Brett just smirked at the two men. Silence deafening. Liam just looked between the two men as if he were witnessing something he shouldn't. Some private moment between two strangers. Except it wasn't private. And they weren't strangers. Not really. And this was involving Liam. He couldn't leave even if he wanted to. This was, in a way, about Liam. Liam choosing Theo over Brett.

"Go on then. Let me hear it, Theo. Let your little boy toy know who you really are." Brett seemed confident that Liam would change his opinion about Theo. It didn't matter that he knew personal details about him to Brett. It just mattered that he was right. Still, Liam couldn't bring himself to give into Brett's words and hatred. Theo was honest about something so personal.

"I already know who he is, Brett. I just don't know who you are" Liam bit out, such venom in his words.

Theo looked at Liam, eyes soft and bright, but only for a second before he heard Brett's maniacal laughter and he heard him say "I thought I knew him too once. Before he got me arrested!" Brett turned to Theo with hatred in his eyes and his voice.

Liam didn't understand. Brett said they were together. They were lovers. Why would he send his lover to jail? Liam looked back at Theo with questioning eyes and Theo just glared at Brett who wasn't breaking eye contact any time soon.

"You said that you two were together" Liam finally decided to break the silence.

Theo looked at Liam and then down at the ground. "It's true" he whispered, "we were together. Once."

"Oh it was more than once!" Brett sneered. "In fact, we lived together and were on the track to being a Hallmark family movie" he scoffed.

"It was hardly as picture perfect as all that, Brett and you know it!" Theo choked out. Why is Brett so fucking concerned about Liam knowing when he was the one who fucked up?

"So then what was it like then Theo? Tell me again. Because I remember your betrayal and

manipulation as being a key factor for why I was put in PRISON for four years."

"You didn't even finish your sentence" Theo rolled his eyes. Brett was certainly going for dramatic.

Liam however, wasn't able to process everything. So this is what Corey meant when he said Brett 'went away'. He was forced. He didn't know what to think about the information. He didn't really know either of them enough to have an opinion on who was in the wrong, but he wanted to believe Theo wouldn't do something like that without a good reason. "Well, you must have done something to make law enforcement believe that you deserved prison time" Liam spat out overconfident. It wasn't just he-said-she-said when it comes to locking people away. There was a process. Protocol that had to be followed. He was sure that Theo did what was right, even if he was working as a prostitute, his morals seemed to still be in tact.

"Well, he's always been able to get sympathy from everyone. He puts on a sad face and puts his family situation in play and gets everyone to feel sorry for him" Brett said mercilessly. Liam looked confused. He'd never talked about Theo's family. Brett noticed and laughed "Honestly. Do you even know anything about him? Why are you so sure he's a good person?"

Liam thought for a minute. Brett had a point. Why did Liam think he was a good person? Just because he told him one thing that, as it turns out, wasn't as big of a secret as he thought? Then again, he was there for Liam when he needed someone. He was there when he could have easily abandoned him. He called his best friend when he could have just... not. He let himself be vulnerable in front of Liam when he'd had nightmares and for Liam, that was all it took. He didn't need any other proof. No justification for their friendship.

"I just know" Liam shrugged and Theo smiled then turned to smirk at Brett.

"You're cute, but you're definitely not very smart. Call me when this goes south." Brett left angry but still cocky and arrogant as ever.

"Thanks for that. Standing up for me" Liam said.

"I should be thanking you. You really got some brass ones, dude." Theo laughed clapping Liam on the shoulder.

"Yeah. Well. If you had to put up with that for however many years in a relationship, then I could see not wanting to stay. I mean if he's like that in public, I can only imagine what he was like in private" Liam snorted and Theo winced at the words.

"You know... he wasn't always like that" Theo said melancholy. "We were happy once. At least I thought we were..."

Liam looked at Theo in disbelief and then his senses came to him. "I should think so. I mean to be with someone in general, you'd have to be happy together at some point" he said with sad eyes and a pitiful smile. He knew their relationship couldn't possibly be verbal abuse and pseudo threats and manipulation. It was just hard for Liam to envision him being the type of person to give into something like that. Theo didn't seem like a person who would break from something like that.

"I loved Brett. I really did. He was, at one time, a very affectionate person. He was soft and caring and charming and he was genuinely a good person."

"What happened?" Liam didn't know if Theo wanted to talk about it but it was already out in the open so it couldn't hurt to ask.

"He changed. We changed. It started with me working at Derek's bar. He moved in with me when his guardian died and I told him to finish school because I regretted not finishing. I didn't want him to have trouble getting a job like I did because I dropped out of high school. I wanted him to have experiences I didn't get because I was forced to grow up too fast." Theo sighed.

It was now or never. Liam had to know the truth. Brett gave a version of it, but it wasn't completely the truth. He did feel like he'd betrayed Brett when he called the Sherriff, but Brett had already betrayed him first, and not for the first time.

Liam couldn't control his facial expression. This was something he wasn't prepared for. He thought maybe Brett was a stalker ex who couldn't let him go or maybe a customer like that Donovan guy who couldn't accept that what was done was over. He didn't have it in him to imagine that Theo and Brett were in love. That they were connected more than just in a physical way. If Brett was sent to prison then why did he want Liam to know about it so bad? So many questions spinning in Liam's mind that he couldn't bring himself to ask. Instead he just let out softly "You don't have to tell me any of this if you don't want to."

"I kind of have to now. You're sort of involved now."

"Not really. I mean, Brett is just like any other tool that I have to deal with in this place" Liam looked at Theo and winced, realizing it was indeed more complicated than he'd believed. He continued "I want you to trust me with anything, so I want you to understand you can wait until you are ready. Or if you never want to tell me about your history, that's... I mean it would make our friendship complicated if I never knew anything about you... but I'd understand." Liam laughed a small, sweet laugh that Theo took to mean that he was sincere. He wouldn't be scared away by Brett and his ill intentions. Theo knew in that moment that he could trust this man with his deepest secrets.

"It's ok. I'm ok. Seeing him at first was a shock, especially knowing that he shouldn't be out already. I doubt he made a whole lot of friends in prison, so it makes me wonder about his connections. Other than that, I'm just glad he's continuing to meet expectations."

"Well. I had no expectations so" Liam scoffed "it's good to see that people still surprise me" he eyed Theo, letting Theo know he wasn't just talking about Brett and his blatant disregard for human morality and tact. He was also talking about Theo and his seemingly unwavering ability to stay calm and rational, being completely shattered by someone you once felt such strong emotions for. Theo was human after all. Maybe he wasn't so scary.