“I’ll stay and do a perimeter check.” Apollo says.
“I’ll go with the two of you if you were serious about grabbing stuff to stay here.” Armando says to Paisley and Cora.
“Why? We’re not the ones getting weird texts.” Paisley rolls her eyes.
“Because whoever it is could go after the two of you.”
“Ugh. Lets go.” Cora grumbles.
After they all leave, I look at Tristan.
“Thank you for being here, I feel like Grayson is over reacting. I don’t think I need security for a few text messages.”
Tristan
I’m really happy that I get to spend more time with Lily. But the dilemma I’m having is that it’s hard to protect someone you’re with or want to be with. This is why the women in our family have bodyguards and none of them are their boyfriends or husbands.
“Those messages were threatening. What do you write? Are you an author?” I ask her.
“I’m not really an author. I’m a ghost writer.”
“What does that mean?”
“I write for authors. But I don’t publish the books.”
“So wait. You write and let them take credit for your words?”
“Well, they pay me to do this. I like what I do. I get to be creative, but I don’t have to put myself out there. I know it seems weird to some people. Paisley and Cora keep telling me to publish my own books. But I’m just not ready.”
I nod as I listen to her.
“Maybe one day you’ll be ready. So what do you write?”
“I write romance. But nothing really dark, the last book I did was about a military man who gets hurt and falls in love with his doctor. This current one is about an assassin that kills the wrong person. Then falls in love with the wife of the person he killed.”
“Does the author you write for tell you what they want and you write it?”
“Not really. They usually just tell me basic things. Like this time he said it’s an assassin that falls in love. He told me that I can do whatever I wanted with it. So I did.”
“I think that’s awesome. That you have that creativity to create these books.”
I love the color that blushes her cheeks. I wanted to kiss her last night, but I didn’t want to push too fast. When Levi met Felicity, I told him he was crazy because of how fast they fell in love. But I get it now. Lily makes me want to stay here inValor Springs. But at the same time, I know I can’t. Maybe she’ll consider moving to Lake Renegade with me?
I take her hand in mine. I want to tell her that she’s safe and nothing will ever touch her. But I know from personal experience that I can’t promise her that.
“I will do everything to keep you safe.”
“When I saw you at my door today, I felt a sense of relief. Like I knew having you here with me made me feel better about what’s going on.”
Fuck it. I’m taking the chance with Lily. One of the things I learned when my parents were alive was that I can’t take love for granted. I don’t know if she feels the same. But I need to take the chance.
I wrap her in my arms. I feel her lean into me and her arms wrap around me.
“Thank you.” She whispers.
I lean down and kiss her gently. We hear someone clear their voice behind us.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.” Apollo smiles as he comes back into the house. “I think we can secure the house easily. There’s a fence around the whole house and it looks to be in good condition. We just need to get the camera’s up. I’ll get on that now.”
