Sins of the Innocent - Jamie McGuire Page 0,33
the son of Lucifer. Makes sense.”
“When you’re neutral, there are no bad guys.”
“You’re not bad,” I said.
He grinned again—this time, with his whole beautiful mouth. “You’ve said that before.”
“I have?” I leaned forward, resting my head on the steering wheel. “Does my father know that part?”
“I told him everything.”
I looked over at him. “Will you tell me everything?”
“Everything you want to know.” He looked down. “I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have kissed you like that. You just admitted to never being kissed, and it made me think of ours. I wanted to be your first kiss in this life, too. But I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”
I picked at my nails. “It’s okay. It wasn’t … awful.”
He smiled and then looked down again, nodding.
A few minutes before the ferry was due to arrive, we left the Audi in the parking lot and walked to the tiny Ann Street Pier.
The Katherine docked, appearing much like a typical boat but with a canvas enclosure with roll-down, see-through sides for use in times of rough water. After boarding, I sat down on the starboard side and gripped my seat, as if I were trying to hold on to reality. Levi sat next to me, and one by one, the seats were filled.
After everyone was settled, the boat pulled away from the dock, and we set off. The two inches of his hair sticking out from his knit cap mashed against his neck, ears, and forehead, being blown by the wind, as we set sail out of Newport Harbor and into the Narragansett.
Levi leaned in even though we both knew I could hear him over the noise of the engine and water. “How is Morgan?”
“I haven’t spoken to him in a few days. We’re supposed to have lunch tomorrow.”
He nodded, hesitating to ask his next questions. “You spend a lot of time with him.”
“He’s my best friend.”
“Just friends?”
“Yes,” I said, a little disgusted he’d asked.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. A lot of people think we … he’s nice to me.”
“And you’re nice to him.”
“Hence, the friendship. Thank you for standing up for him against those guys.”
“I wasn’t. Once that Craig guy pushed you, I was going to mangle his face if you’d retaliated or not.” He looked away. “He’s lucky I didn’t kill him, and it had nothing to do with Morgan.”
“Oh.”
My world was spinning. I had lived before, and I had been in love. No one could have fallen as far as I had. My life had been forged in service to Heaven, being the ultimate protector of the human race. All this time, my position wasn’t one of nobility but a demotion. I was the girlfriend of Satan Junior. It was like I had woken up as a different person.
Bile rose in my throat, but it wasn’t the rocking of the boat that had me fighting to keep down my breakfast.
“Eden, are you all right?” When I didn’t answer, he opened his hand. “I know you don’t know me that well here. But if you need to … give me your hand, and I’ll hold it.”
“Please don’t look at me,” I said, keeping my eyes on the sea.
I couldn’t see his expression, but Levi said nothing else until we docked at Rose Island. Levi stepped off the boat, and although I could tell he wanted to help, he knew better than to offer. In a lithe leap, I was back on solid ground. The captain waved to us, and we began the three-hundred-yard hike from the Katherine to the lighthouse, the last third being uphill. I noticed that a cliff dropped to the water just beyond the building and the seagulls swooping and soaring overhead.
The Rose Island Lighthouse was even more beautiful than I’d imagined, a two-hundred-year-old building pristinely white with curved dormer windows and the octagonal lighthouse looming above, not separate, as part of the living quarters. The Newport Bridge served as a backdrop, a stretch of road I’d traveled on many times, and I wondered why I hadn’t visited this place before.
The stormy clouds I’d seen in Providence were making their way to Rose Island and the Bay was reacting, pushing white caps toward the rocks at the bottom of the cliff and the beaches on each side. The storm added to the ambience. As postcard-worthy as the lighthouse was, I could feel the flutter of Others in the air.
“Sorry,” Levi said, noticing my expression. “I attract them. I always have.”
“So do I.”
“Not for the same reasons, I’m sure. They watch me,