Page 29 of Petals and Fangs

I can’t believe I am doing this. I must take care of her. It feels like a burden because she can’t know what I really am.

“Where are we going?” Lily mumbles against my skin.

“Somewhere safer than here,” I tell her as I tighten the seatbelt around her. She is falling asleep, and her blood is all over my hands. What have I gotten myself into? How can I resist her? How can I resist her blood?

Lily looks so vulnerable. The sight makes my heart melt. Her skin is so soft and pale. She looks like a porcelain doll. The contrast between her dark hair and her light skin is just hypnotizing.

“Lily? Can you hear me?” I softly ask as I place her head on the pillow.

She doesn’t speak back to me. She just moans and mumbles sweet nothings.

“Can you hear me, Lily?” I ask her again. She slowly opens her eyes, and then blinks.

“Where am I?” She looks around her. The minute she realizes that she is not in the club anymore, she freaks out.

“You are safe here. You hurt your hand, Lily.”

“Why did you bring me here? I want to go home.”

“Calm down, Lily. You were so hasty, and you are clearly drunk. I couldn’t just leave you out there like this.”

“Why not? This is what you do, right? You take whatever you want, and you just throw it away when you are done with it. That is what you did with me when you left me.”

“I don't know what you are talking about, Lily, please.”

“Oh, for God's sake, Ethan. Do not pretend like you don't know what I am talking about.”

“We don't have to go through this again. Just stop, please.”

“Why? You left me, remember? You told me that you would never leave me, and you left me. What is there to go through anymore?”

“I didn't leave you.”

“You did. You told me that you would always be by my side, and then you disappeared. I looked for you everywhere.”

“I was always with you, Lily. I told you a million times that I had to leave. For your own sake. For your safety, I had to leave.”

“But you never came back. You never answered my calls. You never responded to any of my messages. You just left me hanging.”

“Please, Lily. You must rest. We should not be talking about this now. You are drunk and not thinking straight.”

“Don't tell me what to do. Just let me go, please. This is the last thing I want,” she says as she tries to push me away and gets up from my bed.

“Don't fight with me, Lily. Please.”

“Why are you doing this to me, Ethan?”

“Because I care about you.”

“You don't. And you made that obvious by the way you talked to me earlier.”

“Please, Lily. Stop. Get some sleep. I will have my driver bring your stuff and drop you off at work tomorrow, and we can pretend this night has never happened.”

“I was right when I said that you changed. You really did change. You became this arrogant, selfish, self-absorbed freak. And the fact that you can't even recognize that makes me sick,” she says as she starts to cry.

“That is enough. You need to calm down.”

“Stop telling me what to do.”

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