Easter's Lilly Read online

  I decided to go to the creek, where Max and I last made love. I walked to the rocks and noticed that his beer bottle was still sitting there. I picked it up and Hector came up beside me. I jumped a little. “Sorry,” he said, “but I’m supposed to be watching you.”

  It’s not mine,” I told him, holding up the beer bottle. “It was Max’s last time he was here.”

  “If you want, I’ll leave you alone but I have to be able to see you. I’ll give you your privacy, though,” he suggested.

  “No,” I answered. “It’s all right. I could use the company.” We sat down on the rocks and looked out at the water. “How is he?” I asked. “My eyes filled up with tears as soon as I asked him. He put his arm around me and said, “Only seven more weeks,” and he smiled.

  “Can I talk to him?” I asked.

  “Lilly, I think that will make it worse.” He paused for a moment. “Try to get used to him being gone. I started to cry and put my head in my hands. He pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to me. “Did he ever tell you about Darla?”

  “Darla?” I asked. “Johnny’s roommate’s girlfriend?”

  “Johnny’s brother’s girlfriend,” he answered. “Patrick was Johnny’s brother.”

  “What is up with that guy?” I asked. “He lied to me about everything.”

  “It appears that way,” he answered. “Pat started out as John’s enforcer until he started dipping his hand in the candy jar. Then he became Johnny’s permanent houseguest.

  “Darla? Max and Darla?” I asked in surprise.

  “It was before you got here. They met at one of those territory meetings.”

  “Okay, I can see that,” I blurted.

  “They started… fooling around, I guess we’ll call it.”

  “Max?” I asked. “How, out of character.”

  “Yeah, real out of character,” he said sarcastically. “What’s he doing with you?”

  “He waited almost four years,” I answered.

  “Well, he didn’t with her.” He looked down. “They snuck around for a while and I think that’s when Pat started using.”

  “So, I was hanging around John when all this was going on?”

  “Yes, you were. I think it ended a day or two before you got here.”

  “What happened?” I was saturated with curiosity.

  “Pat caught Max and Darla together.” He cleared his throat. “He vowed revenge and came after Darla when Max was gone.”

  “I don’t like where this is headed,” I answered.

  “Long story short, Max found Patrick after he had beaten and raped Darla and he was on top of her on the floor.” I gasped. “Max shot him without a second thought and Patrick fell dead on the floor beside her.”

  “Self-defense, right?” I asked.

  “Darla reached over, pulled Patrick’s gun out from his waistband and blew her brains out.”

  “Oh my God!” I shouted. “Right in front of him?”

  “Right in front of him.” He took my hand. “So, when you got here, he wasn’t just helping you out…”

  “I was helping him heal too,” I finished.

  “Please don’t doubt that his love is true. He has grown very attached to you.” I smiled. “And no more ‘gun to the head’ thing, okay?”

  “I can’t believe I did that,” I answered.

  “It’s our world, Lilly.” He picked the beer bottle out of my hand and dumped the contents out onto the grass. “It’s dark, its ugly and it often destroys the women we choose to let into it.”

  “Why didn’t he share that with me?” I asked.

  “I think he’s a little ashamed,” he answered. “For starters, he took a woman that didn’t belong to him and in the end, he couldn’t protect her.” I started to see the similarities to our situations. “That’s why it’s important that I watch you,” he continued. “He trusts me.”

  “It’s just hard without him,” I added.

  “Lilly, right now I’m your safest relationship.”

  “And how’s that?” I asked.

  “I’ll never ask you for sex and you can tell me anything and I won’t turn you in.” He laughed.

  “Turn me in?” I asked.

  “I won’t tell your husband, or your boyfriend.” He put the bottle down on the grass beside him.

  “My husband or my boyfriend,” I repeated. “Never thought those words would be in my vocabulary.”

  “The good news is, with Max out of the picture, Diego won’t be so… demanding.” He smiled. I was a little embarrassed but I knew to what he was referring.

  “Do you think so?” I asked with a glimmer of hope.

  “I think he was just trying to wear you out to keep Max at bay,” he answered. “Not that anything could keep Max at bay,” and he laughed to himself.

  “Cut it out,” I said and I hit him playfully on the shoulder. We both laughed.

  “Look a smile,” he said. “That’s good.”

  “I hope you’re right,” I added. “I only want to be with Max.”

  “That’s not what you said last night.” He looked up at me with a vague memory of our one night of closeness in his eyes.

  “Shut up!” I yelled and smacked him in the arm again. This time I think I hurt my hand and I shook it in pain. He shook his head at me. “You wouldn’t have… if I…” I was too embarrassed to finish the sentence.

  “Sometimes I think you’re a little too curious for your own good.” He took my hand and kissed it.

  “You haven’t answered my question,” I reminded him.

  “Soon,” he said, “he’ll be back very soon.”

  We went back to the house and Diego was fixing himself a sandwich in the kitchen. “Tell me I don’t have to worry about you too, Hector,” he said in a half angry tone.

  “That’s just gross,” Hector replied.

  “Gross?” I asked. “Now I’m gross?”

  Diego and Hector started cracking up together. “No baby, he didn’t mean you were gross,” Diego commented. “He meant that he would never be number 3.”

  “Okay,” I said. “What?”

  “You’re fine with number two, though, aren’t ya Hector?” Diego said sarcastically.

  “Two’s okay,” he answered, “but three is just sloppy left-overs from what one and two didn’t finish.”

  “What’s so good about being number two?” I asked.

  “Number two is usually the one the girl wishes was number one but number three is just the guy who can’t find his own girl.”

  “You know you guys are crazy,” I added.

  “Hector, I think she’s smiling today,” Diego added.

  “It’s my charm and wit,” he offered. “Much like my brother’s.” Diego made and face and Hector winked at me. “She’ll be okay,” he replied. “Just keep doin’ what you’re doin’.” I knew what he was implying and I just smiled and kissed Hector on the cheek.

  CHAPTER 15

  Tell me again what it does to you when I call you that.