Neighbors (Liam Payne AU)

Part 13

Liam: I'm sorry

Liam: Please come out here and talk to me?

Liam: I'm on the patio.

Eva: I can't.

Liam: Yes, you can. Please? Harry isn't home. He won't be home until 10. It's Friday.

Eva: I really can't.

Liam: Fine, I'm coming in then. We need to talk.

Eva: Please don't.

Liam: Then come out.

Eva sighed and put down her phone. She went into Arden's room to check on him. He was sprawled out in the middle of his bed, asleep. Tightening her robe, she headed downstairs and over to the patio. She could see Liam, sitting on the steps that led down to the pool and the river, staring out over the water. She walked over and sat down next to him.

"I'm sorry." he started. "I...I don't have an excuse. I'm mortified. I swore that I wouldn't..." He stopped.

"Be like Sophia?" she said.

His head snapped up and he looked at her. "How do you...I mean, do you...?"

Eva turned and pointed to a window in his house. "That is your master bedroom. Before you lived here? The couple that lived there were...loud. We got to be friends and she was so embarrassed when she found out we could hear. She was here, and she heard her husband fart." Liam looked at her, confused. Eva laughed. "I'm not kidding. There is something about the way the window faces? I hear everything when I am out here. I heard you. You said she cheated on you."

Liam didn't say anything for a quite a while. He just kept staring at the water. She didn't look at him. She, too, just looked out at the water. "I wasn't sure Ava was mine." he finally said. "I had her tested. She was having an affair with the doctor who's practice she joined. She swore she had to, to get the job. I tried to believe her until it happened again. With a different doctor. I caught her, that time. I took the kids to meet her for dinner. We used to meet in the cafeteria? At the hospital. Anyhow, the nurses at the station told me that she'd gone to the doctor's lounge. I just assumed she'd fallen asleep. I had Jamie by the hand and Ava was in her stroller. We walked in and I heard her laughter coming from the shower. Then I heard a man. I walked in and saw them, in the shower. He was fucking my wife. She was bent over, holding her ankles and he was behind her. I could see everything. They didn't lock the door. They didn't even pull the curtain closed. I was devastated. Crushed. I loved her so much. She just looked at me, no expression. She didn't look happy, surprised, ashamed. Nothing. All I said was, 'How could you?" and walked out."

Eva reached over and took his hand. "I'm sorry." she said. She twined his fingers with hers.

"It's funny." he said. "I don't even cry about it anymore. I know she still cheats on me. I know she does. There is no reason for her to stay over night at work. No reason. We don't even live a mile away. And when she does want me? I give in. I tell her no, but I give in because I miss her. I miss being close to her. I miss human contact. How sad am I?"

"I understand, Liam. I do."

"Harry cheats on you?" Liam turned and looked at Eva, surprised. She shook her head. "Then?"

"Oh, Liam. It's...It's not something Harry would want you to know. He doesn't cheat on me. He can't. He can't cheat. He just can't...I guess I need to start at the beginning."

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Harry called the doctor the next day. He came home with cream that burned when he put it on and an appointment with a urologist. Eva could hear him swearing in the bathroom, crying out in pain. "Can I do anything, Harry? Can I help?" she asked.

"No. No! Just, leave me alone. Please. I'm sorry. It just hurts so badly." Harry replied. "God! I just wish I knew what was WRONG. Dr. Curtis swears it's not latex. He said my skin looked abnormal. Abnormal. I'm not normal."

Eva leaned against the bathroom door. "Please let me help you." she said. He didn't even answer.

The urologist told him that it appeared that his skin was thinning. He contacted a specialist and got Harry an appointment. He was going to have to go to the University of Michigan Hospital, to a research center. He wouldn't let her come with him. He wanted to go alone. It was embarrassing enough, he said, without an audience.

He returned with an answer, an penis pump and three different creams. His skin was thinning. And when it healed, the skin was no longer pliable, it was scar tissue. Scar tissue doesn't stretch. "It's a disease called BXO. It's considered a pre-cancerous condition. This will turn into CANCER, Eva. I could lose my dick. I need to keep the skin from breaking again. Every time I bleed, it makes it worse. They could operate? Remove the skin? But it's not very successful." He sat on the bed with his head in his hands. "I'm not a man, anymore. I'm going to lose my dick, Eva." Eva sat next to him and reached for his hand. He pulled it away. "Don't. Don't. Don't touch me. Don't try to help me. If I even get hard, it hurts. You should leave me, Evangeline. I'm not a man." He dropped his head into his hands and began to weep. "I'm not a man!"

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Liam didn't say anything for a long time. He just stared out at the water, hands on his knees. Eva matched him, not moving. "I...I don't even know..."

Eva reached for his hand. "It's okay. He still won't even talk to me about it. I've read about it. There isn't a cure. And it's genetic, which means that Arden could have it. I took him to a urologist. We go every year, just to monitor his penis? Make sure it's normal. I don't know what else to do for him. Harry avoids me. We don't go to bed at the same time. He won't touch me. He barley looks at me. I know he's lonely. I'm lonely. I don't know what to do for him."

"So, nearly six years? Six years without...?"

"Being touched by my husband. Yes." Eva nodded.

"Wow. We both have messed up marriages. But, I'm tired of it. I deserve to be happy. You deserve to be happy." He turned to her and placed his hand on her face, drawing her close to him. He placed his lips on her's, kissing her once again, softly at first, waiting for her to response. She did, pressing harder, moving her lips over his. Liam turned his head and kissed her again, moving his tongue into her mouth and using his other hand to pull her body closer to hers. Eva moved her hands into his hair, moaning. "I just want to be happy, Eva. You make me happy." he murmured.

"Oh, Liam." she moaned. "Me, too. Me, too."