Typhoon & Tempest

Chapter Thirty Four

Lily shut the door as Ryan walked in, removing his suit jacket and placing it on a hook. He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked around her home and admired all the pictures and artworks hanging on the wall.

"Your home's nice." He praised, smiling when he spotted an old picture of Lily and her family on the mantle piece. "Was this your family?"

"That is my family, yeah." Lily tucked her hair behind her ear before fiddling with Rio's ring still on her finger, watching as he picked up the picture and admired them.

"Wow." He admired, brushing his thumb over the frame. Lily was only ten when the picture was taken; Rio was ferociously tickling her sides while Delta held her feet down, and her parents had run over to tickle Rio and Delta. Ollie had been there and snapped the picture when they were all laughing with wide smiles on their faces. "You all look so happy."

Lily fidgeted as she watched Ryan. He was just standing in her living room and staring at the picture silently. Her belly fizzled. Her anxiety shifted her feet and made her speak without thinking.

"Did you want something to drink?" Lily blurted, causing Ryan to look up at her. "Not like, drink drink, but a tea? I have tea... Or coffee, if you're a coffee kind of person? Or we might have some milk and juice, not milk and juice, that would be weird - I'm just gonna grab you a water."

Lily briskly walked to the kitchen and grabbed a glass, telling herself to calm down. Was she anxious because Ryan was holding a picture of her family? Maybe because he was wearing a suit with a matching blue tie to her dress? Lily paled when she remembered she was only in baggy lounge trousers and a comfy jumper with her sling holding her dead arm. The definition of a catch, she thought sarcastically.

As she filled the glass from the tap realisation washed over her. It was the flicker of uncertainty in Ryan's light blue eyes when he was at her doorstep - Jacob's words whispered in the back of her mind yet again.

They don't understand what you are. They only understand what you can do. It's set the pack on edge, it's infected their minds. They are scared of you.

Lily took a few deep breaths, settling her churning and walked back out to the living room. Ryan had taken a seat on the sofa facing the television after placing the picture back and smiled as she handed him his water.

"Thanks Lily." His mouth quirked up but they both froze when their fingers brushed. Lily swallowed as his soft touch slid off her own and took the glass from her. As she sat down next to him, Ryan's gaze flickered and he swallowed the memory of her hands bathed in lightning.

Lily shifted when she sat next to him, placing the pillow on her lower back to avoid touching the fresh scars on her shoulder. She itched at the sling's fabric around her neck, frowning at how tight it was.

Ryan watched her as she got comfortable, seeing all her nervous ticks. The furrowing of her brows, how she rolled her lips as she shifted to face him. The only one she wasn't doing was fidgeting with her fingers - he stared at her sling, a void opening in his heart at the sight.

"It looks worse than it is," Lily said, snapping Ryan from his stare as she gestured to the sling with her good arm. "I mean, it is paralysed, but it's...okay, maybe it is worse than it looks?"

Ryan forced a smile on his face as Lily tried to laugh it off, his eyes never leaving her face, needing the reminder she was okay. She was back to normal.

"So," Lily cleared her throat. "Why are you here and not at the formal?"

"They weren't serving milk and juice." Ryan smirked.