The Glass Man - Lila Gray Book 1

Chapter Eight

I blinked awake, drifting in warmth and confusion. Two blue lamps pitched wedges of light up to the ceiling in an otherwise dark room. I rolled over, bumping into a hard body. Even my groggy mind immediately identified Liam by scent alone. He sat on the edge of the bed facing the door, elbows propped on his knees. Instead of denim and cotton, he wore dark dress pants and a light blue collared shirt that both looked expensive and tailored to his body. Without turning, he held out a sports drink. His stash of groceries in the basement must have been bigger than he'd let on. I grabbed it and gulped it down.

Memories of his touch flooded my thoughts, and an echo of pleasure rippled through my flesh, the sensory memory so vivid a moan escaped before I closed my throat to stop it. I sat up and looked him over. He was so still, his shoulders raised, head hanging forward as if it was too heavy for his spin to hold. My inner alarms began to chime. He appeared out of place in the room now, and I wasn't sure it was only because of the clothes. Something was different, but what?

"Why are you wearing that?" My brow crinkled as I thought of the light and voices earlier. Had I imagine that? A dream, maybe? Wait, how had I slept without my enemy invading my mind again? Except that it was daytime, right.

"You need to get dressed." Liam stared at the door, his back straight, as if he was tensing for a blow. "There isn't much time."

Sick heat filled my stomach, then billowed out through my veins until I was fever hot. I bolted out of bed, dragging the quilt with me to cover my nakedness. "What's going on? Where are my clothes?" Breath rasping out, I turned to the window, and a pathetic sound came out of me. Darkness had fallen beyond the window. "Oh my God, what time is it?"

"You've been asleep for a day and a half." He gestured to the white dresser as he stood and went to the door. "Your clothes are there."

I couldn't deal with the implications waiting for me to accept them, so I concentrated on something smaller. "What happened to your accent?" It came out as a whisper.

His gaze remained fixed on the floor, and a nerve jumped in his temple.

The room swayed as the realization finally struck me, like a blow to the solar plexus. "You tell me what's going on, Liam Conner, or I swear I will bring this house down around you."

"No, Lila, you won't." He turned to look at me with eyes like mine—sapphire blue, with yellow swirling around the pupil. "I've blocked your spiritual energy. Now, put on the dress, or I'll put it on you."

I stumbled back into the wall. "The whole time you've been trying to keep me here." Rage swept over me like fire, finding nothing to burn. I kicked the wall, leaving a giant dent in the drywall. Pain ripped through my bare foot. How could I have been so stupid? So many signs, the energy, his ability to sneak up on me so easily, the creeps in the shed. They had to be in on it, too. I'd overlooked it all. Exhaustion and loneliness had made me foolish.

I closed my eyes and searched for that well of energy I'd found not long after hitting puberty. It was there, but an invisible barrier kept me from reaching it, not unlike the one I'd passed through when I came here. The one that dissolved the energy trail, like an invisible spider web. Only this one was solid. The more I pushed against it, the more resistance I met, like leaning against a coiled spring.

"What did you do to me?" I shrieked, hand to my throat. Shit, shit! It wasn't only my life in jeopardy because of my stupidity. If the Glass Man found me, something catastrophic would happen, I knew it.

Out, I had to get out. Liam's body blocked the door, which left only the small window. I wasn't sure my physical strength would be enough to overpower the man made of iron and steel. If I went out the window, though, I wouldn't have time to heal a broken leg from a two-story drop—if I could even do that without my power.