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I shift to face the dark hallway, refusing to look at him. Refusing to cry for all the broken promises…
Tommy and Remy are nothing but liars.
He grips my hands and presses them above my head. “Firefly, look at me.”
“Tommy, how do you expect me to act?”
Fire burns from my eyes as we make eye contact. “I’m just a sacrifice. I won’t be around long enough to matter. You will marry Talia, and Remy will go off and become a lawyer and girls will flock to his feet. I’m nothing…I don’t matter.”
His jaw clenches, and he drops my hands. “You’re not nothing, Didi. We all love you, even Talia.” He rises and heads to his dresser, and instantly the space beside me is cold and empty.
I lift my head to my hand resting on my elbow, watching him, wishing those words were true. If I could make Talia fall in love with me, that would change everything.
He pulls on a pair of sweats and gives me his cute smile under that mustache. I understand on a deep level why Talia would want his attention. He sighs, running a hand through his hair while I lie naked on his bed. “We should head upstairs. I’m starving, and I smell bacon.”
I smirk, loving him even more. Tommy is a simple guy with simple needs, easily distracted by things like bacon.
Sensing my hesitation, he sits on the bed beside me. Deciding not to push the subject further, I lay back, pressing my chest out, teasing him. A low growl escapes his lips as he eyes me like dinner.
I giggle as he jumps on top of me. “If you keep looking at me like that, firefly, then I’ll have to eat you up.” He tickles me, digging his fingers into my ribs.
“Tommy…” I laugh hysterically, squirming beneath him. “That hurts.”
He stops digging his fingers into my ribs and moves his hand to my face. The love pouring out of his eyes makes this all worth it. He loves me, not Talia. He doesn’t look at Talia the way he looks at me. And Remy certainly doesn’t, either.
TALIA
“Did you see the paper today?” I ask, peering over this morning’s daily of the Kinsmen Gauntlet. Tommy walks into the dining room, wearing his disheveled Doors T-shirt and sweatpants, and squeezes the back of my neck before pouring a glass of orange juice from my crystal decanter, guzzling it down. He smells sweet, like shampoo.
Like her. No longer trying to hide the fact that he’s fucking her, I see.
“Not yet, babe. It was a late night from the mess you left us.” He leans down for a kiss, and I wave him off as I continue reading the story. Anger is not an emotion that serves me, so I bundle it up, so Tommy doesn’t end up like a rodent. I wonder if he knows he’s on the front page of the Kinsmen Gauntlet.
My little sacrifice walks in looking positively radiant—glowing—wearing nothing but one of Tommy’s long band T-shirts that shows off her toned, pale legs.
I pause for a moment, dropping the paper down a couple of inches and adjusting my reading glasses. The two of them exchange a look, and Didi bites her bottom lip and diverts her gaze, fighting a smile. They might as well have rainbows fluttering from their eyes, they are being so obvious.
It is interesting that Remy has yet to make an appearance this morning. Lucy reported he left the house early, despite it being Sunday. I figured Didi was still upstairs in his room, which means Lucy lied to me by omission.
A punishment that warrants death… I will deal with her traitorous behavior later.
“Did you two sleep well?” I ask with a bite in my voice. My night didn’t go as planned. In fact, it was much worse. Stephen is proving to be a worthy opponent. Both in and out of the bedroom.
Didi works her throat as she attempts to swallow, and the crystal chandelier flickers above us, as if mirroring my anger.
She sits with her back perfectly straight and her head down her white hair falling over her eyes, and Bax walks in shortly after, slouching in his usual seat.
“We didn’t get much sleep,” Tommy says as sweat beads on his forehead. “We were too busy putting out fires.”
Pins and needles begin to plague my skin. I focus on my nerve endings, trying to calm myself. These pins and needles trigger my blackouts, right before blind rage takes over and I have the urge to kill someone. This urge has been with me ever since I died.
Tommy squeezes and rubs my thigh. I find his touch soothing, but the person I need right now is Remy. The memories of being buried alive get overwhelming…and sometimes, despite my desperate attempts of turning off my humanity, I turn back into that scared little girl who fell in love with a monster.
Tommy goes in for the bacon. “How was your night, babe? Do I have to kill Stephen?”
My jaw tenses at the thought of fucking Stephen Garcia last night. He kept calling me a dirty little whore for cheating on my boyfriend with him. He hinted that he knew things about my family. He quoted the Codex and saw the mark Father Malcom left on me.
He knows I’m tainted.
