Chapter 5 Max #2
“I just…” she opens her mouth to speak, and I hold my breath for whatever she is about to say, but then the blaring ring of my phone goes off between us.
I silence it without even looking at who it is, not caring at this moment, but it rings again and I see the wall going back up inside of her. “Just answer the phone, Max.”
I hold her stare long enough for the phone to stop ringing, but then once again it instantly starts again, and I answer it with a snarl. “What?” I snap down the line and Zack chuckles, no doubt forgetting what day it is.
“Who pissed in your coffee?” he asks, and I can hear the telltale clacking of his keyboard before he pauses, as if finally remembering where I am. “Is Lily okay?” His question is instant, and I know she can hear him because she rolls her eyes.
“She’s fine, what do you want?” I don’t mean to be so sharp with him, but he’s the last thing on my mind right now.
“I need you to come sign off on a protection detail, it’s urgent.” That’s code for ‘it’s political’, which means it is urgent, and probably someone who knows Zack considering they have gone straight to him instead of coming to me.
“I need at least an hour,” I tell him firmly, eyes still on Lily, knowing she hasn’t stepped foot in Zack’s office in over a year.
“Aren’t you round the corner?” Zack asks, and even I can hear the impatience in his tone, so I’m sure Lily can too, something we don’t hear often from him, so it really must be urgent.
“I need to take her home first,” I reply quietly, and I know he understands my meaning, but still he curses, and that’s when I feel it, a gentle touch of my thigh.
My eyes fly down to where Lily’s delicate fingers are now resting on my upper leg, looking so small against me that my mind sends wicked thoughts through me.
I’m transported back to a time where her fingers were wrapped around something else, to where her hand and mouth worked in tandem, to where she begged and pleaded for more and I grind my jaw, as I flick my stare back up to her in question.
“It’s fine, we can go.” The words are said so quietly I almost miss them, especially when her face is saying the complete opposite.
“I’ll be there soon,” I fire back at Zack, ending the call before he can say another word. “Are you sure?”
She nods. “Yeah, apparently I can’t keep drowning in my self pity.” Her words are laced in sarcasm, but still I hear the shake in her voice, and I force myself to smile.
“If you’re gonna start listening to me, I can stop paying for therapy and we can do something more fun with our Wednesday mornings,” I joke, and I swear a smile tugs on the corner of her mouth before she shakes her head.
“Just drive, Foster.” It’s only three words, but for the first time in twelve months I feel like I have won something.
Fifteen minutes later we are in the elevator, heading up to the top floor of Royton Technology.
I used my ID card to ensure we bypass all the other floors to minimize the amount of people we can run into, but that doesn’t extend to when we get off.
The office is buzzing with people, as it always is at this time of day, or any time really, and I feel Lily stiffen, as I cup her elbow and guide her toward Zack’s office.
When we push inside, Zack greets me with a smile before his eyes widen in surprise at the sight of his sister. “Hi sweetheart, I wasn’t expecting you.” He’s off his chair and round his desk before she can respond, taking her from me and pulling her into a tight hug. “It’s good to see you.”
“You see me every night,” she replies, sounding so much like her old self, that Zack and I can’t help but share a look.
“Yes, well, maybe it’s good to see you sober,” he grumbles, and she rolls her eyes, pushing past him to take a seat on one of the chairs in front of his desk, as Zack turns to me. “Mayor Kersley is in the boardroom with his security detail, I left Seb and Harry in there to go over our protocol.”
I can’t help but smile at the use of the word our, Zack has his own company but still treats Infinite Security like it’s his baby, after giving me the money to set it up. He’s had my back since the day we met, and I’m expected to not want him?
“Have you read the contract?” I ask, moving toward his desk, and he nods.
“It’s our standard one mostly, I’ve highlighted the extra stuff he requested, it’s nothing crazy, just need you to sign off on it all.”
I skim the pages as he talks, knowing he will have triple checked everything and probably had Lincoln check it too.
He’s right, all of it appears normal, and I don’t hesitate in flicking to the last page and scrawling my signature across it.
I sign the other two copies Zack has printed too, one for the Mayor, one for us, and one for safekeeping, noting that all of them have already been signed by the other party.
