Page 112 of Watercolor Skulls

JD quickly excuses himself. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Lily. Dan,” he nods before leaving the room.

Dan sits down beside me, pulling a business card out of his pocket. He rests his forearms on his legs, flipping the card in his hands. He takes a deep breath before turning towards me. My world crumbles from the look on his face.

“I said I’d never lie to you, but I want to. God do I want to,” his voice cracks and there are tears in his eyes. “If we turn this over it’s going to be hard on you. It’s…it’s really bad, Lily.”

My eyes bounce over his face, my heart fighting to break free of my body. “I don’t care about me, Dan.”

He nods in understanding. “It’s your call, baby.”

“I don’t care.” I repeat, swinging my arm across the table, sending everything including the lamp crashing to the ground. “I don’t care. He has to pay,” I cry.

Dan stands, hugging me from behind, holding my arms across my chest. “Shhh, it’s okay. You’re not alone. I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”

He sits down on the bed, pulling me with him.

“We got him, baby. He will go to jail for the rest of his life. I promise.”

“But who are we going to tell. How will we know who to trust?”

He pushes the card he has been holding in front of my face. “We can trust this guy.”

My eyes scan the card. “Who is this?” I ask, suddenly feeling like I’m in a fog.

“Do you remember the day you fell?”

I still on his lap. “What does that have to do with this?”

He shakes the card in my face. “This is the officer who reached down to you.”

I pluck the card from his hands, studying the picture of the officer on the card. “How did you get this?” I turn on his lap, straddling him.

“He gave it to me. That’s how I found you. I went there hoping to find clues, anything. You had told me you loved the bay. Anyway, he saw me looking lost, sad. I was missing you…he thought I was there to jump. He approached me and we got to talking. I asked if he knew a Lily. He told me about you. And your dad. He didn’t seem to be a big fan of his. We can trust him, Lily. He even went to your house to check on you, but they never let him past the front gate.”

“How can all this be…it’s too…like it’s weird, right?”

“Maybe life is pre-destined,” Dan says rubbing the back of my neck.

“This is going to work?”

“It’s going to work but it isn’t going to be easy or pleasant,” he answers honestly.

“That’s okay because it will be worth it.”

“It’s going to bring down others. Important others.”

“Benjamin told me it was all a game. I’m ready for the game to end, but first I’m going to win.”

Dan agrees with me by flipping me onto the bed. I laugh. “What are you doing?”

“If you think I’m going miss an opportunity to fuck you like that, you’re sadly mistaken.” He points to my face.

Fuck, I forgot I still had the makeup on. My eyes roll up to his and holy hell, I think he likes it.

“Right now, we’re playingourgame,” he smirks.

I jump up, making a dash for the bathroom but he snags me around the waist.This is one game I’m willing to lose.

Chapter Forty-Two

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