Page 2 of Sick Little Devotion

My hand connects with his wrist the moment we break out into the cool air.

“Please, just stop.”

“What the hell are you doing?” He rips his hand away from me and reaches into his hoodie pocket.

My eyes widen. “No, it’s not that. I don’t want the money. I just thought… I thought you might be someone I’ve been looking for.” It sounds so stupid when I say it out loud, and I stumble backward because the guy stills.

“I don’t know you,” he says, his words grating on my heart as they leave his lips.

I nod, but I’m not sure I believe him. So, I do something stupid. Again. I lunge for his mask and rip it off his face. He shrieks in frustration, and the moment I meet a pair of icy-blue eyes, I know it was all in my head.

This man isn’t Aiden.

“Stupid bitch,” he growls and then takes a step toward me, his gun glistening in the sunlight. “You just did that so you could identify me.”

I shake my head, putting my hands up in a defensive gesture.

“No, I swear. I thought you were someone I knew—like I said.” My throat feels tight as the words come out, and I take a few steps back. “I’m really sorry. I won’t tell anyone anything—”

“Let’s go!” someone shouts from an SUV. “The cops are on their fuckin’ way! Someone called them.”

“Probably you.” The blond-headed man, with absolutely nothing familiar about him now, continues to move toward me. “I should make you pay for this.” The threatening undertone in his voice sends a cold wave of fear through me.

“I said, let’s go!” The one who was the leader hangs out of the window, his mask still in place. “I’ll leave your ass behind if you don’t get in!”

The blond man gives me another long look and then spins around. He sprints to the back passenger side of the car. He slides in, and they speed away, leaving me there to watch them.

I’m slightly disappointed they didn’t shoot me. It would’ve been easier to explain that to my stepfather.

And maybe then I wouldn’t wonder about Aiden so much.

“Are you okay?” Eliza rushes to me, wrapping her arms around my small waist. “I thought he was gonna shoot you! Why did you chase after him like that?”

I relax a little, trying to keep myself from going rigid in her grasp.

“I don’t know. I guess I just got a burst of courage or something.” I try to play it off as if it’s a joke. I run my fingers through my long, chocolate brown-colored hair. Aiden used to tell me he loved my hair, and he was always braiding it out of my face for me or playing with it as he lay beside me.

“We better get inside,” I say quietly, steering Eliza back toward the doors. The sirens are getting louder. It’s a good thing someone called them. That probably prevented me from getting shot. That or my stepdad might not have believed me about the robbery.

That might be a problem anyway.

As soon as Eliza and I step back into the store, a handful of restaurant staff and patrons are watching us with concerned looks on their faces.

“That was a brave thing you did,” Millie, one of the long-term waitstaff, says to me, brushing her gray hair out of her face. “I can’t believe you lunged at him like that.”

I force a smile, wishing I had done it for honorable reasons. I glance back toward the door. “I just thought maybe if I saw their face, I’d be able to provide a description.”

“You’re a smart girl,” Millie gives me a warm smile—one that’s similar to a mother or a grandmother, but my mother has never smiled at me like that. She’s usually too drunk, trying to cope with the way my stepfather treats her.

I zone out as I pass by the crowd, making my way back to the empty registers. He’s going to be so pissed at me. My stomach churns as I think about the repercussions of the lost money —and the way my stepfather loses his temper.

“He’ll be here any minute,” Millie says as if she’s read my thoughts. “I’ll help you deal with him.”

I nod but don’t tell her that while she might be able to help me with him here, I still have to go home to that house. I have to live there, and if he’s not calm by the time we get there, it’ll still be bad for me—and for Eliza. All of us.

Having said that, I’d take my stepdad over my step-uncle any day. They’re both questionable men, but Ron… I swallow hard as a shudder rolls down my spine, the memories threatening to slip in. He’s the kind of man who wants to steal a child’s innocence before they even have a chance to grow up fully.

He’s disgusting—and now he’s disabled. All because of Aiden.