Page 44 of Creeping Lily
And all I can think about is the man outside the club. The one who stepped out of the alley like he’d been waiting for me.
The memory comes back sharp: the reek of damp concrete, the way the shadows swallowed half his face.
Could he be the same man who was following me tonight?
The thought itches at the base of my skull, but I force it down. If I speak it aloud, it becomes real. Saying it out loud means pulling it into the light, making it solid enough for someone else to examine. And if that happens, there will be questions—questions I can’t answer without exposing just how deep this rabbit hole might go.
I keep the words locked behind my teeth, swallowing the urge to spill them. The truth is dangerous, but so is suspicion. I don’t want to accuse Trick without proof. He’s not perfect, butdragging his name into this without knowing would be the first step toward burning bridges I might need later.
So I keep my voice steady, my face blank, and carry the weight of both possibilities—one man I can’t identify, and another I don’t want to condemn.
“I don’t think he would,” I cut in, my voice steadier than I feel. My fingers curl around my neck, tracing slow lines against my skin like I can iron the panic out of me.
Justin’s eyes flick to mine, surprise flashing there before he turns back to Bethany. She’s standing stiff, arms locked across her chest, jaw set like she’s daring him to contradict her. The two of them share a look—silent, loaded. I’m not invited into whatever conversation is happening between their eyes.
“Guys, come on,” I croak, my voice scraping like sandpaper. “I’m right here. Remember me?”
“Relax, Lily,” Bethany says without looking at me.
Relax. Right. Like my body isn’t strung so tight I can hear my pulse in my ears.
Because I know what I felt tonight. Someone was out there, matching my steps, breathing the same air I was. Watching me. And that thought alone is enough to twist my insides into knots so sharp it hurts to breathe.
The tears come before I can stop them—hot, sudden, blurring everything into streaks of shadow and light. My chest tightens, gasps stutter out of me, and my body jerks with each one until I can’t tell if I’m freezing or burning alive.
It’s that feeling again. The one I swore I’d never let back in.
The feeling of being trapped. Helpless. Caged in a moment you can’t escape, where the walls close in and the air gets thin, and you know—deep in your bones—you’re not getting out untouched. I can’t be that girl again. I can’t live inside that helplessness, waiting for whatever comes next.
“Lily, hey…” Bethany’s voice breaks through the fog. She kneels in front of me, her hands wrapping around mine. Her brow furrows, her eyes trying to catch mine and hold them still. “Lily, come on. It’s okay. Nothing’s going to happen to you. I know you’re scared, but you’re okay. We won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
I shake my head because she doesn’t get it. She can’t.
You can sit in the safest place in the world, lock every door, bar every window, and still…
If something bad wants to find you, it will.
Just like Justin said.
23
JUSTIN
“Lily. Snow.”
The name slices from my mouth like a blade, sharp enough to draw blood from the air.
I shove the first man out of my way, hard enough to send him stumbling back two steps before he regains his balance. I’m ready to put him through the wall, but two more of Goliath’s guard dogs catch my arms and wrench them behind me. Their grip is all bone and steel, my shoulders straining against their military precision.
But I’ve already crossed the threshold. I’m inside. Standing in front of the man who pulls my strings.
I fight against the human restraints anyway, my muscles burning, but it’s like trying to break out of concrete.
“Let him go,” the man says, his voice slow and flat, like he’s already bored.
They release me, but not without dragging it out—hands lingering just long enough to remind me they could put me back in that cage at any second. Their eyes don’t leave me. Predators keeping the wounded animal in sight.
“You told me she’d be safe.”
