Page 13 of Sin

“About what?”

She looked between the two men. So alike, and yet so different, but both stared at her with a hunger burning in their eyes. It shocked her to realize she found Ares and Hunter equally attractive, and remembered a video featuring two men and a woman. At the time, she refused to admit it intrigued her. Maybe it was time to acknowledge her own sexuality might be more than vanilla.

“What are you thinking about, baby girl?” Hunter asked. He ran a finger softly across her cheek.

That she didn’t want to answer, so she deflected. “What do you want from me?”

Hunter and Ares looked at one another and she had the feeling they were mentally talking to each other. Then they seemed to come to some type of agreement as a unit and turned to face her.

“Come, sit,” Hunter said, scooting over to give her room. Tugging on her hand until she had no choice but to obey.

Ares pulled a chair closer to her.

“Where are you from, baby girl?” Hunter asked.

“Um, Kansas,” she replied. “My friend Livia is from Cardinal so when I needed to leave, I mean move, this is where I came.”

“And why did you need to move?”

“I…” She trailed off, too embarrassed to answer. To explain she was a naïve little fool.

Ares lifted her chin with his finger. “Are you going to answer Hunter?”

She cast her gaze downward in mortification. “I’d rather not. I just met you both.”

“Look at me, sweetheart,” Ares ordered, and she glanced back up. “Tell us.”

Would she lose the job if she didn’t? Why were they bugging her about her past? What good could it possibly do, what purpose could it serve? Her parents and ex-fiancé weren’t who she thought they were.

“My father is a minister,” she finally answered. “My mother is a Sunday school teacher. My fiancé was my father’s successor, whenever he decided to retire.”

Hunter tensed. “You’re engaged?”

She shook her head. “Not anymore.” She gave a self-deprecating snort of derision. “Not when I overheard my father encouraging Abel, my ex, to basically cheat on me because that’s what he does with my mother.”

“Oh, fuck,” Ares muttered.

“Wait, it gets better. I went to tell my mother, and she told me I should be happy, that I wouldn’t have to worry about a roof over my head if I had babies. She told me to turn a blind eye, much like she does, and to find pleasure with lovers. Again, like she does.”

“That must have been painful to hear,” Hunter consoled.

“It made me sick,” she admitted. “Made me feel like an idiot. I don’t understand how the people I’ve always looked up to, that I loved, could be so awful. I had to get away and Livia was the first person I thought of.”

Hunter lifted her chin. “Listen to me. You are not an idiot. That rests solely on their shoulders.”

“We know a thing or two about shitty parents,” Ares added. “Hunter and I met in the foster care system. His parents had been meth heads. My parents forgot about me most of the time as they drank and gambled their way through life.”

Compassion seared through her. Guess her lying parents were the lesser of three evils. She placed her hand over his.

“There are three types of people,” she said. “The ones who put you in difficult times. The ones who leave you there. And the ones who help you rise above.”

“Which one are you, Adira? Will you put us there, or help us out?”

She searched his face, trying to figure out what he’s really asking. “I want to say I’d help, but I don’t really know who I am anymore. Maybe I should be asking you.”

Ares and Hunter shared another one of those looks. It made her almost believe they were speaking telepathically.

She cleared her throat. “I want this job for a couple of different reasons. One is that my parents would never think to look for me here.”

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