by H. Q. Frost
"Mr. J, Justin Borg is on the line," she blurted and didn't wait for him to respond before she hung up.
"Borg?" Ian answered.
"Go home," Justin said glancing over at Lilith who was still zoned and her skin seemed to be paling.
"What?" Ian chuckled.
"Now! Go home! Go to the condo! Go!" Justin tried not to scream but the emotions inside him were like nothing he'd ever felt before. "Call me as soon as you're walking away from your desk. Jacks, fucking hurry." Justin hung
up and reached over to touch Lilith's clammy face; she remained unresponsive.
Ian stared at his desk phone a minute. Justin's odd tone
alarmed him but Lilith didn't cross his mind once. He stood pulling his suit coat on a little skeptical to go home. Him and Justin had been getting along the past month but only because neither of them had seen much of Lilith. Of course Ian thought the worst. Justin was going to ambush him some how or something along those lines.
He stepped into the hall dialing Justin's number.
"I need your help," Justin answered.
"With what? Do I really need to leave the office? I'm waiting for Lily."
"She's with me!" he snapped. "Something's wrong. Very, very wrong." He looked over at Lilith who was still in the same state.
"With Lily? What?" Ian's cautious pace broke out into a run toward the elevator. Tash stepped into the hall after seeing him run past the doorway. "Borg! Talk to me, man! What's wrong?" Ian screamed darting through the lobby of Luxe. "Veronica, lock my office!" he snapped
at her then frantically pushed the elevator button.
"I—" Justin paused and glanced at Lilith again. "I don't know. Something happened to her. Something fucking bad, Jacks."
"Where is she?" Ian screamed. His heartbeat was painfully fast and he was feeling suffocated.
"I'm driving her to the condo right now. Where the fuck are you?"
"In the elevator."
"Fucking hurry, man." Justin tried to stay focused on the road but she was scaring him almost to tears.
Ian ran out the lobby doors as fast as he could. He didn't hang up on Justin but he wasn't holding the phone to his ear anymore so he could focus on sprinting. He almost hit a car as he peeled out of the parking structure.
"Borg?" Ian put the phone back to his ear when he
was on the road.
"Just pulled up. I have to get her inside. She's ice cold."
"What the fuck!" Ian was on the verge of tears. "What the fuck, man? What happened to her?" His tears escaped. Justin hung up the phone to carry Lilith inside. "What the fuck!" Ian cried, wiping his tears on his suit coat sleeve. He tried to stop crying but was terrified.
A car in front of him stopped for a yellow light forcing him to slam on his brakes. He slapped his hand to the steering wheel. The thought to physically run home was enticing but he was too far. As he pulled around a taxi he clipped a parked car but didn't stop; he floored it to get to Lilith.
Justin carried her into the bedroom and stood her next to the bed. She was blinking now at least. He pulled her wet dress over her head and immediately the first thing he saw was the black and purple bruise the size of a softball on her stomach. Dropping to his knees his constricting chest was dizzying him. When he finally took in a gasp of air he looked up at her as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"What happened to you?" he cried.
His gaze flicked to between her legs and he fell back to his ass, backing away from her, unable to breathe as a painful lump felt like it was ripping its way out of his throat. He wanted to go to her but he couldn't.
When he finally took in an intense gasp of air he looked back between her legs. A black and blue bruise greeted him and the mess of drying blood coated her thighs and pelvis. Emotions kept him on the floor. Vomit forced its way up and out of his mouth.
Tears rolled down Lilith's face as she stood naked and freezing in front of him.
Justin got to his feet with a stumble and Ian burst into the bedroom. The first thing he saw was Justin stammering, then the vomit, then his eyes went to Lilith naked with tears rolling down her face dropping to her breast and rolling from her nipples. All sound was muffled in Lilith's head but she felt Ian grab her and carry her into the bathroom where he turned on the shower. Him and Justin were yelling back and forth but to her it was unintelligibly. Ian got her into the shower under the warm water where she started to thaw.
