“Hello,”Lily’s sleepy voice chimed through the intercom.
“Open the door, Lily. We need to talk,”I said, making sure she knew Iwouldn’t take no for an answer.
“Fox? What are you doing here?”
“Just open the door, Lily,” I growled, impatience getting the better of me.
A sharp buzz rang out into the morning air, letting me know she’dopened the door. I yanked it open and stormed up the flight of stairs to her apartment, finding her opening her doorjustas I hit the landing.
“Fox, what’s going on?”Lily said, her brows furrowed as she wrappedher robe around her. Her hair was tussled, her eyes thick with sleep.
“Cut the bullshit, Lily. Do you have any fucking idea the hurt you’vecaused?”I shoved past her into the small apartment before spinning around to face her with my hands on her hips.
She shut the door, turning to face me with confusion writtenover her face.“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“So you’re telling me you didn’t put Annaliese up to sneaking intoNash and Sav’s party last night and confronting Cora?”I snarled, unable to rein my temper in.“You didn’t get her to tell Cora a whole heap of bullshit about you and me, and other women I’ve been with?”
Lily’s brows rose in surprise as her mouth dropped open.“Fox…I…I’m sorry, but no, I didn’t know Annaliese had donethat. I certainly didn’t put her up to it.”
She spoke with conviction in her voice, and for the first time since I’dseen the footage, I wondered if I’d gotten it wrong. Either Lily was an impeccable liar or she genuinely didn’t know.
“What’s going on?”a voice rumbled from behind me.
Spinning, it was to find a man wearing only a pair of gray boxersemerging from the door I knew led to Lily’s bedroom. He was a scrawny guy, not someone I would have pegged as Lily’s type. NotthatI gave a damn who Lily fucked.
“Nothing, Robbie,”Lily said, crossing the room to him and taking hishand.“Go back to bed, I’ll be in soon,”she purred in a voice I knew too well.
He looked from Lily to me, sizing me up.“No, I’m not leaving you,”hesaid, the hint of nerves in his tone betraying his bravado.
“It’s nothing to worry about. This is my boss,”Lily said,waving a hand to me.“Fox, this is Robbie. He’s…well, he’s a friend of mine,”she said, her cheeks blushing.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, a slither of tension easing from meat how Lily was gazing up at Robbie. It was like he’d hung the moonjustfor her.
Thank fuck. She’d moved on.
Butthen, if she’d moved on, why the hell did Annaliese do what shedid?
“It’s nice to meet you, Robbie,”I said, playing nice.“I’m sorry to havedisturbed you both, I jumped to the wrong conclusion about a situation. I shouldn’t have barged in here.”
Lily muttered something to him, low enoughthatI couldn’t hear. Hislips pursed into a thin line before he threw me a look of contempt.
“Please, baby,”Lily said, stroking her hand down his bare chest. Theman melted under her touch, giving her a kiss before disappearing back into the bedroom.
When the door shut, Lily turned to face me again.“I’m sorry, I shouldhave told you about Robbie.”
I shrugged.“You don’t owe me anything, Lily.”
“Right,”she said, her gaze dropping to her feet.
“Have you been seeing him for long?”I didn’t care, but I hadbarged in and accused her of somethingthatI now wasn’t as convinced she’d done. The least I could do was give her the time of day.
Her eyes lifted, and a small smile crept over her lips.“I met him acouple of days after I embarrassed myself by turning up at your place. Things have been going well between us.”
“I’m happy for you.”Truth was, I didn’t give a shit if she was happy ornot, so long as she kept the fuck away from Cora.
“Thank you. That’s why I emailed you the other week. I didn’t wantthere to be any awkwardness between us. You’ve moved on and so have I.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek, considering everythingthathadhappened in the last twelve hours.“Youreallydidn’t know about Annaliese?”