Page 47 of Liberating Lily

“I need them. I need them. I’ll hurt you.”

“Let me know if you need me,” Michaela said.

He nodded but didn’t reply. Instead, he stared down at Lily. She’d made herself small, and he hated that. Lily should never be small. She should be worshipped for the amazing person that she was, and he was going to teach her that. He was going to take care of her, put her on a pedestal, do whatever she needed.

“Lily, I think it’s time to tell me the full truth,” he said. “I can’t help if I don’t know everything.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.” She peeked out at him and then down at his hands. “Any more than I have.”

“Baby, you think this hurts? This is nothing. And I would rather you hurt me any day than hurt yourself.”

“It’s not acceptable behavior, though,” she said.

“Acceptable behavior. Who said that?” he asked. “Your mother?”

“Everyone. This isn’t the way to act. I can’t hit people. I can’t hurt them. I can’t hurt myself, just because I can’t deal with my emotions.”

“That’s what they told you? When they said your central nervous system was out of whack?” he asked.

To his shock, she snorted. “Out of whack? I wouldn’t say they used quite such a medical term.”

He grinned, glad she could joke around. But that didn’t mean he was going to stop pressing her for answers.

“Tell me what happened the first time your mother took you to this doctor and he gave you those pills.”

“Harvey, you’d be better off just letting me go home. I’m too much work. I don’t know why you want me. You could have anybody. Why would you want someone so broken?”

“I’m going to stop you from talking about yourself that way,” he told her firmly. “You’re not broken, Lily. You’ve got a few cracks. You’ve been held down when you should be pushed up to shine. But we’ve all got cracks. You think I don’t? You think I’m not hard work? There are things about me that you’re going to struggle with. But the point is, that now we do it together. Because I’m not letting you go.”

She stared out at him, her eyes watery from tears. He hated seeing her cry. Seeing her upset.

The only time he ever wanted to see her cry was in joy. When he had her over his knee, spanking her ass. Or when she was denied an orgasm and just couldn’t take any more teasing.

Fuck. He was growing hard at the thought and this really wasn’t the time or place.

That sort of play would have to come later.

Once she trusted him.

“But why do you want me?” she asked

“Because you’re beautiful and smart and kind. Why wouldn’t I want you?” He brushed the hair back off her face and then grasped hold of her chin. “Tell me what happened, Lily. Why did you even agree to marry Rick? Why were you taking the pills? Why stay with your mother when she was such a bitch?”

“What choice did I have? I’ve got no qualifications. I’ve never had a job. What was I going to do? No friends, no family who cared. I had nothing.”

“What about Clem?” he asked.

Her gaze moved over his shoulder. “Clem’s better off without me.”

He frowned. “Why would you say that? You’re her sister. Shouldn’t you be close to her? When she had cancer, don’t you think she would have liked you close?”

Tears dripped down her face. “I was so worried about her. I was so scared she was going to die, and there wasn’t a lot I could do to help other than to keep Mother off her back.”

Suddenly it clicked inside his head what had been happening. “That’s what you were trying to do? Keep your mother away from her?”

“Clem needed a stress-free environment to help her fight the cancer,” Lily said. “I thought that the one thing I could do was keep Mother away and take the pressure off her.”

“Is that why you agreed to marry Rick? Because otherwise you thought your mother would pressure Clem into marrying him, or someone like him?”