Free Nothin' But Trouble by Jenika Snow

really.” She smiled up at him. She really was okay, but then again she
wasn’t. The image of the guy on that deserted stretch of road, over her, his
heavy weight suffocating her, played through her mind like a broken record. She
kept seeing that guy reaching for his belt to undo it, and feeling his hot
breath on her. She didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if
the bikers hadn’t shown up. It was one of those situations where she would have
never thought it would happen to her.
    “You’re
not, but everything will be okay now, baby.” He shut the door once she was
fully standing.
    Lilly
looked up at him. “Why do you keep calling me things like that?” Now was not
the time to really get into this, but then again she didn’t want to act like
Court’s behavior was normal. She hadn’t spoken to him in a long time, and then
this happened, and it was like he had put some kind of claim on her.
    “I
have.”
    She
knitted her brows, well, as well as she could with the swelling. His words
confused her. “What?”
    “I
have claimed you, Lilly, and I shouldn’t have walked away all those years ago.”
    He
said that too low for anyone else but her to hear, and she was rocked to the
core with shock by his words. Was he serious right now? It had been five years,
and because she was hurt something had changed in him and he felt like she was his ? Lilly was too tired to really
analyze it, but it seemed surreal, and she really couldn’t wrap her head around
it. Before she could say anything Court was leading her toward the front of the
house. Strangely enough Roan didn’t say anything about the way Court had his
arm wrapped around her waist, and had her pressed
tightly to the side of his body.
    They
walked up the front step, but the door was opened before they reached it. Her
mom stood in the doorway with her robe wrapped around her body tight enough
that it looked uncomfortable.
    “I
tried calling Roan, several times, but no one answered.” She was staring at
Roan, but when she looked at Court there was a moment of surprise on her face.
“Court?” But that surprise was short-lived when she turned her attention to
Lilly. Her mouth opened, her eyes widened, and tears immediately formed. “Oh my God.” Diera had her arms wrapped around Lilly seconds
later and was leading her into the house, silently crying. When the door shut
and everyone was in the living room, her mother finally spoke again. “What
happened?” She went to touch Lilly’s face, but just like her brother had done
she curled her fingers into her palm and stopped right before she made contact.
    Lilly
didn’t have the strength or energy to retell the story, but fortunately Roan
was already speaking and going over it with their mother, though his version
was condensed considerably. Lilly knew it was to spare her mother the
nightmarish details. The drugs that she was on were slowly starting to wear
off, and the throbbing in her face intensified. Her palms were cut up, but the
doctor had bandaged those up, as well as her ribs. Fortunately, they were only
bruised and not broken.
    “I
think I want to go to bed.” She interrupted her mother’s crying, feeling
horrible that she had to go through this as well as everything else in her
life, but right now Lilly just couldn’t think straight. Too much had happened
in the last several hours, enough to make her head spin.
    It
was like her words had made everyone move into action, because all three of
them went to help her stand. As much as their affection and love to help her
was appreciated, she didn’t want to have them flock toward her like she was
this broken person.
    “I
can do it. Please, stop fussing.” They all took a step back, and she left them
in the living room. A shower would have been nice, but she was just too tired
and in too much pain. Once in her room with the door shut she sat on the edge
of her bed and set her purse down beside her. Reaching inside for the bottle of
pain