Page 8 of Throne of Sin

Dante

“DemiGallo,”Imutterher name and place my head in my hands. My elbows rest on the hard surface of my desk. I had convinced myself I would never see her again.

I’m fine.

I stand, wanting to go straight to Sienna to ask when she starts, but resist the urge.Fuck!Seeing Demi has sent me back ten years as if it were yesterday.

“What’s with the ring?” Savio asks, stepping into my bedroom.

I meet his eyes in the mirror. I’ve been standing here looking between the cross burned into my chest and the ring. Our mother had caught me asleep and took the opportunity to deliver my punishment.

“If I’m going to get Demi to leave with me, she needs some sort of promise.”

“I didn’t realize you two were dating.” He eyes me cautiously.

I turn to look at him, shoving the ring into my pocket. “We haven’t labeled what we are.”

He’s still staring at me and I feel obligated to explain. “Look, I realize our relationship isn’t normal or conventional, but we get each other. We both feel it.”

“You sure? Because I just saw her making out with her boyfriend.”

My heart twists. “She’s going to come with us. If you have a problem with it, tell me now.”

He raises a hand in surrender. “No problem. I must have seen wrong.”

He leaves my room, closing the door behind him. My body itches to storm over to her house and demand to know what’s going on. Instead, I force myself to lie down on my bed. My hands rest above my head, holding on to the headboard to keep me in place.

From this position, I can stare out my window. The evening sky has gone from red to black within an hour.

“Dante?” Demi pokes her head into my room. I wait for her to announce why she’s here, continuing my vacant watch of the night in silence. She crawls through the window and lies down on the bed with me. Her breathing quickly matches mine, no words spoken for long minutes, and it’s almost easy to pretend like there’s nothing wrong.

“How’s Jameson?” I lift my head to watch her reaction.

She sighs. “He’s not you.”

“That’s right. You only show up when you want my cock.”

“Well, it is a beautiful cock.” She kisses my jaw. “But that’s not why I’m here tonight.” Her kisses trail over my cheek to my lips.

I grip her hips and lift her to straddle me. “What if I told you I love you and I don’t want to share you with anyone? Ever.” My heart rate doubles. I’m not the type of guy who puts himself out there to be rejected. I’ve experienced enough of that in my lifetime, I don’t need more memories.

“Do you love me?” Her smile is dazzling and bright right now.

“I do love you.” I swallow around the lump in my throat.

“You are the sweetest man I have ever met.”

Not exactly the reaction I was going for.

Her hand moves my jaw back to look at her. “I love you too. I wish I could pay you back for everything you have ever done for me.”

“It’s never been like that for us. Run away with me, Demi. We’ve talked about getting away from here. I have a plan. We can have that life we talked about.” The ring is burning a hole in my pocket, but I decide to wait and slip it on her finger the moment we’re out of here. It will be the first page of our new chapter.

“When do we leave?” She laughs, not understanding that I’m serious.

I flip her under me. My arms rest on either side of her head. “I’m serious. Once Savio ties up a few loose ends, we’re gone.”

Her fingers lightly trace my scabbed-up burn. “Is it because of this?”

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