Call me Lucy: An Enemies to Lovers romance

by Rania Battany

Fuck!

  Lillian glared at us from the living room, her hand over her gaping mouth. Lucy yanked the blanket up, burying herself underneath it as I jumped off the bed and pulled on my boxers. I ran out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind me, and found Lillian pacing beside the dining table.

  Fire burned from her eyes.

  ‘Listen, Lillian—’

  ‘You slept with her?’

  ‘If you give me a second—’

  ‘You’ve been sleeping with her?’

  Lillian’s words hissed out in whispered rage. She clenched her teeth, and I knew it was to stop from openly yelling at me.

  ‘How much did you see?’ I blurted.

  ‘Not what you’re imagining.’

  ‘And you think you can just walk in without knocking?’

  Her eyes narrowed. ‘I did knock. Over and over. Obviously, you couldn’t hear me. I panicked, thinking something had happened. I’ve been sending you messages with no reply since last night!’

  I slapped my palm to my forehead, cursing myself. ‘I forgot you were coming this morning!’

  ‘So what? So you could hide this from me? So you could continue to lie to me?’

  ‘I was always going to tell you. I didn’t want you to find out like this.’

  ‘I gave you one job, Billy. One damn job. To take care of her!’ She thrust an accusing finger at my chest, veins now protruding from her neck.

  ‘I am taking care of her. What the fuck do you think I’ve been doing all this time?’

  Despite her usual self-control, her voice rose. ‘Using her!’

  Anger roiled through my gut, and I exploded. ‘You have no fucking idea what’s going on!’

  ‘No, Billy. You have no idea what’s going on. She’s recovering from trauma. She doesn’t know who she is, what she wants. You took advantage of a young—’

  She stopped suddenly and clasped her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh, God. She could be under eighteen.’

  I blurted out a disbelieving laugh. ‘She’s not under eighteen.’

  ‘You could’ve broken the law.’

  ‘Lillian, listen to me—’

  ‘No! You listen to me. You overstepped a line—’

  ‘And what, you didn’t? You didn’t overstep a professional line by bringing a stranger—a fucking client—into this house?!’

  Her cheeks burned deep red. ‘I had my reasons!’

  ‘And I have my reasons too!’

  She lowered her tone, bitterness straining her words. ‘I can just imagine what those reasons are.’

  I slammed my palm onto the table, the thud echoing across the apartment. ‘Don’t you dare suggest I was using her for my own satisfaction!’

  She shook her head and lowered her voice to a disgusted whisper. ‘I never imagined you could do something so low, taking advantage of her like that.’

  She walked away but turned back to me when she reached the front door. ‘You think Dad is scum. You’re no better.’

  Lillian left. Her words pierced my core, ripping through me so I was left speechless and winded. I stood paralyzed by the kitchen table, staring into nothing, my jaw clenched as tightly as my stomach.

  ‘Billy?’ Lucy’s meek voice came from beside me, and I turned to see her shoulders crumpled forward, her eyes glazed with apology. ‘I’m so sorry … we shouldn’t have … I shouldn’t have …’

  I rubbed the back of my neck. I should have said something comforting, but I couldn’t get my mouth to work.

  Lillian had never hurt me like that before.

  Lucy took a hesitant step toward me, but just as she opened her mouth to speak, a knock came from the front door.

  My stomach sank. If Lillian had come back now, I knew I’d say something I’d regret.

  I swung the door open, and every muscle in my body seized. An inferno raged through me, and I locked my jaw, turning to look at Lucy’s deathly pale face and stunned expression.

  ‘You gave Tyler my address?’

  Lucy stood motionless, her hands dangling by her sides. ‘No, no. No, I didn’t. I didn’t.’

  I strode toward her. ‘How did he know where I live then?’

  Tears welled in her eyes, and she shook her head. ‘I don’t know. Honestly, Billy. I don’t know.’

  I swung back around to see Tyler wandering casually into the apartment. ‘Calm down,’ he said. ‘She didn’t give me your address.’

