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“Hey,” I said softly, drawing her into my arms as soon as I was close enough. The swelling was down on her cheek and around her eye, but she was wearing a hat, hiding most of her face in shadow from passing strangers. I lifted her chin so the light hit her face better. Rage still twisted through my gut when I saw the bruising, but I tamped it down. She didn’t need my rage. She needed me to take care of her. “It looks better today.”
She nodded and then pulled her hat off to rest her head on my chest. I cradled the back of her head, holding her to me. Ezra arched a brow at me, a question in his gaze, but I knew he wouldn’t push for an answer while she was with me. “You hungry?” he asked me. He inclined his head to her. “I think she needs to eat.”
I nodded in agreement. “I had breakfast,” Lillian softly spoke up.
“What did you get to eat?” I asked, leaning back a little to look down at her upturned face. Knowing her father, it wasn’t much. He would still want to punish her.
She shrugged. “A slice of toast.”
A low growl rumbled from my chest. “You need to eat.” I looked at Ezra as I grabbed her hand in mine. “You want to head to Mabel’s and grab a bite to eat with us?” I asked him.
He nodded. “Yeah. I was headed out for lunch anyway.” He looked at his watch. “You don’t have any more classes, do you?”
I opened my passenger door for Lillian, and she lowered herself into the seat. I shut the door after her as I shook my head. “Nah. No more classes for the day,” I informed him before I lowered myself into the driver’s seat. “I was only trying to study and kill time before Solomon gets out of school when you texted me.”
He nodded once. “Good. Think she could use some time away from home for a little while.”
With that, he slid into his car, and once he pulled out, I followed behind him, then reached over and grabbed Lillian’s hand in mine. “I’m going to get you out of that house,” I promised her.
She sighed and leaned her head back. “He’ll never let me go anywhere as long as I’m unmarried, Amadeus, and you know that.”
I clenched my jaw. “I’ll figure something out,” I assured her. And I would. I still freaked out at the thought of marriage, afraid it would just trap me into this society these fuckers had built, but I wasnotleaving her behind when we left.
And wewouldbe leaving soon. There was no fucking doubt about that in my mind. Even if we didn’t have the cushion we wanted when we left, I couldn’t keep letting her suffer like this.
* * *
Lillian was asleep in my passenger seat when I pulled up to the old, abandoned house I brought her to a few nights ago. She’d eaten another bowl of soup and a salad, something light that would fill her up while her body tried readjusting to food again. I was afraid to ask how many times she’d gone through this with him, afraid the answer would send me spiraling into a pit I couldn’t come back out of.
Ezra promised me he would pick Solomon up from school and keep him for the afternoon until I came to get him, which I was thankful for. Because Ezra was right. Lillian needed time away from that house for a little while.
Hell, I wouldn’t send her back if I didn’t absolutely have to, which meant I’d be keeping her out as long as I could.
Sighing, I turned the car off and slid out, taking a moment to soak in the peace and quiet. It settled in my bones, relaxing my shoulders. Out here, I didn’t have to pretend to be someone else. I didn’t have to hide all the animosity residing inside of me.
Out here, the war ceased to exist.
“You look…peaceful,” Lillian quietly spoke up. I looked over my shoulder at her. Her door was still open, and she was leaning on the roof, watching me, her eyes still half asleep.
I shrugged. “Don’t have to be someone else out here,” I told her. “I can just be me.”
She smiled a little and tilted her head to the side the slightest bit. Her blonde hair blew gently in the breeze that softly wrapped us in its comforting embrace. “Should I be worried that what happened out here will happen again without my consent?” she asked. I could tell by her tone she was teasing, but that didn’t mean that my dick didn’t stand to attention at the mere thought of tasting her sweetness again, even if she was talking about me sexually assaulting her.
Fuck, what the hell had I done to her? Who the hell joked about being sexually assaulted? Then again, what kind of man sexually assaulted another woman and felt no remorse for it? Because I sure as fuck didn’t. Everything I’d done, everything that had happened between us, had brought us to this moment.
To the moment she was mine.
I turned my body to face her and shoved my hands into my pockets. “You want it to be something that happens again, Lillian?” I asked her.
Her lips quirked again, and she stepped back, shutting her door. She turned to look at the overgrown property, and I silently watched her, secretly loving the adoration on her face. Her body relaxed just like mine had. She could feel it too—the freedom that came with being here in this place.
She looked at me over her shoulder, her blonde hair a slight mess from sleeping on the way here. “If you can catch me,” she teased.
Then, she took off for the trees. My cock jerked in my jeans. Grinning wickedly, I turned my back to her. “You’ve got a sixty-second head start, little blondie,” I called.
I’d broken her, but I’d made her into something better—something stronger. I’d given her power over her body and a taste of freedom, of happiness. And while she couldn’t explore that freedom in that damn town, she could explore it with me.
And I’d forever allow her.
