“You’re going to be just fine,” Rose said and stroked a stray strand of hair from Violet’s face. “We need to start breakfast now, but we’ll come back after.”
I looked up at the clock. He would be down here in half an hour. My chest tightened at the thought of being around a table with him. I hated him so much it consumed me. Whenever anyone mentioned his name, I felt my blood boil. “Lily, just make sure you’re out here in twenty minutes, okay? We don’t want him to come in here looking for you,” Rose said and left us alone in the room.
“You gonna be okay?” Violet whispered.
“I’ll be fine,” I lied. “How are you feeling now?” I asked to shift the spotlight off me.
She shook her head and gasped in pain. “It hurts so much.”
“The painkiller will kick in soon.” I got her water and held the straw to her lips. I wanted to give her another pill but I knew I couldn’t yet—only when she really needed it.
“Is he really leaving me alone now?”
“I told you, yesterday was about the bloody stupid flowers! You know Rose convinced him that you were scared and just trying to protect us.” I looked down at the bed. “And that you didn’t mean to hurt him.” That part I hadn’t told her before.
“Didn’t mean to hurt him,” she repeated, her eyes widening in disbelief. “I wanted to kill him. I still do.” It was the loudest I had heard her speak in a long time. At least she had some fight left in her.
“Shh, they’ll hear you,” I hissed. “I know you do. I do too, but you can’t say that to anyone else. Promise me.” God, we had only just managed to get him to agree to let her live, there was no way he would agree again, especially if he knew the truth.
She looked away from me and stared up at the ceiling again. I didn’t know what else to say. She hadn’t promised, but she knew she couldn’t risk doing something so stupid again. Violet still wanted to do something to fight back. Perhaps when she had healed we could plan something together. Poppy wouldn’t stop us; I knew that now. Rose might, but she would be outnumbered.
“Lily,” Poppy called from the doorway.
My breathing sped up and my heart felt like it was going to explode. He’s coming. I wanted to stay and pretend I wasn’t well, but I didn’t want him to come looking for me and see Violet. Sure, he had said he would leave her alone, but I wasn’t going to take any chances before she was better.
I very slowly pushed myself off the bed and walked out. “I’ll be back soon,” I said and closed the bedroom door.
“Why don’t you just sit down now, Lily?” Poppy said and smiled too sweetly. She was trying too hard. She never tried too hard. I did what she said and prayed he wouldn’t speak to me. He would, though, of course.
The cellar door opened, and I froze. He walked down with a huge smile on his messed-up face. “Good morning, Flowers,” he said.
“Good morning,” we replied in unison. It was like reciting a line in a play now. We said it automatically, without even thinking about it, as if he’d shouted action.
He kissed Rose and Poppy on the cheek and turned to me. I gripped the sides of the chair and clenched my jaw as he leaned down to kiss me. His lips pressed against the side of my forehead and my stomach turned. Every time he touched me, I wanted to scream and run, but of course that was impossible. It was something I would only do if I ever reached the point where I lost all hope of escaping and just wanted to end it.
Rose had prepared a big breakfast with pancakes and fruit salad—and I couldn’t face eating any of it. When he kissed me, I could feel his skin on mine, his smell surrounding me, and his dark, beady eyes that burned into me. I managed as best as I could to feel that separate from Summer, to keep Lily and Summer as two different people. But it was hard.
I felt guilty, as if I were cheating on Lewis. I knew I wasn’t, but it still haunted me. What would his reaction be? Angry, hurt, and sick were the obvious ones. Betrayed too? No, he couldn’t feel that because I never wanted Clover and I never would. He took it. Lewis wouldn’t feel betrayed. Would he?
“So, what have you got planned today?” he asked loudly, breaking me out of my thoughts. We’re going to look after the girl whose ribs you rebroke yesterday, you sick bastard!
“We think some reading; we haven’t done much recently,” Rose replied and flashed me a warning look. I wanted to slap her, but I readjusted my hard expression, forcing myself to smile.
“I’ll have to remind myself to purchase you some new material soon.”
Rose nodded. “That would be great, Clover, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”