Page 66 of Liberating Lily

“I’ll think about it,” she said. “I don’t think I can do it right now.”

“No, but when you’re ready.”

He held her in his arms, rocking her back and forth. For the first time, Harvey was starting to wonder if his plan to keep her here was really the wisest one. After all, her mother had forced her into an engagement she didn’t want, with a man she didn’t want.

Was forcing her to stay here the smartest idea? Was he going to make things worse?

But what else could he do? Lily was meant to be his. He knew that deep down inside him.

“You always take care of me, don’t you?” she said.

“That’s all I want to do, Mo bhreáthracht. I just want to look after you.”

He waited for her to ask him to let her go. And he worried about what his answer might be, because, for the first time, he thought it might be yes.

With conditions, of course.

But she didn’t say anything like that, and relief filled him, because he didn’t want to have to make that decision right now.

You know what the decision has to be, though. You have to choose her mental health over your own needs, or you’re no better than her mother.

Fuck. He hated being self-aware.

Things would be so much easier if he could just take what he wanted, if people would just obey him without question.

“Did I wake you?” she asked.

“I hadn’t gone to bed yet. Or I would have been in here with you.”

She tensed and leaned back to look up at him. “You’ve been sleeping in here with me?”

“Of course, this is my bedroom. And I didn’t want to be too far away from you. Especially when you’ve been sick. Don’t worry, I haven’t been sleeping in the bed with you. I figured you wouldn’t be ready for that, and I didn’t want you to wake up in a fright.”

“Where have you been sleeping?” she asked, looking confused.

Hmm. She might not like what he was about to say. But he had decided that he was never going to lie to her.

There might be some things he couldn’t tell her, but he wasn’t going to lie.

Harvey had been sleeping in here?

How had she not known that he was in the room with her? Well, she had been out of it for a lot of the time.

Detoxing.

“On the floor.”

Oh no, now she felt terrible. He’d been sleeping on the floor while she slept in his bed?

“You shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor!” she cried.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because that can’t be good for you. You’ll hurt your back.”

“Why? Because I’m so old?”

“I have a feeling that agreeing with you would be the wrong answer but at the same time it’s also the right answer,” she said.