Page 100 of Delightful Sins

But he plays it smart and turns around. “You know.” He stops, his hand on the garage door. “You were always beautiful to me.”

“Please,” I snort.

He shrugs. “Beauty is a gift given to everyone. Being beautiful is only what society made out of it. I don’t care that you finally balanced your weight, that you pluck your eyebrows obsessively and to perfection. I couldn’t give a shit about your obsession with skincare or the way you now do your makeup.”

My eyes accidentally cross his, and he holds me prisoner. “You were always beautiful to me, Jade. Just because you are…you.”

The small smile he offers me is the most honest thing I’ve ever seen from him. It’s beautiful, kind. It makes my heart stop and my jaw drop.

The moment he’s gone, I look into the paper bag. It’s a waffle sandwich from my favorite diner in town. I pull it out. Sausage, bacon, double egg, caramelized onions. And a flooding of ketchup.

Ethan remembered my favorite breakfast.

I throw my head back, wincing when I hit the door of the van behind me.

“Ow,” I moan. “Fuck you both.”

Fuck them for making me feel inexplicable things for two completely different people.

I huff and stand up. I need a plate and a ton of napkins if I want to eat this without ruining the black jeans and Green Day t-shirt I’m wearing.

It’s Elliot’s, of course.

I walk into the kitchen with the brown bag in my hand and freeze on the spot. My eyes round, looking from Elliot to Ethan, and Ethan to Elliot.

Again.

And again.

And…again.

The shock keeps me speechless, and they stay silent while they think of how to explain themselves.

“Well,” Elliot finally says. “I must admit, this is a tricky one to explain.”

Ethan stares at me, blinking through the blood covering his face.

It’s not just his face, though. It spills down his topless body, his jeans. All the way to his black combat boots. It has dried by now, some of it flaky on his skin, but some thicker parts are still wet.

The swollen veins in his arms beat like his heart can be felt throughout his whole body. It gives life to the red liquid covering his skin, making it look like a snake slithering its way to his fingertips.

My eyes track the serpent down to a knife he’s holding tightly in his right hand. It is just a kitchen knife.

A bloody kitchen knife held by a maniac.

I think Elliot can read my mind before I can even process it myself.

“Jade…no.”

Life comes back to me in a rush of emotions. I gasp so much oxygen I feel dizzy. Flipping around, I make a run for it through the door I just came from.

“Jade!” I hear Elliot’s irritated bark, but I don’t stop.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” I whimper as I grab the garage door handle and pull it up so quickly, I practically dislocate my shoulder.

I always knew Ethan was deranged, but I never saw the darkness from inside show up so clearly on the outside.

Whoever the person was, he didn’t just murder them. He decimated them.

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