I lift the peak of my cap to look at her. “I wouldn’t know. I moved out over a week ago.”
She tilts her head, studying me with her blue eyes. “What happened to your face?”
I cover the side of my eye with my palm. I thought I’d done a pretty good job of covering the bruise with makeup, but clearly not. “Just got into a fight.”
Her brow wrinkles. “Kane’s many things, but I’ve never known him hit a woman.”
“Oh, no. I got into a fight with someone else.” I swipe more of her groceries over the scanner, not really wanting to talk to Lilly about Kane. No doubt she’ll be glad I’m out of the picture. A wave of sickness floods over me. The thought of her visiting Kane and ending up in his bed pains me. I’ve never been a jealous person, never really had anyone I cared enough about to be jealous over. But right now the thought of Kane tenderly kissing her as he would me, cuts deep. He may as well stab me in the chest with his dagger.
“So, where are you staying? I’m surprised Kane let you go.” She packs each item neatly into a bag as I pass it through the scanner.
“He didn’t exactly have a choice. I moved in with Jesse.”
Her head flinches back as if I just hit her in the face. “Gareth Bennett’s house?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Does Kane know?”
I shrug. The tracker is still on my car and phone, so he must know where I ended up if he cares to look.
“Don’t let him know you’re staying with the Bennetts and don’t let him see that black eye if he comes in here.”
“He won’t care. He hasn’t come looking for me or made any attempt to contact me.”
“Oh, he’ll care. And if he sees your eye and puts two and two together, he’ll land himself back behind bars. I care about him and I don’t want history repeating itself.”
I scan the last of her items and ring up the till. “£94.65. What do you mean, history repeating itself?”
“You know.” She swipes her card on the machine. Another beep.
I stare at her. Am I missing something? “You mean because he murdered my… Gavin Bennett?”
“Yes, but any man would lose his temper after finding out their girlfriend was raped. I can’t believe you would want to live with them after everything that happened with your mother…”
She’s still talking, but the pounding in my ears muffles her voice. Mum was raped? The supermarket spins, distorting as if inside a blender. My father was a rapist.
Lilly places her hand on my shoulder, stopping the whirling around my head. “Are you all right? You’ve turned white.”
I’m not all right. I’m numb, unable to speak. A cold sweat coats my skin and a blast of ice courses through my veins.
“You didn’t know, did you?” Her eyes sadden as she gives me a sympathetic smile.
Another woman places her groceries on the conveyor belt. Lilly stops her. “They’re closing this till, love.” The woman huffs and scrambles to another checkout. “Shay. Can you cover? Violet isn’t feeling well.” She snaps her fingers at the supervisor.
I stand holding a hand over my mouth in case my stomach follows through with the threatening nausea.
Lilly takes her receipt and collects her shopping bags. “I’ll take you home. Come on.”
I gather my bag from under the till and walk out with Lilly in a daze. My jacket is in the staff room, but I don’t care about that. I’m numb against the biting wind.
“Get in the car. I’ll drive you to my place and you can tell me everything.” She unlocks her Audi.
The sickly sweet strawberry air freshener has my stomach churning even more. I buckle up with stiff fingers.
She slips into the driver’s seat and starts the engine.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
