Page 42 of Sinners Retreat

The door clicks shut behind her, and like a butterfly, she emerges changed. This time she’s chosen a sky-blue spring dress. It flatters her figure just as much as the first, but it’s less ostentatious. The color also brings out her eyes.

“That’s the one,” I say. “Subtle, yet still very alluring.”

Cat’s eyes light up and she spins in a half circle. Her excitement is almost contagious. “Now that I have the fit, I just need to situate the rest of my look. Will you help me with my hair? I was thinking about a cute French braid, but I can’t braid my hair myself.”

I start to tell her no—I don’t do anything with my own hair, let alone someone else’s—but her wide, hopeful eyes tug at the few heartstrings I have.

“Fine.”

Cat grabs a comb from her suitcase, then sits on the couch. I stand behind her and begin sectioning her hair. I haven’t done anything like this since I was in grade school, but my fingers pick up the rhythm as if I never stopped.

Though I did stop.

When my brother died, things like hair and makeup and cute clothes lost their luster. Friends didn’t seem so useful anymore either. I boxed myself off from the world because everything in life had become so pointless. What was the point of wasting hours on relationships and appearances when it could all be snatched away by a psychopath with a few meat hooks?

“What’s killing feel like?” Cat asks, pulling me from my self-dug hole of despair.

I clear my throat and blink away the mist in my eyes. “It feels good, I guess. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t do it so often, especially considering the risks. It’s like the best sex you’ve ever had.”

And I’d know because I experienced the best sex of my life just a few days ago with the man I now have to shrug off while I’m at this retreat. What I felt while lying beside him before I went back to my room was the closest I’ve come to the killing high.

Cat offers a slight nod. “I think I’ll get my first kill tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow?”

“Did you even read the brochure, Kindra?”

“No.”

“It’s the Island Olympics! We slaughter Cattle in a relay obstacle course. I think the competition aspect will prevent me from overthinking the actual murder part.”

Thinking about the murder is part of the high, though. The anticipation just before ending an evil life is what makes that end so sweet.

I pull a few strands of hair taut and motion for Cat to hand an elastic band to me. “Did you ever think maybe you aren’t a killer? You’re fascinated by what we do, but that doesn’t mean you have to join this very exclusive and fucked-up club. There’s a word for people like you.”

“Hybristophilia. The sexual attraction to killers. While that’s accurate, I don’t think that’s all there is to it.”

“So if you’re attracted to killers, how are you not attracted to Ezra’s brother?”

Cat rips her hair from my hands as she whips her head around to stare at me. “I wouldneverdate a man who hates cats. Bennett is a menace, and it will be a cold day in hell before I ever let him near my vagina. We can’t even be around each other for two minutes without me wanting to claw his eyes out,but judging by the scar through his eyebrow, someone else got to him before I could.”

“But could you imagine the hate sex?”

She rolls her eyes and faces forward again. “What about you and Ezra? You’re perfect for each other, yet you keep pushing him away. Nowthat’sinsanity.”

I get back to work on the second braid. “It was supposed to be a fling. You know, the sort of thing where you never see the person again unless you’re hiding behind a menu when they happen to come into the same café. It never would’ve happened if I’d known he’d be at the retreat. And besides, Ezra is clearly obsessed with someone else.”

Cat rips the braid from my hand as she turns to face me. “Who?”

“The Heartbreak Killer.”

Cat’s eyes narrow on me, and the wheels turn in her head. “But...that’s you.”

“No, I’m the fucking Sunl?—”

“Sunshine,” she corrects. “Why don’t you just tell him who you are?”

“I don’t wantanyoneknowing who I really am, especially Ezra.”

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