"Don't bring my sister into this anymore than she has to," I snap, my gaze hardening as Gavin simply cocks his head t the side and a sinister smile spreads across his face. "You once said you were here to help me and now it seems like you are the villain."
"Villain?" Gavin scoffs, folding his arms as he leans back in the booth, eyes roaming over my figure. "The villain here is Nixon, sweetheart, yet you see right past that and somehow manage to ignore it." I mimic Gavin's posture, my arms crossed as I add in a raised eyebrow to the mix. "You see how Nixon is, Lily. You see his violence, his possession, short fuse, and even placing you in a situation where it's either him or your family."
"I doubt you're complaining," I snap, wishing I was like Nixon, a werewolf, able to attack Gavin right now and gouge his eyes out. "You've used this for some reason that I have yet to learn. You're dragging Taylor into this as well-
"Taylor is dragging herself into this mix, sweetheart," Gavin interrupts. "She's the one who is pulling herself into the mix. She's doing all of this because of you, because she thinks that she has to be better than you in shocking her papers. You have to admit it, she loves to shock your parents, and by you running away with an older man means she has to beat that."
"You're saying it's her fault she got raped?!" I hiss. "It is not her fault. She told him to stop and he kept doing. Tell me that's not rape and I'll leave Nixon."
Gavin remains silent as he inspects the restaurant around us. His eyes travel around the interior, back to me, my eyes, my neck, and my chest as I want to smash a glass bottle over his head. "Lily, little innocent Lily, you have no idea what Nixon has done to you, who he has crafted you in to."
"Oh, please elaborate," I snap, my anger reaching new limits.
Gavin offers me a sly smile. "Lily used to be afraid of breaking the rules, of not studying. She used to care deeply for her family and stand up for herself. Now, all she did was move here and meet Nixon Maxwell...you tell me how that worked out. How you chose Nixon, how you let him get his way, how you broke rules and lied, how you willing were bent over his desk-
"My family pushed my limits. He did not pin me against my parents with a trick up his sleeve. He gave me a fair choice and I picked the one that I wanted." Gavin shakes his head, a playful smirk crossing his face as my lips are pressed firm in a tight line. "What are you using Taylor for? To try and manipulate her? To break her limits? To get what you want from her and then toss her away?" I ask, my little sister a touchy subject since she decided to think Gavin was a great idea.
Gavin looks over his shoulder, to the window where the street is displayed. I follow his gaze, looking outside to see my little sister standing by Gavin's car parked out there, her hair cut to her shoulders, attire the same, but her eyes, her eyes look dull even from such a distance. "I'm not using her, Lily. I'm doing to her what Nixon did to you. Tell me that I am using her and that means you realize that Nixon is using you."
I shake my head. "Nixon is not using me and we have different conditions that you and my sister." Gavin simply shakes his head, pulling out his phone as he texts someone. I look to Taylor, her looking to her phone as my skin pales. Taylor heads for the entrance to the restaurant, my throat becoming dry as Gavin looks back up to me. "What are you doing?" I ask, quickly getting to my feet as I overlook the restaurant, only for my heart to fall to my feet as I spot Taylor, her eyes on my own. She looks pissed beyond belief, storming over as I shrink back down into my seat, knowing a conversation is brewing.
As Taylor comes right to the table, Gavin scoots over on the booth for her, my sister sitting across from me as Gavin's tattooed hand is placed upon her thigh. "Tell me, Lily, how does freedom feel?" Are her first words she says, myself at a loss for words as she simply glares at me. "You are free from our family, how does that feel?"
"Like you're complaining," I comment, my fists turning white as Taylor looks to Gavin, as if communicating. "Listen here, Taylor, you're not like this. You are not someone to seek out trouble."
Taylor scoffs, rolling her eyes as I find my eyes glancing to Gavin's hand upon her thigh. His hand is too close to her, tightly grasping her skin, too close to where her short skirt begins as it slides up under the material. "Taylor, you should learn when you're in a bad situation."
Gavin looks to me now, raising an eyebrow. "And you would know?" He asks.
"Lily, you're such a hypocrite." I look to my sister now as she watches me. I take in her attire I once thought to be normal, only for me to have a different intake. Her skirts were once longer, now they leave nothing to the imagination, her skirts once covered more, and now they plummet to where one sharp move leaves her half exposed. She's changed and it makes me sit. She's changed and I feel I have let down my duty as her older sister. "Mom doesn't even ask for you. She doesn't miss you. You want to know what she says?" There's a long pause that makes my skin pale. "She says that she hopes she never learns what happens to you. She says the least that could happen is you get knocked up and Nixon leaves you. Do you two even use protection?"
