Sinful

I swallow, almost choking on my own sorrow.

I’m not saved. Romain hasn’t yet looked at me once.

He looks like an angel, but he’s not.

He’s a demon.

A psycho.

I know that now. His own friends are obviously scared shitless of him. I should be too.

Romain doesn’t show any emotion as he tucks the blade into his shirt and walks over to me. I’m still on the wet floor. I haven’t moved since Carter let me go. There’s no point.

I deserve this. I kept the secret for far too long, and now I’m being punished…for my sins, just like my mother said I would.

Romain stands over me, finally looking down at me with insidious eyes.

“Romain…” The words that fail me are barely a whisper.

“Did they…force you?” He chokes out the words.

“No. You got here in time.” I find my voice, but it sounds small.

He lets out a breath and nods. After a few seconds, he grimaces. “I warned you that you would get hurt.” His teeth are gritted as he looks down at me. He still has the brass knuckles on his hand and the knife in the other. “Now, look. They fucking nearly ruined you.” Blood drips from the blade. Whose blood?

Astor’s. He said it was Astor’s.

There’s no getting out of this. Tears blur my eyes. This is not how I expected to end up, but he’s right.

“Please,” I say. I don’t know what I’m pleading for.

“Go get fucking cleaned up. I can’t look at you right now,” he hisses.

“Romain.” I stare up at him, uncontrollable tears streaming down my cheeks.

I’ve hurt him.Romain. The boy who stole my heart years ago.

“Get the fuck out before I make you actually suck my dick.” The threat is enough to jolt me into motion. Wiping my face and eyes, I leave Romain in the pool room and walk as quickly as I can to my apartment. But the pain doesn’t go away when I close the door. Not when I call Gloria to cover me, and then crawl under my sheets and lie there for a very long time. Every time I think of what happened, I break down in tears. I’m a mess. The guilt is eating me up inside so much that I make up my mind to tell him soon about what happened after I left him all those years ago.

I have to.

Hours later, there’s a knock at my door. I pull myself together enough to open it.

Lacey is standing there. In her hands is a gift box. “Romain told me to give this to you.”

I take the box from her and close the door.

Placing the box on the bed, I stare at it like it might bite me any second.

I know what’s inside.

After a few minutes, I take a breath and undo the bow and paper around it.

I’m right.

It’s a choker inside a black velvet box. Only this one is a cold metal circlet rather than leather, with diamonds encrusted along the length of it. Bella in an ornate script is engraved on the side.

It’s beautiful.

I reach for the note in a black envelope.

No more games. You belong to me. I want the fucking world to know.

If you don’t wear this tomorrow, then you’re dead to me, and I’ll let the boys finish what they started.