Crossing the Barrier (29 page)

“Lily, don’t say anything,” he said gravely.

“You know I have to take her in, right?” Officer Jones said.

“No, it’s not hers.”

“Charlie, it’s in her room in plain sight.”

“Uncle Charlie, what is it?” Lily asked, her heart racing.

The only thing she understood was this was so serious Charlie was as close to panic as she had ever felt him. From somewhere else in the house, intense satisfaction flew to her, like revenge had been taken.

“Uncle Charlie?” she asked again.

“Lily, go to Nicole’s and tell her to call Steven,” Charlie said, his eyes never leaving the officer’s.

“Uncle Charlie, I don’t understand.”

“Charlie, she needs to come with me.”

“No, she doesn’t. It’s not hers. It’s–”

“Don’t say it!” the officer quickly said.

“–mine,” Charlie finished in a whisper, looking at the ground.

The officer shook his head. “You shouldn’t have.”

“I won’t have Lily stuck in this. I’ll do anything for her, and you know it. You know what must have happened here. We’ve been in your sight ever since you arrived. The only one that wasn’t is still downstairs.”

Uncle Charlie shook his head sadly, and Lily was about to ask him what was happening again but her vocal chords wouldn’t work.

“At least, do me a favor. Make sure the lab gets a hold of this and runs fingerprints. It will make my proving what really happened a lot easier…”

The officer nodded, and Lily looked from one to the other in rapid succession.

“Lily, take your keys and go to Nicole, now,” Charlie said, turning to her. “Tell her to call Steven. She’ll know who he is. Nicole and David will come with you to get some of your clothes later when we’re gone.”

“What about you?” she asked, her voice higher by an octave.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Uncle Charlie,” Lily said shakily.

“Go,” he said. “Don’t worry.”

Lily did as she was told and ran down the stairs. Beatrice was in the living room, smirking, her arms crossed in front of her, a hip against the sofa. She felt entirely too satisfied.

“What did you do?” Lily screamed at her.

“Me? Nothing? What are you talking about?”

She was lying. She had done something, something so horrible, it made her giddy. But Lily just didn’t know what.

She got out of the house and ran across the street. Nicole was in the doorway, waiting for her.

“Lily, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Lily said, her chest constricting painfully. “Call Steven…” she managed to say.

“Lily,” Nicole said, grabbing her by the arms and shaking her gently.

Lily was quickly losing her battle with rational thoughts.

“Lily, breathe. Just breathe.”

Lily couldn’t. Her legs gave way, and she would have fallen if Nicole hadn’t caught her.

Chapter Fifty-Six

MALAKAI

“That was a
good practice,” David said, walking with Malakai toward the parked cars. “I think Tristan is getting there.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Malakai said with a grin.

“Sooo, wanna come to my place? I betcha Lily’s there,” David offered with a grin.

Malakai laughed. “You know, I would come even if she weren't there.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. You’ve got a pool.”

“Of course. You wouldn’t have come just for the pleasure of my company.”

Malakai rolled his eyes. His friend was spending way too much time with his sister.

He got into his jeep and followed David to his house. What he saw when he drove up David’s street had his heart beating so hard he thought it would burst out of his chest. Two police cars were parked in front of Lily’s house, and Charlie was being escorted to one of them, surrounded by two officers. He wasn’t handcuffed, but it was obvious he had no choice in the matter.

Malakai parked his jeep, his front tire hitting the curb, then jumped out. Before he took a step toward Lily’s house, David was in front of him, holding him back, and Sandra was running toward them.

“She’s in our house,” Sandra said, pointing to the Joneses’.

“What’s going on?” Malakai asked, pushing against David.

The blood was pounding in his ears so loud he didn’t think he would hear the answer.

“Come in the house, now,” Sandra ordered.

“Come, dude,” David said, pulling Malakai by his shirt.

Malakai let David drag him, his eyes on Charlie in the police cruiser. He turned around as they walked into the house. Lily was on the couch, her arms around her legs, holding herself tightly, tears coming down her cheeks. Malakai walked to her and, sitting next to her, pulled her into his arms.

“What’s going on?”

“Charlie was arrested for drug possession,” Sandra said.

“What?!” Malakai would have risen to his feet had he not been holding Lily.

“They found drugs in Lily’s room, and Charlie took the fall.”

In his arms, Lily shivered. “I’m here,” he whispered to her. “I’m here.”

She grabbed his shirt and sobbed, loudly. Malakai closed his eyes and took three deep breaths to calm the torrent in his heart. He wanted answers, and it wouldn’t do to get angry right now. Lily needed him with his head about himself.

“Can someone please tell me what the bloody hell happened? The entire story this time,” he said, his teeth clenched.

“Yeah, I would like to know, too,” David said, standing in front of Sandra, his hands balled into fists.

“Mom will tell you in a minute,” Sandra said, her arms crossed, her foot tapping, and staring David down.

“Fuck this! I want to know now,” David said, taking a step toward his sister.

Malakai had to give it to Sandra; she didn’t even flinch. She just stood her ground, staring at David, who was twice as big and significantly taller than she was.

“David, sit down,” Nicole ordered, walking into the living room.

In his arms, Lily flinched, and Malakai tightened his hold. “I’m here,” he murmured to her again. “I’m here.”

“Hey, Lily,” Nicole said, coming to crouch in front of her. “Don’t worry, honey, your uncle will be out by tomorrow morning,” she added, squeezing Lily’s knee. “I just got off the phone with his attorney, and he’ll be all right.”

