Page 85 of A Sinner's Saint

“He’s worried about me.”

“So am I,” Elena says. “Are you really sure you should be back here?”

“The doctor cleared me this morning, after Vin made him do a house call.” I sigh. “Come on, lets lose him for a bit. There’s something I want to do and you know the saying about asking for forgiveness rather than permission.” I smirk. Vin would have a fit if he knew what I have planned, which is why I’m not telling him until after I’ve done it.

“What have you got in mind?” Elena asks with a mischievous smirk.

“Where’d you park? I’ll tell you once you get us both off campus.”

“Deal,” she says, quickly pushing to her feet. I follow her to her car, doing my best not to look over my shoulder. I know he’s following us. There is no way he’s just going to go away on his own. I should feel bad for ditching him like this, but I don’t. He’ll survive.

“Okay, we’re going to have to be quick,” I tell Elena once I see her car. “Are you ready?”

“Ready,” she says, already pulling her keys out of her bag. Then we both sprint for her car and jump inside.

I see Vin running after me when Elena is peeling out of the car park like a maniac. Seconds later, my phone rings. “Hello?”

“What the fuck, Cammi? You ran? You have a goddamn heart condition and you’re out here running? Where are you going?” Vin yells down the line.

“I’m fine. I’ll be back soon. I’m just running an errand with Elena. You should go to class, Vin. I’ll call you later.” I hang up the phone. I know it’s a shitty thing to do, and I get that he’s worried about me. I’m just not going to play along with his craziness. We don’t need to be around each other 24/7. It’s not healthy.

“Okay, where are we going?” Elena asks.

“Marcus’s shop,” I tell her.

Elena’s gaze flicks to me, a grin playing on her lips. “You sure? Vin will hate it. Let’s do it.”

The minute we walk into Marcus’s shop, his eyes land on Elena and he smiles wide. “I didn’t know you were stopping in today, babe,” he says to her.

“I’m not. She is.” Elena juts her thumb in my direction.

“Oh, fuck no. Nope. Not fucking happening.” Marcus shakes his head.

“What? You don’t even know what I want yet,” I tell him.

“It doesn’t matter what you want. I’m not doing it. Because I don’t have a death wish.” He holds up his hands in surrender.

“Fine, I’ll go to another artist then, and I’ll be sure to tell Vin I had to go to a stranger because you refused to draw on me,” I threaten.

“Elena, help me out here, babe.” Marcus looks pleadingly at my friend.

“Just do it, Marcus. Vin’s not going to kill you.” Elena rolls her eyes.

“Probably not,” I say. Because, honestly, I’m not too sure where his craziness ends. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around him—although when I was with him last night, it was like no time had passed at all. We just fell right back into each other. “Look, all I want is three numbers. 9-9-9.”

“Why? What do they mean?” Marcus asks.

“Completion, transformation, new beginnings. It’s like one phase of my life is ending to make way for a new one,” I explain.

Both Marcus and Elena are staring at me like I’ve grown a second head, until the door opens behind us. I turn, expecting it to be Vin, thinking he’s reached a new level of stalker and somehow hunted me down. It’s a different De Bellis, though.

Santo stares at me for a moment before he asks, “Vin getting more ink?”

“No, I am,” I tell him. “Well, trying to, but this one here is too scared to do the job.”

“Right. What d’you want?” Santo asks me.

“Three numbers. 9-9-9,” I tell him.

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