Maya Banks - Colters’ Lady

“How are you, really?”

“I’m good,” Lily said. “I came by because…” She sighed. “It’s complicated. I need your help.”

“Name it,” Callie said. “Whatever it is, we’ll help you in any way we can.”

Lily reached over to squeeze the other girl’s hand. “I’m so grateful to have you as a friend.” Callie smiled. “The feeling is entirely mutual. Now tell us. What do you need?”

“I need you to go to Denver with me,” she blurted.

Holly’s eyes widened in surprise.

“There are two things I want…need…to do. The first one might sound silly.” As she spoke, she drew out the paper she’d put in her pocket and carefully unfolded it. The two other women leaned over to look.

“It’s beautiful,” Callie murmured. “It’s them isn’t it? Seth, Michael and Dillon.”

“How did you know?” Lily asked in awe.

Callie smiled and pointed first to the circular band, threaded with four colors. A vibrant blue, green, brown and burnt orange. “This is the four of you. Unity. Never ending. This symbol is for Michael, the healer,” she said, pointing to the intricate caduceus that Lily had drawn into the band. Then she pointed to the shield that was equidistant from the other two symbols embedded in the colorful band. “And this is Seth, the protector.”

Holly pointed to the sword, the last symbol in the band. “This must be Dillon, the fighter.”

“Fierce,” Lily murmured. “He’s fierce and loyal.”

“And then there’s you,” Callie said quietly as she traced the lines of the delicate lily coiling from the midst of the circle, blooming, the petals just unfurling.

Lily smiled. “Do you think it’s stupid?”

“I think it’s awesome,” Callie said. “Absolutely amazing. What are you going to do with it?”

“I want to get a tattoo.”

Holly’s mouth dropped open, and Callie’s lips split into a broad grin. “Oh my God, that’s perfect!

Absolutely perfect! Where? You have to tell me where.” Lily brushed her fingers over her hip. “Here. I want it to be private, but I want it to be something they see. And know that it’s us. I’m a little scared and I have no idea where to go. That’s why I was hoping you would go with me. Dillon said you went with him when he got his ink done in Denver.” Callie clapped her hands in delight. “I know the perfect place. The guy there is an amazing artist. I might even get a tat myself while we’re there. I would have done it when Dillon got his, but he got all snarly with me about it.”

“As he should have,” Holly said.

Callie rolled her eyes.

“You don’t approve?” Lily asked Holly. The last thing she wanted was to drag her future mother-in-law to a tattoo parlor if the idea horrified her.

“Oh it’s not that. Callie was a lot younger then and had no business getting a tattoo. What she does when she’s older is her business. And I’m going with you two. It sounds like a lot of fun.”

Her eyes twinkled and Callie and Lily cracked up laughing at the idea of Holly hanging out in a tattoo parlor.

“Oh God,” Callie groaned. “We can not tell the dads what we’re doing. They’d have ten kittens and they’d tie us to chairs for the rest of the day.”

Holly put a hand over her mouth but she nodded her agreement.

“There’s another thing,” Lily said softly.

“Go on,” Callie encouraged.

“We’d need to be there overnight. I want to get the tattoo first. But then…then I’m going to go see my ex-husband.”

Callie sucked in her breath and Holly’s smile dimmed. She reached over and took Lily’s hand in hers, squeezing.

“Do you really think that’s wise? He hurt you, honey. Don’t give him another chance to hurt you again.”

“That’s just it,” Lily breathed. “I let him do and say all those things. I never fought back because I didn’t feel like I deserved better. I believed in my heart that everything he said was true and that he was justified. But he was wrong,” she said fiercely. “He had no right. He was wrong, and I won’t let him get away with it. I have to confront him. I have to lay my demons to rest if I want to go forward with a new life with Seth, Dillon and Michael. I want to look him in the eye and tell him what a bastard he was for telling me I killed our child.”

Tears ran freely down her cheeks. She was angry. Furious, even. But just saying the words. Her child.

It made grief soar through her all over again.

Callie hugged her from one side while Holly wrapped her arms around both girls and rocked back and forth.

“You get mad, honey. You get pissed off. You’re exactly right. He was a cock-sucking bastard for what he did to you.”

“Mom!” Callie blurted.

Lily shoulders shook with helpless laughter at the shock in Callie’s voice over Holly’s crude language.

“Well he is,” Holly huffed. “What kind of asshole lays the blame at his wife’s door when he wasn’t man enough to step up and help ease her burden? I hope you don’t blame yourself anymore, Lily.” Holly leaned away and brushed her fingers through the strands of Lily’s hair. “You have to know it wasn’t your fault. What happened was a terrible, horrific thing that no mother should ever have to endure.

But it wasn’t your fault. It was never your fault.”

“I know that now,” Lily said in a low voice. “For so long, I didn’t feel like I deserved forgiveness.

Now I realize that I first have to forgive myself. And I have to face down the man who betrayed me in a way no woman should ever be betrayed. I can’t not confront him. I’ve been thinking about this all week.

It’s something I have to do for me. So I can be whole again.” She glanced between Callie and Holly. “The guys asked me to marry them.” Callie’s entire face lit up. “And? You said yes, right?”

“I asked them to ask me again in a few days,” Lily said quietly. “I need to do this first so that I can come to them free of my past. Without any baggage. So we can have a fresh start.” Holly stood. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s get this girl to Denver so she can get back and put my boys out of their misery.”

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Lily said as she and Holly and Callie walked out of the tattoo parlor.

