Did anyone suspect there was anything odd about him? Someone must have. As far as I knew, he lived alone. Did anyone find that weird? A fairly antisocial thirtysomething living alone? I prayed that someone would see through his perfect-gentleman act long enough to raise the police’s suspicions.
“This looks incredible,” he said and smiled at Rose. It was fucking scrambled eggs on toast! “So, I’m going shopping to get some new clothes for all of you.” Someone must find that strange, a grown man shopping for a load of women’s clothing alone. Although they would probably just think he was a cross-dresser. After all, that was easier to assume than what was really going on.
“That sounds nice, thank you,” Poppy responded. He looked over to me so I smiled, praying it looked like a smile and not a grimace.
“I hope you’ll like what I buy.”
Rose grinned. “I’m sure we all will.” Unlikely.
“Good. The clothes you have on at the minute are all fine for now, but if you would bag everything else up, I’ll take it when I return tonight. Please make dinner for eight o’clock tonight.”
We fell into a silence that they all seemed comfortable with. I forced a few bites of egg down and nibbled on a slice of toast. He looked at Rose differently than Poppy; there was more there. If he wasn’t so cold and dead inside, I would almost think he genuinely loved her. Why her? “Do you think you would be able to get us a new mascara too, please?” Rose asked.
I nearly laughed even though there was nothing funny about this situation.
When their plates were empty and I sat back, he stood up. “I’ll bring you a paper again today,” he said. Another paper. Please let Lewis be in it. Or anyone. I just wanted to see someone I love.
After kissing Rose and Poppy on the cheek, he took a step closer to me. My heart stopped and my breath caught in my throat. What’s he doing? He stopped right in front of me. I bit down on my tongue. He leaned down and pressed his lips to my cheek. I tensed every muscle in my body and fought against the growing urge to be sick. I wanted to scream. He pulled away after a second and walked away.
As soon as I was out of his sight, I sprinted to the bathroom. My skin was crawling, and I felt sick and dirty. Lifting the toilet seat, I threw up. My skin felt dirty, like I’d rubbed mud and crap on my cheek.
“Lily,” Poppy said and knelt beside me. “Everything’s going to be fine. Come on, calm down, you need to be strong.”
I slumped back against the wall and burst into tears. I just wanted to go home. “I-I don’t want him to touch me,” I said, stuttering my words. I had to get him off me.
“Shh,” she soothed and handed me tissue to wipe my eyes. “I don’t either. You just have to do what you have to do.” That was it? Just do what you have to do? Let him do whatever he wanted. “This is, hopefully, only temporary, until we’re found. Just hang in there, please.” “Hopefully” wasn’t good enough, but it wasn’t like we had anything but hope.
I nodded and pushed myself up. Pull yourself together. “Okay.” Poppy smiled and nodded her head toward the door, gesturing for me to follow her. Taking a deep breath and giving myself an internal pep talk, I stepped out of the bathroom. “Are we watching a movie?”
“Rose and I plan on reading, but you can watch a movie if you like.”
I shook my head. “I’ll read too.” Getting lost in another world sounded good—whether that was on the TV or in a book. I chose the thickest book on the bookshelf and sat down. When I was only a few chapters in, Rose put her book down and got up. She walked to the kitchen area and slipped on her rubber gloves.
I stopped reading to watch her. The place was clean—it actually made operating rooms look like landfills. Poppy didn’t clean as much as Rose did, and it didn’t seem like Rose was doing it just so Clover wouldn’t flip out either. Rose was as obsessed as him. She sprayed surface cleaner on the counter and worked the cloth in circular motions. The room quickly filled with a stronger scent of lemons. It’s not even dirty!
Glancing around the room, I saw that excessive cleaning wasn’t his only thing. The bookshelf between the bedroom and bathroom door stored books in alphabetical order by title. It was the same with the DVDs. Everything sitting on the shelves under the stairs looked the same distance apart. Did he go as far as measuring how far apart they needed to be? Surely no one was that OCD.
Turning my head, I looked back toward the kitchen and saw everything there was lined up and matched too. Freak! The three vases of flowers held almost-dead roses and poppies. My flowers were the only ones still standing tall. What was the point of keeping flowers when down here they would just die so quickly? What a waste of money.