Touch Me Not (Manwhore, #1)(20)

“Get. Out.”

He moved away from her, and she yanked the door open. “Get out!”

“No!” he yelled. “I didn’t mean it. Please, Lily, I didn’t mean it!”

She could hear the doors opening down the hall, and she closed her eyes, mortified. “Adam, I can’t talk to you right now. I need you to leave. Please.”

“Not until you forgive me.” He pulled the door from her and shut it. “I can’t leave until you forgive me, Lily, please. I’m sorry. I swear to you, I didn’t mean it. I would never try to use that to hurt you.”

“Adam, I’m going to ask you one more time to leave, then I’m calling Mikey to come haul you out. I can’t, not right now. Please, just leave me the hell alone.”

“Lily…”

“No,” she cut him off. “I want you to leave. Go find your perfect little girlfriend who can stand for you to touch her.”

“Shit, Lily…”

“Shut up!” she shouted. “You have no right, none! Now. Get. The. Hell. Out!”

She opened the door. His whole body slumped, defeated. “I’ll leave, but this isn’t over, Lily. I’m not about to lose my best friend because I can’t control my own stupid mouth.”

“I already lost you a long time ago, Adam,” she said softly. He frowned, confused. “Please, just leave.”

Finally, he walked out of her room, and she slammed the door, sliding down until she sat against it. Her whole body shook from the pain of what just happened. How dare he throw that in her face? She felt worse than worthless; Adam had used her phobia to demoralize her. It hurt. Tears burned wet tracks down her cheeks.

Lily was tired of being afraid, tired of feeling like she was worthless, broken, and not worthy of the great Adam Roberts. She was tired of being a self-imposed victim. She deserved better, dammit. Adam was right about that. She’d be damned if she sat here and let her own fear hold her back anymore. She would never let anyone make her feel like this again.

Reaching for her phone, she found Nik’s number. He picked it up on the second ring.

“Lily Bells?”

“Okay, Kincaid, you’ve got a deal.”





Chapter Nine




“What’s wrong?” Nik sat up in his chair and pushed the blonde off his lap. Lily sounded like she was crying. “What happened?”

“Doesn’t matter,” she whispered, her voice a little broken. “Do you want the deal or not?”

“Hell, yes, I want the deal,” he said. Why was she crying?

“Call me tomorrow and we’ll set up the details.” Click.

Nik pulled the phone from his ear and stared down at it, shocked. She’d hung up on him. No one ever hung up on him. Why the f*ck was she crying? The blonde tried to crawl back in his lap, and he stood up. “Luther!”

Luther emerged from the direction of the pool tables. “Yeah?”

“Find your own way home,” he told him. “I need to go take care of something.”

Luther nodded and wandered back the way he’d come. Nik waved his waitress over and paid his bill, tipping the girl a fifty. She’d been a good server, actually doing her job instead of flirting. Plus he knew she had three kids at home she was supporting off her tips. He’d overheard her discussing it with one of the other waitresses last year. Since then, he always tried to tip her well when she was his waitress. She appreciated it, and he got great service.

“We’re leaving already?” the blonde asked, her eyes lighting up.

“I’m leaving. You can do whatever you want.” With that, he grabbed his keys and walked out of the bar, the blonde glaring at his retreating back. He couldn’t get Lily’s voice out of his head. She’d sounded devastated. He was thrilled she’d agreed, but the thought of this making her cry unsettled him.

It only took him about twenty minutes to get to her dorm. He nodded to Jamie, the security officer, as he strolled in. “Jamie, how’s it going?”

“Not too bad,” the young guard said with a yawn. “I just got here, so I’ll let you know in a few hours.”

“I’m supposed to meet Lily Holmes, but I forgot what floor she said she’s on,” he continued, not missing the look Jamie gave him. “She called earlier and left a voicemail.”

“Lily called you?” Jamie asked suspiciously.

Nikoli sighed and pulled out his phone, showing Jamie the last call with Lily’s name on it. “What room?”

Jamie’s green eyes narrowed further, and his red hair only served to make his face look redder when he glared at Nik. “She’s in room 432, but I swear if you upset her, I won’t let you back in this dorm for any reason.”

Nikoli frowned. He was getting tired of the threats. “Trust me.” He forced himself to curb his irritation. “The last thing I want is to hurt her. She’s upset, and I just need to check on her.” With that, he boarded an elevator and tapped his foot impatiently as he rode up to the fourth floor. When he stepped off the elevator, two freshmen stared at him, but he ignored them as he started searching room numbers.

Lily’s door was dead center of the hall, and as he was about to knock, he heard something. Listening, he realized she was crying, and it made his gut wrench. Not letting himself think about why it bothered him, he knocked. He heard shuffling, and then the door opened. Her face was a puffy red mess. “You don’t cry well,” was the first thing out of his mouth. She tried to slam the door in his face, but he caught it and pushed his way in, closing the door behind him.