"Like you would care," I snap.
"Let's at least try to be civil here," Gavin comments.
"I agree, lets me civil and head outside where I'll beat your ass to a pulp."
Nixon.
Nixon stands beside me, towering over as eyes are now upon us. Taking my arm, he pulls me close to him, protecting me as Gavin only smirks. "Ah, you're protective little daddy, Lily, how cute," Gavin comments as Nixon's hand wraps tight around my arm. "I was wondering when you would show up? Don't trust Lily alone yet? Afraid she will leave you like Lillian did?"
I watch as Nixon lunges for the tattooed man, Taylor shouting for them to stop as I simply watch. I simply watch as Nixon pins Gavin to the floor and lands a punch so hard to his jaw that a crack can be heard in the restaurant. Blood covers Nixon's knuckles and I don't feel sorry for Gavin as he lays on the floor, Taylor rushing to aid him as he pays no attention to her, his eyes meeting mine as my throat runs dry. "Believe me, Lily, you don't want to end up like Lillian."
I'm pulled from the restaurant, Nixon throwing a wad of hundred dollar bills at the owner to keep his mouth shut and not call the police. I watch as my life once again changes day by day, Gavin having said things today that make me look at Nixon different. He's mad, his eyebrows furrowed together as he holds me close, hand beginning to hurt as I keep my mouth shut. Nixon was protecting me, but he followed me. Gavin is right in that I do not have Nixon's full trust. I may have seen this as a sign of protection in the past, but as Nixon pulls me alongside him after a fight, I know that Nixon does not trust me.
Could this be because of the past, because of Lillian?
My head swarms with questions as I get into the car I drive here, Nixon explains he'll leave the car he brought here in the garage. He drives off, tires screeching as I become nervous and wanting to ask so many questions. But not questions for Nixon to answer, but rather for a male who my sister is aiding. I need his answers even if I believe a bias is set. Gavin once said he was here to help me and could that be true? Even if he is fucking with my life, could he be correct that he is still here to aid me realize the truth? Gavin warned me that I should of had my answer on Nixon made up before the summer or else I would fall into a pit I could never return from. I made my choice and I stay with Nixon, but what if Gavin knows if something else is in store for me. What if what has happened over the past week is just the tip of a very massive iceberg?
As we pull back to the house, I become lightheaded as the questions have worn me out. Nixon opening my door, he walks with me into the house, only to leave my side as he heads up the stairs and back to work.
He trusts me within his house but not outside. What did Lillian do? She cheated on him with Zion, a man I never want to anger. Lillian died. Could I have been blind to stop the search for my own answers? Heading for the piano room, my eyes are locked upon the white piano. Emily once said that the Crimson Piano was one famous story about the death of Lillian Rice-Maxwell.
My throat dries as I walk to the white piano polished to perfection. If Nixon was telling the truth, this would be a different piano with no signs of a brutal murder upon the lid. If Nixon killed Lillian, wouldn't a sick killer keep the same piano as a reminder of what they did. Nixon could not be that deranged, could he?
I walk to the piano, the lid open today since I decided to play on it this morning and wanted the sound to echo in the house. As I set myself upon the bench, my feet cannot meet the petals. Deciding to scoot up the bench, it screeches across the floor and my feet hit the piano.
There's a soft noise.
I get to my feet, afraid I hit something wrong. But the piano has never made that noise before when I've...been banged by Nixon on it. Maybe I didn't hear something like that evaluate of the other sounds to focus upon...?
My eyes glance into the beautiful instrument, my shaky hands placing themselves along open areas to feel for something damaged. Deciding to press a note, I hear the noise, as if a small object hitting the wood. My hands search around, and as my eyes catch glimpse of the object, my world is forever transformed as my skin pales and I fall onto my butt. Having tripped over my own two feet, fear floods my body as I can hear Nixon calling my name in worry. Telling him I am fine, I lie, knowing full well that as long as I remain in this house, I will never be safe nor free from Nixon Maxwell, the man that murdered his wife, Lillian Rice.
How do I know this?
This piano is the same piano his wife was murdered upon. How do I know? An article said she wore nothing but her favorite pearl necklace when killed...and within the piano remains a blood pearl bead, still there from the murder years ago.
I am living in the same house as a man who murdered his wife because she slept with another and her murder was never solved. I've lived under the same roof of a male that could decide to end my life just like hers if I go against him or lose any of his trust. His trust that I already am short on.
