𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 | 𝟏𝟖+

LILY

08. DEBT

Chastity Magritte was many things. My best friend, for one, and a perfect charmer. She was your classic bombshell barbie who loved pink and all things girly, but one of her favorite things in life was men.

She would practically drown herself in them if she could. She's not a hoe; oh no, she just knows how to play the game. It's fun watching her string them along sometimes. She reals them in, chews them up, and spits them out depending on who it is.

She has this thing; she never sleeps with the same man more than once. It's like an ick thing or something. Something I'll never understand, but I get why she's picky, especially in our line of work where sometimes all fluids are involved.

What I don't understand is why she seems rather...intimate with this guy, Axel. Don't get me wrong; she can do whatever she pleases; it's just-Chastity's more of a hit-and-dip kind of gal. There's no mistake, I'd seen her cheeks carry a dusty rose pigment to them, and despite the locking of lips, the corners of hers were curled lightly into a smile. The sound of giggling was heard before Royce interrupted them.

Coming out of my train of thought, I focus on Chastitys' wide but confused grin.

"Lily!" She pushed Axel out of the way with a grunt, "oh my god, what are you doing here?" She wraps me in a tight hug. I return it hesitantly, still highly confused about how she knows these people.

Seeing my confusion, she answers but is interrupted by Royces' grunt of disapproval. I narrow my eyes at him, the tension in his shoulders couldn't be missed, and Chastity gives a nervous laugh under his stare. I shake off the weird feeling and just chuckle at her.

I shot my gaze to Royce in question, and he shook his head lightly as in, no, she doesn't know that I rescued you from your abusive fiancé. "I'm here under. . . . special circumstances." I trail off. She squints her sharp brows, looking between Royce and me before smirking.

"Special circumstances as in your his girlfriend?" She says.

I choke on my spit and wave my hands in protest. "NO, I mean no-I um, I work....for him?" I say even though it comes out like a question. I look frantically at Royce, and he just stares at me in mild amusement. I roll my eyes at him for not understanding my urgency.

Chastity scratched her chin, not convinced. "Right, so anyway, you look starving; let me whip something up for you!" She grabs my wrist and drags me to the kitchen. She pulls out ingredients for pancakes, my favorite, and chocolate chips. While helping her prepare them, she jabs me in my ribs with her elbow.

"Soooo, tell me, are you sure you're not his girlfriend?" She questions, raising a brow.

I shake my head. "No, I swear if I had one, you'd probably know before I even made it official," I say sarcastically.

"Besides, I have a fiancé, remember?" I reminded her.

She shrugs. "True, I was just asking because Royce is eyeing you like he wants to devour you or something." She jerks her head in his supposed direction.

I took the chance to glance at him through my hair to see that she was right. He stood next to Axel, having a seemingly serious conversation but was staring heatedly at me. I blush and cough into my fist, looking away from him and back to Chastity. I act indifferent. "I can't control what he does."

"Mhm, well, clearly, you did something to the man to make him stare like that. Besides, there's nothing wrong with a little eye candy," she whispers, winking at me.

I scoffed in disagreement even though my body became feverish at the thought of what happened yesterday and not even 10 minutes ago.

"Lily."