Lilly stilled and looked over at her mom. “What? Why?” Lilly’s hands shook, but she forced herself to relax.
Her mom shrugged, but smiled. “I don’t know. I have been thinking about him lately, and it’s been forever since the three of us have been at the same table.” Her mom moved up behind her and set her medicine on the counter.
“Mom, it’s been a long time, and you know he and Roan don’t really talk anymore.” Lilly’s nerves were working overtime in her. She hadn’t told anyone that she had slept with Court, not even her best friend at the time. The fear that Alexandria would have opened her mouth by accident, or when she was trashed, had Lilly too fearful that it would get back to Roan and Court. Her brother would have gotten pissed. By that time Court had already distanced himself, and she hadn’t wanted to make it any worse.
“Honey, if it’ll make you uncomfortable then I won’t. It was just a thought.”
Lilly wiped her suddenly now sweaty hands on jeans and shook her head. “What do you mean? I’m fine. Invite whoever you want.”
“Lilly, you’re starting to sweat. Are you sure everything is okay?”
“Mom, I’m fine. Just nervous because we have a clinical tonight, and they are having a bunch of volunteers come in to be our human pincushions.”
Her mother was watching her very intently, and Lilly knew that she didn’t believe her, but she didn’t press her.
“Well, it was just a thought. But it is short notice, so maybe I’ll ask him another time.” Diera put a piece of hair behind Lilly’s ear and smiled. “You’ll be home by six tonight?”
“I’m not sure.” Lilly took a deep breath and felt herself calm. She didn’t know why she had freaked out so bad at the thought of Court eating dinner with them. He had practically been a fourth family member while they had been growing up together. “I hope, but it depends on how slow everyone is with their blood draws, and if anyone passes out.” She attempted some humor to ease her frantic emotions inside of her, but she just sounded like a high-pitched freak. Her mom wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I asked Roan to be my human pincushion, but he is a pussy.”
“Lilly, I don’t want to hear you say things like that.” Her mom was smiling though, so although she tried to sound stern, it didn’t quite reach the mark. Her mom rubbed her back and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. “Okay, well call me when you know. If you can’t make it maybe we will reschedule.”
Lilly turned to face her mom. “No, don’t cancel, especially if Roan actually wants to bring a girl here. I’ll try and make it, okay?”
Diera nodded and smiled.
“You look tired.”
“I am, honey.”
She took her mom’s hand and led her into the living room.
“Lilly, I can manage myself.”
“Mom, just let me help you. Here.” She gently pushed her on the couch and turned the TV on to one of those sappy love stories about the guy falling in love with the geeky girl.
“You’re such a good girl, Lilly.”
She gave her mom one of the throws and looked down at her. Today might be a good day, but it was definitely taking its toll on her mom. The bags under her eyes seemed overly dark against her pale skin, and her blue eyes looked big and sunken in.
“Well, I have some errands to run, and then I have to head right to class, but I’ll call you before I go in, okay?” She leaned down and kissed her mom before heading to her room and grabbing her bag. On her way out the front door she took her cell out of her bag and sent a quick text to Roan.
Mom’s excited for you to bring the new grl to dinner ;)
His reply text was almost instant.
Roan: She’s just a friend
Lily didn’t return the text, but she did grin. Roan never had girls that were just “friends”, so that meant this one was pretty special to him. The sound of engines roaring had Lilly’s heart instantly pounding fast and hard. Their house wasn’t too far from the center of town, so although she could still hear the motorcycles she couldn’t see them. But she didn’t need to see them to know that amongst all those Harleys would be Court.
Court.
That damn beautiful male that she still compared all other guys to. In the last five years he had changed considerably. He no longer worked at the salvage yard, had joined The Grizzly MC—those bad, mean, and tough bikers—and was a hell of a lot colder and bigger than she ever remembered. She didn’t know if something had happened in the time they hadn’t spoken, or the fact that he was now in a biker gang, but the few times they had locked gazes she hadn’t seen the guy she had known her whole life. It was strange, surreal even, but she still harbored these feelings for him. Feelings that weren’t just of a sexual nature, but of a closeness that spoke of years of friendship. One night had ruined all that, and ruined the relationship her brother had with Court.
They hardly talked, and although life and priorities, and the fact they were all grown adults now were a good enough cause for the fact that distance had come between them; but Lilly knew what it really was about. Court probably felt guilt and anger for sleeping with his best friend’s sister, and she had all but pushed him to that conclusion.
She sighed. This had been the longest five years of her life. With the combination of her mom’s health declining over the years, the stress of life in general, and losing a guy that had been just as much a part of their family as if he were blood related, Lilly just wanted to climb in bed and sleep until everything was back to the way it was. She had known sleeping with him would change things, but she had never thought it would have changed it to the point they didn’t even speak anymore, and their extent of communication was stilted looks and awkward run-ins. Not that they had had that much communication before, seeing as she was so much younger than Court and Roan, but still, it just sucked now. But after their little romp at the party, well, she felt like she had never really been in Court’s life at all. And of course it had all been her fault because she thought sleeping with Court had been a really good idea.
