by Amy Brent
“We’re not in the house anymore. You don’t have to say things like that. I know that I’m not looking my best at the moment,” she sighs as if she’s fed up.
“I shaved for the first time in a long time coming here today. I knew that you would be up and I wanted you to see me at my best. Not my worst.”
“Damn! I would have loved to have seen you with a subtle.”
I laugh, “No, you wouldn’t.”
She nods, “I really would have. I bet you look hot with it.”
“So, I don’t look hot without it? Is that what you’re saying?”
She shakes her head and all of a sudden the conversation changes from being an uncomfortable one to one that we’re both sitting and exchanging looks and glances as if we’re old friends. I don’t feel awkward anymore and as she talks about her road to recovery and the fact that she’ll be out in about a week’s time. I only want to do one thing, and that's to take care of her. I just hope that she lets me. I really do.
Chapter 28: Lily
This is crazy; I was so mad at him. Now he’s here, and I'm seeing him in an entirely different light. It’s as if the events have completely changed him. He’s no longer the stiff guy that takes control of everything. If any, I think that he’s more human now.
“The last couple of days have been a bit strange.”
“I’ll say.”
I shake my head; I’m not making myself clear.
“I’m not talking about you coming to the hospital and cheating in chess.”
“You mean beating you in chess.”
I wave my hand if he wants to believe that he keeps beating me at the one game I can play so well. Then I’ll allow him to be delusional about it. I just know that there’s no way that he can beat me that many times in a row.
“I meant about the way things turned out. It’s as if your dad going to jail lifted the weight of your shoulders.”
“Is it that obvious?”
I nod because he’s not shaven for the last couple of days like I suggested, which is nice. The fact that he's listening to what I want, instead of always doing what he wants. I’m not disappointed, but then I can’t imagine ever upset about anything that he does, he's too hot not to look good all the time.
“Well, it seems as if they’re going to throw away the key and lock dad up for a long time. If he gets out at all. “
“What about the business?”
* * *
“The board don’t want anything to do with the Fisher name. Clients were leaving left-right-and-center, because of dad. Who wants to be working with a company who’s CEO is the son of a serial killer? No one!”
He throws his hands up in the air.
“They all seem to think that I knew. Sure, I used to sit at home every night and wonder if my dad was out killing.”
“Of course, you didn’t know. How could you?” I ask as I can tell that coming here has been his escape route from the outside world. I wince thinking that I need to change the subject to anything just to take his mind off it.
“My house is being stalked by people from neighboring towns. I’ve been offered a very generous package to sign over the company. The one that my family built from scratch and my dad’s assets have all been frozen.”
There’s one place that we’ve avoided talking about, and he hasn’t mentioned it since I’ve been here. But curiosity gets the better of me, and I want to know what’s going to happen to it.
“What about the auction house?”
“You mean the overpriced brothel?”
“Sorry?” “When my dad signed it over to me. I didn’t realize that it’s a brothel. The virgins that are not picked stay and work in the house. Lourdes trains them and sometimes if she’s feeling a little frisky she participates in their extra activities.”
Now, he has me curious.
“Like what?”
“There’s a cleaning room, bathing room, medical room and there’s even a baby room.”
I hold my hand up, “Stop; I don’t want to know anymore. So, what’s going to happen now?”
“I was hoping, that I was going to wait until it was time for you to leave,” he clears his throat as if he’s nervous about something. “That you would move in with me.”
“In your house?”
“No, for now, I’m in a hotel. But I thought that once you’re out that we could find somewhere to live together.”
“That’s a bit quick, isn’t it?”
He sits on the bed, “I know, but don’t deny that there’s a strong connection with you. I’ve never felt that with another woman. You make me feel as if everything’s going to be okay and no problem is too big enough.”
I sit in silence as I think about him saying the words that I’d prayed he’ll say before he decided to leave the money on my bed and I left feeling like a cheap hooker. I think that he’s saying all this because he has nothing. His business has been taken from him. His dad is locked up. He doesn’t want me. He just wants something to do.
“I don’t know.”
“Oh, fuck! I shouldn’t have said anything; it was just a thought, a stupid fucking thought.”
“No, it’s not that. I don’t know what Gary wants us to do and other than that I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life. I was thinking that maybe Gary and I would live together for a while and then I’ll go back to college and maybe take up teaching.”
“Really?”
“Yes, being with you made me realize that there’s a whole world out there and I want to explore it. There’s more to life than Roams-wood and Huntersville and I want to see it. I just don’t want us to be something that we could never be. You’re older than me. Wiser. More experienced in everything and I’ve never tried anything but being here and trying to survive.”
He backs away, and I’m talking, and part of me thinks that I’m kidding myself. I’m talking and thinking, ‘Shut up Lily. Don’t let him go!’
But there’s that part of me. The one that nearly got killed by his dad. The one that waited for him to come after I left the house that day. There were times that we were together, and I didn’t know if he was fucking ‘me,’ or I was just a pussy that happened to be there.