The trance began to dull and she moved her head to look around. The first thing she noticed was Justin wasn't around.
"Justin!" she shrieked in a shrill scream that panicked Ian.
Ian turned to run to the kitchen to get Justin but slipped on the shower water that splashed to the floor because he left the shower door open. As Ian slipped, Lilith lunged out of the tub at him, clutching him tightly and digging her fingernails into him. She didn't want him to leave her, she needed them both.
"Don't go!" she kept screaming.
Justin was warming soup in the kitchen when he heard her shrill scream and he barreled into the bathroom. Ian attempted to loosen her grip that was breaking through his flesh. He was laying under her on the bathroom floor. As Justin walked toward her she grabbed his rustled shirt and yanked him to the floor.
"Please don't leave me!" She cried. Draped across Ian, her nails latched to the flesh on his neck while her face was buried in Justin's chest.
Ian closed his eyes in fear of what may have happened to her. His left hand stayed on her back while he lay under her. Justin was kneeled next to him holding her head with one hand and her arm with the other. Ian finally opened his eyes and Justin pulled his head from Lilith's to look at him.
When Ian began to move, Lilith let go of Justin, latching onto him.
"Don't go, don't go," she panted.
"I'm not going, baby," Ian reassured her, holding her tightly while he sat up.
Disengaging her nails from his flesh, he winced. Justin let out a huff and shifted to put his face in his hands. Thinking he was trying to walk away she threw her arm out, snatching him to her. She was straddling Ian's right leg keeping him firmly pressed to her right breast. Justin was tightly held with her left arm around his neck pulled to her shoulder. The
surreal situation had them both on edge.
Justin couldn't take it anymore and he yanked free from her grasp. Lilith jumped up, lunging into his arms.
"You have to stop," he sternly said. "Stop. Just stop. Let us get you in the shower."
Ian got to his feet and put his hand to her back because
she was blindly reaching for him while burying her face in
Justin's neck.
"You guys can't leave me," she whimpered.
"We're not," they both started to say.
"Let Ian get you in the shower," Justin calmly instructed.
Ian was already drenched and he had clothes to change into. There was no way in hell Justin was going to put on Ian's clothes if he got wet, but there was also no way in hell he was leaving Lilith until she was ready. And even then he wasn't sure if he could leave her.
"Come on, El," Justin whispered in her ear, passing her off to Ian like she were an infant.
"You're okay, baby." Ian carefully helped her into the shower.
His eyes flashed all around her body then fixated on the small amount of blood washing down her thighs.
Lilith held his extended arm tightly and she planted her eyes on Justin, making sure neither of them was going to leave her.
"Let go of my arm, baby," Ian said and she looked at him with a terrified look. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to wash you." The promise in his tone made her slowly let go.
Cold and fear trembled her body. The more she calmed down the more she could focus and she was starting to recall the events that happened. She held her shaking hand out for Justin and he took a step forward. It would make Ian's task difficult, but Justin took her expectant hand.
Once his shoes were removed, Ian exhaled and steppe
d into the shower fully dressed. He began to wash her while she held Justin's hand. If she wasn't staring at Justin, she was staring at Ian. She needed to fixate on one of them to stop
thinking about the limo.
As Ian washed between her legs Lilith let out a whimper and squeezed Justin's hand tightly. Ian quickly pulled away and looked at her. The look on her face wasn't pain, it was fear. It was unbearable and that painful lump grew in his throat. He had to look away and leaned his arm on the shower wall, pushing his face into his saturated sleeve to silently sob.
Lilith's trembling body began to shake harder from the
pain. Her tired eyes fixated on the shower handle while she tried to push the memory away. Justin let go of her hand and quickly unbuttoned his shirt, throwing it to the counter then pulled his undershirt off. Taking the loofa from Ian's hand he finished washing Lilith while Ian tried to subdue his tears. Ian lifted his head after a minute and inhaled a sniffle then stepped out of the shower to which Lilith grabbed the collar of his shirt.
