Page 98 of Perfect Sin

I rub my shoulder. “I got fucking shot, asshole.”

“But you didn’t die,” Lucien grumbles. “You never cared about the risk before.”

“I didn’t have anything to lose before!” I look at Raven, fear rising up and nearly choking me. “I can’t lose you.”

“That’s why we have to do this,” she insists. “If we don’t we’re going to spend our lives looking over our shoulders for the next threat. And one of these days, it’s going to catch us.”

Pulling her into my arms, I lean close so I’m speaking only to her. “I’ll take care of you. Don’t make me put you in a dangerous situation.”

“Then try and understand how I feel. I can’t stand the thought of losing you either. Our life isn’t easy, it might never be, but we will only get through it together.”

“Okay,” I mutter, first to myself, then once more to her. “Okay. But you don’t deviate from the plan, not even a little.”

She nods, a quick tip of her head. “I promise.”

I turn to the rest of the group. “We’ve got some planning to do. What are we going to do about Jesse? If we’re going to do this, we can’t leave any loose ends.”

Tessa raises her hand. “I’ve got an idea. We use his plan against him. He wants Raven, right?”

“Absolutely not,” I state.

“Let her talk,” Raven insists.

“He’s arrogant. If I tell him I can get him access to Raven, he’ll believe me.”

“How do we know you aren’t playing us? Is this your plan, Tessa? Gain our trust, then turn on us?” Ford asks, giving voice to what I’m thinking.

Tessa rolls her eyes. “I’ll get him there, you plan it. I’m not asking you to trust me. You shouldn’t. I haven’t earned it, but I want to help.”

Lucien smirks. “We can come up with something.”

29

A New Plan

Raven

The guys retreatinto a huddle to plan, leaving me alone with Tessa, Jen, and Amber. Only this time I’m not the one on the outside of the group. Despite the show I made in front of the guys, I don’t trust Tessa even a little. A small part of me pities her, but it doesn’t outweigh the part of me that still dislikes her.

“The guys aren’t paying attention to us, so tell me honestly, why are you helping me?” I ask her.

She leans forward, and the look of contrition evaporates. “You want honesty?”

“It’s what I asked for.”

“No, I don’t like you, but I imagine you feel the same way about me for the same reasons. I know I hooked up with Sin, but that doesn’t mean I liked seeing you with Ford. So, yeah, I hate you. I’ve loved him for practically my entire life, but I’m not good for him.”

“Is that what you’re doing now? Trying to be good enough for him?” Jen asks. They’re the first words she’s spoken to her old friend in probably weeks.

“This is me trying to be good enough for myself.” She looks at Jen, then at Amber. I feel like I’m intruding on a private moment, but these are my friends too now. “Do you know what it’s like to look at yourself in the mirror every day and hate what you see?”

“I can’t say that I do,” Jen finally responds.

Tessa laughs, and it sounds almost like a sob. “Well, I hope you never do. This isn’t about Ford anymore. I need to do this for me.”

“I can live with that,” I say. “The guys are all coming up with a plan, but I’m sure it will be missing the nuances to really sell it to Jesse.”

Amber rolls her eyes. “I’m sure their plan mostly consists of hitting him in the face.”

---