Page 3 of Penance

She smiles, lacing her fingers atop mine as the choir start to sing.

* * *

Holding the black umbrella above us, the rain continuing to pelt down. We’re standing in three inches of mud at this point, but Lala doesn’t seem to care. We watch the coffin as it’s lowered into the ground, the Vicar flicks holy water, saying more words and prayers until it’s just the two of us left standing.

“I’m so sorry, Max.”

“Me too.”

“She loved you so much, more than anything,” she whispers to me.

Her malnourished body tucked safely into my side, I rest my chin atop her head, breathing her in, I sigh.

“I know, we were both her world, Lala. Don’t you forget that, she loved you too.”

“I know she did,” she shifts from beneath me.

Looking up at me with a soft smile, stretching up on tiptoes, she presses a delicate kiss to my stubbled jaw. Electricity rolls through me as she sighs, dropping back down onto flat feet. I draw her into me tighter, needing to feel her against me. We stand like that a while, the sky getting darker, rain getting heavier until she speaks, shocking the fuck out of me.

“I love you, Maddox Sharpe,” she whispers the confession without looking at me.

My mouth drops open, suddenly very fucking dry, my breath stuttering in my chest.

Loves me?

I grip her chin between my thumb and finger, the sudden pressure making her wince slightly as she cranes her neck back to look up at me. Despite her six-feet of height, I still tower over her at six-four.

“Look at me, Lala,” I order, my voice slightly shaky, her eyes still downcast, I grip her tighter, forcing her gaze to meet mine.

“I’m so-”

“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry,” I growl. “Do you regret saying that?” I ask nervously, words clipped.

She swallows, licking her chapped lips, “no,” she whispers, “I don’t regret it,” her voice hoarse.

My heart gallops, my ribs struggling to contain the out-of-control organ inside my chest. I take a breath, still forcing her to look at me.

“We’re endgame, Lala, you and me. Soulmates of the darkest kind, you’ll always be mine.”

She sucks in a sharp breath as I drop my hand to her throat, my thumb caressing her pulse point as it hammers beneath her pale skin.

“I love you, Kyla-Rose, you were born to be mine,” I lean into her still frozen body, my face nuzzling into her neck, I smile against her silky porcelain skin. “And one day you will be,” I promise with everything I have, dropping a forbidden kiss to her temple.

I turn us around, still shielding her with the umbrella, I retake her hand as we put our backs to my grandma’s grave and walk away.

Unknowingly leading her, hand in hand, to our own fucking funeral.

Chapter1

Kyla-Rose

“Max?” I blanch.

Haunting turquoise-blue eyes burn into me, heat razes across my flesh, the devil’s tongue lashing at my overheated skin.

This is a dream. It’s not real.

I squeeze my eyes shut so tightly I see stars beneath my hot eyelids, sweat beading along my hairline as I rapidly count to ten in my head.