Page 108 of Wicked Sins

Quietly, the bedroom door opens and closes.

Joah.

We both made it.

I head for the closet door, but then detour to the jewelry stand in the middle of the small room instead. My knees brush against the stool Wayne was sitting on just a few minutes ago.

A glass hand, slim and reaching for the sky, displays stacks of rings. But there’s one in particular that interests me. One that caught my eye.

The gold band, with its small chip of an emerald, looks mundane compared to the flashy jewelry stacked around it.

Mom never said where she got it from, but I know she treasured it. There were times when she didn’t have money for booze or drugs, and even then, I’d never seen her consider selling it. I don’t know who gave it to her, but I don’t think that’s what matters right now.

What matters is that she wouldn’t have gone anywhere without it.

Except she has.

She’sgone.

Chapter Forty-Four

Josiah

Ilie on my bed, legs up, and blocking what little gray light is coming in from the windows. After creeping out of his bedroom, I went downstairs to make sure he’d left.

There was a note on the fridge.

Be back later.

He’d left a twenty-dollar bill pinned under the magnet. I’m guessing ‘later’ would be after supper then.

I’m surprised he even gives enough of a fuck to think about the fact that he still has two children to feed. In fact, he should be at home grieving for the loss of his child, not out gallivanting fuck knew where.

I’d passed Candy’s bedroom door on the way down. I’m sure she’s gone and holed herself up there. Maybeshe’sgrieving, but I doubt it. She didn’t know Emma well enough. I should go talk to her, but I’d rather get rid of the excess energy eating its way through my body first.

It shouldn’t have, but the spreads I’d glimpsed in that magazine keep replaying in my mind.

It’s disturbing to think that my father’s into shit like that.That’swhat I should be thinking about. Instead, I start bringing back memories of last night when I was in the TV room with Candace. How close I’d been to making her mine, and how much she’d wanted me inside her.

I run a hand over my cock. It throbs, stiffening under my palm. I close my eyes. In my mind, I’m spreading Candy’s legs, ready to devour her—

I jerk in shock when someone knocks on my door.

No, not someone.

Candy.

“Fuck,” I mutter. I hesitate, and then yank the intricately embroidered quilt out from under my ass and drape it over my lap, hiding my erection.

Just as I’d expected, she opens the door and steps inside without bothering to get my permission first.

“Hey,” she says quietly. “Can we…can we talk?”

I’d rather cut off my dick with a blunt bread knife, but it’s not like I got a fucking choice, is it? She’s already halfway across the room, absolutely missing every possible hint that I might have been in the middle of jerking off.

She’s wearing pink yoga pants and a cream-colored wide-necked sweater skimming both shoulders.

In my heightened state of sexual arousal, even the way she walks right now is turning me on. There’s something about that exact shade of pink—

---