Free Lily's Dream (Siren Publishing Classic) by Kiel Nichols

*
     
    Derek just sat on the sofa, holding his head in his hands, trying to stop the throbbing.
    “What the fuck are you doing with Lily?” Tom asked in a furious whisper.
    “Nothing.” Derek’s voice was flat. “We were sleeping off a lot too much wine.”
    “Bullshit,” he said. “You had your hands on her.”
    Derek got to his feet. If he were going fighting with Tom, he’d do it standing up. “I had my arms around her so she wouldn’t fall off the couch.”
    It seemed to him the only way to push through Tom’s anger was to directly address what Tom obviously thought had happened. “We didn’t have sex.”
    Tom didn’t seem to hear him. “I don’t want you having that kind of a relationship with Lily. I know what you like, and I don’t want her with somebody like that.” Tom was clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides.
    Derek felt his face flush hot then go totally pale. “What is that supposed to mean?”
    “It means you share women with other men. You like to fuck them up the ass. You like to touch…” He stopped abruptly. “I just don’t want her with someone like that.”
    “You hypocrite! You do all those things just like I do.” Derek purposely ignored his last comment about touching. He also felt himself get hard at the reference to what he and Tom liked to do together.
    “Yeah, and would you want me fucking your sister?” Tom retorted.
    “Let me just say this once,” Derek replied hotly. “I am not fucking Lily. I will never fuck Lily. I love her, but not in that way.”
    “Are you trying to tell me you don’t want her?” Tom said, pointing to the erection Derek was obviously sporting.
    Derek flushed but hardened further at the hot look Tom gave his crotch.
    Tom continued. “I talked to Lily yesterday, and she implied she knows about what you like sexually.”
    “What did she say?” Derek asked, shocked.
    “She said she knows more about you than I do.” Tom’s voice sounded a little hurt.
    “She does,” Derek said, thinking of what he’d told her the night before.
    He didn’t even see the fist coming.
     
    * * * *
     
    When a loud crash sounded, Lily sprinted for the living room. She found a lamp broken and Derek half sprawled on the side table. He was holding a hand to his mouth.
    “I’m not going to fight you, man,” Derek was saying. He stood up with his arms by his sides.
    Tom pulled his arm back as though to punch him again, and Jake stepped in front of him. “What the fuck, Tom? Since when do you hit someone who isn’t fighting back?”
    Lily started toward Derek, and Tom grabbed her arm and yanked her back.
    At her gasp, Jake tried to push him away. Tom was holding her arm so tightly that his backward step pulled her farther away from Derek.
    “Let her go,” Jake said in a voice Lily had never heard from him. The tone must have gotten through because Tom let go of her arm.
    He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m sorry, Lily. Did I hurt you?”
    Lily didn’t rub her arm like she wanted to. “Of course you didn’t hurt me.” Almost in a challenge, she plucked a tissue from the box and stepped to Derek’s side. She started to blot his bleeding lip.
    Derek stopped her by stepping back. “It’s fine, Lily.”
    Lily stood in front of Derek and turned to her brother and Jake. “I’m telling you right now that Derek and I don’t have the type of relationship you think we do,” she said, looking at both of them but speaking primarily to Tom.
    “Evidently you are under the misapprehension that I cannot make sexual choices for myself.” She saw Tom wince and Jake’s jaw tighten. “I know that none of you are choir boys. You have no right to judge me for who I choose to sleep with.”
    “I’m not judging you, sprout. I just don’t want you getting hurt.” Tom sounded weary.
    “Are you saying I would hurt her, Tom?” Derek stepped around Lily and stood directly in front of Tom. He stood intimately close.
    Jake looked at Lily sharply,