Page 76 of Lilly
His arms wrap back around me and he holds me for a long time. Eventually though, the pain gets too much and I have to do something. “Lucas, please could you get me some painkillers and adrink?”
“What’s wrong?” I turn to look at him face on and the blood drains from his face. “MOTHERFUCKER,” he shouts as his hand comes up to my temple. It’s throbbing where it collided with the floor, so I can only imagine what it lookslike.
“It’s fine,” I say, trying to ease hisworry.
“No, it’s fucking not, Lilly. He put his hands on you. He hurt you. He was going to…” It’s then that I see the realisation hit him. “Son of a bitch,” he says quietly as he shakes his head from side to side. “Please tell me this is the first time this has happened.” When I don’t speak up, I feel his body shake beneath me as the anger washes throughhim.
Lucas gently puts me down on the sofa before standing. He begins pacing the length of the living room. His hands go through his hair, and he rubs them over his face before running them through his hair again. When they come back to his sides, they clench and unclench. His chest is heaving and his eyes are dark with anger. If I didn’t know him so well, I think I’d be scared, but I know he won’t hurt me. His anger is reserved for Jake. What I am scared of though, I realise as I sit and watch him, is what he’s going to do about it. Right now, he doesn’t look like a man who’s going to let this goeasy.
“We should ring the police,” I say, realising that if I dealt with it properly the first time, this wouldn’t havehappened.
“That won’t be necessary. He’s never going to get the chance to get his hands on you everagain.”
“Lucas,” I say, standing and walking over to him. “Promise me you’re not going to put yourself in anydanger.”
“You just worry about yourself and these two,” he says, putting both his large hands on my belly. I want to argue but the look in his eyes stop me. They are still a little wet, but the dark anger has transformed into a soft concerned and protective look. It’s not a look I can arguewith.
Lucas must see my legs start to get weak as we stand and stare at each other, because he lifts me and moves me back to the sofa. No words were exchanged out loud as we stood there but many were spoken silently. Promises were made and apologies wereaccepted.
“Let me look after you,” he says when he has me settled. “Where are yourpainkillers?”
“Bathroom cabinet. I can’t haveibro—”
“Ibroprofen,” he finishes for me. “I know. Paracetamolonly.”
It’s like my entire body smiles at his words as I’m reminded of what he spent his time doing when he wasaway.
After a few minutes, he returns with a box of tablets. He grabs a glass from the kitchen and fills it with water before handing meboth.
“I’m running you a bath. Not too hot,” he adds when he sees my mouth open to say something, although commenting on the temperature of a pregnant woman’s bath was the last thing on mymind.
“Thank you, that soundsperfect.”
“I should warn you, I’m not leaving you though. You could haveconcussion.”
Even if I wanted to, I don’t have the energy in me to disagree. “Okay,” I mutter, much to Lucas’surprise.
Once the glass is empty, Lucas holds onto my waist and together we walk to the bathroom. He helps me pull my maxi dress off, but thankfully allows me to take control of my underwear. I keep my back to him, painfully aware that my body has changed so much since the last time he sawit.
“Lilly. Please let me see you.” I might have refused if his voice wasn’t sosad.
Slowly, I turn towards him, anxious as to what he’ll think about my new lumps and bumps. Not only is my belly growing at a rapid rate, but my hips are wider and my boobsbigger.
I stand, squirming a little as he runs his eyes from the top of my head to my toes and back again. They finally come to rest on mybelly.
“You’re growing our babies, Lilly,” he says, like it’s only just occurred to him. “There are literally two whole people inside you right now. Two heads, two hearts, four arms and four legs.” He stops in thought for a second. “Twenty fingers and twenty toes.” The look on his face is one I’ll never forget. The admiration of what I’m doing is written all over his face and it causes warmth to spread through my entire body. You’d think I was the only woman to ever be pregnant with the way he’s looking atme.
Once Lucas has had his fill, he helps me into the bath. There is a heat in his eyes that I recognise and I’m unbelievably grateful it’s still there. I had no idea what he would think of me now, but he actually looks even more excited by my body—evidenced by his need to rearrange himself after he’s helped lower me into thewater.
“Everything okay?” I ask with a smile as I watch him. He may have his back to me, but it’s pretty obvious what he’sdoing.
“Yeah. I’m better than I have been in a long time,” he admits, looking over his shoulder at me. When he sees my smirk, he laughs in understanding. “Was it thatobvious?”
I relax back with a laugh surrounded by bubbles as Lucas pulls his tie off and undoes the top few buttons of his shirt before sitting himself down on the closed toilet seat. I know he’s itching to ask for more information about Jake, and I will give it to him, just not right this minute. I need the peace and tranquillity he’s offering me rightnow.
* * *
“Do you want a drink?”I ask Lucas once I’mdressed.
