Page 49 of Sin & Fall

Letting out a frustrated scream, she shakes her head and runs her fingers through her hair.

“Chloe,” I say softly as I stroke her cheek. She leans into my touch. It feels natural, like we’ve known each other our whole lives not a mere few hours. “You’re strong enough to survive this world by yourself.”

“Well, maybe I don’t want to be by myself anymore. You can’t show me everything I’ve been missing and then rip it away from me.”

But that’s exactly why she needs to leave.

Ripping the Band-Aid off now will be so much easier for her.

“Chloe, darlin’, you deserve a good life. I can’t give you that.”

“I don’t care what you think I deserve. I’ve spent years living for others. From now on, I’m choosing what I want, and that is you.” She jabs me in the chest with one pointed finger.

“This is just trauma bonding. You thought I was going to kill you, so your brain forced this connection. You don’t really—” Abruptly silencing me, she turns away and walks around the car. With her fiery eyes on mine, shegets in and slams the door shut. I lean my arms against the roof and sigh.

She’s chosen me. I should be happy, but all I can do is question what I’ve done.

I can only hope she really is strong enough to face everything that comes next.

Chapter 17

Chloe

When Zack finally gets in the car, he doesn’t say a word. He’s still bleeding from his forehead, and it drips down to his eye. Either he hasn’t noticed, or he doesn’t care.

“Do you have a first aid kit?”

Remaining silent, he opens up the glove compartment and takes out a small zipped case. I use the bits I find inside to clean up his cut and put a bandage on it.

Pressing a kiss to his forehead, I say, “There, all better.” He looks stunned, and I chuckle to myself. Guess pussy isn’t the only thing that can tame him. A little bit of kindness works wonders as well.

“We’re getting off the road for a bit,” I tell him firmly as I put the first aid kit away.

“No,” he snaps back.

Why is he so stubborn?

I can hardly threaten to leave him since I’ve made my choice clear. But we can’t keep doing this same dance. “We get off the road or you tell me right now exactly what this is all about.”

He grinds his jaw, and I expect him to drive straight ahead, but he veers off down a dirt road, and grits out, “Fine. There’s a cornfield down this way. It’ll give us enough coverage to stop for a minute. And only for a minute.”

Following the trail, we reach the field and find another path that leads to the center. It’s creepy here amidst the tall stalks of corn, but I know I have nothing to worry about with Zack by my side.

He turns the headlights off so we’re more inconspicuous, but leaves the radio on low. More metal music plays. It’s a softer song this time, with a gravelly male voice singing.

“I like this. Who is it?”

“Sleep Token,” Zack mumbles.

“I’ve never heard of them. At the convent there was no WiFi access for anyone other than the Fathers and a few of the more trusted sisters so I didn’t get to listen to music. Unless you count hymns.” I try to make light of it all, but it only pisses him off.

“What they did to you…”

Holding my hand up, I say, “I’ve already made peace with it. I used to think that I could find that peace with a higher power, that if I endured enough, I wouldn’t have to suffer. But in the end, I was only waiting for an out.”

“Chloe, tell me how you got away.” He refuses to answer my questions, but expects all the answers from me.

I swallow the lump in my throat. As strong as I know I am, it’s still a lot to have to talk about. But I want to let him in.