Colters' Lady

Chapter Six

Despite her resolve not to allow herself the luxury of the fantasy Seth offered, she couldn’t stop the yearning, the desire for human contact. Affection. Casual conversation. She’d sentenced herself to a life alone, but she didn’t want to be alone. She wasn’t meant to be alone.

Her brain knew that it was time to stop punishing herself, that it was time to forgive herself and move on, but her heart was utterly broken. And how did she repair something like that? How could she ever break free of something so terrible—something she could have prevented?

It was stupid and melodramatic at its core. She knew this. But it didn’t stop the flood of grief, sometimes so strong that she wondered if living wasn’t the worst punishment of all.

She waited—every day she waited for the pain to stop. Everyone said that time soothed all hurts—

forgave all sins.

“Lily?” Michael asked in a soft voice.

She blinked and looked down. He was finished bandaging her arm. The gauze was thick and bulky and prevented her arm from lying fully against her side. It ached fiercely but she welcomed it. Somehow it was better than the numbness that seemed to take over more with each passing day.

“I’ll need to make you a sling. I’d rather you not move that arm around much until the wound heals.”

“How long will I have to wear it?”

“A few days. Not too long.”

He turned to Seth. “Do you have any ibuprofen?”

“She needs something stronger than that,” Seth growled.

“I’m fine,” she said quickly. “Really.”

Seth shot her a disbelieving look but left to get the medicine.

“He’s right, you know,” Michael said after Seth was gone. “You don’t need to be out on the streets.

Not before. Not now. Not ever.”

She looked away, discomfited by the intensity in his gaze. “I don’t have anyplace else to go.”

“Look at me, Lily.”

Reluctantly, she turned to face him again.

“You do have a place. We’re offering you one.”

“We?”

Michael’s lips tightened for a moment. “Yes, we. I don’t know what’s happening here, Lily. I can’t explain it, but we’ll work it out.”

Her lips parted as her mouth fell open. Seth returned then and took her hand. He dropped the tiny pills into her palm and then held out a glass of water. She swallowed them down and then leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes.

Firm lips pressed against her brow, and she opened her eyes to see Seth bending over, his kiss warm and sweet on her skin.

“Do you want to be down here or in the bed you slept in last night?” The thought of having to move was excruciating. “Here.” Seth straightened. “I’ll get a blanket and some pillows so you’ll be comfortable.” As she watched him walk away, it seemed to her that she hadn’t even considered leaving. Not yet.

The idea of going back to her world scared her to death. She could stay here. Just for a little while.

Seth glanced over at Lily who had fallen into a fitful sleep. She stirred frequently, a frown marring the delicate lines of her face. Then he looked over at his brother who watched Lily with absolute fascination.

This was crazy. He didn’t even know how to broach the subject. And what would he say anyway?

Back the fuck off? She’s mine? Or, how do you feel about sharing?

As if sensing his turmoil, Michael turned and caught Seth’s gaze.

“I think we should bring her home.”

Seth frowned and motioned for Michael to follow him into the kitchen. “Home?” he asked after they were out of earshot. “I live here.”

“It isn’t home,” Michael argued. “We should take her to the mountain. She’s uneasy here, and you’d have to worry at every turn that she was going to take off again. There…there she could rest. Eat good food and have a roof over her head.”

“Are you suggesting we take her to Mom’s?” Seth asked incredulously.

Michael hesitated. “No. My place.”

Seth’s eyes narrowed. “You’re serious about her. You’re not going to let this go.”

“Would you?” Michael asked.

“Hell no.”

“She needs us. She needs a home, a place she feels safe. You’re needed at home, Seth. Callie needs you. Mom and the dads want you there. It just makes sense that we take Lily back to Clyde.” Seth ran a hand through his hair. He’d forgotten all about Callie. Forgotten everything once Lily had disappeared.

“What are we doing here, Michael? Are we really considering the kind of relationship the dads have with Mom?”

“I don’t see we have a choice,” Michael said quietly.

“Christ. What about Dillon? Are we going to have to go throw Lily in front of him to see if he loses his mind too?”

Michael smiled faintly. “Are you asking me if I think it’s possible he’ll react as we have?” Seth nodded.

Michael sighed. “Yeah, I’m thinking it’s possible. Am I going to go shove Lily under his nose and say hey do you like her? Uh, no. But you can be damn certain I’m going to be watching to see how he reacts when he meets her.”

“Jesus, this is weird. Beyond weird. I’ve witnessed this sort of thing all my life, but I never thought for a minute that I’d share a woman with my brothers.”

“You aren’t the only one struggling, Seth. This isn’t exactly how I envisioned my life either.”

“Yeah, I get it.” He glanced in the direction of the living room again. “So how are we going to convince her to go home with us?”

“We could always kidnap her,” Michael said with a shrug.

Seth looked at him like he was deranged. Maybe he was.

“I’m a cop, remember?”

“I’m merely suggesting that we bundle her up and go for a ride. A long ride. And if we end up in Clyde, all the better. If she truly freaks out, we can always drive her back, but I don’t believe for a minute that either of us is going to idly stand by and watch her walk back onto those streets.”

“Hell no.”

“So we take her to Clyde—to my house. I don’t want to overwhelm her with Mom and the dads right away or she’ll feel ambushed. I think we should ease her into things there—namely our family.”

“You assume a lot, Michael. What if she doesn’t want anything to do with us? She’s running from something or somebody. She could be in a lot of trouble.”

“To quote one of the dads, when they laid eyes on Mom, her walking away simply wasn’t an option.

They were willing to do whatever they had to in order to make her stay. As I recall, there was a lot of cooking, pampering and worshiping.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Depends on who you ask. Of course Mom is going to spout that nonsense.” Michael shook his head. “No, that came straight from Ryan’s mouth. Hell, Seth, you see the way they still are around her over thirty years later.”

“That’s the way it should be,” Seth murmured.

“But will it be that way for us?”

“I don’t know,” Seth said in frustration. “Do you realize how stupid this conversation is? We can’t make her return our attraction.”

“No, but we can damn sure show her our caring—and eventually our love.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Okay, so we pull off the kidnapping. Christ, I can’t even believe I’m going along with this.”

Michael chuckled. “It’s not like it’s a real kidnapping, and look at it this way. She’ll be the most pampered captive in existence.”

“I need to pack a bag. We should probably head out before it gets dark. Weather’s already nasty.”

“Go then. I’ll watch over Lily while you get your stuff together.”