Page 23 of Sinful

I scoffed at him. “I can’t help you. I can’t even help myself. And in case you forgot, the watchers will probably finish gutting me if they catch me outside my room.”

“Bunnies are fast, even wannabe ones. I’m sure you’ll be able to escape. Get to Cady. Put your dick inside her. Distract her.”

“No.” I glared at him. “I’m not like. . . that.”

He smirked. “Like what? Straight? Cut the shit. We know what you are.”

“I’ve never said I wasn’t straight—”

“Right. Your old man. I know. Get your dick wet, Vanilla. Iforkingneed you to.”

“No. I-I can’t. I won’t.”

He stood and slowly stalked toward me. I backed away from him until I was against the wall. He didn’t stop until we were nose-to-nose. His warm breath blew across my face.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was staring straight into my soul and snagging all my secrets like a greedy monster.

He shifted, his nose brushing along my jaw as he inhaled deeply.

“Virgin,” he murmured. “How. . .Vanillaof you, sweetheart. You want to lose it to someone equally sweet.My firefly.” He moved his face away from mine and closed his eyes for a moment before snapping them open. My heart jumped into my throat as he ran his fork along my cheek.

“She’s not as sweet as you think she is. She’s our little monster. She would destroy you, Vanilla. Rip you to pretty red ribbons. That is, if the watchers didn’t get to you first.”

I let out shaky breath after shaky breath.

“You’re special. Like me,” he continued, his fork at my temple before he skimmed it to my bottom lash line. “You remember everything. You know what you were doing April fifth, a Tuesday evening, at ten at night, don’t you?”

I swallowed thickly.

“Answer me, Vanilla.”

“No.” I blinked rapidly as he teased the edge of my eye.

“You have really pretty eyes. I like them a lot. Hazel with little flecks of gold,” he murmured. “I’ve learned one doesn’t need to have both eyes to live a life where he remembers his fucking place.”

I squeezed my eyelids closed as he continued to tease me with his fork.

“They always close their eyes,” he said in a soft, sing-song voice. “They think it will save their lives. But I am a monster sent from hell to do the devil’s chores. To fuck the world and its whores. To torment and terrorize the weeping. Now tell me, Vanilla, all the secrets you’ve been keeping.”

A gasp slipped past my lips as he slowly worked one of the tines from his fork beneath my eyelid. My pulse thundered through my veins while the fear bubbled within me.

“I saw my father making a deal with Everett Church,” I choked out.

Asylum didn’t stop his trek beneath my eyelid.

“And?” he prodded softly, his body pressed against mine.

“And he found out. He sent me here. He-he always knew I was different. My memory never fades. He-he was angry after finding my-my friend kissing me in my room. He lethimtouch me. . .” my words became choked.

“Everett likes sweet little vanilla cupcakes.” The tine moved deeper.

A tear worked its way down my cheek at the ugly memory.

“Your father wanted to teach you a lesson,” Asylum continued softly. “What a man’s touch really felt like. When Everett was done, you were tossed aside.A trust fall. A sacrifice because you disappointed him anyway.Your father thought of you as a freak. You didn’t fight hard enough. You disgust him. But Everett. . . you entice him. He’s a collector of lost, special souls.”

The tine was nearly as deep as it could go, the cold steel pressing against my eyeball beneath my lid. I was certain one wrong move from me would end in my losing an eye.

“Do you feed Everett information?”

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