Page 84 of Heartless Heathens

“You want to bind yourself to three agents of hell, Romina? Do you want to get on your knees every day and let me use you until there’s nothing left of you?” he asked and I shrank. “You’re not ready to be bound to me,” he said as he stepped out into the hallway, walking out of his room.

It stung nearly as much as the headmaster’s hand on my face.

“Is that because you don’t like me?” I asked, my voice shaking while I internally cursed myself a million times over for asking it again.

He didn’t turn back to face me, but he froze for a split second.

At the same time, Corvin walked out of his own room and I buried my face in my hands to hide my embarrassment and fight back the tears. All I seemed to get from Sonny was rejection lately, and for some reason it made me even more desperate for him.

I pulled my phone out and texted Reesa.

ME:How do I make someone ‘want it’?

REESA:context please weirdo

ME:How do I get them to have sex with me?

REESA:I’ll come over later. I have more books.

I heard a knock at Sonny’s door and looked up from my phone. The door was wide open, but Corvin stood there, leaning his forearm against the threshold.

“Wanna go somewhere?” he asked and I nodded my head, wiping the stray tears I didn’t realize had fallen down my cheeks.

He draped an arm over my shoulder and called back into the hallway as he walked me out into the living room.

“We’re leaving.”

Felix came rushing out of his room pulling his soccer kit over his head and nearly sliding over the waxed floor with his socks.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” he asked, a V forming between his eyebrows.

“Nowhere that requires a car, a chaperone, or your bullshit,” Corvin shouted back without so much as turning to face his brother.

I smirked at Felix and waived while Corvin practically pulled me out of the house.

“He treats you like a child.” I looked up at him once we’d gotten outside.

“You can tell?” he said without looking back my way.

“I spent my whole life being treated like one.” I shrugged and he pulled me closer to his side.

“He means well. They both do. I might act like I hate it, and hell knows I fucking do, but the reality is, this is how they show they care.”

“Funny. That’s what Frollo used to say too.”

“I’m sorry.” He looked straight into my eyes when he said it.

That’s when I noticed how truly dark they were. Like an obsidian mirror that sucked you in and forced you to reflect on your own soul. There was a multitude of inner workings I couldn’t begin to figure out for myself yet.

All of that in just his gaze.

He didn’t fight me on it or disagree, he just let my feelings be out there, recognized and heard.

And that felt better than I realized it could.

We walked to the parking lot side by side, his arm still draped over me in a way that felt heavy and yet somehow comforting all at once. As if his weight was armor, covering me and preparing me to face the world I still knew nothing about.

“I thought you told Felix we weren’t taking a car?” I asked, confused as he fumbled keys in his hands.