Prisoner of Love

Chapter Seventeen.

Lili-Rose stared at the cake slice on her plate as she sat on the grass, trying to keep the sun from beating down on her body.

"Babe, this is Aunt Riddy." Lili-Rose introduced her boyfriend to her Aunt, who was sitting at the table in the backyard.

"Lili-Rose has told me so much about you." He smiled at Aunt Riddy.

Aunt Riddy blushed as Lili-Rose playfully looked up at her boyfriend.

"Lili-Rose." Called out Danny as he sat down next to her on the grass, he carefully balanced his plate as he adjusted his position comfortably.

"Excuse me" Lili-Rose spoke to her boyfriend and Aunt Riddy.

The British Gentlemen playfully held Lili-Rose back; not wanting to be left alone with Aunt Riddy.

"Babe, maybe you could give my dad a hand?" Lili-Rose suggested.

The British Gentleman looked over at Matthew in his wheelchair as Matthew tried to get the barbecue working.

Lili-Rose pulled her hand out of his boyfriend's grip.

"Lili-Rose?"

"Danny" She brought her attention to the man sitting next to her as he started to eat the slice of cake that sat on his plate. "Do you remember the wedding?"

"You mean lack of it." Danny laughed slightly "Why?"

"Because I'm supposed to remember why I left him." She sighed.

Danny could see his friend was hiding something, but he couldn't quite see what she was keeping secret "Do you remember the night before?" He tried to change the subject "You came to see me; you were in tears. Scared for something..." He trailed off.

"But Star was there." Lili-Rose scooped a piece of the cake from her plate onto her fork "I ruined your night, so I left." She let the fork linger on her plate for a few seconds before taking a bite. "How are the two of you doing anyway?"

Danny watched her; she didn't know. "She died." He paused for a second as Lili-Rose turned her attention to him "That same night, Star came over wasted, rambling about you and him. Asked to use my bathroom, that's when you came over. You remember seeing her in a towel or shirt, something like that?"

Lili-Rose nodded as she watched Danny remember.

"Before I had a chance to explain, you ran. So, I told her to get her clothes and leave. Star left." He sighed "She drove her car into a tree."

Lili-Rose closed her eyes for a second as she heard Danny's words before slowly reopening her eyes "I'm so sorry."

"You weren't the only one we stopped hearing from."

She felt like that was a stab of words at her, but she wasn't sure if it was from guilt or lack of reaching out earlier.

Before either of them had a chance to speak, Aunt Riddy; a woman with black curly hair messily pinned around her head, wearing a floral dress. As she walked barefoot towards Danny and Lili-Rose, Aunt Riddy held a small gift bag.

"Love, that sweet of yours just dropped this off." Aunt Riddy towered over the two sitting on the grass as she reached out the giftbag.

"Um..." Lili-Rose felt her heart race against her chest.

Danny reached for the giftbag as Aunt Riddy tried to move the giftbag closer to Lili-Rose "Thanks, Rideena." He sensed something wasn't right and wasn't going to force his friend to take the giftbag, from the corner of his eye he could see how helpless Lili-Rose looked.

Danny placed the gift bag on the side of him, trying to keep it away from Lili-Rose view. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, she felt paralysed with fear.

"Aren't you going to open it, love?"

"Rideena, it's her dad's birthday. Pretty sure his the one that should be opening gifts not his daughter." Danny's tone had hints of mind your business with careful calmness.

Aunt Riddy held her tongue, she didn't much like Danny and his father; Geff. Even if Geff was Matthew's friend from childhood.

"Fine." Aunt Riddy gritted her teeth before walking over Betty.

"Thank you." Lili-Rose breathed as she finally caught her words.

"Is everything okay?" Danny asked.

Lili-Rose glanced around the fence line of the backyard trying to see if she could see The British Gentlemen peering over the fence lines; he wasn't. She jumped to her feet and rushed through the house, straight to the front door.

Her heart raced as she yanked open the front door before taking a step out onto the front patio.

Her gaze lingered over the street. No one passed by, not even a car drove pass.

"Looking for me?" The British Gentleman curiously spoke behind the newspaper in his hands.

Lili-Rose slowly turned around to see him folding the newspaper in half before pushing himself off the wall of the house.

"Enjoying the party?" He took a step towards Lili-Rose. "Did you like my gift?"

Lili-Rose held her voice back.

"Oh, come on. I saw you talking to your parents, even Danny." He pretended to be hurt "I never liked him." The British Gentleman looked Lili-Rose up and down. "I actually thought you cheated on me with him."

Lili-Rose struggled to hide her fear.

"Almost killed him. Of course, your saviour Geff stopped me." The British Gentleman gritted his teeth.

Lili-Rose went to slap The British Gentleman across the cheek, he grabbed her throat and pushed her up against the pole of the patio. Her hands tried to pull away his hand from her throat as she struggled to keep the tears away.

"I'm not going to kill you. I love you too much to let anything happen to you." He forcefully pressed his lips against her's as he hand moved away from her throat. "Enjoy your present." With that sentence, he calmly stepped off the patio and down the short path of the front yard before walking out of the gate. He walked out of view of the house.

Lili-Rose hunched over as she broke down crying.

Lili-Rose didn't care how long she had stayed out on the front patio as she struggled with her emotions. Using the pole of the patio, she slowly rose up to her feet. She barely had a chance to take a step when the front door opened.

Her gaze slowly looked up at Danny's face.

Danny didn't need to stay anything as he wrapped his arms around Lili-Rose, she rested her head on his shoulder as she wrapped his arms around him. They stood in silence for a moment.

"I...I...Need...I..." Lili-Rose tried to find her words.

"Oh, look at the two of you" Gushed Betty as she found her daughter and Danny.

Danny and Lili-Rose looked over at Betty as she stood in the doorway.

"Danny, can you give me a hand getting Matthew in the house please." Betty stated before finding awe in the two hugging.

Lili-Rose pulled out of Danny's arms, she quietly and calmly pushed past her mother. Betty watched her daughter head towards the kitchen before turning her attention to Danny still standing on the patio "She's staying, right?"

Danny shrugged as he started to make his way into the house.