She rubbed at her hip, feeling the bandage through the denim of her jeans. “I was expecting a lot worse.”

“You did great,” Callie complimented. “I think it looks awesome, and I think my brothers will think it’s damn sexy. They’re cave-mannish that way. To them it’ll be like they’re branded on you. Their stamp of ownership, so to speak.”

Lily laughed. “I’ll let them think that, anyway.”

“Now you’re catching on,” Holly said as they climbed into the Rover.

Callie leaned up from the back seat. “So, uhm, Mom, what did you tell the dads we were doing, anyway?”

Holly pulled into traffic and started back toward the hotel. “I simply told them that I was going to spend some quality time with my two daughters, and I might have gone a little overboard in the sense that I let them believe that you needed some mothering, Lily.”

“You’re so evil, Mom. I like it,” Callie said in a gleeful voice.

“A girl can always use mothering,” Lily said as she shot Holly a grateful look.

Holly reached over and squeezed her hand. “I know you do, honey. Now, what we need to do is get you back to the hotel so you can relax for a while. Then what do you say we order in room service. Get into our jammies and eat some yummy food while we figure out your plan of attack for the morning.”

“Room service sounds divine,” Callie said. “Jammies and girl time only make it better. I want to check out your tat again when we get back to the hotel, Lily. The artist there does such good work. I’m seriously considering getting something done. I just haven’t settled on just the right art yet. Maybe you could draw me something.”

Lily smiled back at her. “I’d love to. Whenever you have an inkling of what you’d like, just let me know and we’ll see what we can come up with.”

They valet parked at the hotel and went immediately up to the suite that Holly had booked.

“You girls get into your PJ’s and tell me what you want to eat. I’ll order it up,” Holly said.

“You pick for me,” Lily said. “I’ll eat anything.”

“Same here, Mom. You know what I like. Just get a lot of it.”

Holly smiled. “Okay, then. Hop to it. I’ll get our order placed.” Callie followed Lily into the second bedroom of the suite they were sharing. “Can I see it again?”

“Sure,” Lily said.

She unzipped her jeans, peeled them away from her skin and let them fall to the floor. Then she stretched out on her side on the bed and carefully pulled the bandage away on one side.

“It’s amazing, Lily. Seriously. You have such talent. I know the guy inked you, but this is your design. It’s so intricate. It must have taken you hours to get all the detail you put into it.”

“Try days,” Lily said ruefully. “It’s all I’ve worked on for the last week. I drew and I pondered what I wanted to say to Charles.”

Callie grimaced and then plopped onto the bed next to Lily. “I admire you for doing this. I wish…I wish I had the balls to stand up and say, hey fuck you, you were wrong.”

“Is that what happened to you?” Lily asked softly. She replaced the bandage that the artist had told her to leave on for a few hours.

Callie hesitated for a long moment. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. I…I fell hard for someone. I thought he fell just as hard. I was wrong. He took what he wanted and then he was gone without a word.” Lily eased up and then wrapped her arms around Callie. “I’m sorry. That must hurt so much.” Callie hugged her back. “I’ll be okay. I ran home to lick my wounds, and to be honest, I haven’t had the desire to leave again. Maybe that’ll change or maybe I’ve changed. I’ve always been so restless. Ready to take on the world. See new places. Meet new people. Right now I like being surrounded by my family—

people that I know love me and would never hurt me. That’s comforting, you know?” Lily squeezed. “Yeah, I do know. Boy, do I know. I’ve felt that way ever since I met your brothers and was welcomed into your family. I’ll never be able to express to any of you just how much that meant to me.”

Callie smiled. “It’s going to be fun having a sister.”

“Oh crap, you’re going to make me cry,” Lily said with a sniff.

“We can’t have that. We have to keep you strong tonight so that tomorrow you can walk into your ex-husband’s home and kick his sorry ass.”

“My home,” Lily said softly. “Or at least it used to be.” Callie gaped at her. “You mean that all that time you were homeless, that bastard was living in your house?”

“I couldn’t go back there. Tomorrow will be the first time I’ve been back since Rose’s funeral.” Pain still thudded in her chest as she imagined going back. Now. After three years. It seemed a lifetime and just like yesterday all rolled into one.

“I’d like to go with you so I could kick him in the balls,” Callie said with a ferocious scowl.

“Girls, the food’s here,” Holly called from the next room.

“Oh crap, we’ve been gabbing and still haven’t changed,” Callie said as she bolted up.

They hurried into their sleepwear and then went into the next room where Holly was arranging the plates on the small dinette.

“I have to say, Mom, you may not cook worth a darn, but you know good food,” Callie said as she surveyed the array of entrees.

Lily’s mouth watered as she looked from the filet mignon to the lobster tail to the grilled shrimp skewer and the jumbo fried shrimp on a separate plate. There were steamed vegetables, rice and bread rolls.

And the piece de resistance: cheesecake with caramel topping.

Lily flopped into the chair. “Oh God, I don’t even know where to start. It all looks wonderful.”

“Which is why you take some of everything,” Holly said.

“A very sound idea,” Callie said as she reached over to snag a shrimp.

The women piled food onto their plates and chatted while they ate. Lily was glad she’d asked them to come. Not that Seth, Dillon and Michael wouldn’t have come in a heartbeat, but she wanted to surprise them with the tattoo. More importantly, she wanted to confront Charles on her own, and she was pretty certain the guys would never allow her to go near him. They’d want to be the ones to confront him, and it would probably be with their fists.

“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” Holly asked gently.