Page 73 of Of Sinners & Salvation
“I still can’t believe she didn’t come home,” I say wistfully. “She’s the only thing missing. I know it wouldn’t be the same as before, but still…”
“She will,” Heath assures me. “She said she had some business up there to finish first.”
“What business could she have there?” I ask. “You said she’d only been off the island a year.”
“And look at all the funny business we got up to in less than a year,” Angel points out. “A lot can happen in that time.”
“It’s not like we can’t talk to her before then,” Heath says. “You can text her any time, and Mom and Dad flew up to see her with me once already. I even saw them holding hands on the way back to the airport afterwards.”
Angel snorts. “Holding hands? You must have been shaken to the core.”
“Shut up,” Heath says. “It’s a big deal.”
“I hope you weren’t too traumatized,” Angel says, rolling his eyes. “Try growing up in a house where your dad had to buy a new bedframe for your mom every year on their anniversary because they could never find one that could withstand more than a year of their abuse.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,mysister,” Heath says, repeating Saint’s words from earlier with a wry shake of his head.
Sometimes I forget that Ms. Scarlet is his half-sister, since she’s our parents’ age.
“Don’t worry about E,” Angel says, planting a kiss on my head. “We’ll see her all the time when she comes home. She’s just not quite ready yet.”
“But why?” I insist.
“Maybe it’s a mental thing,” Saint says. “Like when you psyche yourself out at a game because the other team is undefeated. You make it this huge deal in your head that you can’t win. She’ll see us all the time, and it will bring back so many memories. Maybe she’s not ready to deal with that yet.”
“Yeah, I think that’s it,” Heath says. “She has to remember who she was before, and deal with all our expectations. Plus, this is where she was taken. The Disciples are still here. What if she sees one and freaks out or something?”
“Yeah, I guess,” I say. “That last day here probably haunts her like it does all of us.”
“That will never change,” Heath says quietly. “We’ll have to deal with a lot of our own shit when she comes back. Seeing her, and how she’s changed, and our own guilt for the part we played…”
I remember how standoffish she was on the beach when I hugged her, how she didn’t want to talk much. How I ran off in ajealous fit because Saint was being all sweet to her. Maybe these few months to get used to the idea of her coming back will be good for all of us.
I have to remind myself that my brother only acted like that to make me mad, though. He doesn’t want her anymore, if he ever did. He always wanted me. That thought settles like a precious seed inside me.
“I have an unrelated question,” I say slowly.
“If you’re going to ask what happened to your clogs, they’re gone forever,” Heath says. “And if you buy a new pair, I’ll burn them.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Not that. Who put an IUD inside me?”
There’s a moment of silence, and then Saint speaks. “I had it put in. It has a tracker in it.”
“You’ve been following me?” I ask. “For how long?”
“For long enough to save you from Diablo’s Disciples,” Angel says. “You’re welcome.”
“You suck. You all suck.”
“I love sucking your pussy,” he says, his cock starting to stir again. I push against it, and he murmurs in her ear, “Mercy Soules. You’re my favorite sin.”
“Not sure how this is a sin,” Heath says, dipping his finger into my well-used entrance and dragging it out. It’s dripping with their cum, and he pops it into his mouth and sucks it off before grinning. “Tastes like the gateway to heaven to me.”
“I think I need a reminder,” Angel says, sliding down the bed. “Ready for round… How many times did we make you cum? I’ve lost track.”
“Eight,” Father Salvatore says.
“We could go for the record,” I say.
