Page 44 of Lilies from Hell

“Hey, where have you been all day? I’ve been waiting for you for hours.” Her brown eyes look at me expectantly with a mischievous smile.

“I went to the beach for a while with Jas.”

“Ah, the red rat,” she hisses, and I shake my head with an amused smile.

“So what is it you wanted to tell me so badly?”

“That. Well…” She pauses, taking the opportunity to bite her lower lip.

“Well, what?” I murmur, frowning. She sighs and takes a breath, as if she’s about to drop a bombshell.

“Before you disappeared, Magic Fingers and you had something going on,” she says it so fast that I have trouble catching some of it.

“Who?” I ask, wrinkling my nose.

“Magic Fingers. Alek,” she replies in a matter-of-fact tone, causing the blush on my cheeks and my urge to cry to return at the same time. “There were rumors at school that you were dating, and you told me that you went together to Kyle’s party.” I press my lips together in a thin line, trying to understand. “Something happened there between you two, but you never wanted to tell me what.” Her voice now is filled with recrimination for an information I don’t even know myself I am keeping. It all sounds like a movie I definitely wasn’t in.

“So we were dating?” I focus on the most important part.

“Yes, I guess so. It’s more than obvious that he is still into you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have used his magic on you.” She raises her eyebrows at the end. “You know the saying. Where there was fire, ashes remain, and you two have a lot of fire.” I shake my head, suppressing a smile.

The fact that I still have feelings for my ex-boyfriend, who I didn’t know was my ex-boyfriend until two seconds ago makes me think I’m going crazy.

“And here I am, lonelier than loneliness itself,” she says with a sigh.

I bite my cheek, suppressing the urge to tell her that she is not the only one because he has already pushed me out of his life. Probably because he doesn’t like me that way anymore. Maybe during those days he was with me, he tried to get back whatever we had before, and when he saw he couldn’t, he decided to leave me alone.

“And why didn’t you tell me before?” I force myself to ask, ignoring the lump in my throat.

“Your parents didn’t want me to. They said it was better that way so you wouldn’t get those horrible headaches again and so you could get over it more quickly.” I move both eyebrows in frustration. “And no offense, but your father is scary as fuck.”

I don’t think it’s fair that they’re hiding things from me without even consulting me, as if I were a nobody. But it’s not worth getting angry about now. In the end, they only wanted what was best for me, and anyway. I doubt that knowing would have changed anything.

“All I know is that they found your body unconscious next to a car days after searching for you.” I purse my lips, trying to remember why on earth I would have been driving a car at that age. And alone. I don’t remember getting my driver’s license as soon as I turned sixteen.

“It’s okay. I guess I need time to think. Everything is so weird.”

And he’s hard to figure out. If he’s still interested in me, why hasn’t he contacted me in all these years? Why has he shown up now? Why did he tell me to fuck off? If he doesn’t want to see me anymore, at least he could tell me that to my face. Coward.

“I’m starving. Let’s grab something to eat,” I say as my stomach grumbles angrily, making her giggle.

Then she walks over to my closet to find some clothes for us to wear. I just tidied it up today, and now it’s a mess again. I squint at the clothes she throws on the bed when I see that the few pairs of pants I have are now gone. My fingers rummage through the pile, finding nothing. I clench my teeth when the image of blue eyes comes to my mind.

I glance back at the garden from the terrace, swallowing what is left of my black tea. I feel my soul wanting to escape from my body to go with her. She became a necessity. Always had been.

“Mr. Novikov wants to talk to you, he says it’s urgent—”

“Tell him to wait or to fuck off,” I cut, not bothering to turn my head and see who is behind me.

“But sir…” The man falls silent when my heavy gaze falls on him and walks away quickly.

I gulp down what's left of the tea, then head to the office. The angry eyes of my father greet me as I walk through the door. He then motions for me to sit down while remaining in my chair, as if it were his. Son of a bitch.

“I’m seeing your face around here more than on your whore’s cunt lately. Should I be concerned?” I ask, the corners of my lips curving upward without giving in to sitting down. There are few things he can force me to do.

“That’s no way to talk to your father,” he says, standing up so abruptly that he sways slightly to one side. I shove my hands in my pants pockets, watching him without a shred of pleasantness. My face reflecting my lack of patience. “Fine. I see you’re not in the mood today, so I’ll get straight to the point. What are you planning to do with Ray’s daughter?” I moisten my lower lip, thinking about who would be the next snitch to decorate the walls of the house with their blood.

Maybe I should hang their tongues on the door so others would learn to shut their fucking mouths.