Chapter 4
Four
“ J ules, do you want to go sit in the living room for a bit?” Lily gently nudged the next day.
“No. I’m tired. Just let me be.” She’d been sleeping nearly all day, and while it wasn’t unexpected, it was still hard to see.
“I’ll just be in the kitchen with Gia and Gunner. I’ll come check on you in a bit, okay?”
Juliette didn’t answer, already fast asleep. The moments of lucidity were lessening. Earlier that morning, Jules had thought Lily was her mother, coming in to get her ready for school.
Tears welled in her eyes as she thought about having to say goodbye. She pressed her back to the hallway wall and let them fall.
“What’s wrong?” The gruff voice had her nearly jumping out of her skin. She quickly wiped away the tears and walked away from the bedrooms.
“Lily, would you stop, please? Tell me why you were crying.”
“It’s nothing. Honestly, I tear up over any little thing thanks to Sprout.” Lord, she was about to lose her mind. When she wasn’t checking in with Juliette, Gunner had been hovering in her shadow and she was about to snap. Could she not even have a two-minute mini breakdown in peace?
“It’s not nothing.”
Gunner continued to stare at her, and her whole body flushed under the scrutiny. “I’m a million months pregnant, Gunner. Emotional is my middle name right now. That’s it.”
“That’s why you look like you’re in pain?” His words were a challenge, but she wasn’t about to give away anything.
“My heart hurts for you guys. And for Jules.”
“You’ve been wincing all day. I don’t think that’s from your emotions.”
“She’s just giving me a hard time lately.” Lily patted her bump for added effect. “Probably getting sick of her cramped accommodations. I’m fine though, I promise.”
He stopped moving, eyes growing wide as they dropped to her belly and then back up to her face.
“You’re having a little girl?”
She smiled at the softness in his voice as he asked the question.
“Yes. This big basketball under my shirt is actually a baby girl, and that’s really hard for me to believe. All the old wives’ tales said she’d be a boy.”
Lily absentmindedly rolled up her sleeves and reached for the medicine on the kitchen counter.
“What is that?” Gunner growled as he grasped Lily’s arm.
“What? Oh, that’s nothing.” Hell, this was the last thing she needed. She tried to roll her sleeve down, but he was already examining her skin closely.
“Lil, are those fingerprints? That fucker bruised your skin. He’s dead, Lily.” She flinched away from him, fearing what his anger would turn into if she didn’t stop him from hearing the truth .
“Who the hell are you talking about?”
“Your fiance. Gia told me?—”
“I don’t know what Gia told you, but he didn’t. I just had an accident. Honestly, it’s fine.” When he didn’t let go, she whispered, “Please let me go.”
His hand dropped off her arm immediately.
“I need to finish getting your mom’s medication ready for this afternoon and then I’ll start working on dinner for you guys.” Lily desperately wanted to get the subject off of her, but the entire time she moved around the kitchen, she felt Gunner’s disapproving gaze on her. Had she covered the yellowing bruises on her neck with enough makeup? Would he sense that the old bruises on her hips and back were why she was walking gingerly all day?
“Do I look fucking stupid to you?”
“What?”
“You want me to believe you just had a little accident that resulted in a hand-shaped bruise encircling your arm?”
“I…I don’t think you’re stupid. I mean, academics were never your strong suit, but with some tutoring, you did fine.” The joke landed flat, and she wanted to melt into the floor. Never mind him and his intrusive questions. She had to talk with Gia, about the apartments and her plan to leave James. And she clearly needed to remind her best friend that their conversations need to stay between them.
“You’re going to leave him. Today.” Lily nearly shrieked when she turned and he was just a few inches away from her.
“No. No, I’m not. I can’t.”
“Lily. You aren’t safe. He’s put his hands on you, which is disgusting all on its own, but you’re nine months pregnant. What if he really hurt you? Hurt the baby?”
He was right. Lily needed to leave, and as long as Gunner didn’t fire her for a few more days, she’d have enough money to.
“I have a plan, Gunner, so please stop worrying.”
“To leave? He doesn’t deserve you for one more minute, Lil. Drinking all your money away. Does he even work?”
“Gunner, leave it alone.” Jesus, Gia really didn’t waste a minute filling him in. “I’m sure this comes as a surprise because I am so well loved in this house, but I don’t have anywhere to go, and he’s made it clear in the past that if I leave, he’ll take me to court for custody of the baby. You know his family has more money than sense. How can I fight that without a plan first?”
Gunner stared at her, and she could feel the tears gathering at the back of her eyes. No! She was being strong Lily, not soggy Lily. She wouldn’t let them fall. She wouldn’t let him see how desperate her situation had become.
When he didn’t speak after a minute of excruciating silence, Lily turned to the fridge and started pulling out the ingredients she’d need for the soup she wanted to make.
“It wasn’t always like this. James wasn’t always…the way he is. I have to have hope that he’ll find himself again.”
“You think he’s going to find the man you want him to be at the bottom of a bottle?”
