Goddess of Pain - Katie May Page 0,75

is engulfed in silence.

It’s a pregnant, heavy sort of silence, like that moment when your finger rests on the trigger of a handgun. With just the slightest application of pressure, the gun will go off, disrupting the tranquility you once found yourself in.

And maybe killing a few people in the process.

I sit in the backseat between Avery and Sin. The former has his hand on my knee, idly drawing circles into my bare skin. The latter is using a pen he found in the car to doodle on my hand; surprisingly lifelike, black flames are now etched across my knuckles.

“This was a bust,” I huff, finally daring to push down on that precarious trigger and implode the silence.

Desmond swivels around in the passenger seat to stare at me.

“So obviously, that was a trap. Rebecca wasn’t there.” He taps a long, elegant finger against the stubble on his chin. “We need to figure out how she knew—”

“My brothers told her,” I whisper, squeezing my hands into fists. Sin immediately makes a sound of annoyance, unclasping my fingers to resume his diligent doodling. “I don’t think they had any malicious intentions…”

“But they didn’t know we broke into Rebecca’s apartment in the first place,” Avery breaks in. “So they couldn’t have told her.”

“Fuck.” I drop my head back and squeeze my eyelids shut. “I feel like we’re missing something. Something important.”

“Well, we don’t have to figure out anything now,” Helio assures gruffly. His knuckles are white where they clench the steering wheel. He’s still shaken up over what happened with the female assassin. All of my men are, sans Sin. She’d been right under our noses. I mean, who would’ve suspected her in the first place?

But Helio, out of all of them, blames himself for not protecting me. I don’t need to be a mind reader to know that he regrets letting me leave with only Sin. I hate the burden he’s placed on himself, all in the name of protecting us. It’s not fair, and I wish desperately that I can do something, anything, to lighten the load.

And of course, there’s the fact that once again, we don’t have anyone alive to interrogate. Burke’s dead, so who is paying for these assassins? Did Burke pay for them before he died, and they’re only now coming out of the woodwork?

Or did the mastermind behind this all realize her original plan failed and she needed to resort to plan B?

When we pull into the parking lot of my apartment complex, nobody makes an immediate move to get out of the car. Sin has his blond, shaggy hair bent over my hand as he draws, while Avery digs his nails into my knee. Desmond stares straight ahead, for once not smiling.

“We’ll be okay, guys,” I croak out at last, infusing my voice with sincerity. I have to believe that. I have to. The alternative? It’s too much for me to bear.

My voice seems to snap them out of their combined funks. Avery, with one more squeeze of my knee, slides out of the vehicle followed by Desmond and Helio. Only Sin remains behind, shading the tallest flame on my hand.

“There!” he says, smiling in satisfaction.

I stare at the intricate masterpiece for a long moment, using a finger on my other hand to touch the flames as if they’re actually capable of burning me.

“I love it,” I whisper, the beginnings of a smile playing on my lips. “It just sucks that I’m going to have to wash it off when we get inside.”

I’m covered head-to-toe in soot and ash. There are very few areas of my skin that miraculously escaped the aftermath of the various fires.

Sin shrugs, unperturbed. “That’s okay. We have forever in front of us. I’ll doodle on your hand every damn day for the rest of eternity.”

When a bubbly feeling manifests in my stomach, I can’t stop myself from leaning forward and kissing Sin. Because, despite his faults, Sin never gave up on us. From the very first day, he’s been determined to keep us reading the same book until we reach the end and the happily ever after. We might be on different pages and different chapters, but the stories always remain the same, as does the ending. It just takes some of us longer to get there.

But Sin? He skipped ahead and read the last few words. Now, he’s waiting for the rest of us to catch up and join him in the post-book bliss.

“We should get inside before the others