Page 38

Still, I knew Kace understood when the familiar darkness I’d seen before clouded his eyes and his expression turned somber.

“If you give up on your dreams because of what Dylan did, then you let him win.” He placed one hand on my waist, his thumb rubbing circles into my skin where my shirt had ridden up. “And, B? You can’t let that monster win. You’re so much better than him, so much better than anyone here. I understand that you’re scared—”

“I hate my reflection.” My lower lip trembled with each word that left my mouth, each confession that settled between us like an acrid smog. “I can’t stand to look at myself. I wonder…I wonder if what happened was my fault, somehow. If I did something wrong or I—”

“It isnotyour fault,” Kace broke in vehemently. His eyes burned hot with emotion. “I can’t make you believe me, not yet, but I’ll be damned if I let you think even for a second that you had any control over that monster’s actions.”

A single tear branded my cheek, feeling like fire on my sensitive skin. “I know I spoke tough when I was with Aiden and the others,” I began, my voice shaking, “but I’m terrified of what’s going to be waiting for me back home.”

He didn’t offer me false promises the way I might’ve. He didn’t coddle me or assure me everything would be okay. Instead, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to my forehead, and warmth unfurled in my belly from that chaste kiss.

“I am too,” he replied. “But whatever’s facing us out there can’t be worse than what’s in here.”

“I know you’re right, but—”

“It’s time to move on!” Heath hollered from the center of the parking lot. I bolted upright just in time to see him swing his backpack over his shoulders, offering all of us that ineffably calm stare of his.

I felt my breath being siphoned from my body, my heart racing as if my blood had been spiked with fear.

Time to move on…

I stared into the distance, at the blob of light penetrating the darkness, and worked to regulate my breathing.

“What’s the…um…next circle?” one of Kelly’s men, Travis, questioned, pushing up his glasses with his middle finger.

Heath’s smile was like a knife, and it cut right through me.

“Gluttony. Let’s go see what other sins you guys have partaken in, shall we?”