Page 5 of Soulless Saint

I helped him down the stairs, practically having to lift him to get to the bottom, otherwise we’d have been there for a fucking hour.

He slipped on the bottom step, coughing, hunching over to one side to vomit onto the cement landing. I shut my eyes on a hard sigh, waiting for him to be finished retching before I lifted his left arm over my shoulders, hauling him onto my back in a fireman’s carry.

The sun scalded my overtired eyes as I used my brother’s ass to push through the door back out onto the street. The students milling around looking for hangover food and coffee scattered from my path as I carried Kaleb to the still-idling Bronco and all but tossed him over the side into the back seat.

If he puked back there, the fucker was going to clean that shit himself. I twisted my neck to get out the kink there and pushed my black hair away from my eyes, spitting the lingering cigar smoke flavor onto the pavement.

And there she was.

Becca Hart.

She stood perfectly still on the sidewalk a few shops up, frozen as our eyes locked together. Hers wide and wild, fearful and hungry as her thighs pressed tight beneath the curve hugging black dress she wore. Her full lips parted. Powerless to look away until I released her.

My cock twitched in my jeans, and I wired my mouth shut, hating how my body reacted to her. I’d had my fair share of women, but they were a means to an end. And none got me hard without a considerable amount of work.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly and I knew if I rested my callused palm over the mounds of her tits, I’d feel her heart racing.

My upper lip curled and her fear intensified.

Good.

If she were smart, she’d stay the fuck away from me. The Saint’s Dagger wouldn’t like what I wanted with her best friend.

The need to claim her, mark her, break her, seared through me like white fire.

I ground my teeth, breaking eye contact, sending her stumbling back into a bench. I lifted myself over the passenger door, slinging my body into the driver’s seat, rocking the Bronco with my weight before I shifted her into drive and peeled away from the Row.

Forcing myself to leave before I decided to throw her into the backseat with Kaleb and take her with me.

“Rough night?”

The balding man next to me on the city bus leaned in, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Don’t worry, darlin’. We’ve all had them.”

I shot to my feet before he could pat my thighs. The man lifted his hands in a plaintive gesture at my cutting glare, letting out a strained chuff of a laugh.

My teeth ground noisily in my jaw.

I was dead once. For a full two minutes. This was a walk in the fucking park. It didn’t matter that I had barely two hundred dollars left in my wallet. Or that I’d had to spend the night in a seedy motel, jamming towels against the base of the door to make sure no one could shove a coat hanger under it and force their way in.

Nope. Didn’t matter at all.

I clutched the top rail as I made my way to the front of the packed bus, grimacing as I squeezed through the other people along for the ride.

My nose wrinkled at the menagerie of foreign scents, leaving me wondering if the mothball and harsh detergent stench clogging the back of my throat was from one of these people or the stiff floral motel comforter.

Dipping my head, I gave my shoulder a covert sniff and gagged. Yep. The motel had fused its decaying essence to my Loro Piana dress.

Taking a centering breath, I reminded myself my sour mood was more than likely due to the acute lack of caffeine in my system. I wasn’t about to touch the oxidized single cup brewer back at the motel.

Checking the map on my phone again, I made sure the bus still headed in the right direction. I missed the first one, even though I was waiting at the stop promptly at 8:52 am like the online schedule said.

My phone buzzed, a message dropping down from the top of the screen, making my fist clench around the device.

Dad: There’s still time to change your mind. The dean of admissions is waiting for my call. There’s an apartment in the city with your name on it. I’ve already put a deposit down. All the amenities, everything you could…

I didn’t bother tapping it to read the rest.

This time, I wouldn’t be bought. Not after all the shit I’d lived through this past year. As if on cue, the scar over my heart throbbed and I hunched against the bone-deep ache until it passed.

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