by Stacey Lynn
I hated the bubble of hope his words brought. If I could do anything? Be anyone? I didn’t have that luxury. The dream of if I could do anything slammed closed when handcuffs clicked around my wrists.
“The door closed on my opportunities to dream of anything years ago. Now I’m more reasonable.”
“What if that door was opened?”
“I don’t play the what-if game, Mr. Valentine. Not anymore.”
“David.” He grinned. “I understand. What are you doing at school then?”
I opened the folder. “Office administration. Some kind of assistant, I guess.” I scanned the first three pages he’d had printed out. All entry-level positions. All with minimum hourly wages that would be at least double the amount I made at Judith’s.
All paying much too high for their requirements. Enough I could shop at Target, buy cupcakes when I felt like it, and more than the occasional Chipotle tucked away in a one-bedroom apartment.
The only dream I had.
It also had to be way too high and Hudson had told me no special treatment. I slapped the folder closed.
“Why did you look into me?” I’d been dying to know ever since Hudson spoke the words We know.
David didn’t flinch. “Because I could and before I extend my help I like to know who I’m offering it to. At least the basics.”
“And you still wanted that, even after knowing?”
His sad, sad eyes warmed with an emotion that made me sit up straight in an effort to put distance between us. It was heavy and warm, almost loving, and I hated it.
“You were a child, Lilly. You made a mistake. And you’re still young. Don’t you think you’ve been punished enough?”
Pain and guilt and grief slashed through me like a whip.
“I’ll be punished every day for the rest of my life.” Because Josh was gone. And I might not have been driving the truck. But I made the phone call.
“Then that’s your penance, if you wish to carry it. Why bear more?” He voice turned to gravel, like he hated the thought of what I’d been through.
A fierce, wicked sting sliced through my chest and went straight to my gut. He meant this, which made saying no to him virtually impossible.
Would it be so bad for a girl like me to cling to the kind of man I always wished I could have had for my father? They were using me to feel better about themselves. What was the harm in doing the same?
Movement in the doorway grabbed my attention, making me jump. Damn Hudson. He was always sneaking up on me.
He was smiling as he saw me and that smile quickly turned to unmitigated rage.
“What in the fuck happened to your face?”
13
Hudson
I moved fast and was in front of her before either of us could blink and then my hand was at her arm, yanking her to her feet.
A gasp of surprise, maybe pain, fell from her scratched and swollen lips but I barely registered it.
“Who did this to you?”
She looked like she’d been run through with a cheese grater, scraped and scabbed, a yellowing bruise swelled her cheek, poorly disguised beneath a heavy layer of makeup.
“Hudson,” my dad called my name in warning. One I ignored.
“Who?”
I barked it out and she flinched, pulling her arm in my grasp.
Her cheeks turned red, and those large doe eyes of hers narrowed. She looked positively furious, and it was directed at me.
“Let go of me.”
Crap. What in the hell was I doing?
I let her go immediately. “Shit. I’m sorry.” I stepped back and scrubbed my hands through my hair. “When did this happen? Last night?”
She shifted her focus to the windows and the river, rolling her lips together.
A fierce strumming beat my chest, pooled blood into my fisted hands. “This happened last night. After you refused to let me drive you home?”
She swallowed thickly, and a gaze filled with ire and fire fell on me. “And what would that have accomplished?”
There was that strength. The hint of her softness quickly fleeing behind cinder blocks and bars. Not that I could blame her, but in this?
“Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?”
“Like I can afford a doctor.” She laughed once, so cold it sent ice to all the rage pummeling my body. She turned to Dad. “May I ask where the restroom is?”
“I’ll take you.”
“No.” She held up her hand in my direction, refusing my offer, and didn’t take her eyes off Dad. “Mr. Valentine?”
“Stephanie can show you. She’s at her desk in front.”
She nodded once and started moving toward the door when Dad called her name.
“Yes?”
He smiled, that understanding smile filled with sadness I was so damn tired of seeing him wear. “It’s David.”
There was a quick twitch of the corners of her lips before she left, shaking her head.
“What are you going to do about this?” I demanded of him, hands thrown to my hips once she was gone.
He leaned back in his chair. “I will be there for her. In whatever way she needs me to be.”
I paced the room like a caged tiger whose first meal in days waited just outside. I was with her last night. I was rewarded with timid smiles, slightly crooked, and quiet conversation that was about nothing but sugary sweet and enticing all the same. I’d had the ability to keep her safe and protected at my grasp and let her have her way.
I could have followed her to ensure she got home okay. Had even considered it.
Now I had to sit back and do nothing? It wasn’t in my DNA.
“She made it clear she wouldn’t say who attacked her and if you notice how she’s walking slowly, slightly hunched, protecting one side, what we see aren’t her only injuries. So maybe stop yanking her around in your anger.”
“That’s it?” I threw my hands in the air.
“Someday she might trust one of us to tell the truth. And when that happens, she’ll have my full support. Until then, my job is to earn it.”
