Page 56 of We The Depraved

Niki’s eyes grow wide and then he throws up his hands. He has three brothers, he knows how siblings can be.

Getting to my feet, I want to hug Khrystina. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her. We’ve only talked a few times here and there.

“Fucking answer me, Sage!” she shouts and I jump.

Why am I feeling so jumpy?

“I…I didn’t think it was important,” I admit.

Her eyes begin to look wild.

“You didn’t think that I needed to know my father was fucking dead ? You crazy fucking bitch!”

Rage is rolling off my little sister and its coming at me like waves looking for a sand. At this point, I’m feeling dizzy and I want to throw up.

My wedding day has certainly started with a damn bang.

“Well?”

Her voice pierces my ears again and I want to hide. God, facing my sister makes me want to drink or pull the covers back over my head.

“You need to get your ass back on a plane and go back to school.”

A mask slips over my face and I try to regain my composure. Our breaths are filling the air as we battle for control with our eyes. Finally, she looks away.

“I can’t,” she says with defeat in her voice.

“What?”

“I’ve been calling you, Sage. You haven’t picked up. I found out that all the checks have been bouncing because money got moved into a private account. Like, did you listen to any of the fucking phone calls?”

She needs to be gone.

I need her gone.

Khrystina can’t be here complicating my life.

“We’ll get everything sorted out.”

“Like, did he leave me anything?”

I need a showerI think. Sweat drenches my flesh and goosebumps are darting along my skin.

My lips part and exhale a breath. “We can talk about this later.”

“Sage…”

“Later,” I tell her and push her out into the hallway, shutting the door behind her.

Facing myself in the mirror, I find that I don’t like who I’m looking at. My sister had just made me not only afraid but sad. Why?

Because she looks like me. Well, the me before our father had taken away my innocence. Part of me, a selfish part hated that she got to stay innocent and free while I’d been raped by the man that was supposed to love me.

Flashes of those nights moved behind my eyes and I knew I needed a shower. I needed to scrub those thoughts from my mind and body, literally.

CHAPTER18

Niki