Page 20 of Sin Like the Devil

Long overdue for a shave, his round jaw is smothered in dark-chocolate hair. Those furious, deep-lidded eyes sit above a slightly upturned nose, marred by a small bump above the bridge. No doubt cracked beneath knuckles during one of his countless fights.

A small silver ring glints in his left ear, matching the silver chains peeking out of his white t-shirt. The fitted sweatpants that hug his tight ass and bulging thighs should be prohibited. I hate that he’s so goddamn attractive.

“Tell me this is a joke.” He halts several metres away. “For your sake, I better be imagining this shit.”

My hands curl into balls at my sides. I’ll fight my way out of this if I have to. Make no mistake, Lennox isn’t the kind of man to allow his enemies to escape unscathed.

I went for the jugular the day I left Priory Lane behind, uncaring of the consequences of my actions. If he didn’t hate me before, he sure as fuck does now. I made sure they knew who arranged their misfortune.

“Shouldn’t you be dead by now?” I clip out.

Lennox’s lip curls, baring his perfect teeth in a snarl. “Was that your plan?”

“I’m disappointed that you thought I intended anything else.”

Our audience looks as bemused as I feel by his sudden appearance. Doctor Galloway is lingering in the doorway to her office, seeming conflicted as to whether she should intervene or not. Raine’s head swivels back and forth, tracking the sound of our voices.

Arms folded across his barrel chest, Lennox glares at me with enough fury to melt the skin from my bones. I can almost feel the individual skin cells catching alight and turning to liquid mulch.

Those light-green eyes once terrified me. But I needn’t have feared him or his best friend. In the end, it wasn’t my blood they wanted. They settled for stealing my soul and trampling it to pathetic, irreparable pieces.

“We were almost killed!” he yells.

“Well, Nox...” I unleash a sadistic smile. “You killed me first.”

“Clearly, I didn’t do a good enough job of it.” Nostrils flaring, his voice is a spine-chilling warning.

“Clearly.”

“Don’t worry, Rip. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

It happens so fast, Doctor Galloway is powerless to intervene. He closes the distance between us in a flash. Raine is shoved aside as Lennox lunges forward to attack, his huge hands easily finding my throat.

Slammed against the wall, pain radiates through my skull when the back of my head connects with the hard brick. His scarred hands are two huge clamps squeezing the very air from my windpipe, worsened by the sharp bite of his nails digging into my flesh.

I grab his wrists, attempting to wrestle myself free. My lungs are on fire. Burning. Smouldering. A scorching torrent blazing ever stronger behind my ribcage. He’s actually going to kill me this time.

Maybe I’ll enjoy it.

My empire of sin will die with me.

“Nox!” Raine yells.

At the same time, Doctor Galloway speaks up. “Stop it!”

But still, my attacker refuses to relent. He’s determined to choke me to death for every last ounce of pain I arranged to be inflicted upon him. I doubt any achievement of mine will ever compare.

“Do you have any idea what they did to us?” Lennox spits, his saliva hitting my face. “Or the twisted shit I had to watch them do to my best friend?”

Abandoning my futile attempts to overpower him, I settle for kneeing him in the dick instead. Thankfully, it’s far more effective, causing him to finally release me so I can breathe. Each inhale is an excruciating wheeze.

“He d-deserved to have his insides p-plucked out and examined!” I huff between gulps of air. “I h-hope they tore him apart and m-made you watch the show.”

Cupping his sore Crown Jewels, Lennox shoots me a glare. “I’m going to enjoy doing the exact same thing to you.”

The old Ripley would’ve run away screaming and locked herself in her dorm room. She would’ve let Holly protect her from the Big Bad Wolf and comforted herself with falsehoods like it’ll be okay.

But not this Ripley.

---