I hated it when he made sense. I made a face that said as much and the old man grinned up at me. It had the power to rile me up and calm me down all in one twisted motion.
“Did she ask you about anything?”
“She asked how much I looked into her.”
“What’d you tell her?”
“An answer that seemed to pacify her enough for now.”
“We could—”
“No. She’s curious enough to come back. If she knew, she’d flee and never give us this opening.”
He was right. I didn’t blame him. But the more I was around her, the more I wanted her in ways I shouldn’t. Having a gaping wound festering with lies and secrets wasn’t how I operated, with women or business.
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
She stepped back into the room, head down, straight to her chair. Without any fanfare or recognition I was in the room, she sat down at the seat, flipped through sheets in the file in front of her. I stood at the windows, memorizing the location of every mark on her face, every bruise, every scratch from the smallest to the largest.
Someday, I would learn the name of the man who did this, hunt him down, and pay him back one hundred-fold.
I stood still while Lilly and Dad walked through the papers. She questioned everything, proving not only her intelligence, but her distrust.
Today had not gone how I’d anticipated seeing her. After last night, with the cupcakes and the quiet conversation and the enjoyably simple time, I’d expected to walk in and see her the same.
Instead, I was met with a coldness that didn’t warm while she and Dad talked. Occasionally, she glanced at me and quickly looked away. I swore once or twice there was a faint blush on her thickly made-up cheeks, giving me intense pleasure.
“You studied auto mechanics when you were…” His voice trailed off and Lilly barely glanced at him. She was head d
own, scanning another opening. My feet ached to take the seat next to her so I could see the ones that grabbed her attention.
“You can say prison. It’s just a word.” She said it so matter-of-factly, my dad chuckled.
“When you were there,” he continued. “You studied that. Did you enjoy it?”
“I enjoyed the sun on my back when we could open the garage doors, but it wasn’t horrible.” She gave him a wry look, that spark of her true personality that hadn’t been completely stolen from her. “Why? Do you take care of vehicles, too?”
“No.” He laughed quietly and then coughed into his hand. “Excuse me. No, we don’t have cars here. Was there anything about it you liked?”
“I don’t know if enjoy is the right word because nothing was enjoyable in there, but the cars and the engine and learning how everything worked together came easy to me.”
“What about blueprints. Have you read those?”
“Nothing more than floor plans and that was only out of boredom.”
“Floor plans?”
She tapped her pen repeatedly and looked my way before sliding her gaze toward the windows. “I had an uncle who was a general contractor. My mom’s brother. He kept stacks of books of floor plans lying around. They didn’t have any kids, so when we went to his house, which wasn’t often, I flipped through them.”
She shrugged and went back to the stack.
I abandoned my statue-like hold and made my way to my dad.
We had the perfect place for her.
Taking my dad’s folder, I started at the back, worked my way to the front.
“Here.” I flicked it like a Frisbee in her direction.
Her hand slapped down on the paper before it slid into her lap. Brows dug in close to each other, doe eyes narrowed with intensity.
“This is too much. I’m not qualified.”
“Something to work up to. We can put a paid intern anywhere.”
My dad reached for the paper. “May I?”
She handed it back to him and dug through the papers in front of her to find her own copy.
I already knew what he’d see, so I wasn’t surprised when he twisted his neck and faced me.
I shrugged. “It’s an assistant job. Entry level. Don’t know how much schooling you have left, but if you’re close, you can always pick up some of the courses so that when you graduate, you have more knowledge. Plus, everything you’d learn here.”
“In the design and building department.” Her voice lightened, almost hopeful.
“If you enjoyed floor plans, if your mind ever wandered to what that home would look like when it’s completed. If you ever imagined the cabinets and woodwork and what kind of home it would be after construction was complete, then yes, I’d say you’d do great here.”
It was just an administrative assistant position. She’d spend more time answering phones but she’d report to our VP of Design. Miles Pratt was a fair man and father to five. Hell, if he got to know Lilly, he’d probably fight Dad for the status of her new father-like figure.
“It seems too much.”
“Because you can’t handle it or because you don’t think you deserve it?”
That hit a mark I probably shouldn’t have aimed for and all kindness was replaced with hard lines and venom. I was getting used to it. She shut down when I pushed buttons. Too bad I couldn’t stop. Flames from her eyes only drew me to her more.
“Has Dad mentioned our benefits?”
“No. Why?”
“Because we also reimburse education, if you’d choose to turn a two-year degree into four, we reimburse up to seventy-five percent depending on your GPA.”
Her eyes widened in surprise before she remembered I’d pissed her off.
She turned to my dad and went back to ignoring me, acting like I hadn’t spoken at all.
“I need some time to fully consider. I can call you?”
“That’s fine, Lilly. No hurry.”
She gave him her thanks, stood, and left without a word or glance at me.
Fine by me. I grinned, watching her hasty retreat, knowing she kept the job I suggested on top of her stack.