  I pierced him with an icy gaze. ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’

  ‘Taking her home.’

  Home?

  I glared at Lucy, waiting, hoping she would say something, but she only shook her head, whispering, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ over and over again.

  Tyler’s eyes flicked to Lucy, and he smirked. ‘You haven’t told him yet. Have you, Meg?’

  Meg?

  My mouth dried.

  Meg?

  My pulse pounded in my temple.

  ‘You know who you are?’ I asked in a disbelieving whisper.

  Her lips quivered. ‘I was going to tell you. I’ve been—’

  ‘How long have you known?’ I snapped.

  She swallowed. ‘Since Saturday.’

  I bit down on the inside of my bottom lip. In my peripheral vision, I saw a smug smile creep along Tyler’s face. I clenched my fists, fighting off the urge to punch his face in.

  ‘I don’t suppose she’s told you about us, either.’ Tyler extended his hand between Lucy and me, and a small, gold ring twinkled between his fingers.

  Lucy shook her head desperately. ‘That’s not what it looks like. Believe me. It’s not what you think …’

  I locked my eyes on Lucy’s and hissed my words through gritted teeth. ‘I fought with my sister over you. And you’ve been lying to me?’

  ‘If you let me—’

  ‘Get out.’

  Tears streamed down her cheeks. ‘Please, Billy. You just need to—’

  ‘Take your things and get the fuck out of the house.’

  I didn’t look back. Pushing past her, I strode into my room, slamming the door, and didn’t walk out again until I heard them leave ten minutes later.

  19

  Her

  My heart hurt. Not because it was shutting down, but because I’d broken Billy’s.

  And Lillian’s.

  Tyler ran behind me. Yanking my arm, he forced me to turn around. I saw him ready to say something, but I snapped before he could.

  ‘Why won’t you just leave me alone!’

  ‘Because we belong together, Meg.’

  My lip quivered, and I bit down on it, not wanting him to see me so fragile. ‘How did you find me?’

  He pulled his iPhone from his pocket and shook it in front of me. ‘Find My Friends. I set it up on your phone at the botanic gardens. When I added the playlist.’

  I dropped my face into my palms, shaking my head. All I saw was the hurt in Billy’s eyes when he’d realized I’d lied to him. The heartbroken look on his face.

  I’d heard what Lillian had said to him—comparing him to his dad. That would’ve killed him.

  ‘Like I said,’ Tyler repeated, ‘we belong together.’

  I squared a look at him. ‘I came to Sydney to get away from you, Tyler. To Sydney. A huge, loud, overwhelming city. If that doesn’t tell you how desperately I wanted to leave you, then nothing will.’

  ‘And what? You think he’ll be any better? That he’ll understand you? Because no one will understand you like I do. No one.’

  ‘I don’t know what I think about Billy. But I know how I feel about you. I used to think it was easier to be with someone than to be alone, and I’d convinced myself that I loved you. But I’m not sure I ever truly did.’

  Tyler’s face contorted as if my words pierced through his core. As if he only just realized it was over between us.

  His voice dropped. ‘People like that,’ he said, gesturing somewhere behind him toward Billy’s apartment, ‘can never understand people like us.’

  �
�You don’t know anything about him, Tyler.’

  ‘No. I don’t. But I know everything about you. Does he? Does he know about your past? Does he know what it was like being shoved from place to place to place? You and me, we don’t have family, we only have each other. I’m the only person you have, Meg.’

  Inhaling a steadying breath, I forced myself to stay strong. This was how Tyler had gotten me to stay with him, by convincing me I had no one else. And I’d always believed him.

  Every. Single. Time.

  This is how he’d kept me with him for seven years.

  ‘You say that like it’s a fault,’ I said. ‘Having shitty parents doesn’t make you flawed.’

  ‘No. But it makes us broken. And others don’t want broken people, Meg. They just don’t.’

  Vulnerability flickered in his eyes, and my heart cracked for him. I stepped closer and lowered my voice, unwilling to fight with him anymore.

