Page 58 of Touched By Sin
“Aurelia!” he barks, causing me to halt in my steps. I’ve never heard him use my real name before. I don’t turn around. My breaths are coming too quickly. I feel Daemon behind me—his scent, his fingers brushing my hair from my shoulder. I squeeze my eyes shut.
“You can’t run from me.”
I turn my head halfway, whispering, “I’m not the one running.”
It’s true, Daemon uses other girls to keep me at bay. He’s scared of getting too close. This time when I walk away, he doesn’t follow me.
* * *
“What are you doing up here?”Ronan asks as he sits down next to me on the roof. It’s a cold night. My breath is visible in the air, and goosebumps line my arms. I welcome the sharp bite. It keeps the thoughts at bay.
“I wish I could fly up into the clouds.”
“Yeah?” His elbow is on his knee, and he’s fiddling with a joint. As I watch, he brings it to his lips and lights it up with a click of his fingers.
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?” he asks, blowing out a cloud of smoke.
“Conjure hellfire.”
He shrugs, sucking on the joint, then peers at me sideways. “Visualize it.”
“It’s so easy for you to say.”
He doesn’t reply, watching me as the embers spark.
I lie back and gaze up at the stars. “Does love exist here in Hell?”
It’s a question I’ve asked myself many times. I see glimpses of it, but then it’s extinguished just as fast.
Scratching the side of his nose with his thumb, he takes another deep pull on the joint and looks back out at the trees. “I think so. I wouldn’t know.”
“Have you never loved?”
“A girl? No.”
I reach out, fiddling with the hem of his T-shirt. “It doesn’t have to be a girl. Platonic love. Don’t you have parents? Siblings? Your friends.”
“Do you see them anywhere?”
“No.”
“There you go then.” He tips his head back and blows a cloud of smoke at the sky. “Love is for the weak.”
“That’s really sad,” I tell him, my fingers brushing over the sliver of skin visible between his T-shirt and jeans. We sit in silence while Ronan smokes, and I trace patterns over his olive skin.
“I think to love is to show strength,” I whisper after a while, watching as Ronan flicks his joint over the roof's edge.
“How so?” He lies down next to me.
I peer at his profile, his straight nose, and the sharp line of his jaw. “It takes strength and bravery to be vulnerable. It requires you to see someone for who they truly are and accept them despite their flaws. Love is scary. It sets you up to have your heart broken, so if you have the courage to love someone…” I drift off.
“You think too much, little angel,” Ronan says, making me laugh softly.
“Maybe,” I admit.
“I’m just happy if I’ve got a good supply of blood and a willing girl to suck my dick. I don’t require much.”
