Page 27 of Sinful King
“Before, I go I have something for you…” I reached into my bag, pulled out a jewelry box and handed it to him. “Happy birthday again, little deer.”
He flipped it open and let out the softest chuckle. Inside was a deer pendant he could hook to one of his many chains or carrying on him.
“Thank you, beautiful goddess,” he muttered, reaching over to pull my face to his. “I’ll always keep it on me.”
I touched the Celtic knot pendant he’d gotten me and smiled.
“And I’ll always have this.”
We shared another gentle kiss and then I went about my way, head so far in the clouds I didn’t realize someone was in my room until it was too late.
“I hate you, you know?” Caden said, startling me so bad I thought my heart might pop out of my chest. “Had you complied—”
“Get out of my room.”
I had my fingers wrapped around the blade inside my bag as I took in his rumpled state.
Clearly my father had roughed him up a bit, the swollen eye and busted lip said so. I could almost bet he had bruises in other places too.
“They all left for bible study…” he stood and I took a tiny step back, while watching him wince in pain. “I covered for you, Amoy. Isn’t that what he calls you.”
I flicked the blade open and gripped the handle tighter.
“Just leave me alone, okay?”
He knew I wasn’t afraid anymore. That I wasn’t the thirteen year old he’d tried to rape in the baptism room.
Caden hadn’t tried anything in four years after our encounter with Sean and his brothers, but I never stopped watching my own back at home and church. I was some kind of obsession for him, didn’t matter if he ever tried again or not.
“I really can’t do that, Blair.”
He smiled and revealed blood stained teeth.
“But I am in a lot of pain…” he winced on cue and clutched his side. “And the thought of you letting that mutt touch you is making the pain worse!”
My heart raced, that flight instinct my mother had embedded in my mind clocking in when his deep voice echoed off the walls.
But then I thought of Sean and the kind of woman I wanted to be for him and something else replaced my urge to run.
Something dangerous and hard to ignore, so I revealed the serrated blade and took a step toward him.
“You can leave or I can poke holes in every part of your body and watch as you bleed out.”
His reaction made it worthwhile. The realization that running wasn’t an option anymore. That I would kill him before he ever got to touch me in any way, shape or form.
“And that’s a promise,” I added, sitting on my bed. “Get the fuck out and don’t try me again.”
The only way to survive in this family was to be exactly what they didn’t want.
A problem.
TEN
sean
1:23 A.M.
“Areyou going home or to Blair’s?” Lorcan asked after we dropped Tadhg off.
