Seven

Chapter 34

That was something completely different, actually sharing a bed with someone. I can't even remember a time having sex on a bed...it was always somewhere convenient. A club toilet, alleyways, a car. But no bed I don't think. Certainly never their bedrooms - I never went home with anyone. And I've never let any female into my own house let alone my bedroom. But being in Lily's apartment was so compelling. Seeing the way she lives, her memories framed on the wall. The mountain of history books piling her shelves taught me so much about her without her needing to say a word.

Staying the night in bed with her was something I'd thought to be inconceivable for someone like me. I was incredibly nervous, my stomach was tight, my chest was tight. I had no idea how to act, how to lay in a bed next to someone else. I thought I'd be awake the whole night, but feeling her body completely relax into the mattress next to me as she fell asleep I plucked up the courage to lay against her and my entire body softened as a response. Her steady breathing calmed my nervous tension and I'd never felt more relaxed. I fell asleep almost right away and didn't wake up once during the night.

I've never had such a full night of sleep before. I wake up at least a few times in the night but staying with Lily I'm always out as if I've downed a bottle of JD. That was the only other way I could get my brain to shut the fuck up and let me sleep - drowning it in drink and numbing it with coke. Worked wonders but it's a dangerous path.

"We should start heading back into town, you think?" Lily asks me and I glance at my watch. She starts her shift at the liquor store in a few hours and I have some...business to attend to.

"Probably should." I agree and she presses a heavy foot down onto the exhilarator.

"Bloody hell." I laugh as we're both flung back into our seats.

"I didn't even mean to, it's just so fast." She apologises and lightens her foot bringing the car to a more reasonable speed, still slightly too fast for the speed limit though.

"Fast enough to out race any shitty sedan." I comment in an attempt of a joke but Lily doesn't laugh.

"You haven't seen it again, have you?" I ask for what could possibly be the hundredth time since she cried in my arms in the club parking lot almost a week ago.

"No, not since last Wednesday." She confirms.

"Good. And have you found any new places you like the look of?" I ask her and she frowns.

"I can't just move as easily as you seem to think I can. I have a lease signed on the place I have now that says I can't just move out and stop paying rent. And there's no way I can afford to pay rent for two places if I do move out. Not to mention the upfront costs of bonds and hiring people to help me move my things. I'm meant to be saving for uni not spending on a new place because of some random following me." Lily disagrees like I knew she would.

"If it's money you're concerned about then I can pay—"

"Harry!" She uses my real name to shut me up. Hearing it from her mouth always stuns me silent.

"Just stop it would you! I don't want your money I can figure this shit out by myself." Lily snaps at me. I feel the frustration burning in me at how stubborn she is sometimes.

Money has become a bit of a controversial subject between us. It started with the car when she looked up how much it cost me. It sent her into a bit of a fit and she said I was to never spend money on her again. Then things kicked off again when I tried to suggest she quit the club on Saturday night. I'll admit I was heavily fuled by the group of young guys she spent most of the night serving and talking to in her bra and underwear. I was jealous, extremely jealous that they got to openly flirt and check her out while I had to sit in the corner and pretend like I didn't care. Having her quit the club would solve a lot of our smaller issues. She wouldn't be an employee and so she wouldn't be under any contract to Victor. She also wouldn't be there if he were to ever just show up again. I also wouldn't have to watch men lap at their mouths over her four nights a week.