Page 73 of No Control
But then Lydia turns around.
“Whoa.” Cher looks back at me, her excitement shifting to worry—and then rage. “That’s Piper Lewis.”
Lydia’s smile slowly starts dissipating as she clings to Duke’s leash. “I…I am, yes…”
“I love your books,” she says flatly.
Shit.
“But I have to say, you’re a long way from Oklahoma.”
Lydia tugs at the bottom of her sweater. “I am. You must be in the private group to know where I’m from.”
Cher nods, narrowing her eyes as she steals a quick glance at me before looking back at Lydia. “I am. I recommend your book to just about everyone. Including Henry.”
“I saw the note,” she says, taking me by surprise. Lydia stands with her hip cocked, her eyes bouncing to me every few seconds. She can feel the tension. And I’m about to get ripped a new one before this is over—but hopefully not in front of Lydia. That would be too much for her to handle.
“Ah, so…How did the two of you meet?” Cher continues to block us from entering the house.
“We can get better acquainted inside,” I cut in gruffly.
“No, I want to know how the two of you met.” Cher glares back at me. “How did you meet her, Henry? Why is she here? A capti—”
“I hired her to write a book for me,” I stop her.
Her brows shoot sky high. “You hired her to write a book? Since when does a hitman become an author? Huh?” She turns to Lydia. “You do know what he does for a living, right? He’s not some—”
“She knows,” I growl, placing my hands on Cher’s shoulders and guiding her back to the door. “And she’s had a pretty fucked up twenty-four hours so let’s just lay off.” I push her faster than Lydia and Duke can follow, lowering my voice. “Do not keep pressing the issue in front of her.”
Cher jerks free of me, spinning around with rage in her blue eyes. “You did something to her, didn’t you? What’d you do, Henry?”
“Stop whisper-yelling at me,” I snap, just as Lydia and Duke step into the cabin.
“Your house is lovely,” Lydia remarks, giving Cher a soft smile. I can tell she’s trying. She’s trying to ease the tension in the room. That’s what she does.
“Thank you,” Cher says, this time her tone more friendly. “I’m sorry for interrogating you. I just wanted to make sure you were here on your own accord.”
“Kind of,” Lydia’s reply comes out awkward, and the guilt in my chest beckons me to speak. I open my mouth to say something, but Cher's glare silences me. She's not going to breach the subject. Yet.
Instead, she comes across even creepier than me entering Lydia’s house without permission. “I have the same picture as you do in your living room.” She grabs Lydia’s hand and tugs her toward the sitting room. “In one of your pictures you posted in the private group, there was this old, abandoned house…” I can’t hear the rest of what she says as they step into the living room, but I'm relieved to have a moment alone.
I spin on my heel and head back for the jeep to get the bags. I’m sure Cher won’t go asking Lydia the story of us right now, so it’s safe for me to leave the two of them together. I check my phone, but there’s no update from Jude or Luca. I collect the armful of bags, entering back into the house with a grunt. I use my heel to close the door, surprised to hear laughter wafting through the house.
And it’s a gut punch.
This is what our life could’ve been like.
I make my way through the kitchen to the living room, which now that I’m there, I realize is similar to Lydia’s place— but only in the sense of the décor—and I guess the picture.
“I’m going to take these upstairs,” I say to the two—well, three—of them.
Lydia gazes over her shoulder at me, a smile on her face. “I’ll help you.” Her footsteps are soft against the carpet as she takes one of her bags from my arms. “I need to know where I’m sleeping, anyway.”
“I’ll make coffee,” Cher calls after us as we climb the stairs. “Or maybe you guys should just go to bed…It might be six o’clock in the morning but you two look like you need a solid night’s sleep.”
I nod to her. “Yeah, we’ll see.”
“Come see me when you’re settled, Henry.”
