Page 19 of Vengeful Sins

A tremor runs through her, but she says nothing, refusing to look at me. She does, however, round the front of the truck and climb in beside me. I guess I’ll have to take it as a victory, though I don’t feel very victorious. I can’t remember the last time I did.

10

MAYA

And there I was, thinking my birthday was going pretty decent.

Before the shit with Tiana, things were quiet. No, there wouldn’t be anybody to celebrate with me, but at least I could be alone. I could have peace and quiet. What’s a birthday, anyway? I’m one year older. Big deal. My life’s not going to change all that much just because I’m eighteen now.

Even if it does, I know better than to think it will change in a positive way.

Now here I am. Everybody in school has seen me topless, or as good as. I want to burn my clothes after lying on the bathroom floor. I want to scrub my skin until it’s raw, though I know that won’t remove the shame. Nothing will.

On top of everything else, I have to sit with Tucker, who I know must have seen the picture. Tiana would’ve sent it to him before anybody else. I would ask him why she’s so fucking twisted, but I don’t think I would get a straight answer, anyway. So what’s the point?

The air in the truck is charged, so thick I can barely suck a breath into my lungs. At least he’s driving me home and nottaking me some place else, which was definitely a possibility that flashed through my head before I accepted his offer. Eventually, I’m going to have to have my car towed, and the tires changed, which means I might have to explain it to Dad.

Then again, that would mean him actually paying attention to me. As it is, he can’t be bothered to take me to dinner tonight. He’s working too late for that. We’ll go out tomorrow, though I honestly wish we wouldn’t. I don’t look forward to having to sit across from him and play happy father and daughter for the sake of the other people in the restaurant. No doubt they look at us and admire what they think they see. They might even consider me lucky to have an attentive dad. If they only knew. I gave up my illusions about him a long time ago.

And Tucker was part of the collateral damage.

He hasn’t said a word. I’m grateful for that. He could taunt me. He could tell me it’s what I deserve, being humiliated and laughed at. My skin prickles uncomfortably at the thought of him knowing more about me than I want him to. Like we share a secret I never intended to share. It’s always there between us.

No big surprise, Dad’s car is absent from the driveway when we arrive. How do I end this? I can’t believe the way I need to weigh every word I use with him. “Thank you for the ride,” I offer, and even that simple sentence curdles in my mouth. After everything he’s already done to make me miserable, I have to sit here and thank him. For all I know, it was him who told Tiana to attack me in the bathroom.

Instead of accepting my thanks the way any normal person would do, he puts the truck in park and kills the engine. “What are you doing?” I ask, my hand on the door, ready to open it.

“What’s it look like?” He unbuckles his belt and opens his door, shooting me an almost nasty look when he climbs out to find me frozen in place. “What? Do you want to sit there all day? Be my guest. It’ll get pretty hot in here after a while.”

What game is this? The hair on the back of my neck lifts while I stare at him. What do I do? What will his next move be? If I say no, I have no doubt he’ll leave me sitting in here, but then what would he do? He’s basically shooting himself in the foot, all to make me unhappy. Why is this so damn important to him? Would I get a straight answer if I asked?

I know the answer to that question. That’s why I open the door, numbness settling over me again. It’s amazing how I welcome it. As much as I hate not being able to feel, it’s a gift at times like this. Instead of looking at him as I round the truck, I head up the front steps without a glance in his direction, holding my head high even as I tremble slightly. What is he going to do?

I can’t think about that right now. Not when he’s just behind me, the heat of his breath on the back of my neck as I unlock the door. “What do you want? A tour of the house?” Because it’s not like he’s ever been here. Nobody has. Unlike the people we go to school with, I am not somebody who can just randomly have people over. I can’t not care whether everybody trashes the place or whatever. Not with my dad.

“What if I do?” he asks with a smirk. “What, are you going to tell me no? Do you think you could get away without giving me what I want?”

But why do you want it?That would only make things worse. “Help yourself,” I mutter, opening the door and stepping into the foyer. As always, my gaze immediately darts to the foot of the stairs, then darts away just as quickly. I can’t help it. Like I want to torture myself, and maybe I do in a way. I deserve to always see and remember what I did. What I ruined by being the way I was.

“You can’t stay.” I warn. “As it is, I’ll get in trouble if my dad finds out I had you here when he’s not home.”

“Afraid of Daddy? He won’t come home. It’s pretty early in the day,” he reasons. If only he didn’t have to sound so bitter and derisive.

With his back against the door, he folds his arms, his mouth twisting in a smirk. “Now I have you alone, so I can ask what I’ve been wanting to.”

Here we go. I knew it was coming. Stiffening my spine, I draw a breath. “You’re in my house now. You don’t get to set the rules.”

“Do you think so?” His jaw hardens along with his eyes, which now gleam as they crawl over my body.

There’s nothing but danger if we continue in this direction, so I pivot. “Listen. I know you got that picture earlier. All I want in the whole world is to burn these clothes and stay in the shower until it’s time for bed. Can you understand that? Can you try to be human for a minute? Haven’t I been through enough today?”

I didn’t mean to say that out loud, but it seems to get through to him. The lines in his forehead smooth, and the tightness of his mouth softens. Not much, but enough that I know he actually hears me.

But just as quickly as his expression changed, but it soon changes again, this time into something that sends dread slithering through my core and up my spine. “You want to get out of your clothes? Fine. Take them off for me.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Take your clothes off. Now.”

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