Page 60 of Heartless Heathens

Do it right the first time, wretched girl, or I will make you sorry.

“I-I-I thought people were supposed to touch each other?” I asked, realizing something had gone terribly wrong.

“Uh, I mean, yes. People who really,really,REALLY like each other do. That’s not what this is Romina. People who like each other usuallytalkabout touching each other first,” she said, a terrified look plastered onto her face I couldn’t quite comprehend.

“So, noteveryone?” I asked.

“What the fuck man?” she asked, raking her hands over her face in the same manner that Corvin had done when he seemed to be beyond his limit. “Have those assholes been putting their grubby paws all over you?”

She didn’t give me time to answer. She burst through the doors of the chapel while the boys were setting Corvin down on the couch. They turned to face her, scowls forming on their faces from her intrusion.

“Hey cunts,” she shouted out, holding their already captivated interest. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing to this poor girl?” she asked them.

“Which thing? You’ll have to be more specific,” Sonny said, no alarm to his voice when he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her response.

“Um, how about the thing where you just sexually assault her whenever you want? She’s not your fucking sex toy,” she spat out angrily at them.

“It’s not assault. She wants it.” Sonny grinned that expression that made him look twice as terrifying.

“You do realize how that sounds right?” she asked, looking mostly at Felix this time. “Romina tell these fuckwads they can’t touch you anymore, you can come stay in my dorm room.”

“Wait, what?” I asked, not sure how the conversation had taken a turn like this.

“Tell them you don’t want them touching you anymore,” she said and Sonny chuckled in amusement.

“Why would I do that?” I asked the girl who had called herself my friend just a mere moment ago.

“See,” Sonny said, raising his eyebrows up high.

“Fuckin’ hell. You monsters have already brainwashed her.” She exhaled out something that seemed like defeat.

“Sure. If you call being sexually worshiped a form of brainwashing.” Felix laughed under his breath.

“It probably is. This seems wrong. She’s so naive and innocent.” She finally looked over at me like she hadn’t spent this entire time talking about me like I wasn’t even a person in the room.

“Don’t infantilize her. She’s an adult. And don’t talk about her like she’s not here either,” Felix pushed past her to make his way over to me. “Do you want us to stop touching you, Mina?” He grazed his thumb against my cheek and waited for a response.

I shook my head.

Because Corvin was right.

The beautiful things did hurt. And maybe I was a sucker for pain, because I wasn’t ready to find out what would happen if it were to stop hurting.

If they went away.

If they left me here.

I think that would hurt the most, more than never having left the belltower at all.

Reesaleftafterthethousandth time she made me repeat that I was okay and did not want to leave. Maybe I was making a mistake in staying. Maybe I should have taken the out when it was given to me.

I’d felt like a prisoner my entire life under Father Frollo’s watch.

This didn’t feel the same.

“What did Arlan want?” Felix asked Sonny.

“Wanted an update on our progress. I said we’d made none.” He crossed his arms.