"I'm not going anywhere." He fought back tears.
Hearing them in his voice Justin looked over at Ian who painfully stared at her. The disturbingly fucked up situation was killing them both. They didn't know what happened to her. Didn't know who or what did it and why. Now they were forced to care for her together like she was their traumatized child that wouldn't let either out of her site.
Ian pulled the shower head down, rinsing the soap from her body while Justin softly removed the remainder of her black makeup with a washcloth. She made them both assist her with stepping out of the bathtub and while Justin dried her with a towel, Ian prepared her robe. Justin pulled his undershirt on then grabbed one hand while Ian took the other and they walked into the bedroom.
"I have to change," Ian said.
"I need to clean that up." Justin glanced at the vomit.
"I'll clean it!" Lilith peeped. "I'll dress you!" She couldn't let them go.
"Lily, stop!" Ian said sternly. "We are not going to leave you. We will be at your side all night, baby. Just stop. Sit on the bed." He pulled her from Justin to the bed. While he guided her she stared over her shoulder at Justin.
"I'm not going to leave. I'm going to go into the kitchen and get paper towels. I made you soup." He tried to smile, tried to calm her. "I'm just walking to the kitchen and I will be back in here in two minutes." He slowly walked to the door, afraid she was going to lunge from the bed at him. When she brought her attention to Ian, he quickly walked out.
"I'm going to walk to my dresser and get some clothes," Ian explained.
They both spoke to her like she was a crazed gunman
that they were trying to talk the gun away from.
"When Justin comes back in here I'm going to go into the bathroom and change." He slowly went to his dresser. "Okay?"
"You're not going to leave?"
"No, baby. I'm not going to leave you. Justin's not going to leave you." It
felt so unnatural to use his first name.
The whole situation was a unreal mess.
Lilith nodded and crawled to the middle of the bed. Justin entered the room a minute later with hot soup in one hand, cleaning product in the other, and a roll of paper towels under his arm. He put the soup on the nightstand then moved quickly to clean up the mess he made.
Ian glanced at Justin then at Lilith who was staring at the ceiling. "Lily," he said and she jerked her head to look at him. "I'm going into the bathroom, baby." He showed her the clothes in his hands. When she looked up at the ceiling again he quickly walked away.
Justin stood, picking up the mess of paper towels and he walked to the door, about to leave the room. Lilith sprung from the bed to follow him. Ian was locked in the bathroom. She needed at least one around until they were both in her sight. As she jumped from the bed she hit the nightstand which sent the hot bowl of soup crashing to the ground. She snapped back to look but quickly ran to Justin, grabbing his arm.
"It's okay. I'm not going." He pulled her under his arm, kissing her head.
Hearing the clatter, Ian moved as fast as he could.
"Son of a bitch," he muttered.
Now that Justin almost left her unsupervised she wouldn't let him go to clean the mess. He stared at the bathroom door wanting Ian to hurry so he could throw away the vomit paper towels and clean the soup mess.
Ian yanked the door open pulling his shirt down
and he rounded the corner seeing the soup. "What happened?" he stupidly asked like it mattered.
"Go to Ian," Justin said letting Lilith go and slightly pushing her toward him. She hurried to Ian, wrapping her arms around his waist. "El, I'm going to throw this away. I'm not going to leave."
"Come on, baby," Ian whispered, carrying her to the bed. "Let go," he said when she wouldn't. "Lily, let go."
"Don't leave."
"I'm not going to leave. I'm going to help Borg clean that up."
Lilith slowly released her legs from around his waist and she stood on the bed before slowly letting her arms go from his neck.
"Get in the bed." He pointed.
Slowly sinking to her knees her eyes didn't leave him as she hurried to the head of the bed. Ian huffed, rubbing his eyebrow as Justin came back into the room.
"I put more soup in the microwave. Are you hungry?" Justin knelt at the mess but looked up at her.
"Yes," she responded.
He looked over at Ian.
"I'm going to get your soup. Don't move from that bed," Ian told her and when she nodded he left the room, taking a second in the kitchen.
