Page 85 of A Poisonous Plot

“In that case, I’m definitely not opening today. I’ll postpone until next weekend.”

“I want you to do it,” he said. “And I definitely don’t want to be the reason you put it off.”

She took a breath, drawing all the patience she could muster. “Fine. I’ll open the shop today. But you have to promise you’ll stay here and rest.”

He hesitated before he reluctantly agreed. “Ted will help you. And Seren and Kit too. And the rest of the Trenearys, no doubt.”

Lily sucked in a dramatic breath.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and winced at the screen. “Yep, I have a load of messages and missed calls from Seren. And a couple of messages from Kit and Ted.” Her shoulders slumped. “Dante has been trying to call me too. He’ll be after an update. I don’t think I can deal with him.”

“Just ignore him for now. You have other stuff to deal with. And apparently lots of support.” He pointed at the phone.

She tapped on the screen. “Seren will have been worried when I didn’t reply. I’ll just message and let her know I’m fine and will call her in a bit.”

“And tell her you need her help with the shop later,” Flynn added, though she didn’t seem to register him. “I’ll bet she already knows everything that happened anyway. You know what it’s like here… news spreads fast.”

“True.” She pocketed her phone and stepped closer to him.

“You are going to open the shop today?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said reluctantly. “I just need some sleep and then I’ll feel better about the whole thing.” She rested a hand on his arm. “You really do look shocking.”

He tried to smile, but didn’t have the energy. “I’m okay,” he said, then grabbed at her hand when she went to move away. “Sorry,” he said weakly.

“What for?”

“Passing out on you and leaving you to deal with everything.” He felt slightly sick when he thought back to the moment he realised he was going to pass out and leave her vulnerable.

“It’s not as though you did it on purpose.” Again, she went to move away and he tightened his grip to stop her.

“Thanks for staying with me,” he said, eyes locked with hers.

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “You’d do the same for me. Now let me find your keys. Apparently, I’m off to root around in your underwear drawer.”

“You know I’d returnthatfavour anytime,” he said cheekily.

She gave his leg a gentle shove. “Shut up and go to sleep.”

He was fairly sure he didn’t have much choice in that. He’d never felt exhaustion like it, but he managed to keep his eyes open to watch Lily rummage through his pockets for his keys.

“When I come back, I’ll leave your stuff at the front desk so I don’t disturb you,” she told him when she found them.

“Okay.”

“Sleep well.”

“Lily?” he muttered when she was almost at the door. “If you’re not too knackered after the opening, you could come back and tell me how it went.” When she didn’t respond immediately, he felt like the most demanding person in the world. She hadn’t left his bedside all night and now he was asking her to come back again at the end of her busy day. “Or tomorrow,” he added quickly. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. You’ll be too tired to come back later.”

“I’ll come back,” she said, quietly but firmly. “See you tonight.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Once she’d droppedFlynn’s things off at the hospital, Lily trudged back to the shop feeling defeated. Maybe it was tiredness clouding her thoughts, but she really didn’t think she could open the shop.

With her mind racing, she didn’t notice the figure loitering by the shop until she got near.

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