Page 4 of Blind Sin

There’s no point trying to reason with either of them. Tensions between all three of us have been running high for days and it’s only a matter of time before one of us breaks. “I think we need to go back to school,” I say, trying to diffuse the situation.

Both turn and look at me in confusion. Nix’s jaw clenches. “Are you fucking insane? We’ve lost Lauren, We’re about to kidnap Lucinda, for the second fucking time, I might add, and you want to go back to school?”

“Technically it’s the first time, but yes. We need to be seen around campus. If what you say about Waldgrave is right, he probably knows where Lauren was hiding and I get the impression that he’s not the kind of guy to let things lie when it comes to his reputation. If we go back to school, we can hide out there tonight while we try to figure out what we are going to do with Lucinda when we get her. Not to mention that if this goes royally tits up, we only have a few weeks left and some of us need to get our grades up.”

“I don’t fucking believe this.” Nix stands and rubs his forehead with his fingers. His other hand is clenched into a fist.

Mercier throws him a pack of cigarettes that had been left on the counter. Nix grabs one from the pack and rolls it around in his fingers giving me a look daring me to stop him from lighting up.

“Go ahead! You’ve already fucked up the apartment anyway.” I gesture to a dent in the wall caused by a glass that Nix had thrown at it a few days previously. “And we’ve drunk all my father’s Glenfiddich and Mercier’s stolen every cent he could find.”

Nix puts the cigarette to his lips but doesn’t light up.

“We’ve nowhere to live and our shit’s in storage,” Mercier points out, “but otherwise, stellar idea, Dacre.”

“We’ll rent a motel for the night. We can’t stay here any longer. My parents are due back any day and, believe me, we don’t need any more shit to deal with. Campus is closer to Waldgrave house anyway.”

“Whatever!” Nix grabs his jacket and heads to the door. He stops and glances back at me. “So? Are we going or not?”

I look at the state of my parent’s apartment. It’s tidy enough, but it’s clear someone’s been here. Besides, the cameras out in the lobby will have me coming and going on them. Whatever happens, I can’t see a way out of this without us being in deep shit one way or another. I write out a hastily written note to my parents telling them I stayed over a few nights because of the party at Letterman’s, then I gesture to Mercier, and we all leave the apartment.

3

MERCIER

Fuck me, this is probably the biggest thrill I’ve ever felt. I knew hanging out with rich assholes would pay off eventually. And Nix and Dacre are the best rich assholes I’ve ever met, even if my definition of rich is loosely based on money they used to have, as opposed to money they currently have... which is very little. Thankfully, I managed to squirrel away over five thousand dollars from Dacre’s parents’ apartment, not to mention the Rolex in one of the bedside cabinets. I figure if Dacre senior wanted his watch so much, it would be on his wrist.

Cruising up the 87 in an Aston Martin was never one of my dreams, but that was only because I was obviously stupid. Or maybe it was because I was poor and dreaming about driving Aston Martin’s to pick up Hollywood actresses was so far away from my scope of dreams that it might as well have been in another universe. It is in another universe. It’s not the car, nor, weirdly enough, the supermodel that fills my thoughts as I shift gears and floor the gas. The quicker I drive, the quicker I get to my Sinful.

As soon as I enter the gates of Waldgrave house, a surge of excitement washes over me. I’ve only seen this massive mansion from afar once before, during the time we kidnapped Lauren. Up close, the house is a grandiose, imposing structure that screams of extravagance. Despite having prepared a speech for my alias, Charles Wentworth, I find that it's unnecessary as Lucinda sprints out of the front door and toward the car. She looks so much like Sinful that for a second my heart twists as I take her in. Though I never grew up rich, I understand the game. I quickly jump out of the car and open the passenger door for her. Despite their physical similarities, I notice that Lucinda has a different scent as I slide back into the driver's seat and shift the car into gear. I inhale the strawberry scent of her shampoo, grateful for it, using it to centre myself.

“We’re being followed,” Lucinda points out as I pull out through the main gates. Sure enough I’ve barely travelled fifty feet before another car pulls out and turns in our direction.

I nod down to her handbag. “Bugged too?” I mouth like I’m James fucking Bond.

She shakes her head. “No, but I’m pretty sure my phone is being tracked. Daddy doesn’t want another repeat performance. I can’t throw my phone out of the window because the second I do that, his men will close in on us.

“Keep hold of it,” I caution her. “Daddy Waldgrave isn’t the only one that uses trackers. I slipped one into Lauren’s pocket when you took her.”

Her mouth falls open into a look of shock. “You did what?”

I cut her off before the inevitable tirade. “We can either spend the next three hours discussing what a disgusting prick I am, or we can focus on the positive.”

“You fucking beautiful genius!” She leans over and kisses my cheek, catching me off guard. “Take me to her, please.”

“Don’t get your hopes up just yet. I don’t know where she is,” I admit. “We tracked the signal down to Baltimore where, I’m guessing you were picked up by your father and then it abruptly turned north.”

She brings her hand to her head and massages her eyes. “My father’s men crashed into us, sent the car down a ditch. I blacked out and when I came round, Lauren was gone. They said I’d never have to see her again... Fuck!” She slams her hand onto the dashboard. “I don’t even know if she’s alive.”

Clutching the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity, a fierce blaze of anger courses through me. I’ve never been one for anger, failing to see its purpose. However, the current circumstances have ignited an unfamiliar, seething fury within me. “She's alive!” I declare through gritted teeth. “If they’ve touched a hair on her head, I’ll fucking burn your father and every one of his men down to the ground.”

She lets out a low snort “You won’t get close to him... You really like her, don’t you?”

I don’t know how to respond to that. Not in a way that Lucinda would understand. Sinful changed me. She changed all of us. “I barely know her,” I admit.

“And yet you'd burn the world to the ground to find her,” she observes. She pauses. “When you say north, where exactly? We should start there.”

“Nope.” I shake my head. “Not with this asshole following us.” I hitch my thumb behind me. “I’m taking you exactly where I said I was going to take you. We’re going on a date.”

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