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“Out at the old place I like to go to,” I told him, shoving my fingers through my hair. “I fucking fell asleep. Didn’t goddamn mean to.” I scrubbed my hand down my face, groaning long and loud. “Let me get her home. Keep an ear out.”
“I am,” he assured me.
I hung up. Lillian was doing her best not to panic, but it was dark, and she knew enough about the times of day to know it was well past her curfew. She knew what hell awaited her.
And it was all my fucking fault.Goddammit!
“I fucked up, little blondie, but I’m going to do everything I can to get you out of it,” I tried assuring her, but my words basically fell on deaf ears.
Her breathing quickened. I kneeled in front of her and gripped her face in my hands, forcing her to focus on me. “I need you to breathe, Lillian. I’m going to do everything I can, okay? This is my fucking fault. I should have just taken you out to eat and then taken you home—not brought you out here.”
She shook her head. “Please don’t blame—”
“Don’t,” I warned her, my voice dropping an octave. Because she knew as well as I did that if I wasn’t so goddamn selfish with her, so fucking obsessed with her, none of this would have happened. “Come on.”
Tears burned in her eyes, fear clouding their pretty depths. “He’s going to take one look at me and know,” she croaked.
I gently squeezed her hand as I led her out of the abandoned house and to my car. Her fear was so fucking potent, I could practically smell it, and it left me feeling volatile. I didn’t want her to fear anyone else. If she was ever going to fear anyone, it would be me. And even then, I could no longer think of a good enough reason to have her afraid of me.
I never wanted her to fear me—not anymore. I only wanted her to crave me. I wanted her to feel safe—fucking needed it. But nothing I could do right now would comfort her.
Once she was seated in the passenger seat of my car, I got in on the driver’s side and backed up before heading down the dirt road, taking it easy because of deer, and my visibility was lessened by the all-consuming darkness. Even the moon wasn’t out tonight.
Almost like it was hiding from what was to come.
I wanted to take off with Lillian right now, never take her back home, but I couldn’t leave behind Ezra and Solomon. I wouldn’t do that. And even then, I had nothing to take her to. Was I supposed to expect her to live out of my car with only the clothes on her back?
Fuck, I hated this shit. What the fuck had she done to deserve any of this?
Sometimes, caring about others was a pain in the ass. But once I did, I couldn’t stop myself. And now, I’d fucked her life up in more ways than one.
Every light was on in her house when I pulled to the side of the quiet street, including her own bedroom light. She whimpered in the passenger seat when she saw her father sitting on the front porch in his rocking chair. Even from here, I could see the rage on his face.
“Hey, look at me,” I softly ordered. With effort, she managed to rip her eyes from his angry, seething expression to look at me. I cupped her chin, brushing my thumb over her bottom lip. “You aremine. I will get you out of here, Lillian. I promise you. Do you trust me?”
A tear rolled down her cheek and stopped at my fingers, as she nodded. “Then trust me when I say you won’t have to deal with this much longer, okay?”
She sniffled and nodded. I released her and got out of the car, coming around to her side to help her out. She trembled the entire walk up to the front steps. Her father met us at the bottom, not allowing me to climb them. I tensed, my hand tightening around hers when she began to shake.
Gripping her arm, he tried yanking her from my grasp, but I held tighter. Lillian whimpered. “You’ll release her this instance,” I snarled at him.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “She is my daughter—”
“She ismyfucking fiancée,” I coldly reminded him.
“Not anymore, she’s not.”
I arched a brow at him, laughing at his audacity, though fear curled through my veins. I couldn’t let her be ripped from me. Losing her would make me feral. “You want to try that again?” I threatened. “I’ll walk away from here right now and take her with me. And legally, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. She’s over the age of eighteen, and that makes her an adult capable of making her own choices despite what the fuck you fuckers like to think.”
His face was blood red, fury burning in his eyes. “Get inside, Lillian,” he ordered.
She turned to look at me, and I nodded once at her, gently squeezing her hand. “He won’t touch you,” I assured her. “If he does, he has the law to answer to. I promise.”
She nodded, relaxing a little. Slowly, she released my hand and walked up the steps past her father. “You’ll leave her be and let her get cleaned up,” I told him. “I promise I’ll know if you don’t.”
He didn’t say a word—just went up the stairs and slammed the front door shut behind him. I walked to my car and headed to Ezra’s until I could check in on Lillian later on. He was sitting on the porch when I pulled up, and he walked down the steps to get in my passenger seat when I pulled up.
“Where’s Solomon?” I asked him, my fingers drumming rapidly on the steering wheel, my entire body tense.
