Page 13

S hakily, Lily scrutinized her reflection.

Her face was pale and her mascara smudged. She rinsed her hands and fixed her makeup, trying like hell not to lose her shit.

After all the problems she and Blake were having and now this? Lily honestly didn’t know what the hell to do.

He had lied .

And it hadn’t been a small lie.

This one was huge.

She would give him a chance to explain because she was curious to see how the hell he was going to justify this.

Maybe she should confront him at the table?

She tossed that idea out. She didn’t want Max or Jen privy to her and Blake’s blowout.

Because this was going to be a doozy.

Maybe Blake had a legitimate reason?

She washed her hands and snatched up a paper towel before walking out of the restroom.

In the hallway, she found Maxwell Deckman waiting for her.

Behind Max stood Blake, but Max was so big that Blake disappeared behind the soldier’s frame.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed, keeping her eyes on Max.

If she looked at Blake right now, she was going to slap him.

“I’m your bodyguard,” Max softly reminded her.

Bodyguard…that was right, Max was only her bodyguard. Had he followed her from her apartment? Was that the reason he had been here today?

The man’s storm-colored eyes were sympathetic, but she didn’t need nor want sympathy at the moment and most of all from him!

She needed her own strength and she squared her shoulders and shot Blake a death glare.

“What?” she asked aggressively to her husband.

“I…just came to walk you back to the table,” Blake said, sounding lame.

Lily lifted her brows at both men and then marched past them and down the hallway.

She decided right then and there to compartmentalize this bullshit and finish her food. Her friends didn’t need to be pulled into her drama.

Tugging her cell phone from her purse, Lily sent a text to Sara.

When she reached the table, she found her plate of lasagna had already been delivered. She felt too sick to her stomach to eat.

The secrets were piling up, and her and Blake’s problems were only escalating.

Not to mention, having Max and Blake in the same vicinity was stretching her nerves to the breaking point.

Jennifer was not in her seat and Lily spotted the woman out front smoking a cigarette, huddled in a thick winter coat, gloves, and boots.

When Lily slid back into her chair, Sara grabbed her arm.

“Of course, you can stay with me,” Sara whispered close to her ear before tossing an icy stare at the window and Jennifer, who took a long pull on her cigarette.

“Wow, that was some bullshit,” Sara went on when Lily didn’t speak. “Did you know about the kid…”

Sara’s whisper trailed off when Blake sat back down and Lily didn’t get the chance to do more than shake her head.

Blake looked like he had swallowed something sour. He looked devastated, white as a sheet, and very nervous.

Lily couldn’t help him.

This was his doing.

All she could do at the moment was concentrate on her plate of food. Poking at a wide flat noodle with her fork, she avoided looking at Blake or anywhere in Max’s direction.

“You haven’t been to game night in months,” Michelle said from across the table and Lily gave her friend a weak smile.

Michelle was the airhead of their group and never was one to pick up on things that others might, say like the tension between her and Blake. Instead, her friend was all about throwing parties and seeing who she could get to attend.

Game night was always held at Michelle and William’s place because Michelle didn’t trust anyone else to throw a decent party.

“I don’t think…” Lily began, but Blake smoothly cut in.

“We’d love to come. Wouldn’t we?” Blake turned to Lily after answering Michelle.

Blake’s face was filled with relief and Lily squinted at him. I’ll bet, anything to save yourself from getting your ass chewed out, she thought silently.

Lily felt put on the spot and she didn’t like it. On the other hand, she wanted to go to game night. She hadn’t been to one in a very long time. Not since her marriage to Blake.

That would be the perfect opportunity to hang out with her girlfriends and talk. She might even have a drink.

God knew she could use one.

“Alright, we’ll come,” Lily said. Her and Blake’s problems were not going to be resolved in the span of a few hours.

“Yay!” Michelle clapped her hands and William hugged his wife close with a smile.

“You just made her day,” William told Lily and Blake.

“You just made my year!” Michelle corrected and Sara laughed, squeezing Lily’s hand under the table.

Over an hour later, they made their way out of the Pink Door and down Post Alley.

Blake kept trying to put his hand on her back, but Lily evaded his touch.

Read the room, asshole, she thought and jogged down the outside stairs. Sara kept pace with her and a silent Chris was just behind them.

Bringing up the rear was Maxwell.

The man’s powerful stride was much like a jungle cat. Blake was once again lost behind Max’s much larger frame.

The rest of their party walked behind. They reached the main boulevard and all Lily could see was the parking garage ahead and she kept focused on the thought of getting in the car so she could tear Blake a new asshole.

Speaking of Blake, the man managed to squeeze through the crowd gathering at the side of the street and step up next to her as they stood on the curb waiting for the light to change.

It was a long light and the crowd grew thicker.

One second she was standing there and the next instant, a force knocked into her and Blake. Her husband cried out and stumbling to his knees.

Lily, unable to save herself, fell forward into the street and oncoming traffic.

It all happened in a blink of an eye.

Sara and Michelle screamed and others panicked.

Max did none of those things. He snatched Lily and spun them both around and had her back on the curb before the oncoming traffic could end her life.

It had been a close call.

Lily shook.

Max had saved her life.

“Lily!” Blake cried out, lunging to his feet and reaching for her.

She slapped his hands away.

“Was it your shoes?” Michelle asked Jennifer. “I saw you trip.”

“No! I didn’t trip,” Jennifer insisted. “I was pushed.”

“Who pushed you?” Sara snapped at Jennifer and then glared at Ryan, who was standing slightly behind his sister.

Ryan raised his hands and shook his head. “It wasn’t me.”

Maxwell slowly released her and Lily felt the loss of his touch so much that she wanted to cry.

The former soldier’s body was tense, his muscles corded.

“Stay still,” Max ordered them when the light finally changed. He shot a glance over the crowd, looking for any person who might stand out, but he found none. He gestured to the group to get moving before the light changed again. “Okay, let’s go.”

Everyone followed the crowd already halfway across the street. Lily’s legs were shaking, and her hands were tucked tightly into her pockets to keep them warm, but they still felt like ice chips and that had nothing to do with the weather.

Everything was coming at her at once.

It was a lot to take in.

Blake had a son.

Her ex-boyfriend, the love of her life, was her bodyguard.

And the icing on the cake of fuck ups was that someone had just tried to kill her.