  ‘Remember when we’d sit in the closet together? I don’t know if you ever knew, but I used to spend ages staring at you, with your eyes closed and your headphones on so loud. You always looked so angry and so sad, and my heart always broke for you. Because no matter how shit my mum was, I knew she cared. And she’s always fought for me. I’m sorry you had the life you did. I’m sorry your parents never tried. But hiding away in that shitty little apartment and shutting out the world just keeps you locked in your loneliness.’

  Tyler’s expression remained blank, and I continued, feeling like there was nothing left to lose. ‘Except you never wanted to be truly alone. So you kept me with you by making me feel unworthy. By convincing me that you were the only person who could ever love me. But that didn’t make me love you back, Tyler. It just made us both lonely.’

  I stared into his pale blue eyes, and seeing my pain reflected, I reached for his hand.

  ‘You’re smart. And passionate about music. You have a great business mind. Do something with it. Get out of that damn apartment. Go places. Make friends. Meet someone who is totally extroverted. You’re not the sum of your shitty parents. Neither of us are.’

  I let go of his hand, and his fingers slipped from mine.

  ‘Meg …’ He said my name softer that time, and he stared at me with heartbroken eyes. ‘I don’t want to start again with someone new.’

  ‘You’ll be happier with someone else, Tyler. We both will.’

  I walked away from him, begging that he wouldn’t follow.

  And he didn’t.

  20

  Him

  The mid-afternoon sun beat against the living room windows. I sat on the couch, staring into space, clenching and unclenching my fists.

  It’d been four hours since Lillian accused me of being just like Dad, and four hours since I found out Lucy was Meg. I didn’t know which hurt more—what Lillian had said or discovering that Lucy … Meg … had lied to me.

  I’d been so consumed with anger I didn’t think to ask how Tyler had found out where I lived. She’d said she hadn’t given him my address, and the look on her face seemed so damn convincing. But I couldn’t be sure now if she’d been telling the truth or not.

  Her bedroom door was closed. I couldn’t bring myself to go in there. Everything hurt. My head. My muscles. My fucking heart.

  Someone tapped against the front door, and my stomach tensed into a hard knot, hoping it was her and hoping it wasn’t her at the same time.

  On opening the door, my anger flared into wildfire all over again. ‘What the fuck do you want?’

  Tyler didn’t have the usual kink in his smile, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to smash him to the ground.

  ‘I need to speak to her.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Who the hell do you think? Meg.’

  Meg. It still sounded so strange.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. ‘She isn’t here.’

  ‘Don’t play dumb with me. I know she’s here.’

  My face burned from the anger raging through me, and I felt my control slipping away. Somehow, I kept from exploding at him.

  ‘And how do you know she’s here?’

  He pulled out his phone, waving it in the air, and I realized what he’d done.

  That sly, fucking asshole!

  Panic suddenly wrapped its claws around me. If she wasn’t with him, then she was alone. And she had nowhere to go.

  ‘When was the last time you saw her?’ I snapped.

  ‘Why’d you wanna know?’

  Ramming my chest into his, I repeated the question, baring my teeth like a savage animal. ‘When. Did. You. Last. See. Her?’

  He didn’t flinch, but I caught the fear that flickered in his eyes. ‘Hours ago. When we left here.’

  Fuck.

  Stepping back, I let him go, and my mind raced through every possibility—the worst possibilities.

  On catching the panic in my expression, he laughed. ‘You actually think you care about her. You have no fucking idea who she is. Don’t kid yourself.’

  Adrenaline surged through me—shooting from my toes up my spine and to my head—and I balled my fists.

  ‘Did you do what I said?’ he continued. ‘Did you pull her hair when you fucked her?’

  My nostrils flared, and I clenched my fists so hard my fingernails dug into my palms. I glared at him, begging for his sake that he stop.

  But he didn’t.

  He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘Just remember … I fucked her first.’

  Blood pounded in my ears. I lunged at him, clutching the neck of his t-shirt into my fists, yanking his face to mine. I stared him down, nose to nose, my breath burning like fire from my mouth.