"Lily, are you okay?" Nixon asks again, but now, he stands in the doorway, looking over me as if a predictor I've teased long enough and is ready to pounce.
"I'm fine, just tripped," I inform, my voice shaky as he raises an eyebrow. "I'm just still shocked about what Gavin said." Nixon nods, angered by the subject of Gavin as I bite my tongue from saying more. One wrong move and my throat is slit open. "He's a bastard."
"I believe I put him in his place today, he should not bother you again," Nixon informs, walking towards me as my body tenses. "I make sure no one ever challenged the relationship that we have."
"And if something does?" I ask, eyes widening as Nixon helps me to my feet.
His lips against my ear, I get my reply.
"Then you need not worry about the precautions taken to prevent that from ever happening."
<><>
The moon is full tonight, my body tangled in the cold sheets, and my eyes wide open as I cannot even think about shutting them. Turning my head to the side, Nixon faces away from me, fast asleep as we barely spoke today. A long day with his pack resulted in a short dinner, him locked up in his office, and me avoiding him until I decided to call it a night. I am scared. I am scared shitless because two days ago I found a remaining bead from Lillian Rice, a bloody pearl in the white piano I know now is the one she was murdered upon. Only a sick fucker would keep the same piano he murdered his wife upon, no one would keep it even if someone committed suicide upon it. Finding the pearl in that piano has made me restless for two days, on the edge of my seat constantly in fear of angering Nixon to see if he would murder me. My only question is am I overthinking it...could Lillian have killed herself or was it Nixon.
When Sybil was here we read a report that a male called the police saying that he has a murder to report at this address. That male stated that Lillian was murdered. Nixon was late to the scene of the crime and the investigation was put on hold to little evidence to see if there was a murder. But the position she was in, the autopsy that claw marks were upon her body and her throat slit open. Could she have clawed herself and then slit her throat? Why go through all the trouble if the endgame was just to die? Why not just get it over with quick? Where did her weapon of choice go once the police found her?
Nothing leads to any conclusion except that I have no idea if Nixon will kill me...would he? He says I am his mate yet he could have killed his wife. He killed his wife. Nixon Maxwell killed Lillian Rice...but I still have doubts. But it makes sense, how the blood pearl was in the same piano that anyone sane would have gotten ride of unless they were the sick person who did the deed in the first place.
I get to my feet, heading for the door as I just want an escape. My feet carry me quickly and lightly as I head for the backyard, soon enough the grass under my toes as I cross my arms and look to the sky. Not even a year ago was I here on Halloween, breaking in for a dare only to have my world about to change. I told Gavin that it was not Nixon that pushed me to leave my own family, but my family pushed me to leave them due to how little they would try and resolve our issues, to try and forget them than work together as a family. My father was the only one who cared for the relationship we had as father and daughter, not informing my mother that I was still seeing Nixon until they wanted me pick him over them. I wonder what could of happened if my family tried to resolve itself with everyone pitching in and not just trying to forget it and hold grudges. To think Gavin now stands beside Taylor as he uses her to get to me. He uses her for some sick reason I know not of yet except to get on my nerves. He has a sick and twisted mind.
But don't we all at some point in our lives.
"Lily?" His voice calls out from the balcony above. Looking up from the ground, I see Nixon overlooking the backyard from our balcony, eyes meeting mine. "Are you okay?"
No.
"I couldn't sleep," I respond, looking back to the garden before me as I see Oliver's house many yards away but feeling close. I haven't spoken with him
For what feels like years I have not spoken to him.
I hear a thump upon the ground, a breeze of cold air as I look over my shoulder to see Nixon behind me. He jumped from the balcony, landing like some superhero stance as he gets to his feet, hands dug into his pockets as my throat runs dry. I fear what he could do to me. "I have some bad news."
I raise an eyebrow.
"King Zion needs me back at the palace. There's a meeting and I have to attend. The war is taking a larger toll than imagined." Nixon will once again be gone and there's nothing to be done but stay here. Stay here all alone and give myself a set amount of time to uncover the rest of the story. I have limited days when Nixon leaves to uncover the truth that I may just wish I never did uncover.
"How long?" I ask, sounding sincere as I really am wanting him to pack his bags and vanish.
Nixon shrugs. "A week at most I would say. I told him not too long." I nod, looking back to the garden as Nixon walks up to me, standing beside me as the summer breeze blows soft against my skin. His hands move, fingers brushing a loose strand of my hair behind my ear as I tell myself to act like I had never found that pearl. To act like Gavin had not confronted me days ago and told me that Nixon was the devil himself and for me to tread lightly. "I hope when I return that we will be able to find a new house in the city for your university."
