Loving Lily (18 page)

"Lily,
thank God," Matt said, standing up.
 
He leaned over the bed and gently smoothed the
hair out of her face.

"Where am
I?" she asked, trying to sit up.
 
She grimaced as she swallowed.
 
Her throat must be hurting her.

He adjusted the
bed,
then
held a cup of water with a straw close
enough for her to take a sip.
 
"You're in the clinic here in town.
 
You're safe. "

"My head
is killing me," she muttered, rubbing her eyes.

He gently urged
her hand away.
 
"You've got a mild
concussion.
 
Bruised
ribs.
 
And a
spectacular black eye.
"

She frowned.
 
"Where's Roy?" She looked around.
 
"And his thugs?"

Matt's heart
gave a sick thud.
 
"Who is
Roy?"

She looked at
him, eyes glittering.
 
"He's the man
who tried to kill me for my money
. "

Chapter Eight

Lily sighed and
leaned her head back against the pillow.
 
She felt like crap.
 
Matt had gone scarily quiet when she explained
how Roy had broken into Alex's apartment and taken her to the river.
 
When she told him about her inheritance and
why Roy wanted her dead, she thought he was going to lose it and slam a fist
into the wall, but he controlled himself.

"I'd go
hunt him down and make him sorry he ever laid a hand on you, but I'm not
leaving your side," Matt said, not for the first time.

Lily put a hand
on his arm.
 
"Matt, I'm okay.
 
I'm here.
 
You saved me.
" She
couldn't get past that part, actually.
 
She'd grown so used to relying on herself, she
couldn't believe Matt had actually saved her life, but he had.
 
He was
her own
personal hero.

He leaned in
and rested his forehead on hers, careful not to push too hard.
 
"I felt my whole life flash before my
eyes when I found you in the river," he muttered.
 
"I don't know what I'd do if anything
happened to you
. "

She squeezed
his arm.
 
"I know," she
whispered.
 
She knew exactly how he felt.

He sat up then
and ran a hand through his hair.
 
When he
looked at her again, she could tell he'd forced himself to calm down.

"So,"
he began, eyes twinkling.
 
"You're
kind of rich?"

She blinked.
 
"Um—"

"I mean, I
have money from my books, but I certainly don't have millions and millions like
you do
. "

"Is that a
deal breaker?" she asked, running a finger along her engagement ring.
 
It wasn't the largest diamond she owned, but
it was precious because he'd given it to her.

"I'm
already planning on buying a private jet," he joked, winking at her.

Lily laughed,
ignoring the twinge in her ribs.
 
"My grandfather would roll over in his
grave if we did that
. "

"We could
buy an island, instead," he said, scratching his head slyly.

"Shut
up," she replied, grinning.

He chuckled,
then
let his smile slide away.
 
"Why didn't you hire some security for
yourself?"

She sighed.
 
"I tried.
 
But none of them took me seriously.
 
The police refused to believe that any of the
deaths were deliberate, so the guys I tried to use as bodyguards kind of blew
me off. "

Matt grimaced.
 
"Didn't the cops give you references or
some help?"

She snorted,
ignoring the way it made her head throb.
 
"No, of course not.
 
And it's not like you can just look up
Rent-A-Bodyguard on the internet and get high quality protection. "

Matt lifted her
hand and kissed her knuckles.
 
"You
don't have to worry anymore
. "

She let his
concern wash over her, closing her eyes and resting her head on the pillow.
 
She was really grateful he was here.
 
She was so tired, and now she didn't have to
try and stay alert…

Several hours
later, she startled awake.
 
The room was
dark except for a low light near the bathroom.
 
At some point she remembered waking up when a
nurse came in and removed the IV line they'd set up to rehydrate her after her
ordeal.
 
She'd woken slightly, felt Matt
run a hand over her hair, and fallen right back to sleep.
 
What had woken her this time? Did Matt say
something?

She turned her
head to the right.
 
No, she could still
see the dark lump of his body as he slept on the cot someone had brought in for
him.
 
It was tucked into the darkest
corner of the small room.
 
She squinted
at the door, but couldn't really see anything except the rectangular outline of
the lit hallway.
 
It was too dark to see
anything else clearly.
 
A small rustle
from her left made her frown.

"Matt?"
she said, voice cracking.
 
She swallowed
against the rising panic.
 
She couldn't
help it.
 
She was scared.

"No, not
your
dear Matt.
" Roy's
voice
came out of the dark.
 
"He's not
here to rescue you this time, is he?"

Lily squeaked,
but couldn't suck in enough air to scream before a man's hand came down over
her mouth.
 
She struggled, grabbing her
plastic cup and flinging it across the room with a clatter.
 
Her only hope was that they didn't realize
Matt was actually in the room with them.

"Shit!
Keep her quiet," Roy said, fumbling with something in his hands.

She struggled
harder, ignoring the pain in her ribs, and then all hell broke loose.
 
The lights came on as the hand across her face
abruptly fell away.
 
