Page 49 of Holy Sinner

“Hey, get away from her!” Grant is there a second, later looking like a superhero with his hair falling over his eyes as he points a finger at Holly as the rest of the crew crowd around us.

“Nobody fucking talks to Kit.”

“What is she doing here?” Holly asks. Her voice is shaking, the scream gone from it. Thank fuck. I don’t need Holly’s hysterical reaction to Kit pinning everyone’s suspicions on my girl. I don’t know what she’s doing out here but it doesn’t matter. She didn’t hurt Jane–any fucking idiot knows that about Kit.

“It doesn’t matter what she’s doing out here,” Grant says, narrowing his eyes at Holly and then the rest of the crew.

“I went for a walk,” Kit whispers. Her hand is on my back and her touch is ghost-light against my skin. Her fingers are shaking and she has to press her palms into me to make them go still.

“You don’t have to explain anything,” Grant says but Kit looks at Holly from around my arm.

“I went for a walk and I-I don’t know what happened.” She looks around the circle of people that are closing in around us and Grant comes to stand at her other side. “What’s going on?”

“We don’t know,” I tell her but Holly shakes her head.

“We’re looking for Jane. What did you do, Kit?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

KIT

Everything happens all at once, but I guess that’s how waking up when you’ve been sleepwalking goes. That’s the only explanation for how I’m out here in the middle of the night with blood on my hands and soaking my dress. The last thing I remember is the woman that I followed out of the cabin and into the woods. I was dreaming, that’s the only explanation, but I don’t say a word when Holly screams at me, wanting to know what I did. I can’t tell her that I was asleep—that I followed a woman without a fucking face.

When it was happening, it felt real, so real. Then I saw her face. Real people don’t have shadows where their faces are supposed to be, but dream people do. I grab onto Rafe and he pulls me behind him, even though I want to meet Holly’s questions with the truth. I can’t, because that’s not what Rafe told me to do, so I don’t.

I raise a hand and shield my eyes from the dozen or so flashlight beams that shine into my eyes. The champagne I drank earlier makes my head feel like it’s stuffed with cotton and a wave of nausea hits me quick and hard. I don’t drink often. I don’t know what I was thinking when I put away a bottle and asked for more. God, my head hurts so bad.

I blink, trying to focus. “What’s happening? Where’s Jane?” I ask and it’s Grant that answers me.

“She’s missing, sweetheart. We’re looking for her. Did you see anything out here?” His voice is gentle. It makes me feel calmer. I trust him and Rafe to take care of this, even if I don’t know what’s going on or how I ended up out in the middle of the forest with blood on the ground. I swallow hard and do my best not to think about the blood on my hands or my nightgown. My hands shake when I see the red they’ve left on Rafe’s back. My fingers on his back have left streaks and I jerk my hand away from him.

Who’s blood is this and why is there so much of it?

“I’m going to be sick,” I whisper and double over, my hands on my knees as I take in a deep breath. The nightgown sticks to my palms and I wince at the sight of it. It was a gift from Grant, something expensive and silk that felt like it was made for my body. When I put it on to sleep that night I felt glamorous, like an old Hollywood starlet. It was one of my favorite pieces but now it is ruined. I never want to see it again.

“We have to get her back to the cabin,” Grant says and he wraps an arm round my waist, gently pulling me up against him. “Can you walk, sweetheart?”

I nod. “I can,” I say but all it takes is one shaky step for him to sigh and scoop me up into his arms. I know better than to say a word. Not right now. Now when they’re saying Jane is missing and I’m covered in blood.

“Why were you taking a walk?” Someone asks. I can’t see who it is from the dark but I answer automatically like Rafe told me to.

“Rafe and Grant were gone. I wanted some air.”

“You don’t have to explain anything to them,” Grant tells me quietly before he turns to glare at the crowd. “She was with us the entire fucking night, so back off with the mob behavior or you’ll have me to deal with.

The flashlights lower and no one follows us when Grant carries me out of the forest. I hear a footfall and when I raise my head to look I see Rafe a step behind Grant. “You’re safe,” he says when he meets my eyes. Calm settles over me because if he says it’s true then I know it is. Over his shoulders I see flashlight beams in the woods. They look frantic, all of them point in a different direction and I push on Grant’s shoulder. They need a leader. We have to help them.

“We have to go back.”

“The fuck we are.”

“But what happened to Jane? We have to help them find her.”

“We were doing that until Holly tried to pin that shit on you. Fuck that bitch.”

I bite my lip and lean back in his arms. “She didn’t mean it. I-I, she was just worried.”

Grant doesn’t say anything, he just keeps walking towards our cabin and it’s just another few minutes before we’re on the porch and Rafe is shoving the door open for us. The second we’re inside, Grant carries me to the bathroom and Rafe disappears.

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