Nixon is giving me part of my dream. He is giving me an opportunity of university where he puts me through it where I owe no debt, where we move and he is willing to do that all for me. Nixon is willing to relocate for us, for our future. But how long? How long does he want to continue to be with me until we fall apart of he pops a question that ties us together forever...forever.
"I'd like that," I comment, looking up to Nixon as he turns to face me, hands on my hips as I take in a deep breath. As lips lightly meet my own, his hands are soft upon my body as I let him have this moment, knowing to have him not suspect a damn thing.
"Just promise me something this time," he whispers, getting my attention as I pull away, nodding for my answer. "Don't go snooping through my things like last time."
It's a warning. A warning that holds a dark tone behind it, causing my skin to pale and the hairs on the back of my neck to raise.
"People are to trust their Alpha, Lily, not question them to the point of breaking in with a stranger into private belongings," Nixon adds, holding me tighter as I want to pull away, to place a distance between us as the words he has just spoken are not ones of comfort. "The last person who did something like you did to my office, they were declared a rogue, cast aside from the pack. Do you want to know what else happened to them?" It's not a question, it's just a transition phrase he's using to frighten me even more than he already has. "I made him think he could get away with a crime like that so easily, but I sent my warriors after them, telling them to bring me back his head."
I want to vomit.
"But don't fret, Lily," Nixon whispers, pulling me closer as I'm like a deer in the headlights. "You are my mate and Luna, meaning not even my hands would dare harm you." It doesn't make me any more comfortable. "Can you promise me you will not go snooping around?"
I have to lie. I have to lie because I have to go and uncover what I need.
"I promise," I whisper, Nixon's lips tugging upward at the ends as his dark blue eyes seem to shine in the moonlight. Fingers cup my chin, my head tilted up as I swallow the lump in my throat. "I won't snoop around."
Nixon nods, his smile fading away as he releases my chin and steps away. "I'll be leaving in the morning, in about four hours," he informs, heading back for the house as I see the piano behind him. "I love you, Lily."
I'm lost with words, not because I am overwhelmed by the words and want to break down and tell him the exact same thing as my emotions run wild. No. I am lost with words because I want to run and hide, I want to turn my back to him because I know those words are some sick tactic of his. "I love you too."
Do I? No. But yet here I stand, saying those words out of fear and a realization that I came to weeks ago. That night when Nixon and I fought, when his fist went through the wall and I still walked back to him. I had gone back to him, swallowed by the darkness that consumed us. That still consumes us because I still stand here, not leaving him as I made my decision. I picked this man over my family. Why? My family was miserable and Nixon was a dream...a nightmare. Why did I go back to him? Why? I'm some addict just like he once said I would become, having been marked only made a things more obvious as I will always feel that pull. That pull of a mark by mates as my human soul cannot understand the feelings he says that he has for me.
Nixon vanishes into the house, leaving me behind as I know his words were a threat. His whole warning to not snoop around was a threat and I know it. It's just that if he finds out I will be snooping while he is away, will I have the same fate as Lillian. Lillian, a woman who I claim Nixon killed and all I have is a blood pearl bead to prove it. The piano is the same. I know it is. Why? The bead is still in there. If she had committed suicide he would have gotten ride of that piano, but no, he it is, within the walls of his house. Only someone sick would keep the same piano, especially after the murder, as it would be a trophy to them. A sign of what they did and would help them hold their head high.
My eyes wonder back to the moon, the object that calls to Nixon's kind every night yet I still hold no significance for the object. It's just a moon, effecting the tides of the earth as Nixon sees it as something greater. I could never understand that. He called me his Luna, a role I hardly know what to do since I've only been twice, the pack nice but questioning my presence. Nixon calls me his Luna when I do not even do anything a Luna should.
I have a question that I need to ask pack members. I need something answered but how can I if they are loyal to Nixon only. He said that his pack members were the ones to inform him of my snooping around. Mrs. Adams. I can trust Mrs. Adams. I know she will help me because Lillian was his sister and she would be willing to aid me. To aid me in knowing who this Gavin is and what he has to do with Nixon. Perhaps Gavin was part of the pack or an enemy. Whatever he is to Nixon, even if he's a complete douche, he's giving me aid even if I hate what he says. I need to know who Gavin is.
I need to speak with him one last time, even if it results in something terrible.