in love.”

I look up from my hands in my lap and see Jaxon’s jaw ticking, so I look back down.

“We both loved dance, and we were good, so our dance teacher thought it would be a good idea for us to audition for Canada’s Biggest Talents.”

“We saw the finale on YouTube,” Chase says. “You guys won.”

“Yes, we did,” I reply, nodding. “We took off from there. Liam was good with the media. He was Canada’s golden child, and I was the pretty little accessory on his arm. Since I’m not good with people or crowds, I let Liam do all the talking and was just there, smiling at the cameras. We started a YouTube channel, built a community for ourselves, and performed all over Canada. We won some competitions, and everything was great. It was a hard lifestyle, but I loved it, and Liam was good to me…until he wasn’t anymore.”

Chase and the others listen attentively as I continue. “It started with little things, like him being more controlling over my social media and what I wore or ate, until he controlled my whole day. Then it escalated quickly, and he became physically abusive. At first, he would just grab me or push me, but then it turned into hitting me. He would always apologize afterward and say he was stressed or had a lot on his mind. I believed him and forgave him, but it just kept happening. When it just got worse, I wanted to leave him, but I was too scared of what he could do to me or my career. He had everyone wrapped around his finger, and nobody would take my side or even believe me. I didn’t know what I would do if I couldn’t dance anymore. At that time, we were already considered celebrities, and I just knew that if we parted ways, it would make waves,” I say, my voice shaking with emotion, so I take a deep breath before continuing.

“The final straw was when he pushed my little brother during a fight. Theodore heard him yelling and came in to protect me, realizing that Liam was hurting me. I knew then that I had to leave him. Hurting my family was over the line. I told him that we were over, and he left, telling me I would regret it,” I say, my voice breaking as tears stream down my face.

“The same evening, he came over to our house and he…he…” I start to sob, so Jaxon scoops me up to sit in his lap, straddling him.

“We’ve got you, Liv. You’re safe,” he says, stroking my head.

I feel more hands rubbing my arms and my thighs, so I relax in Jaxon’s hold. He’s right—they’ve got me, and I’m safe.

I turn my head in his embrace and lean against his shoulder, needing his strength to tell them the end of the story. He holds me tight while I start again.

“Our house had three floors, and I was just going down to the kitchen to get something to drink when I heard a muffled scream. When I hurried to check, I found Liam standing over the bodies of my parents with a knife in his hand. They were already dead, lying in their blood. I ran back up to get my phone but remembered Theodore was in his room, so I went to him, and we hid in his closet. Only Liam found us and brought us up to my room on the third floor. He was frantic, telling me that we needed to leave and that we would build a life together somewhere else. He said they were all against us and wanted to break us up. He was waving the knife around and swung it in Theodore’s direction, stabbing him in the chest,” I recount through sobs.