As Lily gasped for
air, she realized that Matt had the man who'd been holding her down in a
headlock.
 
Unfortunately, Roy was still
at her side, snarling as he jabbed at her with something.
 
She snatched up the blanket roll she'd had
tucked against her side to keep her from rolling over and abusing her ribs and
used it as a shield.

Roy snarled as
his hand got caught in the cloth.
 
Lily
finally managed to suck in a breath and everything sharpened as the much-needed
oxygen made it to her brain.
 
Matt yelled
and banged the man he was holding against the wall.
 
Hard.
 
Roy extricated his hand and lifted it.
 
Lily rolled away from him, realizing that he
was holding a needle and fully intended to jab her with it.

"Lily!"
Matt yelled.

"Help,"
she wheezed, shoving at Roy with her feet.

As if in slow
motion, Matt cracked the man's head against the wall one last time and let go.
 
Lily watched the guy's eyes literally roll up
in his head as Matt plucked the attacker’s weapon from his hand in one smooth
motion.

Nothing
really happens the way you expect, does it?
she
thought to herself as Roy lunged over the bed railing
and grabbed her by the hair.
 
There was
no way to avoid the needle—she'd already extended her legs and she wasn't
strong enough to push off a full-grown man with his combined weight and hatred.
 
She watched the light glint off the
tiny, sharp piece of metal and knew that this was it.
 
She was going to die in a few seconds.
 
She'd never get to have Matt's child.
 
Never get to marry him.
 
Never get to tell him just how much she loved
him.

The door to the
room banged open just as Matt discharged the gun.
 
Roy's face went from manic to
confused
and his hand suddenly let go of the needle.
 
It dropped harmlessly onto the bed.

Lily sucked in
a breath and scrabbled away as fast as she could, shoving herself into the
corner of the mattress against the railing.
 
She knew she'd left some of her hair behind
from the sting on her scalp, but she needed to get away from him.
 
Roy fell into the bed, face down, blood
spattered all over his back like spaghetti.

"Lily, oh
God, Lily…" Matt was saying.

Hands grabbed
her and she shrieked, fighting them off, but then she realized it was Matt.
 
She almost flung herself onto the floor in her
haste to get out of the bed and into his arms.

"Matt,
Matt
, oh my God, he almost got me," she babbled as he
tucked her face in his neck.
 
The floor
was like ice against her bare feet.

"Shh, I've
got you," he said, hands tightening around her.
 
He was hurting her ribs and her cheek, but she
didn't care.

"I don't
understand what just happened," she kept saying, over and over.

"It's okay.
 
You're safe," Matt repeated,
finally lifting her face to his.

Lily searched
his eyes, needing reassurance.
 
His eyes
were calm, familiar.
 
He kissed her
forehead.
 
"You're okay
. "

"You saved
me
. "
Her cheeks were wet, but she didn't
remember crying.
 
He kissed her again,
and then a sound from near the door had her jerking her head around, her heart
giving a hard thump.
 
She relaxed against
Matt when she realized it was just Alex.
 
Behind him stood a uniformed
officer.

"Matt,
Jesus," Alex said, walking slowly into the wreckage of the room.
 
"I'd ask what the hell happened, but
Harry and I saw everything
. "

"He needs
to be restrained," Matt said, nodding to the far side of the room where
the man he'd banged into the wall lay slumped on the floor.

"I've got
him," the officer said, walking over and crouching down.

Lily watched as
he cuffed the man, rolling him over to get at his hands.
 
She shivered, remembering how unpleasant it
felt to have something binding her wrists that tightly.

"You
okay?" Matt murmured to her, probably sensing her unease.

She tore her
gaze away from the man on the floor.
 
"I just—" She broke off and took a
shuddering breath.
 
"He's dead
. "
She carefully did not look at the bed where her
cousin's body slumped over the mattress.

"Yeah,"
Matt
said,
voice low.
 
"I had no choice
. "

"Oh, no, no.
 
No, I'm not upset he's dead," she burst
out.
 
"I just can't believe that
it's all over.
 
Finally.
 
After all these years.
" She
looked up at him, needing him to understand.
 
"I am so very grateful you saved me.
 
It just feels very, very weird. "

She felt his
shoulders relax.
 
"It’s not real
yet," he stated quietly.

Lily finally
let herself glance at the bed.
 
Roy's
face was strangely unmarred, but his back was a red ruin.
 
She swallowed, hard.
 
"No," she said, turning back to Matt.
 
"It’s not
. "

One week later,
Lily was thoroughly tired of answering questions.
 
The bruises were already fading and her head
felt fine, but her butt was sore from sitting in the hard chairs in the
sheriff's office.
 
They were here for at
least the fourth time, waiting to sign one last form.

One last
form
, she grumbled to herself.
 
It's always one last form, and then he
pulls three more out of his ass.
 
She
shifted her weight, trying to ease the tingling in her hip joint.
 
They'd been here at least three hours today.
 
Harry shuffled the papers on his desk
officiously, not meeting their eyes.
 
Next to her, Lily felt Matt tense up.