Page 46 of By Sin To Atone

“Go to bed. Now,” he says.

“My sister. Tomorrow, she’ll?—”

“I said go to bed, Blue.”

“Promise me you’ll take me to see her first. Promise me. Please.”

He nods once but is no longer looking at me, so I get up, and I go upstairs, making my way to the same room as earlier and closing the door. I don’t even care if he’ll lock it. It doesn’t matter. I strip off my clothes and without bothering to find anything to sleep in, I climb into the bed, exhausted, and crawl under the covers to sleep.

My mind wanders to what happened between us. No. Not between us. To what he did. Making me come like that. What he said. But I force the thoughts away and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to ignore the fluttering of wings in my belly, the memory of how it felt when I came.

When I open my eyes, it’s to bright light shining on my face. I slept hard. I can’t remember the last time I slept so hard.

I turn to the window, take in the warmth of the sun. Sunday. Wren’s birthday. I sit up and nearly have a fucking heart attach when I find Zeke comfortably ensconced in the chair across the room watching me.

“Jesus!” I put my hand over my heart, half-up on one elbow. “Jesus fucking Christ!”

He studies me, eyes intent, and I’m not sure if he just got here or if he’s been here all night.

“What the hell are you doing?” I ask, sitting up, careful to keep the duvet over myself. I note I’m not chained to the bed. That’s positive, I guess.

He pushes a hand through his hair and blinks, then stands. I wonder where his mind was.

“Morning,” he says.

“How long have you been in here?”

“A while,” he says shamelessly. He walks toward the suitcase picking my discarded skirt and sweater up from the floor on his way. “You should take care of the clothes. They’re on loan.” He drapes last night’s things neatly over the back of a chair and rifles through the suitcase to pick out a dress. He comes to the bed and lays it there. It’s pretty. Midnight blue with a cinched waist and short, A-line skirt.

“It’s a little cold for this maybe?” It’s March and mornings and evenings are still cold, and the dress has short sleeves.

He digs around in the suitcase to find a sweater. He tosses that onto the bed as well.

“I’m taking you to visit your sister. Then you and I have an appointment.”

I am relieved. One victory at a time. “I can be ready in ten minutes. But I need my makeup. It’s in my purse.”

“You don’t need that.”

“I do. People will stare?—”

“Doesn’t matter what people think.”

“No. It’s Wren… It upsets her.”

At that he stops. “Does she have any memory of that night?”

“I… I hope not.”

“Good. Get dressed. I’ll see you downstairs.” He walks toward the door.

“What appointment do we have after?”

He stops and turns back into the room. “Well, I was going to have you submit to a virginity test, but I don’t think there’s a need.” He grins. Remembering last night, I feel my face burn and try to ignore the heat. “But I do need to be sure you’re clean and that I’m protected.”

“First, wow, okay, I’m not sure where to start with that gem. Not even certain if I heard right,” I say flippantly, grateful he seems to be back to his asshole self and I won’t have to think about what happened last night.

“You did.”

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