Page 42 of Liberating Lily

Although part of him thought that asshole was too fucking dumb to do something like this.

The question was, why? Why would her mother do this to her? To keep her compliant? It seemed extreme.

“It also explains why she’s so ill,” Michaela said. “She’s doing a lot better, but it could take her a few days to feel more like herself, and then she’ll need to build up her strength. I can admit her to a hospital if you can’t look after her that long.”

He shot Michaela a quelling look. “I’ll take care of her. No one else.”

The older woman smiled. “That’s what I thought you would say. I’ll stay another day to help, then, once she’s doing better I can take out the IV.”

The other woman left while he walked into the bedroom to stare down at Lily for a long moment.

What the hell had been going on in that house? And how long would she have survived? It seemed that no one had taken care of her.

He settled in to watch her.

Yes, there were important things he needed to do. Top of his list was finding out more about the doctor who wrote the prescription. And dealing with her mother.

But, above all, his priority was Lily.

It was always going to be Lily.

11

Lily felt like death warmed up.

And she desperately had to pee.

Opening her eyes, she glanced around. Urgh, the light felt like it was stabbing her eyeballs.

Her head was thumping so badly that it made her want to vomit. Or maybe that was the taste in her mouth.

Like garbage and rat pee.

Not that she knew what either of those things tasted like. But she imagined it was close to the taste in her mouth.

Had she been drinking? But she wasn’t supposed to drink on her medication. And she’d never been much of a drinker anyway.

If this was what she’d feel like after drinking, then she wasn’t likely to become one either. Clem seemed to be fond of a creamy liqueur drink. She was always going on about it. But Lily had never tried it. Too many empty calories Mother would say. And that she couldn’t afford to ingest anything extra despite the fact that she kept losing weight.

“Lily? Lily? Are you okay?”

Oh, great. Just to add to her personal hell, Harvey was going to see her like this. He always looked like a gorgeous, sexy god, and she was a total train wreck with rat-pee breath.

“Rat-pee breath? What do you mean by rat-pee breath?”

Oh my God, he’d learned how to read minds? When had that happened?

Harvey let out a small chuckle. She loved when he laughed. It wasn’t fake, like most of the people that she knew. It was a real laugh. Like, he was actually happy.

She wondered what that felt like.

“Happiness?” he asked. “Are you saying you don’t remember what happiness feels like, Lily?”

Damn it, she had to stop thinking. He was getting into her brain. That was a really annoying talent to have.

“Baby, I can’t read your brain. You’re saying everything out loud. Why don’t you remember what happiness feels like, Lily?”

“Because I don’t remember the last time I was ever happy. Have I ever been happy?”