10

Lily forced herself to move. She slid onto the stool next to Dax, the soft fabric of the lounge set suddenly felt suffocating. Edna’s eyes flicked over the sweater and leggings and her smile widened.

“That set looks better on you than it ever did on me,” she said lightly. “I don’t have your kind of curves. You wear it beautifully.”

Lily’s mouth shaped the expected words. “Oh I doubt that. You’re very beautiful all the same.”

Inside, her heart felt like it had been run through with a blunt knife.

Liam, glanced between them. “Uncle Damien said he found you passed out drunk in his bedroom last night. Let you sleep it off in there so you wouldn’t face plant on the stairs or something.”

Lily nodded once, keeping her voice even. “Yeah.”

She looked up. Damien was already watching her. His expression was blank, but the dark intensity she knew so well shuttered behind the polite distance. The same man who had whispered filthy ownership into her ear hours ago now stood three feet from a lover Lily had never even heard of.

She heard herself ask, “How long have you two been dating?”

Edna poured a fresh cup of coffee, completely at ease. You could tell she came here a lot. “A little over a year now. We met at his office. I’m an auditor for the firm they work with. He was impossible to ignore.” She smiled at Damien fondly.

Lily’s fingers tightened around the edge of the counter. “How come Liam and I have never seen you before?”

Edna’s smile turned playful. “That’s a question for Damien, honey.”

Lily turned fully toward him and raised her eyebrows. “Well, Uncle?”

Damien’s jaw flexed. “I wanted to take things slow.”

Lily scoffed, sharply. Liam frowned at her.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, then added. “I just don’t understand why my uncle would hide away such a gorgeous woman unless, of course, he’s hiding something.”

Liam added groggily. “Actually mom, dad and I met Edna last year on thanksgiving. You know the one you didn’t attend cause you were at an art show in Belgium.”

“Right, right. Now it’s my fault I’m being kept out of the family loop.”

The air changed. Damien’s shoulders went rigid. A muscle jumped in his cheek as he gnashed his teeth once, hard.

Edna set a glass of tomato juice in front of Lily. “Someone must still be a little hungover if she’s in this kind of mood. Drink up. It helps.”

Lily stood so fast the stool scraped. “Actually, I have to get back home. I have got a lot of errands to run.” She looked at Liam without quite meeting his eyes. “Ride with Dax. I’ll see you later.”

She didn’t wait for anyone to say anything else. She simply turned and walked out of the kitchen.

As she left, she had Liam ask, “jeez, what’s up her ass this morning?”

Damien responded faintly, “I’ll go check up on her.”

In the guest room she shoved yesterday’s clothes into her overnight bag with shaking hands. The soft lounge set still clung to her skin, a mockery of the care she had felt when she first saw it laid out. She zipped the bag hard enough that the sound cracked through the hallway.

She was halfway to the front door when heavy footsteps followed.

“Lily.” Damien’s voice was tight. “What the hell was that?”

She didn’t turn around. “Fuck off.”

He caught up to her just as she reached the driveway. Damien stopped a few feet away, chest rising and falling too fast.

“Jealousy looks ugly on you.”

She spun so fast her hair whipped across her face. Her palm cracked across his cheek hard enough it snapped his head to the side.

“You’re an asshole, you know that?” she said, voice shaking with fury. “You’re a fucking user with no heart. You fucked me last night. I can literally still feel. And then I walk downstairs to find you draped all over another random woman playing house. How could you do that to me?”

Damien’s eyes darkened, the red mark already rising on his cheek. “You’re engaged to my son.”

The reminder only poured gasoline on the fire. She was too angry to think, too raw to care about logic. She yanked the car door open.

Damien’s hand closed around her wrist before she could slide inside. He pulled her against his chest, his arms locking tight. The solid heat of him surrounded her.

“If it bothers you so much seeing me with another woman,” he said against her hair, voice rough, “then break it off with Dax. I’ll end things with Edna. Today.”

Lily’s laugh was bitter. She shoved hard against his chest until he let go.

“You don’t get it, do you?” She said, jabbing her car keys in his chest. “This is bigger than me just being your fucking sex toy.”

She climbed into the car slamming the door, and starting the engine. Damien stood in the driveway, hands clenched uselessly at his sides.

Lily didn’t look back as she sped away.