Page 13 of A Taste Of Darkness

I tried to ignore the skip of a heartbeat when she moved even closer, forcing me to lie on my back as she pressed her face into my chest and spread a leg over mine. But the longer she was holding me, the stronger the desire to wrap my arms around her body got. To protect her. To never let her go again.

Deep down, I knew I should’ve moved, or I should’ve moved her even if that woke her up. But I was selfish.

7

WRONG CREDIT CARD

Sterlie Adams

“DON’T EVER DO THIS TO ME AGAIN!” Flora wrapped her arms around me quicker than my mind could process her arrival. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

“I thought you were on vacation?” My arms closed loosely around my sister’s body. I was both confused and concerned for her at the same time.

“You’ve been robbed, Sterlie. Of course we’d return to check on you,” she said and stepped back to look at me. Her eyebrows were drawn together, calling me stupid for not thinking she’d return. “I told you opening a boutique near Tartarus is only going to end badly for you, Sterls. What were you thinking?”

I shrugged. “I just thought the area is beautiful and sure, Tartarus is down the street, but why would anyone rob a store in the middle of a busy street?”

“Because people who drive by that area don’t give a shit what happens there! They just want to make it through alive.”

Early this morning, when I woke up in Milo’s bed, I was quick to gather my belongings plus my dog and get the hell out of that penthouse. How could I have been so stupid to ask a stranger if they’d mind that I spent the night at their place?

Milo might’ve not been unknown to me, but did I know the guy? No, I didn’t. I never even spent the nights at my friends’ houses when I was a kid because I thought that was weird.

So, what went through my head last night, I didn’t know.

Milo had spent the night in his living room, at least I believed so. He wasn’t in his bedroom. I should’ve been the one to sleep on the couch, but nope, he did. So, when I woke up and the events of my embarrassment finally dawned on me, I just had to leave.

I went shopping before I decided to visit my father. Flora never showed up to our Wednesday lunches anymore, at least ever since our father severely messed up. To be fair, I never attended them anymore either.

He put her life on the line, was ready to marry her to someone she couldn’t stand—talking about Kai… they fell in love, but that’s beside the point—just to save his own ass.

I stopped visiting him as well. He was a bad person, and I wanted nothing to do with him, but I had nowhere else to go. Fortunately, he wasn’t even home.

Unlike Flora, Dad was the only parent I had in my life. She had her mother, at least she could call her and talk, visit her every once in a while. My mother was… not even worth mentioning.

When we reached our father’s kitchen, I dropped my purse onto the island counter, then looked at my sister. “I have to do this, okay?” I said. “The boutique is one thing I want. And, yes, okay, maybe I chose an awful place, but if I close the shop now and move, Dad will be disappointed.”

While Kai covered most of the costs for my sister’s dance studio, I had to ask my father to lend me the money for my dream. He didn’t even want to give it to me, said I’d only mess it up. I was the unreliable sister. The kid in the family. I switched hobbies every other week, at least according to my father. So he was afraid I’d open the shop and close it again a week later.

I could not allow that to happen. Even I had some dignity left.

“So let him be disappointed.” Flora walked around the island, then took a seat across from where I stood. “You’re not closing because you got bored, but because it’s too dangerous.”

“I got this, Flora.” My eyes rolled at the same time as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Can you believe in me? Just once.”

Flora sighed, and I could tell she was ready to apologize for making me feel bad when, suddenly, her eyes narrowed in on my purse that was lying on the counter. She reached a hand out, then pulled out a card. “Why do you have Milo’s credit card?”

“I don’t.”

My sister waved the card around. “Yes, you do. So why is it in your possession?”

Something uneasy bubbled within me. In seconds, I snatched that card from my sister’s hands and read the name on the card.

Milo Marucci.

Oh, God.

When I grabbed my purse earlier this morning, I saw a credit card lying right beside it, so I thought it must’ve fallen out of my purse. Without checking for a name, I dropped it into my purse, then grabbed my dog and left the penthouse.

---