Free Loving Lily by Marie E. Blossom Page B

smile at her over his shoulder.   The lights from the street glinted in his
eyes, making the hazel look grey.   Lily
smiled back.   Matt knocked on the wall
just inside the door.
    "What are
you doing?"
    "Alex and
I worked out a system a long time ago," he said, knocking twice more.
    "Matt?"
A dim light in the stairwell flicked on.   "What the hell? It's three in the morning.
"
    Matt walked in,
shutting and locking the door.   "Yeah, sorry.   It's a long fucking story. "
    "Well,
shit.   It better be good.   I almost shot you. "
    Lily looked up.   Alex stood at the top of the stairs,
cradling a shotgun.
    "Put that
away before you shoot yourself in the foot," Matt said, heading up.
    "You can
kiss my ass," Alex said, but he leaned the gun in the corner on the top of
the landing.   "What happened?"
    Matt sighed as
they reached Alex.   "Let's take it
inside, okay?"
    Alex nodded and
led the way, flicking on a small lamp just inside the door.   Lily looked around curiously.   The apartment had beautiful hardwood floors
and vaulted ceilings.   She would never
have suspected this place existed on top of the garage.   The open floor plan suited the space.   A kitchen area was to the right and a
comfortable looking living room directly in front of them.   Alex walked to the coffee table in front of
the sofa and sat down, running a hand through his hair tiredly.   "Well, have a seat . "
    "Aren't
you going to get your shotgun?" Lily asked.
    Matt laughed.   "It's not loaded.   He keeps it there to drive me crazy. "
    "If it was
loaded, I might hurt someone," Alex retorted.
    Lily looked
from one brother to the other, then shrugged.   If Alex wanted to keep an unloaded shotgun at
the top of his stairs, that was his business.   She didn't have the energy to finagle an
explanation out of him right now, though from the looks the brothers were
giving each other, she knew there was a good story.   Instead, she sank into the soft cushions and
tipped her head back.   She was insanely
tired, but Alex deserved an explanation for why they'd come barging in.   Before she could say anything, though, Matt
spoke.
    "Two men
broke into Lily's room at Betsy's . " Matt rubbed
his eyes.
    "Fuck.   What happened to them?" Alex leaned in, a
worried look on his face.
    "They're
unconscious.   I'm going to call the
sheriff and report a break-in . "
    "Let me do
it.   If you call it in, Harry's just
going to blow you off," Alex said.   He snagged his cell phone from a side table.   "What do you want me to say?"
    "Just tell
him that you were taking a walk and you heard something," Matt said.   "The men will be long gone by the time he
gets there, but at least Betsy will be covered if Harry shows up to look around.
"
    "Why would
the sheriff believe Alex and not you?" Lily asked.
    "Alex
stays up late a lot, working on his cars, especially the really important ones.   He's been known to take walks in the
middle of the night.   It's a safe town
and he's a big guy, so no one thinks anything of it," Matt explained.
    Lily frowned.   "Why would Harry blow you off?" she
asked more quietly as Alex murmured into his phone.
    Matt grimaced.   "Harry went to school with us.   Same year.   He was a bit of a bully, though being sheriff
seems to have fixed most of that, thank God.   Unfortunately, when we were seniors, he took a
serious dislike to me.   Thought I was
making eyes at his girlfriend. "
    Lily rolled her
eyes.   "Were you?"
    "No, not
at all," Matt snorted.   "But
Harry just would not let it go.   One day,
he jumped me in the parking lot after school. "
    Lily didn't
understand.   "The two of you
fought?"
    Matt grinned.   "Only if your
definition of a fight included him falling down.   He was about five feet two at the time.   I wasn't. "
    Lily winced.
    "Yeah.   He punched me in the face.   I punched him back.   He went down really, really fast. "
    "And he's
held a grudge this long?"
    "It
happened right in front of his