Blake would get bored of me. We would go somewhere and then where would I be? Once again with a broken heart. I can’t let him do that to me again. No.
“I’ve got things to do. I need to sign over papers and stuff.”
“Will you be back later?”
“Do you want me to come back?”
“Blake, I just want us to take it slow. I didn’t say that I don’t want to see you again. I just don’t want us to say that we’re going to move in and then when you get bored, you dump me like a ton of bricks.”
Damn! Why do I always end up saying exactly how I feel.
He comes closer, “Is this what this is all about?”
I nod my head unable to speak after having said too much already.
He holds my hand and sits on the edge of the bed, then he lifts my head so that we’re face-to-face, eye-to-eye, “I won’t do that.”
I shake my head, “You don’t know that.”
“True. But I can tell you one thing at least I’m willing to try. The question is are you?”
I want to tell him that I’ll think about it, but once again my big mouth says the wrong thing, “Okay.”
He kisses me on the forehead and says, “I have to sign papers. I’ll be back later to beat you in chess. If you like?”
“You can come back later. But this time try not to cheat.”
He laughs as he leaves the room, “Keep telling yourself that!”
Chapter 29: Lily
Today, I’m leaving the hospital, and for the first time in a long time, I don’t feel afraid. Before I felt as if everything was against me and now I know that the Lily who entered the building went away a long time ago. Maybe it was the night I’d lost my virginity, but I don’t feel afraid anymore.
“You sure you’re
well enough to leave today?” Blake’s repeated his question about five times since he came in this morning. I had to tell him that he didn’t need to be by my bedside the whole time.
“Yes. How many times?”
It’s as if he’s a different man these days. Not the cold-hearted one that left the money on the pillow and didn’t say goodbye. Maybe last week I was too harsh and should give him another chance. My mind keeps toying with the idea of living with him one minute and the next I think that it would be a very bad idea.
“Sorry, I’m just a bit nervous about today.”
“Why?”
“Your dad?”
He nods, “I want to make sure that the case goes to the supreme court.”
“I don’t understand the whole system. Why can he not be trailed here when the murders were mostly committed here?”
He replies in a tone that makes me feel as if my heart stops beating, the oxygen from the air is taken away as he looks at you.
“The man’s a monster. What he did you to and those girls. He needs to pay for it. Besides not all of the murders were committed in the auction house. They were completed cross state. God knows, the man may have even done them in different countries. There’s nothing that I wouldn’t put past him at the moment. It’s as if I never knew him.”
“I’m not disputing that he’s a monster. I’m just saying that it’s a bit strange. Most kids would want their parents to be set free. Not locked up for life.”
“You’re beautiful, but at times very naive. Lily, my dad, murdered women. Not one, not two, but loads of women. I don’t even know the exact number. How could I possibly defend that?”
* * *
He doesn't wait for me to reply as he sits on the edge of the bed and says, “Lily,” he strokes my hair which at times I wonder if he sees me as a child. One that needs nurturing and looking after. Maybe in some ways, that’s the way that I’ve made myself out to be. I think that he thinks that I'm completely vulnerable and incapable of doing anything alone. I don’t want to be a victim or someone that he needs to look after. I want to be a woman that he desires and wants, not a child and certainly not a puppy that he pets.
“I get it. Your dad did some shit and if you don’t put him away, no one else will.”
My harsh reaction and moving his hand away from me, makes me look at me surprisingly.
“Did I offend you?”
“Yes. You make me feel small because I don’t come from your world. That doesn’t make me stupid.”
He nods, “You’re right, and I’m sorry if I treated you that way.” There’s an awkward silence until Gary steps into the room. We both look at each other, as the uncertainty about where I’m going is still heavy on my mind.
“You ready?”
“I thought that she’s coming home with me?” Blake asks, and he looks totally confused, and Gary does the typical man thing by saying, “I’ll wait for you outside.”
“Don’t you want to come home with me?”
“Blake, you don’t even know where home is at the moment.”
He nods, “I know that we have a lot to learn about each other.”
“That’s an understatement, Blake. You’re older. Wiser. Have more money and…”
“I want you to come home with me. I think that we can make it work. If we’re both willing to try.”
“We’re living some fairy tale romance. It’s not real. It can’t be. You have the stuff with your dad to deal with, and I have to decide what to do with the rest of my life for the first time in my life.”
“Gary’s sleeping on Olivia’s sofa. That’s not exactly a good option. You just came out of the hospital.”
“So, I shouldn’t move in with my brother due to logistics?”
“I’m not saying that.”
I sit down and think about the one conversation that I’ve been avoiding for the last few days. The last time we discussed it, I did tell him that I’ll move in with him. But then he cheated at chess and started ranting about his dad and the nightmares of when his dad tried to kill me entered my mind and I changed it again.
“Maybe, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. You’ve got money. A home. An education and I have nothing.”
“Damn Lily, when are you going to stop being so hard on yourself?” I shake my head because he doesn’t get it.
