Page 29 of Allure of the O'Neal Sisters

The next morningLilly woke confused, unsure of where she was. Slowly, the memory of the day before came flooding back to her like a terrible nightmare. Still furious with her sister for everything, including being born, she took her cell phone from the night table and called her. She expected to hear from her yesterday after the messages she left but knowing Payton, she probably ignored her and partied the night away, ending up with a one-night stand. In fact, she was probably hung over at work, trying to suck some client’s cock being the whore she was. Like yesterday, her voicemail came on immediately.

“Knock, knock.” Ryan was at the door with a breakfast shake in his hand. “Good morning,” Ryan said as he entered his bedroom, looking at her from under his glasses.

“I haven’t heard from Payton in the last two days.” Lilly sat up in bed and began fidgeting with her phone, turning it around in her hands as she spoke, not looking at him but the phone. Maybe if she concentrated on it hard enough it would ring and she would hear Payton’s voice. It was hard to stay mad at the girl when she didn’t know where or how she was. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Ryan for fear of sobbing all over again. It would be as if looking at him would confirm that yesterday’s events really did take place and would bring the memories all flooding back.

Ryan, taking her talking to him as an invitation to enter, handed her the shake. “We could go see her at work if you are worried; maybe she is at the police station?”

Perplexed, she could not help but frown, causing worried lines to crease her forehead. She shook her head and replied, “If she were taken in for questioning she would have called me. We can stop by her work after going in to my office this morning. I am sure I’ll have a ton of things to get off my chest after that.” Taking a sip of the banana-flavored shake, Lilly realized just how hungry she was.

“All right.” Looking at his watch, Ryan said, “Be ready in twenty minutes. First stop, your firm.”

“I can already tell this is going to be a wonderful day,” Lilly replied sarcastically, not wanting to get out of bed. She would have rather sulked in here for the rest of the day, but she knew Ryan would not have it. Taking a deep breath in, she forced her legs over the side of the bed and started to get ready.

*

As Lilly enteredher boss’ office her stomach was on edge, she had to take deep breaths to keep from shaking and to keep her breakfast down. Her boss, Todd, sat behind his oversized desk and her colleague Martin was sitting in front of it. She had called earlier to make an appointment with the two men.

“Gentlemen.” The voice of lawyer Lilly came out loud and strong. “I have had new developments on the Bernard Castle case.” She proceeded to tell them everything she knew. In order to maintain her professional composure she had to disconnect, as if she were speaking of a client. Her chest was pounding and the room seemed to have closed in around her as she spoke, keeping her emotions prisoner.

“Well, Ms. O’Neal, this is a lot of information,” Todd replied. “Due to the nature of your involvement I can no longer allow you to work on the case.”

“I respect your decision, Todd, and fully understand. I am willing to work on my new assignment starting tomorrow.”

“Unfortunately, I do have our entire firm working on this case in some sort of way. I don’t have a case to reassign to you at this moment. Take three weeks off to deal with your family issues and we will discuss reassignment when you come back.”

Lilly was speechless. She thought if she presented herself professionally they would have shown her more respect. Was she going to have a word with her sister!

Turning on her heel, Lilly walked out of the office, not wanting them to see any emotion that might show on her face. There was nothing else to say, if she even uttered a sound her composure would break and there would be nothing she could do to stop the crying hysteria that would erupt. Keeping her emotions hidden was a lot harder to do since she had become pregnant. It seemed like everywhere she turned she wanted to cry or pull someone’s hair out.

As promised, Ryan was leaning on the wall outside of the firm. She continued past him and whistled for a cab.

Not being able to stand the silence in the cab or the voice babbling in the back of her head, she began to vent to Ryan. Not wanting him to respond but to listen and hear her out. It was like he read her mind.

“They said I can’t be reassigned. I don’t have a job.” Lilly’s breathing had quickened as she became angrier at the situation. “I bet when I come back in three weeks I’ll be fired.” Her shoulders went up and down, matching her breathing as she spoke.

Ryan listened, nodding his head when it was appropriate. He had lifted his hand to stroke her hair but thought twice about it, settling for patting her hand that lay on the back seat. Even when she was this upset, she looked beautiful to him.

“None of this would have happened if Payton hadn’t been sleeping with Jack or Donald—whatever his name may be!” She was so tensed up she kept opening and closing both hands into fists, trying to channel her rage. She was leaving no room for Ryan to wonder what was going on in her head as she was letting it all out. For a brief moment she fell silent, shaking her head at everything in disbelief, then started up again. “Can you believe Payton would do something like this to me? She is going to be nothing to me after I yell at her.”

Ryan felt sorry for what Lilly was going through; everyone whined and complained about siblings when they were unreasonable, but to have to go through something like this. It was intolerable. “It’s completely unacceptable, I agree,” Ryan chimed in, trying to add something to the conversation.

Unintentionally, she shot him a threatening glace; she didn’t want to hear any views other than her own. His silence while she talked things out was helping her to make sense and cope with what happened. She felt bad about taking it out on him, but there was no one else and she had to get everything off her chest. This was another one of his good qualities that had her thinking about giving him another chance. He had nothing but good in him, and he was willing to support her goals and values in life. She softened a little, thinking about him while giving herself a break from her stress.

Deciding to take a chance with his life, he gently asked, while allowing his hand to rub her shoulder, “What if Payton is innocent?” He knew deep down that Lilly cling to this hope. He was just saying out load what she didn’t allow herself to think.

“Now you want to defend her?” she yelled. Ryan confused her. One moment he was agreeing with her and now he was taking Payton’s side. It was still before noon and she felt exhausted, mentally drained. Not willing to admit this to Ryan, she honestly didn’t know how she would be able to do all of this today without him. He really was her knight in shining armor today. It was too bad they had gone so off course with each other over the last year. The cab stopped in front of Payton’s office, stopping her from becoming too sentimental about their past.

Finding out that Payton was out of the office due to a family emergency made Lilly angrier. Family emergency, my ass, she thought. The only person left who might have a clue where Payton had gone was her much desired sex partner, Dixon.

Ryan tagged along like a puppy following his master. Lilly was so touchy on any subject that he dare not interfere until she asked him what he thought. This was a whole new side of Lilly he had never seen before. This new sassy attitude and stubbornness was turning him on. The old Lilly he had pampered and made love to. This new Lilly could dominate him, making him plead for more. Ryan began to feel his pants get tighter just from thinking how good it would feel to have her thighs tighten around him. He had to reposition his pants to try to hide his hard-on.

She began to walk down the sidewalk, trying to hail another cab. Ryan stayed two steps behind her, not wanting to overstep some boundary she had. Her boundaries were killing him. As much as he liked to play the silent follower, he couldn’t stand it any more. “Where are you going?” he asked, trying to keep up.

“We are going to see if Dixon is around.” She stopped at the street corner as she got a cab’s attention.

Ryan’s hard-on was still there; he couldn’t help it. Deciding to take matters in his own hands, he turned her around to kiss her. He was not interested in being in the shadows any more. He pulled her in by her waist, by habit she linked her hands around his neck and allowed him to kiss her. He began to play with the loose sleeves of her shirt, his fingers brushing up against the edge of her bra. Lilly needed a moment to not think of anything and she allowed this to be that moment. But only briefly. At the sound of tires slowing down she pulled away, putting distance between her and Ryan. Opening the door, she jumped in, Ryan followed like he was meant to.

“What’s your plan, do you know Dixon’s address?” Ryan questioned.

---