Page 38 of Keeping Lilith
“I don’t know what he looks like, but I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. You’re safe with me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know, but . . .” Her eyes blazed with a combination of anger and fear. “Don’t say something that I know is impossible to keep. You can’t keep me locked away so nothing happens to me. Then you’d be no better than Ralph or Staunton.”
Julian tried not to let her comparison wound him, but the arrows hit the center of his chest. No way did he want to be either Ralph or Staunton, and just because her safety was a top priority for him, he wouldn’t chain her to the house. “I would never keep you locked away, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to keep you safe.”
He was thinking of the trackers that Alliez used when the guys were on a mission and that the women all freely wore, especially after the bad things that had happened to them. Again, something he would broach when the emotions between the two of them weren’t as high as they currently were.
“I want to go home,” Lilith announced, pulling her hand out of his hold. Clearly deciding the conversation between them was done. He wanted to snatch her hand back, but he wouldn’t do that to her.
“We can do that.” He signaled their server, who came over quickly.
“Is everything okay, sir?”
“Yes, I’d like the check, please.”
“Certainly, sir.” The server smiled and walked away.
Once they were alone again, Julian didn’t know what to say. He wanted to question Lilith more about Micah. And where she’d seen him. What part of the restaurant had he been in? Which direction had he gone after she’d seen him? And more importantly, had Micah seen her? If he had, then the conversation about a tracker would definitely happen. Although convincing her to wear one was going to be a monumental task, especially after how she’d been treated her whole life.
He had reached no answers when the waiter returned. Julian quickly dealt with the payment and pushed back from the table. If he tried to claim her hand, she would likely shake him off. “You good?” he asked as he waited for her to stand.
Lilith nodded as she collected her small purse and her jacket. The gentleman in him, something that had been fostered over the last few years, reached out and took the jacket from her, holding it out for her to slip her arms into it. Believing that she wouldn’t want him close, he made to move, but a hand on his arm stopped him. “Thank you,” Lilith said quietly and slippedher palm against his. Instinctively, his fingers entwined with hers, and when she gave a small squeeze, joy swept through him.
As they walked through the restaurant, he searched to see if anyone watched them closely, but all the diners were wrapped up in their own conversations. The patrons at the bar, as they passed, didn’t pay them any attention either.
Julian kept Lilith close as they waited for the valet to bring his car around. They said nothing, but the silence wasn’t awkward. It was as peaceful as if they were a couple who’d been together for years and not out on their first date.
As he climbed into the car, he thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. A fleeting flash of fabric, but when he looked around, there was nothing there. Yet the hair on the back of his neck stood to attention, and the sensation that they were being observed accompanied it.
Julian took a few seconds longer to really scan the area, attempting to see through the bushes surrounding the restaurant’s driveway, but there was nothing to suggest anyone was there.
“Is everything okay?” Lilith asked once he’d seated himself down and put his safety belt on.
“Everything is perfect.” He wasn’t about to tell her he thought someone had been watching them. She was calm now, and that would only upset her. As it was, he couldn’t be too sure that they were being observed.
He put the car into gear and headed home. The evening had been a rush of mixed emotions, but he was glad he’d taken Lilith out. This was a good step in their relationship.
Micah waspleased Stella’s information had been correct. How she’d got it he didn’t know, and he didn’t care. She was being useful both in and out of the bedroom. The only purpose he had for her. He was well aware that Stella thought differently. That she thought she would be his number one, but she was merely a chattel to him. Something that he could own and use when he wanted it.
Lilith, though, was his number one. She’d be the one he expected to service him the most. While she wouldn’t be given the same privileges as the men in the new group he was forming, she would have some. All the men would know that Lilith wasn’t to be touched, and the women, well, they’d probably want to take her position, but they wouldn’t succeed. He would get them to service him, but they would never be totally his, like Lilith would be.
Now all he had to do was get her away from that man who believed he could touchhis woman.
Richard arrived, and Micah stepped out of the bushes he’d been in while watching Lilith and that usurper wait for their own car to arrive.
“Where to, Master Micah?” Richard asked.
Master Micah.
He liked the sound of that, but it was missing the true ring of authority. It wasn’t something that needed to be attended to right now. He would come up with a title that befitted his stature.
“Follow that car. But make sure we’re not detected.” He pointed to the dimming taillights of the car that contained his woman. “Soon, my Lilith. Soon,” he muttered.
Chapter Nineteen
Something was bothering Julian.Lilith could tell. He probably didn’t realize that when he was worried or pondering something, he would rub his left thumb over this right one.
Should she tell him about it? She didn’t think it was something he’d done while he’d been at Freedom and Love. Then again, he could’ve, because it wasn’t like she was living with him twenty-four-seven then, like she was now.