Page 137 of Sin Like the Devil

Only I’m allowed to hurt her.

Now I have the responsibility of helping her too.

Thoroughly rinsing the wounds, I settle for getting them as clean as possible. I’m woefully unprepared for this task. Lennox is the bleeding heart; he would know what to do here. If only he weren’t the one who attempted to kill her in the first place.

“Warmed up?”

Her teeth chatter together. “B-Better.”

Sagging against me, I’m forced to pick Ripley up bridal-style to exit the shower.

“Raine… okay?” she asks.

I strip her down to her underwear, wrapping her in a towel to carry her through to the bedroom to be deposited. “Last I checked.”

“M-Medical wing?”

I study her steady breathing until I’m satisfied she isn’t dry-drowning. At least for the time being. She isn’t out of the danger zone yet.

“With Nox.”

Gasping, she fists the bed sheets beneath her in an attempt to leverage herself upright. I place a hand on her shoulder and easily push her back down.

“Stay.”

“Len-n-nox… I… he…”

“Isn’t going to drown Raine in an abandoned pool,” I finish her rambling. “If that sets your mind at ease for now.”

Her eyes are swollen slits, landing on me. “Why?”

Sighing hard, I perch beside her on the bed. “Why what?”

“Why help?”

Staring into blood-lined hazel orbs, I don’t have an explanation for her. Not even a deflection or lie. My reasons for diving into that pool to save her life are as unfathomable as the way she makes my senses come alive.

It’s been a long time since I felt the stirrings of a normal human existence. Switching those parts of myself off became a necessity. A means of survival. I endured my childhood that way. Not to mention the years of foster care afterwards.

But I could never turn it back on again. Not with a blade. Not with the cries or pleas of others. Not even as Priory Lane’s doctors beat, whipped and tortured me to their heart’s content. Cracks formed but failed to split my defences open.

“Lennox wants me dead,” she whispers. “You do too.”

Her raspy voice wraps around my heartstrings and tugs. Those ancient cracks that I thought I’d plastered over have become deep crevasses that I’m at risk of falling into. The same bleak crevasses that I spent years hiding in to escape what was happening to me.

Whatever darkness Ripley sees brewing in my gaze makes her flinch. She pulls the towel tighter across her chest and swallows hard.

“You should go.”

“Is that any way to treat your saviour?”

Her reddened eyes shine with tears. “Thank you for helping me. Now go.”

Standing up, I leave a sodden patch behind on her bed. I’m not sure what prompts me to look over my shoulder at her, a single question hanging on my tongue. Seeking an answer I didn’t realise I needed.

“Do I scare you that badly?”

Ripley watches me closely. “Versions of you do.”

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