  ‘Listen to me, you piece of fucking scum! You ever talk to her or about her again, I swear to fucking God I’ll leave you unrecognizable. Do you hear me?’

  He glared at me with wide eyes, his body trembling beneath him. I yanked him closer, and his forehead smashed against mine. ‘I said—do you hear me?’

  His lip twitched, and he nodded so subtly I could have missed it. Flinging him backward, I let go of his tee, and he stumbled down the steps. My fists remained clenched, ready, aching to collide with his face. But Tyler walked away.

  Hurrying inside, I swung her bedroom door open. Her clothes sat perfectly folded on the bed, which was immaculately made, and her toiletries stood in a neat line on the bathroom vanity. At the edge of the bed, beside her clothes, was her phone, drawing pad and pencils.

  She’d taken nothing with her.

  Panic took me hostage. There was no way to get a hold of her, no way to know where she was. I dropped onto the bed and spotted a note resting on top of her drawing pad, written in small, neat handwriting.

  I was going to tell you, Billy. I was just waiting until I found the courage to become Meg again. I hope you can believe that.

  I don’t want to imagine what Lillian thinks of me. She is a rare gem, and I hope she finds someone who realizes how precious she is.

  As for you, I was never seen until I met you. I’d never wanted to be seen until I met you. I felt more like myself as Lucy than I had in an entire lifetime of being Meg.

  I’m sorry.

  I clutched the note. My heart pounded, partly in fear for her, but mostly in regret. Somehow, I needed to find her, and leaping to my feet, I scurried into the kitchen to fetch my car keys.

  Lillian pulled into the driveway just as I ran out the front door. She climbed out of her car and took hesitant steps toward me, her expression heavy with guilt.

  ‘You’re nothing like Dad, Billy. Nothing at all. And I’m so sorry I said that.’

  I sighed with relief, and closing the gap between us, I wrapped her in a tight hug. ‘I never used her, Lil.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘I care about her. A lot.’

  She must have felt the tension simmering inside me because she pulled away, worry lines creasing her forehead.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

  ‘She found out who she is. Her
name is Meg.’

  Lillian’s eyes grew round. ‘How? When? What’s happened?’

  ‘She’s gone. I don’t know where she is. I can’t explain the full story now, but she needs help. I know you know what’s wrong with her. Please, tell me. Please.’

  Lillian bit her bottom lip, a mixture of hesitation and worry creasing her expression. ‘It’s her heart. The doctors detected a murmur, but that could mean anything. It could be nothing. They were waiting for her to become more alert before running full tests, but she left the hospital before that happened.’

  My mouth dried.

  Her heart.

  Tears welled in Lillian’s eyes. ‘I’ve been trying, Billy. But she hasn’t gone to any of the appointments I’ve made for her. Not with the neurologist or the occupational therapist. Not the cardiologist.’

  Her chest hitched, and I saw the same guilt and fear in her eyes she had every time she spoke about Jade.

  ‘I’ve failed again. I couldn’t get her the help she needed, and now … someone else is slipping away because of me.’

  I cupped her shoulders firmly, forcing her to look at me. ‘Listen to me, Lillian. None of this is your fault. Not what happened with Jade. Not this.’

  She inhaled a shaky breath as tears rolled down her cheeks, her voice breaking into a heart-wrenching whisper. ‘I can’t lose someone else, Billy.’

  I swallowed hard. ‘I’m going to find her. I was about to leave when you got here.’

  A glimmer of hope flashed across her face. ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘The city.’

  It was a long shot, but it was all I had.

  The Monday afternoon traffic made the drive into the city feel like an eternity, and I clutched the steering wheel so hard, my skin hurt. I’d told Lillian that I’d find her. That was probably the biggest lie I’d ever told.

  I parked in an underground garage and walked into the city streets, hope and fear tightening my lungs with every step toward Railway Square.

  If she wasn’t there, I had no idea where else to look.

  I stopped at the entrance to the square and inhaled a deep breath, preparing myself for nothing. But I found her sitting on a step, staring into space, her hands tucked in her lap.