Page 87 of Deathless & Divided

Lily turned back toward her car, took a couple of steps, and nearly stumbled over her own two feet at the sight of Damian sitting where he hadn’t been before.

“Shit,” Lily gasped, her new phone dropping from her hand to the pavement.

Luckily, it didn’t break.

Damian chuckled as Lily picked up her phone and stood straight again, glaring daggers at him the entire time.

“You almost owed me a new phone again,” Lily warned.

“You should get used to this, sweetheart.”

“Having a stalker?”

Damian raised a single brow at her statement. “Really?”

Lily made a face. “Yeah, never mind. What are you doing?”

“Keeping you close.”

The briefest, tiniest smile tugged at the corner of Lily’s mouth. “Oh?”

“Just like I said.”

“Where have you been, then?”

“Around,” Damian replied, knowing how vague he sounded. “You’ve been busy and I work better when people can’t see me.”

“Just like a ghost, huh?”

“Just like that.” Damian nodded in her direction, saying, “I had a meeting with some of the Rossi family while you visited with Eve and I just caught you in time before you left. I thought you would be staying later. Didn’t you have color schemes to finish or some nonsense?”

“How did you know that?”

“Dino,” Damian said simply.

“You’re keeping tabs on me and following me?” she asked, her voice pitching high.

“Don’t be angry, Lily.”

Lily’s expression darkened. “That’s a pretty bold—”

“You want to have a life,” Damian interrupted calmly. “You want to do things and go out. I don’t blame you, but there’s a lot of messy stuff happening right now, so I have to keep a close eye on you while it happens. I’m sorry if the idea of having someone trail you leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but it’s either this, or you won’t be allowed to leave Dino’s place until shit blows over.”

Lily’s stance softened. “It’s just you watching me, right?”

Damian smiled. “Just me.”

“You could have told me, Damian.”

“I did—at Mia’s funeral. I can’t help it if you don’t read between the lines. Just because you can’t see me, doesn’t mean I’m not still around, Lily.”

Lily picked at her nails and avoided his stare. “What kind of messy stuff?”

“Distrust and uncertainty. From a lot of people. It makes for a bad situation.”

“Oh.”

“You’re not going to end up some casualty in this mess if I can help it,” Damian said, sighing. “Leading me back to point, I almost missed you because you left early. What happened?”