Clay eased the door open and closed it behind him. Unfortunately, the son of a bitch could still be heard yelling though the door. He turned and smiled at Lily who was sitting up, her face as white as a sheet, looking like she was in pain, which brought out all sorts of protective instincts in him.
“That’s your husband?”
Lily nodded imperceptibly, looking terrified. “Soon-to-be ex-husband. Is he coming back here?”
As if I’d let him anywhere near you.
Clay shook his head and lifted her cold hand into his as he laid the roses in her lap. Her other hand trembled as she raised them to her nose and sniffed. “He used to bring me roses when he apologized for…you know.”
Clay wanted to remove the pale peach roses from her grasp if they gave her bad memories.
“She better tell me to my face that she’s divorcing me! No way in hell she’ll go through with it. She bears my mark. We agreed ’til death do us part, damn it! Nobody else is ever gonna want her with my mark on ’er!”
Lily fell back against her pillow. His words seemed to have as profound an impact as if he’d punched her.
“Lily! Lily! Get out here now, so we can settle this! I didn’t come this far to go home empty-handed!”
The hateful voice had drawn closer, and Clay rose from the chair, prepared to defend her. The guy was big, really big, but Clay had height in his favor and would damn sure give him a run for his money. He wanted to strangle the person in the sheriff’s office responsible for the administrative error that had led to her husband being contacted without her approval. Lily still held the roses in her hands.
To distract her, he said, “If you don’t like roses anymore, I can get rid of them.”
Despite the commotion outside and the continued trembling in her hands, Lily said, “He always brought me red roses. I love these. They’re a pretty color and it’s not their fault he’s an asshole. I like them just fine.” A loud thud reverberated through the wall outside her doorway, causing her to startle and her smile to abruptly disappear. Clay rose from the chair again, but she grasped his hand. “Don’t get involved. Please stay here with me.”
Incredulously, he turned to her. “He’s assaulted you. He sets one foot in that doorway and I’ll be plenty involved.”
“Lily! Send that bastard out here! I wanna talk to him!”
Lily tightened her grip on his hand, but Clay gently loosened her fingers. “He’s terrorized you for years. Now he can pick on someone his own size.”
He stalked to the door and pulled it open. Hank and the deputy were both bodily blocking King from coming any closer. The nurses stood side by side, barring the doorway. “Ladies, why don’t you keep her company? She looks like she’s in pain.” They looked at him and at Hank who nodded, looking concerned for their safety. Clay let them slip past him before pulling the door shut, approving when he heard the click of the lock on the heavy door.
“Are you the son of a bitch she ran off with yesterday? You fuckin’ my wife?”
Hank quietly ground out, “Now, Mr. King, you’re gonna lower your voice. Settle down and say what you need to say. It’s our mistake that you were called, but you’re disturbing the peace and I’m about ready to throw your ass in jail.”
Ignoring Hank, King glared at Clay. “I asked you a question, asshole.”
Clenching his jaw, Clay replied, “Your wife ran from you all on her own and about high time she did, judging by the shape she was in.”
“That fat, lazy bitch was just fine when she hightailed it out of Durst yesterday. You fucked her yet? No? You don’t want to, either. You know why?” When Clay didn’t reply, King said, “Because you’d be riding another man’s property. Check her. She wears my mark. She’s mine!”
“Not anymore, she’s not.” Fury roiled inside Clay at the thought of this foul, violent bastard marking defenseless little Lily in any way. “She wants nothing to do with you. You’ll be hearing from a lawyer soon.”
King leaned his face forward between Hank and the deputy as they strained to hold him back, and pure evil glimmered in his eyes. “Who are you anyway, pretty boy? Why do you care about some fat fucking broad? Someone else’s wife?”
Hank cast a look at Clay and broke in. “Don’t say anything. You don’t need to tell him anything.”
“I’m a friend. That’s all you need to know. We take a dim view of women being abused by their husbands in this town.”
“I never gave her anything she didn’t ask me for. Haven’t you ever heard of dominance and submission? I dominate. She submits. Period.”