Page 26 of Sinning for Santa

I gasp. “Eddie would never go to a prostitute.”

Devon throws his head back, laughing. “Oh little mouse, you have so much to learn. He probably went to a prostitute before he was even 18 years old.”

“If that’s the case, then why wouldn’t he want to have sex with me?” I snap, feeling proud that I’ve put a kink in his theory. That is, until he speaks.

“Well, there’s a few reasons that could be.” He glances at me, and I’m expecting that infuriating shit-eating grin again, but all I see is something that looks a helluva lot like sympathy. “One, because he’s likely a lying arsehole. Two because he could be gay, and you are his beard. And three, some men see their wife as the mother of their children, and they can’t imagine doing the things to their wives that they like to do to the whores. He could be seeking his dirty desires elsewhere, outside the marital bed.”

I feel sick.

Not because his words are a lie, but because I feel like they are so close to the truth.

Have I really been abstaining for someone who doesn’t really want me?

Would it really be such a sin to give in to my desires and just indulge?

I consider that for a moment. The fact that tonight I nearly did it. I walked up to a man and woman at Cloud 9 and was aboutto let them touch me, and then not an hour later, I kissed a man inside a confessional that wasn’t my fiancé.

I’ve already sinned, and in return, I was nearly shot and somehow wound up in the lap of the devil himself.

At the sound of the indicator, I glance out the windscreen to see that we are turning off the freeway, taking the exit that has a sign reading,Welcome to the Timber Valley region.

I’ve never been out this way before, but I know it’s surrounded by pine trees. Lots and lots of pine trees and bushland. A lot of good places to bury someone.

“Where are we going?” I ask again, hoping this time he’ll tell me the truth.

He chuckles wickedly. “I’ve already told you, little mouse. We’re going to hell.”

Suddenly, the idea of going somewhere that is most likely my final resting place with this savage is an unbearable thought. If he’s going to kill me, then I’ll make him work for it. I won’t die without a fight.

As the dark pine forest flashes past the window, I reach for the door handle while simultaneously unclipping my seatbelt. The moment it unlatches, a ding of warning sounds in the car, and as Devon yells a surprised ‘hey,’ I open the door and prepare to jump.

Chapter six

Devon

The fuck is she doing?

“Jaxcen!” I yell, my hand snapping out to fist her blazer in my grip as the door swings wide. On instinct, my foot lifts off the accelerator, slowing the car’s pace as the god damn pine forest passes by in a rush.

“Just let me go!” she cries, fighting against my hold.

“If you jump, you’ll fucking die, woman! What is wrong with you?”

“I would rather die this way, than have you lead me to my grave and shoot me in the head!”

Jesus fucking Christ, has she lost her fucking mind?

With her blazer still in my grip, I’m surprised she doesn’t try to shrug out of it to get away. Perhaps she hasn’t even considered she could do that, or perhaps she really doesn’t want to jump. Either way, I hold her with one hand while I steer the wheel with the other, easing the car to a stop on the side of the road.

The moment I release her, she runs.

For fuck’s sake, can this night get anymore painful?

“Goddammit, Jaxcen,” I hiss, throwing my door open, nearly choking myself on the fucking seatbelt because I forgot to take the fucking thing off.

When I wrestle my way out of the car, I storm around the front to see her trying to navigate the ditch on the side of the road in bare feet, her fucking heels clutched in one hand as she sets her sights on the dark forest.

“Are you fucking crazy, woman? You won’t last five minutes out in the pine forest. Now get your arse back in the car!” I demand, my tone deadly.

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