Page 124 of The Fractured

“What? No, you have to come,” Kira pleaded, taking Lily’s hand.

“I won’t be great company. So go on. Have fun.” Lily paired her words with a shooing motion.

After a little back and forth of Seb trying to convince Lily to go, the two walked on. When Lily saw I was staying by her side, she nodded towards our friends.

“You can go too, if you want. I’ll get an Uber home from here.”

“Nah. I’m stickin’ with you.” I was trying to remain nonchalant as I watched her closely. “Besides, I think I did somethin’ to my shoulder.”

It was a small white lie, but there were only so many times I could ask what’s wrong and receive the same answer.

I paid more attention to her on the way back to mine. Mom wasn’t home but had left a note about going out with friends. I left her a note beneath hers letting her know I was staying at Lily’s.

We took the Cadillac back to the apartment. The entire drive was quiet. At one point, Lily dozed off, reiterating that her silence might’ve been from a simple lack of sleep.

So why couldn’t I convince myself of that?

I was tired too after last night, but something was off with her.

Lily poured us a glass of red wine and started dinner early, beef stroganoff on rice. She didn’t protest when I stepped in to help. She offered me another small smile, sipped her wine, and continued stirring the packet mix sauce into a pan.

Tired was now an understatement, but our stomachs growled hungrily.

She was deep in thought for most of the late afternoon, sometimes offering one-word answers to anything I said as we ate dinner. Half the shit I said was trivial. I wanted her to talk to me about literally anything just to keep the connection open — weather, the new shelves in the living room, her latest read…

She was slowly sinking behind a wall in her mind, disguised in smiles.

“Did you wanna talk about last night? About what went down with your parents?” I asked, dumping our dishes in the soapy water of the kitchen sink.

Lily was pouring us another glass of wine as she leaned against the counter. She shrugged and put the bottle down. “Not really.”

I scrubbed at the dishes and rinsed the suds off. “You’ve got that appointment with the psych on Monday, right?”

Lily hesitated, and I looked over my shoulder.

Another quick smile brushed over her features. “I almost forgot. I’ll talk to him about it then, but for now...” She pushed away from the counter and sauntered over to me, sliding her arms around my waist while I faced the sink. “I want to enjoy the weekend with you. Wedohave the apartment to ourselves right now. And the dishes can wait.”

I dried my hands on a towel and turned around, leaning on the lip of the counter while she pressed herself against me, smoothing her hands to my chest. “Yeah?”

She hummed, rising to her toes to kiss me.

The sound of a zipper pulled me out of the kiss as she opened my fly.

“What about your back?” I asked, trying not to let pleasure cloud my thoughts yet.

“It doesn’t hurt so much anymore.” She brought me back into the kiss, one hand clutching the front of my shirt while the other dipped into my pants.

She cupped me through my briefs, and I groaned. “Lily.”

Her teeth grazed my bottom lip. “Yes?”

It was a strange feeling to be stuck between wanting sex and the barrage of concern racing through my brain.

I held her jaw gently and reluctantly pulled away.

She removed her hand, allowing clarity to sink into my head.

“We should talk,” I breathed.