Chapter 14

Paddy was sitting in the waiting room with Liam, waiting for Chas to return.

"Liam, I'm going to get a coffee, do you want one?"

"No thanks."

Paddy nodded and left the room, as soon as he was out of earshot, Liam dug his phone out of his leather jacket and dialled Jared's number.

"Jared hey. Yeah I know. I'm sorry I didn't call. Nice to know you're worried about me! No I'm at the hospital. Aaron's hurt. He's still seriously ill mate, I'll tell him you were asking after him though…"

Paddy returned to the room with his cup of coffee, he hesitated slightly as he heard Liam talking.

"This is not about Tyler. No! Jared please, don't. I haven't even told Aaron yet and I may not get the chance!"

Fuming with the suspicion that Liam was cheating, the door flew open.

"Look I've gotta go Jared. Bye."

Liam looked at Paddy "Sorry. That was Jared, from the band, just wanted to know how Aaron was."

Paddy glared at him. "Fancy telling me who Tyler is?"

"Tyler?"

"You mentioned a bloke called Tyler. I swear to god if you are cheating on our Aaron…"

"I'm not cheating Paddy! I swear!"

"Don't lie to me!"

"I swear I'm not lying! I would NEVER hurt Aaron!"

"Says the one who put him in here!" Paddy replied angrily.

"Don't you think I don't know that? Don't you think I haven't spent night after night crying myself to sleep because of what I did to Aaron?"

Paddy sighed and placed his coffee on the table. "Liam, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. It's not doing anybody any good blaming each other. What happened to Aaron was just a tragic accident. But please, have some decency and tell me who Tyler is. If you're not cheating on Aaron, then what's the problem?"

Liam sighed as the tears rolled down his face "The band wasn't the reason I moved here Paddy. I only moved here about a year ago. Tyler was my boyfriend back in Adelaide. He…he died."

"Liam I'm so sorry!"

"He was murdered. It was a homophobic attack. His parents blamed me for his death, It's like all of this is happening to me again, Someone enjoys seeing me go through hell. Like I'm being punished for being gay."

"Liam, No-one is punishing you because you're gay."

"Ever since I came out everything's gone wrong. My best friend was killed in a car crash, my mum died of a heart attack, I lost Tyler and I could've lost Aaron in the same circumstances. It's like I can't stop bringing tragedy on people that I care about!"

"You know, That's how Aaron felt once, That someone was punishing him for being gay. I take it he told you about Jackson?"

Liam nodded his head "Yeah. He broke down the other night, crying with the fear that something was going to happen to me."

"Aaron doesn't know about Tyler?"

Liam shook his head "I couldn't tell him. I still can't come to terms with it myself, I close myself off. I did have a boyfriend after Tyler, and I ended off pushing him away because I kept lashing out, getting angry. Adelaide just didn't feel like home to me anymore. Tyler's parents didn't want me at his funeral, they took away everything that reminded me of him. I fought to the death to get them to let me keep this." Liam held up his hand and showed the ring to Paddy. "I lied about getting it made out of my mum's ashes. Tyler gave it to me for our first anniversary. I can't and won't ever be able to switch off my feelings for him Paddy. I'll always love him."

"How long were you with Tyler for?"

"Four years. We met in College. They never caught the man who took him away from me, and are probably never going get the men who did this to Aaron."

"You need to tell Aaron about this, Liam. If he's told you about Jackson, He'll understand."

Liam nodded "I know. I just need to get the courage to do it."

"If you've told me, You can tell Aaron. He's your boyfriend Liam, You have to trust him."