Accidental Bride

32

Roman was already awake by the time Lily sat up in bed. She was tired and exhausted. They'd had the most silent sex last night and Lily could only think of what next she had to do.

"I want to go home now." She stated, not turning to look at him. She feared that meeting his eyes would force her to change her mind but she really needed the space to think.

Roman nodded and got to his feet, "I'll wait for you outside, you can clean up and get ready in-"

"No, I want to leave now." She shook her head at him.

"Alright." His voice was low and he sounded just as tired as she was. She wondered if he'd had any sleep at all. She didn't want to care but she hoped that he got enough rest.

Roman helped her to the passenger seat and got on his side.

Lily sighed, bracing herself for another moment of silence. It was going to hurt her ears but she couldn't bring herself to look at him yet alone have a conversation with him. It felt like although she was his wife, he was someone else's property.

Even now, she no longer bothered about what his conversation with Fred had been that had got him upset in the first place.

*
They arrived at the house and Roman parked right in front. Getting out of her seatbelt, she furrowed her brows at him, "aren't you coming down?"

"I'll be home later." He was avoiding her gaze.

Probably off to see Cassie and apologise to her, Lily thought. Maybe they'd gossip about how foolish and desperate she was to apply to be his wife on the internet.

As soon as she was out, he zoomed off like he'd been waiting for her to leave. She sluggishly made her way into the house and gathered a few of her stuff into a bag.

She found her phone on the nightstand beside their bed and hugged it against her chest, "I missed you." She unlocked it to scan for new text messages and there wasn't really anything except a few good night texts from her mom and Jerry wanting to know if she was okay.

Jerry.

She called his number, hoping he wasn't off working.

"Hey." He answered almost immediately. "I wanted you to call me first just so I was giving you time to think. How are you doing now?"

"I'm fine, thanks for being considerate." She managed a smile. "Um, I might have a very strange request." She started to say with a sigh, hating herself for doing this, hating Roman for causing her to do this.

"Sure, what's it?"

"Can I maybe stay with you?" She asked him in a low voice and was quick to add, "only for a few days I promise. I'll be out before you know it, you won't even know I'm there, I-"

"Lily it's fine, you're welcome to stay, I'll prepare the guest room for you, I have today and tomorrow off anyways." He assured her, "but are you fine?"

"Oh Jerry, I hate to bother you so much on your resting days, don't stress it, I'll do whatever work it is." She sighed. She knew it was stupid and such an inconvenience. They'd only just met after such a long time and here she was bugging him but she couldn't risk putting her sisters or mom in danger again. It was better Jerry than them.

"Lily, I'll be expecting you." He told her. "It's okay."

"Thank you Jerry, you're a lifesaver." She hung up.

Standing to her feet, she looked around the room to see if she had left anything behind.

She took her bag with her and headed downstairs. She stopped when she saw Fred on one of the couches. She frowned, thinking about how he'd called Cassie even knowing she'd been with Roman. She chose to ignore him and continued to make her way to the door.