Page 65 of Touch Me Not

“It’s a tree branch they use to whip you with.”

“His father whipped him with a tree branch?”

“Not a big one, a little one. Like I said, it was the only time he ever did that, but none of us knew how dangerous jumping off the roof of the barn could be. We might have died. I think that more than anything drove his father to do it. Sometimes, pain really is the only lesson you remember. I never jumped off a barn roof again. A broken bone hurts.”

“I know. I’ve broken more than a few myself.”

“You and your brothers raise hell growing up?”

“God, yes. Once Kade convinced Conner to hold a block of wood so he could chop it into firewood. Only he missed the wood, and the blade sliced through Conner’s finger. Cut it off except for a little strip of skin. He ran into the house, blood squirting everywhere. Mama had just mopped the floor, and when she saw it, she almost passed out, but she grabbed him up and rushed him to the hospital. Papa was furious with all of us. I think we worked more that summer than we ever have. He used us as child labor to build a new fence, to put in a pond Mama wanted. We cleaned out the garage and so many other things. He kept us so busy, we didn’t have time to get into trouble.”

“Oh my God. Was your brother’s finger all right?”

“Yeah. They sewed it back on, only what they used to stitch it up, he was allergic to. His finger swelled up so fat, it didn’t even look like a finger. He was in the hospital for a month.”

“You guys have us beat on crazy.”

“Good thing too. Wouldn’t want this beautiful skin scarred up.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “This okay?”

She nodded. It was more than okay.

Lily let herself lean into him and showed him more pictures of her and Laney. Adam was in most of them. He’d grown up with them. They were all either at her house or his. She missed him. Maybe it was time to forgive him.

Nikoli laughed at the stories she told him. He’d tell her more things he and his brothers did growing up after each one she told him. They spent the rest of the evening exchanging stories, eating dinner, and having a nice evening.

It was simple, and one Lily loved.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The next few weeks flew by for Lily. Her classes this year were harder, and she found herself struggling to find time for much of anything outside of studying. When she wasn’t in class or tutoring, she was with Nikoli. Which still felt a little odd, only because she liked spending time with him. The manwhore was interesting, funny, and she found herself becoming as comfortable with him as she was with Adam and Mike. Nikoli said she would, and she was getting there. He never pushed her too far, gave her breathing room when she panicked, and they talked shop for hours. Cars were her thing, and he was the first guy who got how much she adored them. Nikoli was as big a car junkie as she was.

Not that she’d ever admit anything to Nikoli. Give him an inch and he’d take a thousand miles. No need to inflate his already oversized ego. He wasn’t nearly as bad as she’d pegged him for, though. He had a very sweet and caring side he didn’t show to everyone else. Said it was bad for his reputation. Lily was constantly reevaluating her opinion of him. It irked her too. She preferred him as the slutty manwhore who only cared about himself. Nikoli wasn’t as selfish as she’d thought. He was almosta great guy when he wasn’t around other people. Almost. His ego kept getting in the way.

She was just glad she had some time to hang out with her friends. Mike had asked her to come help him and Adam with a bit of a situation online. They were all huge gamers,Fortnitebeing a specialty of theirs. It seemed that a team of guys had been destroying Mike and Adam when they played online. Lily was a better shot than either of them, and Mike had begged her to come play today so they could get some payback. Luther was there too. He’d been a victim of the bullies as well. Seriously, a group of eleven guys teaming up against one or two people was not at all fair.

The guys had moved the coffee table out of the way and set up shop in the main room. She and Mike had sat in front of the couch, on a blanket she’d brought, while Luther sat on Lily’s left. Adam sat in the chair that flanked the couch next to Mike. Lily was still barely talking to him, but Adam had learned if he kept his mouth shut, she wouldn’t leave. He’d kept trying to explain himself, and Lily didn’t want to hear it even though she was finally thinking of forgiving him. He’d hurt her a lot, and he knew it. She needed time, and he’d finally realized that. The episode at Nikoli’s apartment had shown him that more than anything else.

They’d spent the first hour running around like lunatics so she could get a feel for how the other team played. They went out and just killed. Sheer brute force in numbers. Lily smiled as she watched from her hidey hole. The first one was coming into her line of sight. She let him pass, though. She wanted to see how many traveled in the smaller packs. Three more brought up his flank. She’d been tracking their movements for the last twenty minutes. She was in her favorite spot, completely hidden. Before they even realized what hit them, she’d have half of them taken out.

Nikoli grabbed a beer out of the fridge and went looking for everyone. Luther had texted him earlier to say he was at Boy Wonder’s frat house with Lily. They were doing some kind of online game. He’d known she was a gamer, but from what Luther said, she was really good. He should know by now not to be shocked by anything when it came to Lily Bells. She constantly surprised him. It was refreshing, and it scared the hell out of him. She mattered to him without even trying. He couldn’t let this go on for much longer or he was going to be in a situation that would cause them both a lot of pain. The thought of losing her, though? It made his stomach hurt. What the hell was he going to do?

He couldn’t stop the smile from flashing across his face when he spotted her sitting on the floor, eyes on the screen, barking orders at Mike and Luther. She was so focused on the game, she wasn’t paying attention to anything else, and it gave him a minute to watch her. He found he loved watching her. Her face was one of the most expressive he’d ever seen. She never hid anything. It wasn’t who she was. What you saw with Lily was what you got. She didn’t pretend, and she didn’t play games with people. Again, something Nikoli wasn’t used to, and he found it fascinating.

She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes, and Nikoli glanced at the TV screen. Three guys were going past where she was hiding, and he watched as she took them out one by one with single shots. His eyebrows shot up when three more came running, and she took them down as soon as they appeared. He laughed. She was a sneaky little thing. Luther and Mike cheered, which earned them each a glare, and they both quieted back down and started hunting.

Chuckling at their obvious scolding, Nikoli looked around for a seat. Lily and Mike were sprawled in front of the couch. Luther sat on Lily’s right, and Boy Wonder was across from Mike. Noplace to sit…an idea began to form. Lily Bells was gonna hurt him later, but it would be so worth it. She’d gotten so much better at letting him touch her. She didn’t flinch anymore and was in the habit of touching him as well. Granted, she wasn’t anywhere near where he wanted her, but he was thrilled with her progress.

He kicked off his shoes and climbed over the back of the couch, his legs coming to rest on either side of Lily. She was so focused on her game, she didn’t even notice. Slowly, he brought his legs in so they were resting against her, and to his delight, she leaned back, resting against him as she took two more opponents down. Mike and Adam stared, shocked. He simply stared back. After a minute, Mike nodded to him and turned back to the game, but Adam’s gaze turned into something like hate. Nikoli grinned at Boy Wonder, which only pissed Adam off more. Ah, the small pleasures in life.

“How many are left?” Mike asked, his shot missing his target. He had to dive for cover, and Luther backed him up, taking the guy out. “Thanks, man.”

“Four,” Lily answered absently as she inched along a covered ravine. “Don’t bunch up. You’re giving them two for the price of one.”

Mike obediently split from Luther. Lily crouched and waited. “Mikey, pull them this way. I have a shot from here.”

“What? Why me?”

“It’s your turn to be bait,” Adam said, his voice low and rough, causing Lily to glance up at him. His glare was hot enough to melt icebergs. Frowning, she started to turn to look toward Nikoli.

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