Hola Muchachos!!

A/N: LOL. Okay so its been a LOOOOOOONG time. A seeriously long time since i last updated. I got a few messages saying that i should contniue and not quit the story. I never did quit it. Alas between school and work it has been a rather difficult time to get some free space to write. I added a bit here and there along the road but i feel that you guys deserve something for waiting to so long. I i decided to finsiht he chapter and post it just before i start studying for my 2 tests coming up this week.

I thank you a lot for being patient with me. I know some of you will have to go back and read to see where i left off last time and I'm sorry you have to do so! As for when my next chapter will be, well finals are in teh last week of April so i would eve be half done before then. Hopefully it wont take as long next time as it did this time.

I love you guys a lot for staying with the story!

Thanks and Byes -muah-

SASH

Back in His Bed

Chapter 8: The Other Man

Not a thing!

Not one bloody thing.

James knew he had to drill the litany into his head; he was going to do nothing at all. They, him and her. James and Lily no longer have that sort of relationship and for him to dive in were his certainty was uncertain then it would just lead to trouble as it most likely would.

He would also try and pretend that stupid notion he'd had about seducing her hadn't occurred to him. Seriously, what the bloody hell had he been thinking anyway? Seduction was the last thing he wanted to do since it was him who was being seducing and not even knowingly at that.

Twisting he slammed his fist into his pillow for the fiftieth time and glanced at the clock by his bedside. The hands showed it was one thirty five.

Damn it she was plaguing him. He was sleeping in fits and spells because all he could think about was getting her out of her clothes and onto her back which is not what he should be thinking of.

Bloody hell, his mother was going to pay for making him obsess about Lily like this. Her and her damn meddling.

James didn't know how much time had passed as he opened his eyes and noticed the room alight with moonlight. Her silhouette pale as she stood in the doorway that led to his bedroom.

"James, I want you," her voice, soft and needy floating to him. "I love you."

Merlin, how good it felt to hear those words on her lips, it was like he'd been waiting for an eternity to hear her say them.

"Lily," was all he said and she flew to him. He pulled her into his arms and groaned at the feel of her soft supple body against his. Lord she felt good, he thought as his arms tightened around her and his mouth tasted the skin on her neck.

He didn't want to question how she came to him; he was just immensely relieved and happy that she did.

Then she kissed him, lightly, where her face was buried against his neck and he shuddered with longing.

Shifting her head he brought her lips to his and kissed her softly, reverently before devouring her, feeding his need with the taste of her. She tasted delicious, a taste that was uniquely her and he hardened at the prospect of being one with her.

Merlin, had it only been two months ago? It felt like years since he'd been with her and not being able to stand it a moment longer he rushed to get her out of her nightgown and naked beneath him.

Moments later he revelled in the touch of his naked body against hers, the feeling almost brought him to the brink

"Lily," he said, bending to kiss her breasts, laving it, sucking deeply until he had her writhing beneath him.

And as he went to kiss her mouth again, to grind his hips against hers she grinned and tried to roll him over. However, he shifted away not willing to let her be the one on top but she pushed anyway and he fell. Awake now he glanced around bewildered. His breath was laboured, he was sweating, he was hard and he was on the floor. Bloody hell it had all been a freaking dream.

He cursed again and again, painting quite the colourful picture and he berated himself for being so foolish.

God, the dream had seemed real and by all that was holy, he'd wanted it to be real. Twisting he leaned against the headboard trying to bring order to the chaos that was his thoughts.

He wanted Lily and it was more than her body, he wanted her love as well, he realised that now but now that he knew what he wanted, what the hell was he going to do about it?

…

"You're nervous," James stated, bemused that Friday morning before they both left for work.

"Am I?" and even to Lily her voice seemed to crack.

"I think it's fairly obvious since I don't think anything would be left of your eggs." He said staring at the mangled eggs in point.

Dropping the fork on the plate, Lily picked up her mug of coffee instead and held it with both hands. Tell him now, tell him now.

"I'm," she murmured, stopped then shrugged. James wanted badly to question and dig into her private life but he wasn't going to if she didn't want to tell him of her own free will.

Of course he craved to know as well but he had to keep himself in check. The past couple days have been very pleasant ignoring the fact that he had a constant level of lust around him whenever Lily was there. There was no tension between them now, when they were together and for that alone he was quite accepting of this peace treaty and not in any hurry to break it.

"How is it that I've never met the bloke," he asked instead, another question that had been niggling in his mind. "They've been married for months right?"

"I don't know... it is odd isn't it. I mean they're usually dependant on the other and they're hardly apart when they're both free from work but then we'd hardly had a lot of free time to go out with other people when we were together."