“Why do you have to be like that, Gunner? I’m doing the best I can and you have no right to judge that.”
“I’m not judging you, Lil. I’m judging him. And his actions are unforgivable. He’s lucky I’m here talking to you and not out there beating his ass for what he’s put you through.”
“Gunner, you are not my personal defender. You’ve been back for one day. You have no idea what life has been like since you left.”
“You’ll stay here.” His words stopped her in her tracks.
“No. I can’t. Like I told Gia when she offered the same thing to me, it wouldn’t be professional. You hired me to do a job here; to take care of your mother. It wouldn’t be right for me to burden you even more with everything you have going on.”
“Just think about it, Lily, okay? Promise me you’ll think about it.”
He’d closed the distance between them, his height causing her to look straight on at his incredible jaw and lips before flicking her eyes up to meet his.
“Give me your phone.”
“What? Why?”
“So I can put my number in there.”
“Okay…” she reached into her back pocket, pulling out her cell before handing it over to him.
“I like the picture of you and G.”
Oh shit. She’d completely forgotten about her background.
“It’s from the night I found out about Sprout. I was so upset. I came running over here to talk things out with her and your mom. We took that picture together after they helped me realize that everything was going to be okay.”
Gunner said nothing as he typed his information into her phone. That was fine. She had said it more for herself than for him, anyway. Everything was going to be okay. Lily would make sure of it, because that’s what Sprout deserved.
“I’m speed-dial three.”
His voice pulled her back, and she wanted to laugh as what he said registered in her mind. Of course he had.
“You just assigned yourself to one of my shortcuts?”
“Yup. Use it, Lil. Anytime you need help, I’ll be there.”
“Gunner, I’m fine. I’m okay.”
“Promise me you’ll use it, Lil.”
She sighed, reaching for her phone. “Still such a stubborn man.”
“Still such a stubborn woman.”
“I guess some things really never change. ”
“Promise me.”
She placed her hands on her hips and sighed. “Fine. I promise.”
“Just go, Gunner,” Gia said as he checked his cell phone for the hundredth time during dinner. His mom was still asleep. Another meal made for her that she didn’t have the energy to eat. Gunner hadn’t been joking when he put his phone number in Lily’s cell. He didn’t want her to have to use it, but something in his gut said she would be calling. “You know you want to make sure she’s okay, and I’ve got things covered here with mom.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Go, now. I’m worried about her, too. I saw the bruises on her arm when she was helping me with mom earlier. I’m worried if he knows we know, or he finds out that we offered her a way out, he’ll make sure she can’t ever leave.”
Gunner grunted in agreement, grabbing his bowl and placing it in the sink before he took his keys and wallet off the table by the front door and left.
Twenty minutes later, Gunner was sitting outside Lily’s house. Gia had sent him a text with the address as soon as he’d left. He hadn’t even realized he didn’t know where to go; he just wanted to make sure she was still safe.
His eyes roamed over the property. Lily’s hunk of junk car and what looked like a brand new truck sat in the driveway. Gunner’s blood pressure went nuclear when he realized her piece of shit fiance spent fifty-thousand dollars on a fucking truck while Lily rode around in a car that was at least twenty years old and had rust eating away at it. Jesus. Gunner’s hand wiped down his face as he fought the urge to knock on the door and make James hurt for everything he’d done to Lily .
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
“Gunner Brooks!” The sound of someone calling his name and pounding near his head woke him up. Early morning sunlight was streaming into the cab of his truck. Fuck.
“Gunner, what the hell are you doing out here?” A very pissed off and tired looking Lily stood on the road with her hands pressing on her hips.
“Shit. Lil, I can explain.” He rubbed his hand over his face, noticing that James’s truck was no longer in their driveway. “I just?—”
“You just were sleeping outside my house? Because?”
“I needed to know you are safe.”
“Gunner.” Her eyes softened. “I’m fine. You gave me your number, and I promised to use it if I needed to. Nothing is going to happen. But if it makes you feel better, I promise, again, that I will call you if I need help.”
“Lil—”
“Nope. I don’t have time to listen to you be silly about a situation you know nothing about. Now, can you give me a ride to your mom’s? The check engine light is on in my car and I don’t have time to take it in to be looked at before I’m needed over there.”
“Why’s the light on?”
She sighed. “Can you give me a ride or not?”
“Back up.”
He wanted to laugh at the confused face Lily made, but she followed his instructions. Gunner opened his door and got out.
“Come on,” he held out his hand to her. “I’ll bring you over and then come look at your car.”
“Are you sure? I can just call a mechanic.”
He walked with her to the passenger side of the truck and helped her up into the seat.
“It’s not a problem. I’ll feel better knowing what’s going on with it, anyway. And if I can’t get it fixed, I’ll just come get you in the mornings.”
“You will NOT. This is a one time thing, because I’m helping you pay me back for being a creep and sitting outside my house all night. But I’m a grown woman and I can figure out my way to work.”
“Why do you have to be so stubborn, Lil?”
“Pot, meet kettle.” She pointed from him to herself and laughed.