Page 21 of Born into Sin

I can hear her laugh growing softer, knowing she’s probably already flopped down on the bed and grabbed the remote. Looking at myself in the mirror, I take a big breath and then get to it. I’m not going to admit that she’s right, but she is right. If I do happen to run into Dominic tonight, I want to look and smell amazing. I want to knock him on his ass with one look.

Two hours later, we’re both showered and dressed with our hair and makeup looking perfect. The dress is even smaller than I remember it being. I angle myself to the side, and peek over my shoulder at the mirror. The thin straps crisscross my bare back while the dress dips dangerously low. Good god, one wrong move, and I’m going to be showing crack.

“I don’t know about this,” I mutter.

“You look amazing, and we’re going to have the best night. We’ll remember this forever, and you have to admit it’s going to be way more fun than hanging out in this room watching movies all night.”

She has a point. We’ve done the movie thing a million times. I’m more than ready to try something different. I look over at her, eyeing the gorgeous red dress she has on. She’s wearing matching heels and lipstick, and she looks fucking amazing. Her long hair is a few shades lighter than mine, and she’s left it loose so it falls down past her shoulders.

“This is either going to be the most epic night of our lives, or it’s going to be the memory we cringe at every time we think of it.”

“I vote for the epic option. Come on, Natty girl. It’s time to shimmy our asses down the trellis.”

I laugh at her enthusiasm and fearless determination. If not for Svetlana, my life would be very boring. She helps me step out of my comfort zone and challenges me to be brave. I love her so goddamn much, and there’s no one else I’d rather go down in a blaze of glory with. This might prove to be the biggest mistake we’ve ever made, but we’re making it together.

We both sling our tiny purse straps over our heads so they can hang down across our bodies, leaving our hands free right before Svetlana hikes a long leg over the window ledge. She’d already popped the screen out earlier, resting it against the wall beside the window with a note tucked beneath it.

To whoever finds this letter,

We’re safe and fine and will be back before dawn.

Please, please, please, for the love of god, take pity on us and don’t mention this to anyone else.

Val, if this is you, I know you’d never rat me out, womb buddy. I promise I’ll explain everything when we get back.

Love you lots,

S & N

When I’d read it, I’d just sighed and put it right back under the window, hoping like hell it didn’t come into play. She’s right. Val would never rat her out, but pulling the twin card only takes you so far. He’d never do anything that would jeopardize her safety or mine. He may not immediately go down and tell Grigori and Feliks, but he would try and find us, and when he did, he’d give us a hell I didn’t particularly want to face.

“Slow and steady,” Svetlana says, giving me a wink and starting her descent.

With my hands gripping the window sill, I peek out and watch her, my heart rate picking up with each passing second. I’m not great with heights. In fact, I’m really pretty fucking awful about them, and everything inside me is screaming at me to not do this, but once she reaches the bottom, she gives me a big thumbs up, and before I can question it, I’m throwing a bare leg out the window to join her, fully committing myself to this crazy-ass plan.

I refuse to look down, and for the first time in my life, I regret my choice in footwear. Sneakers would’ve been the wiser choice, but they wouldn’t look nearly as cute with this dress. Men will never understand the sacrifices women make. Taking things at a snail’s pace, I slowly work my way down, gripping the trellis until my hands ache, thankful that at least Aunt Emily’s roses aren’t in full bloom yet. This is dangerous enough. I have no desire to throw thorns into the mix.

“Damn your dress is short.”

I make the mistake of looking over my shoulder at Svetlana’s whispered words, and when I see how far up I still am, I cling to the trellis even tighter and squeeze my eyes shut.

“Oh no you don’t,” she whisper-shouts at me. “You get your mostly bare ass down here right now! We need to hurry or we’ll miss the Uber and all this will be for nothing.”

I’m not crazy about going down, but I’m really not looking forward to climbing back up and hoisting my ass through the window. I don’t even want to think about how we’re going to manage that one, so I force my eyes open and hook my foot into the next slat, slowly working my way down again. When my toes hit solid ground, I let out a whimper of pure relief.

“I don’t know how in the hell I’m going to force myself back up there.”

Svetlana’s giving me a huge smile, her eyes wide with adrenaline and excitement. “That’s a worry for later.” She holds up the two pairs of rain boots that were sitting on the porch earlier. “Here, hurry up and put these on. It’ll take us forever if we wear our heels.”

I’m completely in the following orders phase of the evening, so without a second thought, I tug off my heels and slip my feet into the rain boots that are way too big for me. Hooking my fingers through the straps of my heels, I look up at my partner in crime and give her a nod.

“Perfect. Once we’re further away, I’ll turn on the flashlight, but the moon’s full, so we should be okay. We just need to get far enough from the house. If we trip the security lights, Grigori and Feliks will definitely come out to investigate.”

Just the thought of them catching us right now makes me feel queasy, but I also wouldn’t be at all surprised if Svetlana could come up with a killer excuse on the spot. I’m guessing it would have something to do with moon phases and her need to express thanks to the divine feminine, which would account for our sparkly dresses.

Biting back a laugh, because the longer this goes on, the giddier I start to feel, we race to the woods, giving the house a wide berth before hitting one of the dirt bike trails. As soon as we can’t see the house, Svetlana flicks on the light, leading us further down the path. I’m always surprised by how loud it is in the woods at night. I’ve gotten so used to city noises that I barely register them, but as many times as we’ve been out here, it never fails to surprise me how damn loud bugs can be.

“We’re going straight to hell for this,” I whisper, making her laugh.

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