Page 3 of Clever Deceit

“Are you?” I chuckled. “I can’t really picture it.”

“Hey, I lived out on the road for a long time,” she protested, smiling. “I had to deal with my fair share of breakdowns over the years.”

“I take it back,” I replied, holding my hands up.

“And I’m pretty sure Silver will work for treats,” she continued. She was trying to cheer me up, thinking of me even now.

“Yeah, I reckon I could bribe her into doing some work for me,” I agreed, trying to joke along with her. I needed to get out of my head for a while, even if that felt impossible right now.

“Come on,” she told me, getting to her feet and taking my hand. “You need to get some rest.”

“I’m fine,” I protested, but she shook her head.

“I insist,” she replied. “I don’t want you sitting here and brooding. There’s not a whole lot of room in my bed, but we’ll just have to make do.”

“Oh, I think I can find a way to make that work,” I replied, and I got to my feet and followed her quietly up the stairs, past Diane’s room. I glanced at the door and offered a silent apology to the older woman for dragging her into this mess. She was already going through enough with her injury, and the last thing she needed was someone like me rolling up out of nowhere and making it all a whole hell of a lot more complicated.

Lily pushed open her bedroom door and tiptoed inside. She glanced over her shoulder and flashed me a smile.

“I feel like a teenager,” she whispered. “Sneaking boys into my room late at night...”

“You did a lot of this?” I asked, and she grinned and wrapped her arms around me.

“Not until you,” she murmured, and she shifted in to kiss me. I put my hands to her waist, drawing her in a little closer, and she pulled back for a moment and leaned her head against mine.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she told me, her voice suddenly full of sincerity. I smoothed my hand over her head, soothing her, trying to calm her.

“I’m fine,” I promised her. “I’m just sorry I couldn’t keep Tony away from you.”

“That’s okay,” she replied, shaking her head. “Sometimes I don’t think anything would be enough to keep him away.”

“I will be,” I told her. “He won’t ever get that close to you again, I promise.”

She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to mine. I pulled her closer, holding her near, silently telling her in any way that I could that it was going to be all right.

“We should go to bed,” she murmured, and she stepped away from me to arrange the pillows. I watched her, noticing that her hands were trembling as she worked, as she tried to keep herself from giving away the full extent of her fear.

I slipped into bed next to her when it was done, and she immediately curled into me.

“Sorry it’s so small,” she apologized.

“Guess we’re just going to have to cuddle up really close, huh?” I said. She smiled.

“Guess so,” she agreed, and she reached up to kiss me again. I kissed her back softly, and then she laid her head down on my shoulder and closed her eyes.

It didn’t take long for her breathing to start to smooth out, her body beginning to settle in to the rest I knew she needed so badly. And I knew I needed it, too, though it wouldn’t come quite as easily to me.

I couldn’t get the image of him out of my mind—the way he had grabbed her, the sheer hatred in his eyes when he had looked at her. I had thought this was about possession, but it was something more, too. She was a woman who had managed to escape his advances, and he was angry. Really fucking angry. He wasn’t used to women getting away from him, and he wanted to set an example in any way he could, using Lily as his unfortunate subject.

I closed my eyes and listened to her breathing, letting it begin to soothe me to sleep. There was so much to deal with in the morning, but for now, it was just the two of us.

And I didn’t want it any other way.

CHAPTER 3

LILY

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