He didn't know what to do. She wasn't going to let either of them do anything. He hurried to the bathroom down the hall and grabbed three prescribed pain pills then brought the soup, juice, and the pills in on a tray. While Ian got her settled, Justin threw away the soup soaked paper towels.
"Take these, baby." Ian shoved all three pills into her mouth before she could say anything then he pushed the juice to her lips. "Borg, grab bread!" Ian called out. After giving her three of the pills he began to worry it was too much.
"Sit," Lilith said to Justin when he came back
with bread.
"What time is it?" Ian asked as Justin hesitantly sat on their bed.
"Quarter to six."
Lilith dunked the bread and took small bites. "I'm done," she muttered minutes later, pushing the tray away.
"El," Justin said while she lay back.
She softly reached up and tugged him to lay with her. He
closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to lay in their bed but he had no choice. He carefully laid his head next to hers and she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it.
"I'm sorry I caused a scene at your office," she softly said, seemingly coming back to them.
"That doesn't matter." Justin's eyes studied the now bruising mark on the side of her face.
Ian sat on the other side of her and she pulled him to lay with her too. "I'm sorry for the things I said before I left," she said to Ian as she kissed his hand.
"None of that matters. What matters, baby, is you need to tell us what happened."
She was getting groggy from Ian drugging her.
"What time did your date end?"
"I don't know," she mumbled, fighting to keep her eyes open.
"Okay," Ian slowly said. "Where did you go after the date? Were you walking somewhere?"
"No." She was slipping.
"Were you in the parking garage?" Justin asked but she was already out. "Fuck," he quietly groaned rolling to his back. His legs uncomfortably hung off the bed, his arm hurt, his hip hurt for the first time in awhile, and his side hurt. He wasn't sure if it was his lung or ribs.
Ian stared at her, slowly stroking her forehead.
"You drug her?" Justin asked.
"I had to. She's freaking out." Ian pinched the bridge of his nose.
"What do you think happened?"
Ian looked over at him briefly then back to the ceil
ing. "I don't fuckin'
know. She had a date at ten thirty but I don't know what she did after the date."
"Who was her date?" Justin quietly snapped, automatically assuming it was that person.
"It wasn't him. Aaron Teppert."
"Doug Teppert?"
"Yeah, his kid. He wouldn't have fucked her up. She was supposed to be dropped back off in front of Luxe."
"What do you mean dropped off? She wasn't with a
driver?"
"No, man," Ian huffed. "The Tepperts don't work that way. They want their privacy and control of the situation." Ian sat up and Lilith stirred so he froze a minute.
"I'll fucking kill him," Justin whispered, softly stroking Lilith's hair.
"It wasn't him, man. He's a med student, his dad works for the mayor. He's not a fucking idiot."
"What time was her date until?"
"Like three."
"She showed up at my office a little after three."
"She came to your office?" Ian looked at him.
"Yeah, she busted in like she was being chased, Jacks." Justin carefully sat up. "Someone was chasing her but by the time I got out of my office there was no one." Justin stressfully lowered his head into his hand.
"Do you think she needs to go to the hospital?" Ian looked at her.
"I don't know, man." Justin got off the bed.
"You can't leave!" Ian quickly said.
"I'm not—"
"Dude, I can't deal with this alone when she wants both of us around."
"I'm not going to leave her. I want to get my phone. I just left the office without saying anything."
"Borg," Ian said before he walked out. "Was she
wearing clothes when she showed up at your office?"
"Yeah, just her dress, no coat or purse."
"'Ey, man, grab my phone. I tossed it somewhere in the living room I think."
Justin looked at Lilith then walked out of the room.
"What the fuck did you do?" Ian whispered kissing her forehead.
Being she was laying on top of the blankets he grabbed one from the closet and covered her up.
Justin pulled a chair into the room and sat on his phone at her side. Ian
stood just outside the bedroom on the phone. He pulled up Aaron Teppert's