Page 31 of Room Twenty-Seven: Theirs to Punish

They were already worried before, but nothing compares to the horrified look on their faces when they see Lillian and the bandage on her arm.

“Where the hell were you, and what the fuck happened to your arm?” Bane demands answers first.

Lillian gets up from the bed, brushing her hands over the front of her clothes as if trying to appear more together. “I’ve already told Niklas I’m fine. It was a misunderstanding, and I want to forget about it.”

“Fine is not good enough,” Luke grumbles. He rarely gets worked up, his temper usually calm and collected, but not today. He speed walks toward us, running his hands over Lilly’s shoulders, arms, and torso like he’s making sure she really is unharmed.

Bane comes closer as well, inspecting Lilly, touching her hair and face before placing a kiss on the tip of her button nose. Only my dad stays back, pacing in the kitchen.

“I’m more than fine. You’re all here. You came for me when I thought you wouldn’t ever want to see me again.”

“There is nothing you could do that would make me not want you,” I admit, pouring my heart out in hopes she finally understands what she means to me. “We’ve lost so much time in the past. I don’t want to have any more regrets in the future. And not being with you would be my biggest regret.

“I feel the same, and I technically just met you, though it feels like I’ve known you my whole life,” Bane confesses.

“We all feel the same about you, Lilly. We know this is unconventional, but we want to be with you.” Luke puts all the cards on the table.

“I want to be with you too, but I need to come clean first. I have to tell you my side of the story.”

“We’ll listen but know you don’t have to do this. What happened in the past doesn’t matter now,” I assure her, shocked by my own words. If you had asked me two weeks ago, my response would have been far from this.

“I need to get this off my chest, or I will always have this hanging over me,” Lilly explains. “I just feel so guilty about what happened five years ago—”

“Lillian…” My father starts, but she doesn’t let him finish.

“I knew! I knew exactly what she was doing from the beginning because it wasn’t the first time. Mom did this to three guys before you. I knew what was going on from the very first day she introduced me to you, and I went along with it.”

“You were a kid,” Dad points out.

“Please stop saying that.” Lillian squeezes her eyes shut. “I was old enough to understand. I should have done the right thing. I should have told you.”

“We’re not saying you shouldn’t have known better. You should have, but we all make mistakes, especially as teenagers. You can’t keep blaming yourself. You need to let go of your anger,” I repeat the words she said to me not too long ago.

“I don’t know if I can.” She looks so defeated. I hate that I made it worse. How I treated her the first day at Club Sin eats at me. She can’t forgive herself, just like I won’t be able to forgive myself.

Dad clears his throat, getting our attention. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he announces. “I’ll leave you guys to get some rest.”

“Wait!” Lilly blurts out. “I’m sorry about everything. But mostly about what you saw earlier.”

“There’s nothing for you to feel sorry or ashamed for. You are all consenting adults, and I just want you to be happy. Now if these knuckleheads do something to hurt you, come and see me.”

“That won’t happen,” Bane assures him.

Luke adds, “We’ll take good care of her.”

“Now and always,” I finish our promise to her. A promise I never intend to break.

15

Lilly

Two Weeks Later.

It’s beeneighteen days since that first night at Club Sin. Every morning since then, I have woken up with this odd sensation that this can only be a dream. My life has been turned upside down, but for the first time, it’s happening in a good way.

My relationship with the guys is not conventional, it doesn't make sense, and a lot of people will say it's wrong. Maybe it is, but I couldn't care less because we’re happy. We all love each other, and is that not the only thing that matters? We’re not hurting anyone; we only want to make each other happy.

One way I know Bane and Nik will be happy is if we can come to an understanding with Oliver. Not that he's giving them trouble about being with me, but he’s important to them, and I don't want anybody to feel like they can't spend time together because I'm in the mix.

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