“I only do that when I talk to you. I only feel that way when I’m with you. Not with Olivia, Gary or anyone else.”
He lifts me up and presses his lips against mine. I stand powerless and realize that this has been my problem. The desire that he felt for me seemed to be lost somewhere. The only thing left was the misery of what his dad had done to me.
He parts my lips slightly, and I find myself pulling him closer to me. He’s so tall and overpowering, but I’m getting lost in the moment. He puts me delicately on the bed and says, “Now, let’s lock this door so that we’re not disturbed.”
“I’m still not leaving with you.”
He growls after locking the door and closing the shutters. “You will do. Once I fuck some sense into you.”
With a promise like that, even though my body was hurting slightly, I was instantly wet thinking about him fucking me, and the bonus of it was that it was in my hospital room.
“You are a bad boy!”
“You’re going to find out, how much of a bad boy I really can be.”
And as he lifted me up and I laid on top of him, I thought about not living with him and I knew that it wasn't an option. He was right, I belonged with him and I had to stop fighting it.
Epilogue: Lily
I can’t believe how much has happened over the last year. Not only have I enrolled in a college to start in the Fall, but I’m working with Lourdes. The one who helped me and one minute turned from being my friend to my enemy.
“Are you sure you can handle this while I’m gone?”
She laughs, “I was running things before you came along.”
I sigh, thinking that at times she’s a bit too cocky, but with Blake not around at the moment, I have to put up with her even though I really don’t want to. Especially when it comes to the business and knowing that Blake has more important things going on in his life right now.
His dad is facing up to eleven charges. The charges keep climbing as my lawyer, Tony the one that I’d hired to take on my brother’s case. He started to piece everything together, and Lourdes wanted to help.
Lourdes and I are in the auction house trying to discuss its future, and it's not working. Neither of us gets along.
“I just don’t want you to think that I’m undermining you.”
I do because she has this patronizing tone in her voice all the time. I don’t know if she’s trying to put me down or not. Either way at times it rattles my skin. Blake says that I need to be more thick-skinned, it’s easy for him to say. Especially when I see the way that she looks at him.
Damn!
Maybe I’m in over my head. Playing in the big kids’ playground and I'm not big enough to fit in. I should stick to trying to be a teacher rather than being involved in a business that I played a small part in, a long time ago.
She walks up to me with the same tone that drives me mad, “You’re new to this and…”
“You’re the experienced one. I get it,” I snap at her, making it known that I understand why she’s an expert in it, but she doesn’t have to keep rubbing it in my face.
She shakes her head, “I feel shit about what happened in the house before you know?”
I’m trying to decipher if she's genuine. I want to go home and get ready for class in the Fall. Every day I’m trying new things to read. Just so that I get back into the habit again of studying again. Blake has been more supportive than I expected him to be. The idea seems to have worked; I don't feel nervous about going to college. The complete opposite, I’m kind of excited.
“Take this drink,” she hands me a shot of whiskey. I know it too well. The smell and the texture, because
of Blake drinks whenever he gets stressed about his dad’s case, which seems to be his full-time job at the moment. He's not interested in being a part of the auction house. If anything, he was talking about handing it over to Lourdes.
‘If I ever set foot in that house again, it’ll be for a fucking good reason, and right now I can’t think of any,’ that was our last conversation about here.
“I was just going,” we’re sitting in the kitchen, and I feel that I’m on the road to nowhere as we can't decide on anything. We don’t get along, and Blake wants no part of it. I don’t know enough about her to give her such a ‘gift.' I feel defeated at the realization that it’s not working. I’m taking on too much in such a short space of time.
I decide to get it off my chest, the thing that bugs me the most about her, “I hate the way you look at Blake. I know you want him, but can you pleassseee just keep that to yourself. Because from here onwards, he’s mine.”
She looks shocked by my confession and merely whispers, “You’re one lucky girl.”
* * *
I know that it’s not so much the way she looks at him, at times I wonder if he’s looking at her the same way. I remember the last time he was here and he wanted to hand it all over to her. I don't know why I stopped him; I should have just let him get on with it.
“You know you don’t have to worry. I think that he’s already decided who he wants.”
I’m not worried, but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t give her a piece of my mind. If it got to me, then I wouldn’t even be here now. I would be as far away from this place as possible with him.
“I know where we can get the ladies from,” she’s changing the subject, and as the whiskey starts to take its effect, I’m happy for the distraction. I’m getting worked up about her wanting my boyfriend, knowing that he’s clearly not interested in her. But, Lourdes has been in this business so long that I think that she has the skill. The type that I’d love to have if I was completely honest with myself. She seems to be able to get men to do whatever she wants by the wink of an eye, a touch of her hair and the slight batter of her eyelashes. She’s the vixen that all men dare to power, but they become defenseless and vulnerable if she demands something of them. I’ve seen women like her in action, and I know that she may be petite in size. But, her body and mind are a lot stronger than that.