Well, lesson learned for sure.
Chapter Three
Lilly pushed open the door of River Run Career Center and waved at a few of her classmates. It was going on eight, longer than she thought she would still be at class, but they had a surge of volunteers come in to get their blood drawn. The phlebotomist course she was taking was nearing its end and although she had never seen herself going into the medical field, after her mom’s diagnoses, going through remission, and then the cancer coming back, Lilly decided she wanted to help more people. Sure, drawing blood wasn’t surgery or anything, but it was still a step. Besides, she didn’t have a lot of extra time and if she wanted to take a nursing course she wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with her mother as she liked; and that wasn’t what she wanted to do right now.
She had called her mom on a break and told her she wouldn’t be able to make it for dinner, which was a shame as Lilly wanted to meet Roan’s friend that just happened to be a girl. The sun had already set, and she made her way away from the front doors of the center and to the parking lot. There were lights that illuminated the lot, but they were a muted yellow and spaced out too much for Lilly’s comfort. But the sound of her classmates behind her as they, too, made their way to their cars eased her uneasiness. She unlocked the door and climbed in, and once in the driver’s seat she tossed her bag beside her and locked the door. Her car was an older model, and although it got her to where she needed to go, Lilly knew the bitch would just one day not start. But, thank God, when she put the key in the ignition and cranked the engine it flared to life.
Although River Run wasn’t a horrible town or overly dangerous, she did know from hearing Roan and Court talk years ago that there were a lot of girls that sold themselves behind the one and only strip club in town. Not that women prostituting themselves was what had Lilly scared, but the shady guys that came in from other parts of the state tended to freak her out, and also made her feel like River Run wasn’t safe at al
l.
Her phone buzzed with an incoming text. The reception was spotty at best out here, but was better inside. Getting her phone out, she saw it was from her mom telling her to drive safe, but of course she couldn’t reply since all of her bars for her coverage decided to disappear. Headlights flashed in front of her, and she squinted her eyes from the glare. Car after car left until she was the only one still in the parking lot.
She pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road that ran through River Run. The side of town she was on was quieter and away from the square, which was where the bars and strip club were located. That suited Lilly fine but she rarely stayed at class late enough that it was dark, and being out in the middle of nowhere did tend to unnerve her. She headed toward the main part of town which was a necessary evil in order to get back to Steel Corner. A clicking sound had her turning the radio off and leaning forward to listen to where it was coming from.
“Shit.” The clicking was coming from her engine, and she knew from hanging around Roan and Court that a sound like that was most definitely not a good thing. She pulled over and cut the engine. It was dark, she was out in the middle of nowhere, and the creepiness of her surroundings sure as shit wasn’t comforting. Lilly looked in her review mirror, just barely saw the career center, and cursed. No way in hell was she going to walk that in the dark. She made sure her doors were locked and grabbed her phone again.
And still no bars. “You bastard piece of shit phone.” Of course she had to be the last car that left the parking lot. But she knew the instructors stayed later than the students, and it looked like she would be waiting until she saw possibly one of them driving down the road. Problem was she didn’t know how long that would be. Lilly rested her head on the back of the seat and cursed her shitty luck. She was tired, her feet hurt, and she just wanted to get home. But of course nothing ever worked out the way it was supposed to.
It had been thirty minutes, half a damn hour that she had been sitting on the side of the damn road, and although normally that wouldn’t have been any time at all, it felt like a lifetime. She had constantly checked her phone for a signal, and a few times those bars had flashed, but they had disappeared just as quickly. Before she got comfortable again headlights flashed in front of her, and she lifted her arm to shield her eyes. Her hazards were on, and fortunately the car slowed and pulled up in front of her. The headlights from the vehicle in front of her made it impossible for her to see who was driving, but she could see that it was a truck.
Lilly stayed in the car with the doors locked, but rolled down her window a crack. She was glad to see someone, but she wasn’t stupid. The sound of a car door opening and then slamming shut, and then of boots crunching on the gravel suddenly had her heart racing. But when a big burly man with a trimmed beard and wearing a ball cap pulled low over his forehead, stepped beside her driver’s side door and leaned down, the instinct to flee was strong inside of her.
“You need a tow?” His voice was pitched low, and with him wearing that hat and the shadows around them, it made seeing his face all the harder. “Your car just up and die?”
“Um, yeah. I think it’s my engine. I heard a clicking.”
He nodded and straightened, and even though he wore a loose fitting flannel shirt and she could only see his upper body, she could tell he was powerfully built. But her heart was still beating fast, and her throat had gone dry. She didn’t know why she was having this reaction, aside from the fact her surroundings creeped her out. He was three times as big as she was, but it wasn’t the situation. It was him.
“Pop the hood, and I’ll check out what’s going on.”
She did as he asked, and waited for several minutes as he did whatever he was doing under her hood. Finally he closed the lid, produced a rag from his back pocket, and cleaned his hands off.
“Without any tools I can’t say for sure, but I got a pretty good guess that your engine is toast.”
