I send my twelfth text message to Sarah as I am bent down behind the bleachers at the court. So far only Grant a few of the basketball team are here. My legs begin to cramp up from my positioning.

Just as I am about to give up, Liams Jeep pulls up to the edge of the pavement. My phone reads almost an hour past the time Grant told me they would all be meeting, yet the West Heights boys were no where to be found.

Liam slowly makes his way across the court to Grant, I sneak down a few sections to get close enough to hear.

"They aren't coming." Liam stood in front of Grant and crossed his arms.

"They are just late." Grant looked down at his watch.

"No, they aren't coming. I handled it myself. You can all go home."

Grant flashed a look of confusion, "What the hell did you do?"

"I handled it. Go home."

Grant wasn't going to take that for an answer, but Liam cut him off before he could speak, "They won't be bothering us anymore," he paused and walked to the side of the bleacher, "And you can come out now."

I stopped breathing when I realized he was talking to me. I hover and walk carefully through the rest of the bleachers.

"How did you-"

"You parked your car like right there." He pointed in the general direction, and I immediately felt stupid.

Grant motioned for the boys to go ahead and leave, quickly it left just Liam, Grant, and I standing on the court.

"Don't ask me any more questions, and I would really appreciate some alone time," Liam nodded his head in my direction, giving Grant the hint, "Thanks for having my back, dude."

Once Grant had gotten into his car, Liams arms were around me.

"How did you handle it?"

His eyes softened, "Turns out jackass kids get scared when they receive a phone call from my family lawyer."

My heart was relieved to hear his secret, and it naturally brought a smile to my face.

"How are you doing?" His eyes wandered my face, and his arms tightened around me.

"She still won't answer me." My heart went right back to aching. He ran his fingers through my hair and pushed it behind my shoulder.

"She will come around, I promise," He kissed the tip of my nose, "Do you want to go eat or go to the docks or something?"

My mouth drew to the left of my face, and my eyes fell to the group, "Don't you think we need to-"

He placed his hands on each of my cheeks and raised my face to his, "I think I really like you and I think I really want to spend time with you and I think I really want to kiss you," he pulls my face closer and kisses me, "But I also think I am starving, so let's go pick up some food and do some more of that."

I couldn't help but smile, I kissed him back, "Fine, but just drive through and then we can find somewhere-"

He put his lips to mine again, and intertwined his fingers with mine leading me to his Jeep, "I am already ahead of you."

He opened my door, and helped me into my seat.

I sit criss cross on the dock looking out over the dark water. Liam sits beside me, handing me a box of food. We both smile and eat in silence, halfway through our meal- Liam takes our boxes and sits them to the side.

"I haven't been here in a long time." He looks over to me.

"Do you have a boat?"

He smirked, "No, but we can take one out anytime we want, my parents are really close with Mr.Walker."

He stares straight into my eyes, with the goofiest grin across his face.

"What?"

"I have never brought anyone here before."

My heart started to flutter, and I take his hand and place it against my chest, "Do you feel that?"

He dips his head and pushes his lips against mine, "Do you feel that?"

I nod my head and pull him into another kiss. He pulled away and helped me to my feet.

"I don't want you to go home." His nose laid against my forehead.

"I don't want to go home either."

He smiled, "Can I see your phone?"

My eyebrows connected in suspicion, "Okay?" I pull my phone out of my pocket and lay it in his hand. He tosses it onto his jacket laying on the dock, and before I can process what is happening- I am thrown over his shoulder.

"Oh my-" and under the water. The water was chilly, but as soon as my head resurfaced to the air, he pulled me into his arms. I never knew what to expect when I was with him.

"I can't believe you."

He grinned, "Now you can't go home until you dry off. May raise too many questions."

We are floating in the water as we hear footsteps on the dock. Liam pushes his finger to my lips to keep my quiet. He holds me close to his chest and kicks under the water, pushing us up under the dock.

"Our stuff..."

He shakes his head and pushes his finger back to my lips.

We can hear soft mumbles for seconds until the voices are close enough to make out the words.

"I come here whenever I need to process things, it's my safe place."

My heart stopped, I recognized that voice.

"It means a lot to me that you brought me here, but I'm not going to lie... why did you bring me?"

My heart sank further, I recognized that voice too. By the look on Liams face, he knew the voices too.

"We can just sit over here," the footsteps creaked closer, "Wait, someone is here."

The footsteps stopped and my legs were getting tired of keeping us afloat, Liam was starting to tire too. I tried to keep my mind off of what all could be lingering under my feet in the dark water.

"This is Emilie's phone."

"And Liam's jacket," Sarah threw the jacket back on the ground, "How could they come here?"

"Sarah, calm down, we can talk about it." Jackson was attempting to put the fire out, but the flames were already too high.

Sarah began to scream, "I know you are here!"

Liam pushes his finger back across my lips, and shakes his head.

She yells louder, "Quit being cowards!"

Liam's eyes closed, then he let go of my lips. His eyes spoke more words than his mouth ever could. This was happening. He used his right arm to push us out from under the dock.

I held onto him tight, his left arm wrapped around me. My eyes met Jackson's first, and I could see his apology on his face. He didn't want to be a part of this. Then I saw Sarah.