Page 13 of Vengeful Sins

I hate that I’ve even thought enough about her to figure that out. Yet another reason to toss back the rest of my beer in hopes it will blunt the razor-sharp anger that’s been simmering in me all day.

She asked me something, didn’t she? Oh, right. “Where am I? I’m right here. You’re the one with her hands in my hair—you should know.” I then duck out of the way, moving my head so she’ll lose her grip on me. Her bottom lip sticks out far in an epic pout. She either doesn’t fucking get it or she refuses to. I wouldn’t be surprised either way.

“Could you grab me another beer?” Carter holds up his empty bottle, dangling it a little bit from two fingers. “And after that, maybe I can get a scalp massage.”

“Get fucked, Carter,” she sneers before stalking away, shaking her head.

“That got rid of her.” Carter grins my way, giving me a thumbs up, and I can almost muster a laugh. Almost. We’re surrounded by people, half drunk, supposedly enjoying ourselves at another house party. I honestly don’t even remember whose house this is. I only know I need to drink more if I’m going to get through it.

I could’ve stayed home. I probably should have, all things considered, because I’m in a foul mood and have been since seeing Maya today. Fuck me, why does she have to be in my head? No amount of booze can get her out of it. And I’m trying. I really am.

“I wonder if those twins will show up tonight,” Carter muses. I don’t think I’ve ever envied him like I do now, as he sits there without a care in the world beyond when he’s going to get his dick wet and who the lucky girl will be. That’s all life is for him. He doesn’t have this burning, seething darkness threatening to swallow him whole. What I wouldn’t give to trade places with him. Then he could be the one sitting here, regretting the choiceof coming out tonight. Wondering if something will happen to make it all worthwhile.

“Lucky bastard.” Carter nods at something happening behind me—I turn in the chair, my eyes narrowed in the darkness. Some guy and some girl, neither of whom I can see well enough to identify, are going at it in the corner. He has her pinned with one of her legs wrapped around his thigh, and the motion of his arm tells me he could very well be fingering her. Her hands run over his back, grabbing his ass, clutching his neck. Soon there are cheers all around us, with people encouraging them, instructing him, telling her what a lucky girl she is. Carter’s laughter rings out with all the other noise, but I can’t bring myself to laugh. I can’t feel anything. Isn’t that what I was going for? Drinking until I became numb?

“Oh, that’s charming.” Briggs laughs as he walks past, holding Wren’s hand. Of course. Wherever there’s one, there’s the other. He drops into a chair next to mine and Wren perches in his lap, one arm around his neck. He looks like a man on top of the world. Like there’s nothing he wants or needs. Completely content.

I’ve never seen him like this except when he’s with her. I have to remind myself how good it is to see him looking happy whenever my own bitterness threatens to swallow me whole.

“I just wish I understood.” Wren shakes her head, then touches it to Briggs’s shoulder. “What did I do wrong?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. She’s probably just jealous,” he offers. The arm he has around her visibly tightens.

“I only want to be there for her. Why is she putting up all these roadblocks?”

I don’t need to ask who they’re talking about, because life itself has basically decided to fuck with me in every way possible. It’s not bad enough I can’t stop thinking of Maya, wonderingabout Maya, remembering the ghostly web of Maya’s scars. No, I have to hear about her, too. There is no escaping her.

Briggs holds her close, nuzzling her neck. Fuck, I can’t stand this. I’m not jealous—really, nowhere close. At the same time, do I need to be reminded every minute how happy they are? Why is it so easy for them? Why do they get to be together? It’s like nothing else in the whole world matters to either of them but each other. I don’t know if I wish I could be like them or if I pity them.

I wonder how he managed to go from hating her to loving her.

It’s like he hears me thinking about him, his head snapping around, his eyes finding mine. “You all right?” he asks, looking me up and down. “You look like you have something up your ass.”

“You say the nicest things,” I retort, rolling my eyes and making Wren giggle.

“Why are you just sitting here?” Briggs waves an arm at everything around us. “There’s endless pussy here for you to sink into.”

When Wren wrinkles her nose and nudges him, he shrugs. “I’m not saying I’m interested in that. But I know he usually is.”

“Right. You’re just trying to be a good friend.” She shakes her hand disapprovingly but snuggles a little closer to him.

“What can I say? I’m a giver,” he tells her, grinning at me. I have to force it in return, so he doesn’t start asking deeper, more meaningful questions. Nobody wants to get meaningful at a party.

He’s not wrong, either. There is an abundance of perfectly willing pussy all around me. Plenty of opportunities to lose myself, to forget, to maybe relieve some of the burning anger that’s been eating at my insides all day. What the hell do I do with this feeling? It’s going to kill me if I don’t release it soon,I’m sure of it, because there is no damn way I can live with it eating my insides like acid.

Why does she hurt herself like that? What makes her think she has to?

My hand squeezes the empty beer bottle until my joints ache. Goddammit, I do not want to think about her. I need something else. Anything else.

Looking across the room, my gaze lands on the very willing, very obvious, Tiana. She’s wearing a tank top that barely covers her tits and a pair of shorts that hardly cover her ass. At least she’s got a decent body. Otherwise, it would be tragic to see her that way, shaking her shit around.

“Excuse me,” I mutter, standing, heading straight for her. I don’t really feel like having to work for it tonight. And she has already made it clear she’s interested. I don’t have any time to waste. I have to get a little relief. I sort of feel like my life might depend on it—or maybe the life of somebody else, since the way I’m feeling, I might start shit with any guy who accidentally looks at me.

“There you are.” She is all smiles when she turns to find me standing close to her. Her knowing gaze moves over me, her teeth scraping her bottom lip seductively. Suggestively. “I was wondering when you would come around.”

In full view of everyone around us, she cups my dick through my shorts and gives it a rub. “How about I take care of you? You seem so tense. There’s only one way to deal with that.”

“What did you have in mind?” I can do this with my eyes closed, without even thinking. Going through the motions. Knowing what the end result will be.

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