Denied Read Free

covering one side of his face faint enough for him to live with. She’d given him a reason to leave his father’s property for the first time in his life.
    Perhaps he’d simply reached the point where he figured he didn’t need her anymore.

 
     
    Two
     
     
     
     
     
    Whatever Monster’s reasons for sending her away, she needed to focus on what was happening now. She would go down to the police station and tell them the truth, but she couldn’t do so like this. She needed to take a shower, and then tidy up the mess she’d made.
    Her throat burned from the bile and she was seriously dehydrated. Before she could do anything else, she needed a drink. Lily pushed herself up from the floor and stumbled over to the sink to pour a tall glass of water. She let the faucet run before filling her glass, figuring the water would have been sitting in the pipes for a while. She gulped the cool liquid down and then refilled the glass, but her stomach churned, the water rising up, and she held her hand to her mouth, suddenly nervous she would lose it again.
    But her stomach settled and she was able to think again.
    Wanting to get rid of the stench, and knowing she wouldn’t want to touch it once she was showered, she grabbed some cleaning products and towel from beneath the sink and set to work cleaning up the pile of vomit. She twisted her face away as she scooped it into a bag, trying to breathe shallowly through her mouth. Her stomach still wasn’t completely right, her throat still burning from the stomach acid. She didn’t want to be sick again.
    When the floor was clean, she dumped the bag in the trash, reminding herself to take it out later, and then headed to the bathroom.
    She reached out to switch on the shower, and noted how badly her hand shook. Was the shaking the result of the drugs, or caused by the emotional trauma she’d been through? She thought it was probably a combination of both.
    The water hit the bottom of the tub. Lily peeled off her clothes and, on trembling legs, climbed beneath the shower. She didn’t have the energy to stand, so instead sank down, sitting on the porcelain, allowing the shower to drum over her head and shoulders. She couldn’t believe it was over between her and Monster. She knew it was stupid to be upset about the relationship considering everything he’d done, but for some reason she couldn’t get her head around it. Was it the lack of closure? The fact she hadn’t seen this coming? In her mind, it had only been a matter of hours ago that he’d been holding her in bed after they’d made love, and then she’d woken up here.
    Something occurred to her. He must have known what he was planning when he’d had sex with her the previous night—if, in fact, only one night had passed. She didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious. Had the sex been his way of saying goodbye? She sought her mind for anything different, any level of intensity she might have missed. But their love-making had always been intense. He hadn’t done anything to make her think he was planning anything like this, though he had asked her again to return to the States for her own safety. She’d told him she couldn’t go back to living her old life, especially with him not in it. She’d told him she loved him, and would never leave, whatever happened.
    Had those been the words that had secured her fate?
    Lily soaped herself down, and washed her hair, and brushed her teeth. The sensation that she was walking around in a dream never left her, but she didn’t know if it was the result of the drugs, or of everything that had happened over the past few weeks. She’d never imagined she would see this place again—she’d figured she’d end up dead before she did—and a part of her had mentally stored this apartment away in the same place she’d stored the old Lily.
    Climbing out of the shower, she grabbed a towel and hurriedly dried herself. She selected smart clothes, unconsciously choosing those