*Chapter 5: He knows*
559 Words
1:03am.
Three soft knocks.
Adrian was already awake.
He opened the door.
Lily.
No hoodie this time. Just a tank top and shorts. Face pale. Eyes red like she hadn’t slept.
“We can’t,” she whispered before he could speak.
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I’m scared.” She slipped inside and shut the door. “He knows, Adrian.”
Adrian’s stomach dropped. “What?”
“He asked me today. At lunch. ‘You and my son close?’ Like he was joking. But he wasn’t smiling.”
Adrian closed his eyes. “Did you say anything?”
“I said we’re fine. That you’re just catching up.” She laughed, shaky. “He nodded. Then he said, ‘Good. Family should be close.’”
Silence.
Down the hall, the house creaked. Both of them froze.
“See?” Lily whispered. “He’s listening now.”
Adrian sat on the edge of the bed. “We have to stop. For real this time.”
“I know.” Lily sat next to him, but left space between them. “I told myself that after last time. And the time before that.”
“Then why’d you knock?”
“Because I panicked,” she admitted. “Because if he’s watching me, I’d rather be with you than alone.”
Adrian looked at her. “Lily—”
She cut him off. “Don’t. Don’t make this mean something it’s not.”
“What is it then?”
“Stupid,” she said. “Risky. A mistake we’re both gonna regret.”
“Yeah.”
She stayed anyway.
They didn’t touch. Didn’t kiss. Just sat there until 4am talking in low voices about nothing. Chicago. Her sister. The dog Ethan wanted to get.
At 4:15 she stood. “I should go.”
“Be careful.”
She nodded. At the door she paused. “Adrian?”
“Yeah?”
“If he asks you anything. Deny it. All of it.”
Then she was gone.
---
The next morning was different.
Ethan made breakfast. Same pancakes. Same music.
But he watched.
He watched how Lily poured coffee.
He watched how Adrian sat at the far end of the table.
He watched how neither of them looked at each other.
After breakfast Ethan said, “Adrian. Walk with me.”
They went to the garage. Ethan closed the door.
“Son,” Ethan said. No smile. “I’m gonna be straight with you. I love Lily. I married her because I don’t want to be alone in that big house.”
“I know.”
“If anything happened between you two, if you crossed a line, you’d be out. Of the house. Of the will. Of my life.”
Adrian’s throat was dry. “Nothing happened, Dad.”
Ethan stared at him for a long time. Searching.
“Good,” he said finally. “Because I’d hate to lose you too.”
He clapped Adrian on the shoulder and walked out.
Adrian stood in the garage for ten minutes after. Hands shaking.
That night there were no knocks.
1am came and went.
2am.
3am.
At 3:17am his phone buzzed.
*Lily: He’s asleep. Come to me.*
Adrian stared at it.
Deleted it.
He didn’t go.
For two days.
On the third night, 1:02am.
Three soft knocks.
- Writer