I wasn’t expecting a ticker-tape parade and for Lilly to welcome me with excitement and an enormous smile when I strolled into Judith’s later that night. If I were a betting man, it was more likely I’d have knives thrown at me, possibly dinner plates flung at my head. The most likely chance was Lilly would see me and sic Chaz on me. All risks I was willing to take. After the way she looked earlier and what I witnessed the last time I was here, there was no way in hell, tonight of all nights, I was leaving her alone to fight it for herself.
Was it obsessive and crossing boundaries? Absolutely.
Did I care? Not a smidge.
Fortunately, when I arrived at eleven, well-rested after a late afternoon nap so I didn’t fall asleep while I was at Judith’s, the diner was virtually empty.
A haggard looking man sat at a table, back to the window, facing the restaurant. His grayed beard hung to his chest, his well-worn green and yellow trucker hat proclaimed his love for tractors and farming equipment.
The bell rang above my head as I opened the door, letting out an irritating high-pitched squawk and Lilly’s head barely lifted from her same perch at the counter. Makeup thicker than earlier, eyes lined with thick black and dark red lipstick on her lips, I was beginning to realize she looked fiercer for her shifts than any other time. Possibly because she felt she needed to look tough in order to ward away problems.
Not that it helped. Any man with a dick in working condition could see through those layers to the sexpot beneath.
Lilly pressed her lips together and looked back down at her laptop, effectively dismissing me.
Interesting. After the way today went it wasn’t surprising, but still disappointing. There was something sexy about her when she got all worked up. I said a silent thanks she didn’t kick me out and headed straight to where I sat last time. It was far enough away not to bother her, close enough to help her if she needed it.
If she wanted to ignore me all night, that was okay. I only cared about her safety.
Once I was settled, and she hadn’t acknowledged my presence in any way, I began typing in my laptop’s password and said, “I know I’m not welcome, but I had to make sure you’re okay.”
Her fingertips hovered over her own keyboard, frozen in place. “I can take care of myself.”
Evidence to the contrary was marred into her creamy skin.
Eventually she sighed, the sound of a woman completely put out and she headed my way with a coffee cup. “Decaf or regular?”
“Regular, please.”
“Any chance I’ll convince you to leave and go home?”
“Nope.” My fingers tapped quickly, pulling up the names of the tenants who occupied the buildings. Some would need translators based on information we gathered and those were set up, contact info on the letters to be delivered in their primary and secondary languages.
Tomorrow was going to be a hellish day for work, one that would make me question every decision I made even if the end result would be beneficial for everyone involved. I believed that deep into my soul, but this final upheaval would be terrifying. We’d followed proper city protocols, alerting the current residents several months ago and the landlords should have already sent them a notice canceling their leases, as well as the list of properties we supplied for rent at their current rates in nearby areas on a temporary to permanent basis if they chose. That didn’t mean all former landlords followed the proper procedures we’d outlined and insisted on. I was aware of one who hadn’t, and while I couldn’t force them, dealing with the potential backlash could be difficult.
“Do I want to know why you’re here?”
I glanced up slowly and set my focus on her cheek. I let that look say it all.
She huffed. “I bet all of your foster sisters hated having you for a brother. You were probably overprotective, weren’t you?”<
br />
Her tone was still annoyed, but Lilly trying to engage me in conversation surprised me. And talking about my sisters? How I was as a brother? Something thick and nasty grew in my throat and I took a drink of coffee.
“It’s possible I’ve been called a dick or asshole once or twice in my life.”
“Shocking,” she muttered and stepped back. “Do you like cream?”
“No, thank you.”
“Would you like pie?”
“Thanks, but I’m still full from those cupcakes.”
“Right,” she said, and that irritated look quickly changed to something else, darkening her icy blue eyes as she glanced down at the floor.
“What?”
“They were dropped last night.”
I’d go buy her a hundred more cupcakes and have them delivered to her house daily if I never had to see that expression again.
“You shouldn’t be here working.”
Not as effective as cupcake deliveries, but her sadness wiped away immediately.
“I don’t have the luxury of not. Besides, I can sit, and customers don’t care if I’m beaten.”
My lip curled before I could school my expression.
She turned away and headed back to her seat, dismissing me again.
Hours later, her shift had been surprisingly and depressingly slow with absolutely no issues except for a couple drunken middle-aged guys commenting on her face.
My stomach was unsettled from all the coffee I drank to stay awake and while I didn’t cave on the pie, I ordered an omelet at three o’clock in the morning trying to wake myself back up.
She didn’t speak to me again until I asked for a menu and after she delivered my food, she went back to her side of the counter.
I was pretty certain I was screwing everything up and making her hate me little by little.
I’d have to adjust my strategy once I had some sleep.
14
Lilly
Pain seared the left side of my body as I rolled to the edge of the bed, waking up with the sun much higher in the bright blue sky than I was used to.