“What happened?” Malakai asked.

His girl was shivering against him despite how warm she was, and he was worried.

“My brother-in-law found drugs in Lily’s room, cocaine to be precise. Charlie took the fall so Lily wouldn’t get arrested.”

Malakai’s jaw dropped, and David, who had sat at his mother’s order, stood up and began pacing, his hand in his blond hair, pulling hard.

“While we didn’t expect something like this to happen, we were not totally unprepared,” Nicole continued. “Charlie and I, we’ve been keeping an eye on things, and I hope we’ll be able to prove that neither Charlie nor Lily had anything to do with this.”

“But he said it was his,” Lily said so quietly Malakai was surprised anyone else had heard her.

“Yes he did,” Nicole said. “But he did it so you wouldn’t be caught in all this. Lily, you’ll be fine. Charlie will be fine.”

Lily straightened her hold on Malakai’s shirt and sniffled.

“What am I going to do?” she said. “I can’t go back there…and Charlie is…”

“You’ll stay here,” Nicole said firmly. “We’ll go to your house as soon as Ben says it’s okay, you’ll get some clothes, and your phone and computer—we’ll go get you new ones later tonight—then you’ll stay here for as long as you need.”

Lily nodded, and Nicole got up.

“Mom, who did this?” David asked.

Instead of answering, she just waved for him to follow, and Sandra and David left the room, leaving Malakai alone with Lily.

“Lily,” he said, gently caressing her hair. “I’m here too, and you can come to my place if you prefer.”

Lily nodded, then remained quiet, her hold on his shirt never wavering.

“She hit me, Malakai,” she said. “When you left, I didn’t feel her. She slapped me from behind.”

Malakai felt like someone had sucked the air out of the room.

Someone had dared hit his girl.

What had happened with Wes had been bad enough as it was.

But now…

He couldn’t understand how a woman would do this to her own child.

“Malakai,” she said, sobbing again. “Why can’t I have a mother like Nicole?”

“I don’t know, baby, I really don’t.”

Malakai just let her cry, his heart breaking every time a sob shook her body.

Eventually, Lily grew calmer, and Malakai kissed the top of her head.

“Will you tell me what happened, all of it?” He clenched his teeth to brace himself. He wouldn’t like it, but he wanted to know what the others hadn’t told him.

And she did tell him, all of it.

“I didn’t feel her come,” she finished. “I…I was thinking about you, and I didn’t feel her until the very last second. By then it was too late. I couldn’t protect myself from her.”

Malakai didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say. He just caressed her back and held her tightly against him. His jaw was clenched so hard he thought he would break a tooth. If Lily weren’t on his lap, he would have rushed out the door to find the woman and beat her to an inch of her life, never mind that she was a woman.

“I thought I would spend the day thinking about you, but she ruined it. She ruined everything.”

“Don’t let her cheapen what we had, Lily,” he said, remembering how he had loved holding her all night, how he had loved the way her presence alone seemed to caress his soul. “And we’ll have other nights, lots of them. We’ll have some that are even more special.”

Like the first time he would make love to her, the first time he would make love to anyone for that matter. That night would be the most special night of his life because it would be with her, and he loved her with everything he was.

But for now, he had to find a way to protect her, to keep her safe.

Chapter Fifty-Seven

MALAKAI

It was right
at lunchtime, and Malakai was waiting for Lily, sitting on the curb of the walkway behind the school, facing the parked cars. It had been four long days since it all happened, and Malakai was still fuming just at the thought of it.

Like Nicole had said, Charlie was out of jail the next day, but he was in a world of trouble, and had asked Lily to stay at the Joneses’.

His Lily.

His sweet Lily.

He hadn’t been there to prevent what had happened with Wes, and he hadn’t been there to prevent what had happened with her mother. Someone else had to come to Lily’s rescue.

Malakai wanted to scream at the thought of it. He had already spent so many hours at the gym punching the bag his fists were aching. He felt so inadequate.

Everything Lily’s mother had told him in their very short, very confrontational conversation came back to Malakai. If he couldn’t protect her now, how would he ever be able to provide for her later? How could he ever be worthy of her?

Keeping Lily safe should be his job. He shouldn’t be failing at it again and again.

“I don’t want you to be mad at me,” Lily began, as she approached him.

When Lily said those words, he looked up, and by her expression, he knew what she was about to say.

“No!” he said, jumping to his feet. “You’re not going back there!”

He began pacing the sidewalk in front of her, his hands on his head, pulling his short, curly light-brown hair.

“I have to,” she said in a small voice.

He was ready to accept a lot of things from Lily but on the very short list that would make him furious, putting herself in harm’s way, deliberately, was by far the topper.

“No, you don’t,” Malakai protested, stopping in front of her.

He was breathing hard. He was angry she would even consider going back home, but most of all, he was terrified something would happen to her again, something a lot worse than being slapped by her mother.

“Malakai, please, don’t be mad at me.”

“You have to explain this one to me, Lily, because I really, really don’t get it,” he said, resuming his pacing, his fists now clenched at his side. “This is exactly like the dumb blonde in those movies who goes to check the basement after she saw the ax murderer go in there! What if…”

“Stop! Please! Let me talk,” she said, her hands raised in front of her, her voice cracking, tears pooling in her eyes.

She sounded and looked miserable, and it broke Malakai’s heart to see her that way. At the same time, he was so scared he was shaking.

“I have to go back. That house, it’s mine. My father left it to me. She’s the one who’s living under my roof, not the other way around.”