Lily felt falsely cheerful and her stomach was in knots. Was it any wonder she couldn't eat? She should have told him exactly who Rourke was from the very beginning, then none of this would have happened but no she chose to remain a coward to the last possible moment and now, tonight they were to meet Alana and Rourke for dinner.

Great!

Since his mother's visit James had been in such a good mood that it was hard to bring up. They didn't have those quiet tension filled moments anymore and, more importantly of course, he didn't look at her as though marrying her was the worst thing he'd ever done.

Well, not that she could actually tell through his famous expressionless looks he usually gives but she knew he had to be thinking it.

James however frowned as he considered what she said, it was a cryptic answer. Did she have to be quite so vague?

Well even though the entire exchange was odd it was even worse by the time they were ready to leave the flat. She'd developed this constant nervous twitch now and although it wasn't there when she talked to him he saw it when she was quiet.

She had to be wondering about his meeting with her family, that's all there was to it.

…

And now as the entered the restaurant Lily frantically searched her mind for a way to tell James about Rourke before he actually saw them. She started to panic when she saw the maître d'. Oh lord, she would have to ask for the Lombard party.

"James," she said, her tone even but still sounded stressed, even to her.

"Yes,"

"Uh I want you to … can you just assure me that no matter what—err who—you see, that you would keep a calm head about you?"

"What?"

"Just promise me that you'll try not to react, that you'll have your lawyer face on no matter what happens."

She saw the confusion written on his face as they walked up to the maître d' but he didn't have time to ask what she meant. Oh dear.

"Oh Miss Evans, good evening," the polite man before them said.

"Oh hello Gilbert, I didn't recognise you," she said and she hadn't, she'd been too pre-occupied. Not that the man looked any different from the austere black suit he always wore but she had been to this particular restaurant a total of four times in the past two years and each time had been with Alana and Rourke she didn't think she would be remembered.

Apparently he took his job very seriously.

"I take it congratulations is in order," he said nodding his head in James's direction.

"Yes, that it is," giving the man a small smile but although James found this exchange odd he didn't question the oddity of it.

As they followed Gilbert the maître d', James glanced around noting the great ambiance of the place but when he faced forward again a cold feeling settled into the pit of his stomach when he recognised the face in his line of sight.

Just what the hell was going on here? James wondered wildly, his rage reaching boiling point in two seconds flat and it seemed to get even worse when they closed the distance between them.

A hand shot out to clutch at his and he knew immediately Lily was more than scared of his reaction at seeing Lombard the bastard by the feel of her tight grip on his hand.

"James there is something I've neglected to mention to you." She said.

He didn't want to know why she was afraid.

He didn't want her holding his hand, holding him back.

"Something I should have told you ages ago but haven't." she continued but he ignored her as what he really wanted to do was shake loose her hand and leap at the bastard's throat.

His face set into hard lines as they approached the table, of all the bloody luck to have. They were going to be seated with that fop and whoever the woman next to him was however he wasn't about to spare her a glance and break his gaze on the man.

Rourke cleared his throat, though James didn't notice the look of nervousness he passed onto his companion.

"I take it from the look of murder in your eye that Lily hasn't told you anything has she?" the bastard said hoarsely as he looked to the woman next to him for obvious help and backed up a tiny step. James wasn't so far gone for him not to notice when a bloke needed saving.

And that just plunged him into confusion. Seriously, just what the hell had he gotten himself involved in?

"Uh James, hi," the woman next to the git interrupted. "I don't know if you remember me from the few brief but witty instances we had with each other, but I'm Alana."

What?

James snapped his head to face her. It really was Alana, Lily's cousin.

"Lily," he said his voice held a cold note of warning. An explanation was needed now. He wasn't going to settle for anything less. Things had escalated gotten out of hand.

Too many secrets were being kept, he was the only one in the dark and he didn't like it one bit.

"Rourke is my supervisor at work and Alana's husband. She let me borrow him for your parent's party." Lily said meekly then turned to him with what he supposed was an earnest expression. "You're the one who jumped to the wrong conclusion; I just didn't see it fit to correct you at the time. Then things got out of control and I couldn't bring myself to tell you no matter how much I tried.

"I asked your mother for advice but all she told me was that you'd understand and then I knew it was because you'd hated him so much that you wouldn't you see reason even when I would have chosen to tell you." She said.

"Lily," Alana said, "rambling."

"Right," taking a deep breath, she stopped her tirade of words and looks at him, judging his reaction to her hurried explanation.

"Um, I think its best if we leave them to uh, discuss things," Rourke said and put his hand out to his wife. "Come my love, let's dance."

Although looking concerned at James's silence Alana took her husband's hand and let him lead her to the sparse dance floor.

And as soon as they were out of earshot James swivelled to Lily.

