Page 77 of Wicked Sins

Which I’m guessing has nothing to do with the pain he’s experiencing.

“I can’t believe he did that,” I say quietly, shaking my head as I turn to face the water again. “I mean, I get he’s upset, but—”

“He didn’t know.”

“Not to shove you?” I say through a bitter laugh. When I face Wayne, there’s a shadow in his eyes that makes me swallow and huddle in on myself a little. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“He doesn’t know about my injury. We don’t…it’s not something we discuss, us boys.”

“Oh.” My hands grip each other in my lap. Why wouldn’t Josiah’s father have told him about his slipped disk? For one, it would have prevented what had just happened at the funeral.

Or would it?

I’ve never seen such open rage on Josiah’s face before. Granted, I’ve only known him a few months, but still…it’s as if that was a first for everyone in the family.

He really loved Emma, that much I know, something I’d never really thought about until today. They had some kind of connection, something that went deeper than just brother and sister. It was like it was them against the world.

What I wouldn’t give to know that feeling. I’ve never had camaraderie with anyone like that—not even with my own mother.

“I heard there was trouble at your new school,” Wayne says.

I stiffen at the tone in his voice. “Trouble?”

“Candace, we sent you to that place for a reason.”

I bite the inside of my lip so hard that a bit of skin peels off into my mouth. What the hell am I supposed to say? “It wasn’t my fault,” falls out of my mouth.

“No?” Wayne faces me, but I keep my eyes trained on the pool. “How so?” The derision in his voice makes me want to disappear into the couch.

“I didn’t know I was being medicated.”

Wayne laughs. “That’syour excuse?”

I spin to face him. The movement makes the bruise on my jaw ache a little. “It’s not an excuse. If I hadn’t been doped up on—”

“Don’t you dare take that tone with me, girl.” Wayne sits forward on his seat, laces his hands together, and keeps them gripped between his knees as he tilts his head to one side. “What you did is inexcusable. We’d been considering bringing you back home with Josiah, but now?”

My heart flutters like a bird with a broken wing. “I’m coming home?”

Wayne’s lips part, eyes narrowing as if he can’t believe the gall of me. “Not after this. You’re obviously a very, very sick girl.” He winces as he pushes himself up off the seat. Towering over me, he grabs hold of my chin and forces me to look up at him. “I’m starting to think my boy was telling the truth about you.”

My eyes start to brim, and I blink furiously to hold back those tears. Shame burns hot and bright through me, but even that can’t evaporate the tears. “He wasn’t. He lied, Mr. Bale. About everything. Please, you have to—”

Wayne snatches away his hand. For a moment, he grits his teeth. But when he looks at me again, his face is a calm mask.

Josiah gets that from his father. This strange ability to switch off whatever’s going on inside his head. My gaze drops, and I hug myself hard.

“I don’t have to do anything. It’s you who has to do the work. Show me you’ve changed, and I’ll reconsider.”

Gone is the ‘we’ of before. But I know my mother would just follow his lead without hesitation. She’s got a good thing going here, and there’s no way she’d sacrifice that just so I could have an easier time of it.

“How?” I look up at him again, but he could be a stone statue for all the emotion on his face. Biting my cheek, I sit forward and grab the hand closest to me, the one dangling by his side.

He flinches at the touch, but he doesn’t pull away.

My heart thunders in my chest, my skin coming alive with nervous energy. I tighten my grip, and then slowly weave my fingers through his.

He doesn’t seem bothered by the intimate gesture. In fact, he hardly seems to notice at all. He’s staring down at me with a frown, like I’m a puzzle he doesn’t have the patience or the time to try and figure out.

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