“Is that everything?” I ask, flicking my stare between him and Lily, and I know he understands why I am anxious to get out of here.
Lily has only left the house in the last year to go to therapy.
We have all her food delivered, shop for her clothes online, and even hired a hairdresser and beautician to come to her apartment once a month.
It’s not ideal, especially when all we are doing is catering to her isolation and not pushing her, but today is a huge step, and I know her brother is as proud as I am.
Zack opens his mouth to respond, when his office door opens and we turn to find Asher.
“What’s the mayor doing here?” He asks by way of greeting, which is the norm for him.
Asher Donovan isn’t a man of many words, but he freezes the second he realizes his brother isn’t alone.
“Lily.” He says her name in complete shock, staring at her in surprise as the girl in question freezes.
Lily has avoided almost everyone since the days after her brother’s funeral, even after she found out Lincoln murdered his killer.
It didn’t matter to her because her twin was still dead.
Zack and I see her every day, she lets her parents visit her once a week, and I know Elle drops in a few times a month, but there are two people who she has avoided at all costs.
And now one of them is standing right here staring at her.
“I didn’t know you’d be here,” he adds quietly, looking between Zack and I, and I can see the pain in his stare.
I know he sees how grief-stricken she still looks, he recognizes the look in her eyes because it still haunts his own, but at least he allows himself some semblance of happiness with Lincoln.
Asher takes one step, no doubt to once again apologize, but Lily shoots to her feet. “Excuse me,” she rushes out, not forgetting her manners, before she dashes toward the door and disappears from sight.
Both brothers share a look, as they decide who should go after her, but I beat them to it. “I’ve got her,” I tell them, leaving no room for argument as I quickly follow after her, and it isn’t hard to figure out where she has gone.
Not when everyone in the office is staring after her.
I burst into the women’s bathroom to find her furiously washing her hands, as someone stares at her in shocked confusion.
“Get the fuck out.” My voice booms, startling the woman, but she obeys instantly, fleeing the confines of the restroom and leaving Lily and I alone.
“Lils,” I whisper softly, but my words only make her scrub harder.
“I can’t get it off, Max, no matter how hard I try.” She’s shaking her head as she stares at her hands, pouring more soap onto them and rubbing at them roughly.
“Get what off?” I ask, walking toward her slowly.
“His blood.” Her voice cracks when she says those two words, and it’s only then I understand what she means. I swallow thickly, as I put my arms around her and grip her hands in mine, ignoring how good it feels to have her in my hold. “No, stop, please, I need to wash it off.”
“Lily, they’re clean now, it’s okay, princess, I got you.” I gently rinse the soap from her hands, hating the way they tremble beneath my touch, before I grab some paper towels and dry them off.
The whole time gentle sobs wrack her chest, and it’s as if all the hard work we have done the last few months has been ripped away at just the sight of Asher.
Which tells me that keeping her away from them any longer is only going to hurt her even more in the long run, but I don’t tell her that.
Instead, I turn her in my hold and grip her chin in my hand.
“You were Logan’s favorite person, you know that, right?
” I say softly, swiping the tears from her cheeks.
“He was so fucking proud of you, and would tell anyone who would listen how beautiful and amazing you are, and right now I really need you to hang on to that,” I plead, holding her stare captive on my own.
We’re so close that I can feel the rapid beat of her heart against my arm, and smell the sweet scent of her perfume as it lingers in the air between us.
“Yeah, I’m not sure he would be saying that if he could see me now,” she whispers, tears still staining her face, and I can’t help but smile gently.
“Nah he would, because you’re still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” I tell her truthfully, and she blinks away some of her tears in a daze.
She licks her lips and my eyes track the movement before I can stop myself, still able to feel the imprint of them against my own like it was yesterday, and I swallow thickly.
“Max,” she whispers, pulling my stare back to hers to find her still watching, waiting, but just as I open my mouth to say something, there is a firm knock on the door.
“Lils, you in there?” Zack calls through the door, and whatever was happening between us disappears into nothing, as she takes a sharp step back.
“Saved by the brother,” she mutters, before taking a deep breath and holding her head up high.
“Come on, we should get you home,” I reply, and she nods sharply, turning her back on me, which means I can readjust my half-hard cock before following after her.
These Roytons are going to be the death of me.