Page 9 of Forgive Me For I Have Sinned

After I find the packet of microwavable popcorn, I look up to see Melody grinning like she won something on her phone. The boy she snuck into her room last weekend probably sent her a message. When I was fourteen, Alicia showed me a picture of Reid, Alaric, the Bedford twins, and Valen at the lake house they visited that summer. One look at Alaric's perfect face, and I was a goner. Starstruck is what they call it. Alicia and the Riordan's invited me, but I couldn't go. One week without me in the house was a death sentence to Charles Devlin.

I sit down next to her with the bowl of freshly-made popcorn and the irresistible smell has her looking up. Amusement twitches my lips when she tilts the screen so I can't see the text messages on her phone.

"We can watch whatever you want," she finally says.

This means she will be on her phone during the entire movie. As long as she stays out of trouble, then all is good. I could care less what she does on her phone, if her parents allow her to have one. I promised Adam I would watch her, and he promised me fifty bucks for the trouble. I didn't agree because of the money. Well, not entirely. I like being around Adam and his family. I get to be myself and feel...normal.

I find Insidious and press play but then notice the grin wiping right off Melody's face and a stream of curse words flying from her mouth.

I raise my eyebrows. "Whoa, do your parents know you use such colorful language?"

"That piece of shit. He lied!" she yells, slamming her hand on the cushions of the couch.

I look at the hurtful expression in her eyes with her ash blonde wavy hair framing her face, hating that someone made her feel this way. Especially some guy that hurt her.

"They all do."

"How would you know?” she snaps. "Adam says he has never seen you even look at another guy since he's known you. I told him it's probably because you like girls."

I snort and almost choke on a piece of popcorn. "I have no issues with people who do, but I assure you, I don't like girls.” I tilt my head to the side. "What did he lie about?"

Her eyes are glassy, meaning he either told her he wasn't seeing anyone and he is or that he's somewhere with someone he shouldn't be.

"I can't tell you because you'll tell my brother, and then he'll tell my parents."

I stuff a couple of popped kernels in my mouth and raise a brow. "Try me."

How bad could it be?

She slides a piece of her hair behind her ear, nervously looking between me and her phone. Another message dings on her screen, and she opens it. I watch the fury and hurt swirl in her expression like a tornado at whatever was just sent. The world is crumbling around her in her mind, and she cannot stop it from happening. It’s the type of shit that scars you even though those who did it don't deserve you. I sit up, watching her lip tremble, and feel bad for her. The same way I do for all Prey on campus. The ones walking in blindly, only to be slaughtered emotionally by the privileged.

She finally holds up her phone with an audible sigh, and there is a picture of a guy and a girl. His hand is up her skirt, and her tongue is down his throat while she sits on his lap. "He said he was going to sleep early because he had practice in the morning. He's a senior and got a full ride playing football at OSU."

"But you're fourteen," I say. I think.

"Sixteen. I will be seventeen in the fall when he starts his freshman year. It's not too much of an age gap, but my parents and brother think he's too old for me."

Her parents and siblings don't trust her to be home alone and now I get why. Guys don't always have a girl’s best interest at heart.

I should say she is too young, but then I would be a hypocrite. Alaric was a senior in college when I was a senior in high school, and it didn't stop me. But I was eighteen and a legal adult. I can't tell her that because she will shut down and not tell me. Instead, I go for the let him go. You could find someone better speech.

"You can do so much better."

More tears.

I look at her phone as more messages with pictures come in from social media, with his hand up the other girl’s skirt, probably fingering her, and I notice it's somewhere familiar. The outdoor patio. The chairs and benches. A party at a frat house near the college in Ohio. The same one Adam and his sister are probably at right now. I overheard the party was tonight around campus at Kenyan on Friday before the next season starts.

"Does your brother know who he is?" She nods.

Shit.

She looks down, twisting her fingers in her lap as the movie plays. "He snuck in my room, and we…got caught–" she trails off.

"Fucking." I finish for her.

She waves her hand, rolling her eyes and says, "Yeah."

Little shit. I never had a sister. The only one I considered a sister was Alicia. I had no siblings to look up to or to take care of.

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