The Sinners - Ruby Vincent Page 0,14
adrenaline. Like a predator surrounded by beasts waiting for him to slip and make him their prey.
“There’s no color in your world, Royal Cruz. It’s why you draw one without.” I kissed him. Not a frantic, wild thing. But a gift on his lips. “Living in that pain proves you feel. You’ll truly be lost if your father takes that from you too.”
Royal hung on to me. His grip dug into the soft flesh between my thumbs and forefingers. He ached to push me, my words, my truth away. The thing about pain is when it torments you long enough, you begin to cling to it. Suffering is preferable to the terrifying fear that without the pain you might be numb.
The need for redemption swirled in his moon-lit eyes. He breathed harder, faster, sucking the air from me.
“Don’t run from this, Royal.” Our foreheads. Noses. Chests. Souls came together as one. “Don’t run from me again.”
Royal clutched me closer still. The air was charged with heat, tension, and a touch of arousal. His erection poked my inner thigh. Royal said I was perfect like this—just as broken as him.
“I didn’t run from you, princess. I sacrificed you. The beautifully sad girl who stepped onto the balcony wearing agony only I could see. I ate your pain because that’s what I do. And then I left you because I’d give it back. That’s what I do too.
“You don’t want me, Ember. And matter of fact, you don’t want Cassius or Clay either. Life has been shitting on you since before you learned to spell the word. Hooking up with us will drag you further down.”
I rocked forward, a slight twitch of my hips, and positioned him on my sex. “It’s too late now. We’re a crew. The Angels.”
“That name never did fit.”
“You’re my angels.” I pressing down as his length flicked my clit, igniting sizzling electricity in my lower belly. “Guardian angels. I don’t need protection, but I know you won’t leave me without it. Will you?”
Royal guided my hips back and forth, up and down his length. “Nothing is going to happen to you while you live in this town.”
“Then let’s stop pretending we didn’t trade ‘you and me’ for ‘us’ a long time ago.”
Royal stopped, holding me firm though a moan escaped me trying to remold our bodies. He said nothing for so long the sprinklers kicked on, raining down on a deserted park.
“We should get out of here.”
He put me on my feet and walked out of the gazebo, uncaring of the massive hard-on leading the way. Catching up to him, I linked our hands the same way we came in. I picked up on his anger—what else was new—but pushing me away didn’t work when he said in the same breath he’d always be there to protect me.
“Where are we going?” I asked. “It’s too late to go back to school.”
“We’re going to my place. I’ll take you to school in the morning.”
“Okay,” I said easily. “Before we go, there’s one more thing I want to ask you.” I looked up at him and the steady way he avoided my gaze. “Why didn’t you tell your grandmother the truth about Rio?”
“Because it would have destroyed her. She was so happy, Ember. Gran had everything she wanted in the world. I couldn’t tell her it was all a lie.”
I poked his side. “And that, Royal Cruz, is why you’re nothing like your father.”
We made it to his car, buckling in, before I asked the final question pressing on my mind. “Royal, what about your mom?”
The engine purred to life. “Don’t know her.”
I gave him peace as he peeled out of the parking lot.
Royal drove us out of the Estate, winding through the Outer Borough down unfamiliar streets and past ramshackle buildings. The OB at night was a lonely place. We passed a few cars on the road, but saw no people on the sidewalk or poking their heads out of their homes. Only trouble would be found on the streets at this time of night.
On the way, I tried calling Cassius and Clay. Both of their phones went to voicemail.
“Do you think the triplets are okay?” I asked. “Rio backed out on leaving me alone. What if he broke his promise about hurting the triplets? And what about Hiro? He went to the Horsemen’s ‘doctor’ and not a real one, didn’t he? Can we find out how he is? Can we get him to a real fucking doctor!?”
“Slow