Better Than Nothing: Part 3 of On the Edge Series

Chapter 1

"Lily," the voice came again. I could hear him coming closer now. He would catch me. His long legs were no match for mine, but I needed him to know that I didn't want to see him. "Lily, stop." His arm circled my waist.

"Put me down, Tim," I demanded.

"You really thought you could get away from me, Road Runner?"

"Yes, that was obviously the plan," I admitted.

"Lily, stop; you came all this way. You can't run now." His voice was softer, lulling me into a trap to prevent me from running.

"Fine," I admitted defeat as Tim released his grip.

At the glimmer of freedom, I took a quick shot at running again, but he had expected it and easily clamped me with his arms.

"Really?" But as much as he tried to sound annoyed, a touch of laughter seeped into his tone.

"You got old," I shot as I finally turned to face him.

"Great seeing you too, Lily."

"Put on a few pounds as well," I added.

"Always a pleasure," Tim winced. "What's going on? Why have you brought your charming self here after all these years?" Concern filled his face as he inspected me.

"He's been sending me records every year for ten fucking years." I added as much fury to my words as I could. I needed Tim to feel the anger I felt.

"What?" All Tim's voice revealed was confusion.

"For ten fucking years, he has been sending me a record on the second Monday after Thanksgiving." My voice was rising with the all-consuming anger I had recently befriended.

"That's so random. Are you sure it's him?"

"Yeah, I thought it was my dad, but," I paused. I didn't want to tell Tim about my dad. I didn't want to distract myself from my rage. "I know it's not him. It's Billy." My words curled around his name like a snake coiling before a pounce.

Tim's eyes briefly flickered behind me before he set a hand on my shoulder and gently attempted to usher me inside. "Let's go to my office and figure this out."

"No," I pulled away from his hand. "I don't want to go inside there. I just came to give them back, so he knows to stop."

"Yeah, yeah. No, I get it. Let's just take a quick look at them inside. Maybe it's not him." But Tim wasn't looking at me as he spoke and was now nearly shoving me towards the door.

In an instant, I knew why, but it was too late; the grainy voice called out a "morning" before a car door slammed behind the greeting.

"You people are supposed to be rock stars; aren't you supposed to sleep until noon?" I grumbled.

"Yeah, we're rock stars in our 40s with fucking kids," Tim barked back as he tried to hide me behind him.

"So, I was thinking about Dagger, and we got to change the cover, man. At least the color scheme, the purple tone doesn't fit." Billy's voice came absently as he paced towards us. "Oh, shit, sorry; I didn't realize you were with..." His eyes fell on me as his words dropped. They burned into me for barely a second before the fury flickered to Tim. "You called her?" The accusation fell from Billy with unmistakable disdain.

"No, Billy, I..." Tim stammered.

"Fuck you, Tim. Just fuck you." His eyes moved to me with a rage I had never seen before. "My choice, Lily. We decided it was my choice and here are you taking that away from me too?" And then he paced by us both.

"Billy..." I called after him, but it was no use.

"Well, honestly, that went better than I had expected." Tim shrugged.

"Is he okay?" My anger had flipped to panic. The man that had just looked at me, the man that just spat words with venom, was not Billy Collins.

"Why did you come here, Lily?" Tim finally matched the anger I was feeling. "You could have just shipped them back."

"Honestly, I don't know. I got this year's, realized it wasn't from my dad, and blacked out. It may have been a rage blackout. I've read that can happen. The next thing I knew, I was on a plane."

"Rage blackout," Tim nodded as he stepped back from me.

"Timmy!"

"Oh, we're back to Timmy now. One rage blackout and we are back to chummy names." A jest in his tone quelled the anger between us, but unmistakable shades of hurt also filled his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Timmy. I just... with Billy... and you two... everyone really..." I stammered.

"Are incoherent thoughts the beginning of a rage blackout? I want to know the warning signs."

"I'll just go and take my rage blackouts and incoherent thoughts with me." I turned and continued to my car.

"Wait," Tim called out with a sigh of resignation. "If Tess found out you were here, and I didn't invite your over for dinner, she'd divorce me, and you know how I hate paperwork."

I paused, trying to calm the twelve-year-old screaming inside me out of the excitement of seeing her friends again. "You don't have to," I evened my tone as I spoke.

"I know I don't have to, Lil."

Lil, he called me Lil. I kept my face smooth, but inside, my heart pounded alive again, spreading warmth through me for the first time since my world had stopped.

"I want you to come," he added in a softer voice.

"You sure? I mean, Billy..." I didn't want to cause more friction than I already had.

"I'll deal with Billy. It's fine. It's just dinner."

"Okay, text me your address." I pulled my business card from my purse and handed it to him before quickly leaving. Part of me expected him to rescind the offer if I stuck around too long.