She nodded, because she had figured as much. “Yeah, that’s what my boyfriend said, too.” Lilly knew that she had to act strong, because a predator could smell weakness like spilled blood. Telling him she had a boyfriend would, she hoped, make him back off—if he had any intentions of starting anything. Of course he might be a nice guy, and it was just her own nervousness that was getting the better of her. But even as she thought that she knew it wasn’t just her nerves. The guy just stared at her for several seconds after she said that, and she curled her hands around the steering wheel tighter to stop them from suddenly shaking.
“Your boyfriend, huh?” She nodded and licked her lips. “He a mechanic? I’ve never seen you around before.”
“Yeah, I actually called him a while ago, and he should be here any minute. Thanks for looking at the engine though.” She smiled, but he showed no emotion.
“You have reception out here?” His question chilled her, and she felt a cold sweat start to move along her spine. He placed a hand on the door of her car. “Because no one ever gets reception on this road.” He grinned, and something inside of her screamed that this was a very, very bad situation that she was in.
“Yeah, I made the call a long time ago. Seriously, he should be here any minute.” Her voice was shaky, and she kept looking in her rearview mirror and praying a set of headlight would make an appearance.
“I can take you into town and you can have your boyfriend meet you there? You can call him on the way from your phone.” He stared right into her eyes, not showing a grin or any other kind of expression. It was freaky as hell. “In fact, I almost insist on taking you into town. It isn’t safe for a young woman to be out here all alone in the middle of the night.”
It was hardly the middle of the night, and she saw the way he kept glancing up and down the road, as if he were expecting a car to pass by.
“No, no, that’s okay. He really will be here soon.” She was grasping for straws now, praying that he would just leave. He stood and wrapped the rag he had used to clean his hands on around his knuckles.
“No one really uses this back road much. Shame that career center decided to build so far out from town.” He looked down the road again, and her heart started hurting from how hard it was pounding. “Come on out and I’ll take you into town. We can talk and get to know each other.” He leaned down again and rested his wrapped hand on the doorframe. “I don’t get much personal time with pretty, decent girls like you. Only ones that hang around town that will give it up without complaint are the whores working out of the strip club.”
“N-No, thank you. My boyfriend will get worried if he comes here and I’m gone.” She heard him sigh heavily, and then he lowered his head and shook it a few times.
“No one is coming for you, and you don’t have a boyfriend, at least not one that is on his way.” She didn’t respond, didn’t move, and didn’t even breathe. “Now, you can come with me the easy way, we can have ourselves a good time, or you can fight me and I can take what I want. If you choose option two it won’t feel very good.”
She didn’t care if her damn engine blew up. She cranked the engine, but nothing happened. Lilly tried over and over again, but the low, deep chuckle had her heart pounding hard. She looked over at him, and he held up a sparkplug. He tossed it aside, and before she could even scream, he rammed his wrapped hand through the glass of her driver’s side window with so much force she felt the shards tear through the skin on the side of her face.
Lilly cried out and frantically tried to unstrap her belt, but her hands shook uncontrollably, her palms were sweaty, and her sudden torrent of tears made her vision blurry. The click of her seatbelt coming undone had her trying to move quickly to the other side of the car, but the man reached out and grabbed her neck, slamming her back against the seat. Lilly clawed at his hand as he tightened it and kept her stationary as he reached inside with his other hand and unlocked the door. And then everything after that was like a blur.
He wrenched her out of the seat and tossed her on the ground. The gravel beneath h
er dug into her palms as she braced herself, and she felt the burning sensation of her skin being torn off. Kicking her legs out, she was about to haul ass into the woods since that was right in front of her, but he wrapped a hand in her hair and yanked her backward. Stars danced in front of her vision as his forceful motions caused her head to connect with the pavement. A groan left her, and she clutched at her head.
“Little girl, we could have had a good time if you would have.” He yanked her up by the hair and she screamed out, but she was spun around so fast, and slammed into the side of her car so hard, that her scream became garbled from the grunt of her impact.
“Why are you doing this?” Her vision was still blurry, but she saw him lift his hand. Trying to brace herself for the hit that was inevitable was easier said than done. Lilly kicked her legs out, but connected with his shin when he anticipated the move and blocked her. He brought his fist across her temple, and pain slammed into her with so much force nausea swirled inside of her, and bile rose up in her throat. She threw up, not able to stop herself as the pain controlled every part of her. Rolling onto her back cause a cry of pain to leave her, and her head throbbed like someone was taking a jackhammer to it.
“Come on.” He reached for her again, but she brought up all of her strength and lifted her leg right for his crotch. A spark of pleasure left her when she connected with his dick and a grunt of pain came from him. But she didn’t wait to watch him fall to his knees. Lilly tried to stand, but her head hurt so badly and she started to feel her eyes swelling shut. Crawling on her hands and knees toward the road, she swore she heard something rumble, but the sound of her pulse filled her ears and it was hard to tell if it was real or in her head. “You fucking cunt.” He grabbed her leg, and she kicked out again, felt her foot connect with his head, but the satisfaction was short-lived because he yanked her back, flipped her on her back, and started going for his belt.
Nothin' But Trouble Page 3
