The Devil And His Mistake (18+)

Part Seventeen

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Lillie 

I'd been here, in this safe haven for a few days, and it was amazing, but my mind was monopolised with the thought of my last interaction with Wayne. I had spent weeks, months waiting for him to come and rescue me, but I never once thought about the fact that he may not even care. 

You didn't think we'd actually fall in love, right?

You're just so easy. 

It's not like I can't get any woman I want to agree to this, every woman would kill to be my toy, Lilliane. 

He had played me. Broken me. I still wanted to believe otherwise, that there had to have been an ulterior motive for him saying those things, an ulterior motive for him to pretend he didn't care. 

Laughter broke me from my depressing thoughts and when I looked ahead I found Elizabeth and Jade laughing together as they ate their breakfast, there were two more girls sitting with them. Two more survivors. I had not spoken to many since being here. I didn't want to speak to anybody. 

The happiness on their faces made my chest ache with thankfulness, but I had still yet to feel that happiness that they did. Behind Jade, the strange man who she had flipped off on our arrival, headed toward her. His name was Thomas, and he had spent a lot of time here in the past couple of days, with Jade. They were light fire and ice, they annoyed one another, or rather he annoyed her, but they worked. 

My mind shifts back to Wayne, to his hands and his mouth, and how he made me feel when he touched me or spoke to me. My head dipped and I stared down at my bowl of Weetabix. I had barely eaten, too. I was not hungry, just slightly numb and extremely tired. 

"Morning, Princess," his voice sounded like smooth honey as he parked his arse on the seat beside mine. I lifted my head and forced my eyes to meet his. He was already smiling when I offered him a tired look. "You should try and talk to them, or at least eat something of substance," his gaze flickered down to the mashed-up breakfast in the bowl before me. 

We'd had the same talk for the past two mornings. "I'm not hungry, and I don't feel like small talk," I sighed, staring across at Jade and Elizabeth again. Thomas now sat beside them too, engaging in the conversation, whatever the conversation was. They looked genuinely happy. 

Ryan shifted beside me and one of his hands reached for my spoon. I watched, curious, as he lifted the spoon filled with Weetabix to my face. "Open up," he demanded, and although his usual tone was soft with me, his tone now held no room for dispute. 

I flicked my gaze from the spoon to his face. He did nothing but stare back, his gaze unmoving. I sent him the most annoyed stare that I could muster up with my lack of energy. "If you're not going to feed yourself, I will have to fucking feed you like a child. So, open your damn mouth," he ordered. 

I looked back at the Weetabix. Closed my eyes. And parted my lips. The spoon was placed into my mouth not a second later, I closed my lips around the cold metal and let him pull the spoon free again. I swallowed the soggy Weetabix and felt my own face scrunch into disgust. 

I opened my eyes again, just in time to see him lifting the spoon to my mouth again. "I don't want to eat it," I whispered, finding his gaze again. 

He cocked a brow and I noticed how his brown eyes softened. "I don't care, you need energy, and I know you haven't been sleeping properly either," he muttered his response. My eyebrows scrunched at his response. 

"You were spying on me?" 

He sighed and moved the spoon closer to my mouth. "Open, princess," he ordered, gently. I listened to his demand easily this time, waiting for him to answer my question as I swallowed the second spoonful of Weetabix. It was just as disgusting as the first. "Spying is a very specific description of what I have been doing. Keeping an eye on you, to make sure that you are doing okay, would be a better description," he elaborated, lifting the third spoonful of Weetabix to my mouth. 

"Does Wayne know yet, about me being here?" I ask before taking the third spoonful. 

Ryan stayed silent for a moment and I could see the hurt in his gaze. "Not yet," he told me, and for the first time, I wasn't sure whether I trusted his response. But, why would he lie? 

"Why not?", I shook my head at the next spoonful of Weetabix, and he conceded, placing the spoon back into the bowl before me. 

"It's complicated,"  his response was simple and very limited. I stared at him, needing something more. "We need to make sure that everything is safe before we tell Wayne about what happened to you, and who did it, he won't take this lightly," he tells me. 

Again, was that even the truth? 

"But-", I began before I was interrupted. 

It was Elizabeth who spoke. "We're going for a walk around the grounds, I would like it if you came with us, we haven't spoken much since we got here," she smiled down at me with that brilliantly beautiful expression. She was so young, so hopeful and innocent, even after everything. So strong. Stronger than me. 

I glanced at Ryan, and then looked back up at Elizabeth. "Okay," I said. 

Her smile widened, her eyes creased. "Good!", she exclaimed, reaching down for my hand. I took it and followed her out of the dining hall. We didn't speak until we were outside, the morning sun was already warm, beaming down on us. "I know this has been hard on you," she whispered as we fell into step behind Jade and Thomas, and a couple of other girls. 

"This has been hard for you too," I whisper, still holding her hand. As much as I did not have the energy for people, Elizabeth was so young, I could not be horrible to her. I would not dismiss her. 

I heard her sigh. "Indeed," she agrees. "But we are free now," her hopeful eyes find mine and I smile down at her from the side. "Because of you," she added, surprising me. I had not once thought of it like that, we had all been saved, and I had not given myself any credit. 

I did not want to take credit. "If you had not been there with us, if you had not kept that hope, we would still be there, all of us," she explained and my heart ached as the realization hit. It was true. There was no urgency to save these girls, not until I was there. It made me wonder how many women were taken every day, with nobody to care to look for them, to save them. 

And for the first time in a few days, I felt something more than numbness and pain. I felt that hope that Elizabeth had mentioned. Hope that I could do something more, I could help women like us. I wanted to do that. 

"You saved us. You saved me," she squeezed my hand. "And I will never be able to thank you enough for giving me a second chance at living," her voice cracked with that sentence. My heart faltered and the ache in my chest grew. 

I looked forward, trying to contain my tears. 

Elizabeth squeezed my hand once more. I looked down at her from the side. "I just don't want you to miss out on your second chance now, you can't live in the past Lillie," she whispered. "I won't let you," she concluded, voice sounding strong. She was so young but so mature. 

"I won't," I finally say. 

"You promise?", she beams me a smile. 

I nod my head and look forward to seeing some of the girls jumping into the lake. I smile and look back down at Elizabeth. "I promise," I agree, squeezing her hand. "Can you swim?", I raised a brow, smiling down at her. 

She turns to look and swallows, visibly. "I..don't know," she admits. 

I chuckle and drag her towards the lake. "Well, let's find out, huh? Second chances and all," I smiled back at her. She chuckled and when we reached the lake. We counted to three and jumped in together.

She did indeed know how to swim. 

...Or float, at the very least. 

I know it's short, the next one will be longer. I know I haven't been updating regularly, but I will be doing now. I promise! <3