"Let me get this straight, you brought him to my mother's party, acted as though he was your lover and you now expect me to swallow, even though I told you never to see him again, you did so every day?" his voice was evenly cold.

"It's not like that between us, I just told you that. It was complicated. Alana suggested I take Rourke because your mother insisted I come with a date. So I went then you thought he and me were…you know and then everything went weird after that."

"Lily—" he stopped. He didn't know what he wanted to say. He was angry but the feelings inside him that are crashing together were something more than that. He felt a slight relief but he hated himself for feeling that way.

Betrayal, by his mother who obviously knew everything that was going on.

Hatred for her, for himself and for Lombard the bastard and his wife.

"Please let's not ruin things. Alana and Rourke wanted very badly to have us all together like a family, like friends."

His jaw locked shut and Lily saw a muscle tick, so hard he was at keeping his mouth closed. "No," he bit out after several moments. "I don't want to finish this somewhere else, and by your meaning I take it you want to continue it at home after this sorry excuse for a dinner."

Her silence was answer enough.

"I want to finish this now!"

It was all James could do but yell. He was supposed to sit there and be polite to a bloke he'd hated from the first moment he set eyes on him with Lily on his arm? And on top of that to now to know all of that was a lie, how was he supposed to carry on a decent if not civil conversation when all he wanted to do punch Lombard in his face and go back home and strangle his lovely wife.

"James we're causing a scene. I think its best if we leave this here for now." Lily said glancing around warily but frankly James couldn't care less about who was looking. He was seriously enraged and his hand actually itched to punch something.

He was silent for a few moments as he fantasized about smashing Lombard's teeth from his mouth. That would please him very nicely and would satisfy him for a bit if not placate his anger.

Lily on the other hand looked at his uncompromising face and contemplated on whether or not she should break his silence. Before she could decide Alana and Rourke returned signalling their being alone was over. Lily wasn't sure if that was a good thing seeing as how James twitched briefly in his seat.

"Hey," Lily said forcing a bright smile on her face of which both Alana and Rourke could see right through.

"Yes," Alana answered and glanced briefly up at her husband, silently communicating with him. "We were thinking that it might be best if we postpone this little, uh, celebration for another time. The two of you need to talk some things out and it wouldn't be right if we four sat here all through dinner and pretended that everything is honky dory, when it isn't." She continued then paused briefly casting a swift glance in James's direction and meeting his gaze before saying, "and I would like to keep my husband's lovely face from getting butchered. I hope you understand that I wouldn't oblige you on that."

Her pointed remark startled a brief laugh from James.

"Indeed, I think that I, the one who owns with the said face is in question would greatly appreciate this time for communication." Rourke quipped—or tried to. Alana had only smiled indolently at him, Lily looked frustrated and James Potter? Well, he just stared at him considering, as if re evaluating him.

Probably not though, he wouldn't be as lucky enough as to get away from the kind of danger Potter presented. He heard the rumours, knew too few facts but what he knew for sure that Potter was dangerous. Rourke just hoped he was man enough to actually face what he felt openly and not hide behind the anger and use it to push Lily further away.

…

James pushed his chair back and stood. "Well then I can't really say it's been a pleasure." He said and thought he made a massive understatement. "And I would add more about this delightful meeting but then one never knows the ramifications of what one has to say to make polite conversation."

"Goodnight," And then not waiting for Lily to follow he turned and walked away.

Lily stared after him for a second before turning a contrite look to her family. "I'll see you guys soon. G'night." She said before turning to follow in her husband's wake.

Lily swore under her breath as she trailed in James' wake all the way out of the restaurant. She was such a bloody moron. A fool. What made her think she could get away with keeping this stupid secret? Now he would never trust her again. She'd thought they were on their way to becoming friends.

Well she couldn't stretch it that far but they were mending fences of sorts and now that's all gone to hell in a hand basket and it was all her fault.

Minutes later they entered the quite flat, neither of them saying a word.

When the lights were lit they faced off in the living room. His face tense he opened his mouth and said, "Now tell me the truth, was using your cousin's husband camouflage for your real purpose?

"Real purpose? What?" Lily asked confused. Whatever she thought he'd first say, never in a million years would she have though that odd bit of…whatever it was to come out of his mouth first thing.

"Did you or did you not lie about Lombard being your lover when in point of fact you were using him to hide the real identity of your friend?

"What kind of a maggot have you gotten into your brain?" Lily asked clearly astonished. "In the few minutes that we took to come home you came up with this cockamamie notion?" What the hell was wrong with him? He couldn't be that dense as to not to understand the meaning of everything, could he?

She thought he did get it, thought he'd figure it out from what she'd told him but…

She was at a loss. Why was Merlin seeing it fit that she never lead a normal, happy life?