Page 16 of The Fallen Ones

I took a spot on the bench next to her, making sure I was close enough to make her uncomfortable.

“You just love to read, don’t you?”

“Beats reality,” she muttered.

So I was right. It was her escape.

I studied her for a moment. She was so fucking beautiful, it was nearly painful to look at. Painful in the way it was crushing my heart to not have her be my girl. Lily didn’t flaunt her beauty. She walked in that sweet silence with it, letting the world know she didn’t give a shit what they thought. She was so perfect and uncorrupted.

I was desperate to tear it all to pieces and reform it into something twisted like me.

I schooled that thought. While I loved it, I also hated it. It was something I was working on.

“Jace fucking with you?”

She glanced at me before looking away, her throat bobbing as she swallowed.

“Why do you even care, Damien? You hate me. You and Jace hate each other. Why does any of it matter?”

“You’re still my sister,” I said.

She turned and looked at me, those gray eyes really storm clouds now.

“I’m not your sister, Damien. I haven’t been for a long time.”

“You’ve always been funny,” I said, leaning in, my voice low and seductive. Her gray eyes skirted my face, her small body tensing. “Silly little devil. You’re mine still.”

“I’m not yours,” she whispered, her voice trembling.

“I remember our kiss,” I continued, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. She closed her eyes at my touch, her lips parting.

That’s right, baby. You remember it too.

“And that kiss was sealing a deal with the devil.”

She opened her eyes and stared back at me. “You think you’re the devil, Damien?”

“No.” I gave her a smile and pulled away, both loving and loathing the lurch in my guts at the distance and pain it brought me. “I think you are, Lily.”

She blinked at me as I got to my feet.

“If I’m the devil, what does that make you?” she called out.

“Your fucking sinner,” I answered, giving her a wink as I backed away.

The tiniest of smiles graced her lips.

That was it.

If I wasn’t in on the plan with Jace and Caleb before, I sure as fuck was now.

Chapter 7

Lily

Ifelt like I was losing my mind as I sat at a table in the commons. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. Instead, my emotions had become so confusing and conflicting over the last few weeks since Jace and I had split.

It was like a dam had been built inside me and everything was piling up against it, ready to bust it down and drown everything in its path.

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