Page 77 of Sin Like the Devil

I snort in amusement. “Uh-huh.”

“Besides, I’ve already told you what I find attractive. And it has nothing to do with the way you look.”

A hot blush races across my cheeks. Compliments don’t usually mean a damn thing to me. But from him, it feels genuine. He sees beyond what everyone else does. There’s no bullshit or games.

“Now I feel like an even bigger asshole for dealing to you,” I groan.

“Yeah. You’re the worst.”

“Raine!”

Belting out a laugh, he shakes his head. “It’s not a big deal. Just a business transaction, right? Nothing more.”

“Is that what I am?” I retort. “A business transaction?”

“You’re a damn sight more than that. But we can separate business and pleasure.”

Can we?

“I don’t know when I’ve ever been more than a business transaction.” Even to my own ears, my voice is pained. “Not even my uncle saw me as more than that when my parents died.”

Raine fixes his attention on me. It’s a different kind of active listening to when others pay attention. His chin is tucked down, left ear tilted in my direction as he thoughtfully strokes the blonde scruff on his face.

“You said they left… but I didn’t know you were orphaned. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” I brush him off. “Shit happens.”

“How old were you?”

“Dad died just before I turned eight. Then my mum passed almost a year later.”

I sound weirdly detached, even to my own ears. Anyone would think that I don’t mourn my parents, though that couldn’t be further from the truth. But if I allow myself to think of Mum’s tight, floral-scented hugs or Dad’s terrible jokes, I couldn’t bear to live.

We were normal. Picturesque, even. A modest, working-class family living in the British countryside. Mum worked in a nursery, and my dad owned a butcher shop in the local village. Our lives were quiet but perfect.

But isn’t that always the case?

Tragedy strikes without impunity or mercy. It takes whatever victims it desires, regardless of who deserves it. If we could collectively line up every bad person in the world to assign them to lives full of evil instead, don’t you think we’d all do it?

I’d sacrifice a million souls if it bought my parents’ lives. Hell, I probably belong in that queue of sinners now myself. Lining up to be fed to the devil’s jaws to buy another innocent life back. My parents wouldn’t recognise me now if they were alive.

“Your uncle adopted you?” Raine drags me back to the present.

“Yeah, my mum’s younger brother. They weren’t very close though, so he kinda got lumped with me as my last living relative. I moved to London and was basically raised by his housekeeper.”

“He’s rich, then?” he guesses.

“Investment banker. Unmarried, no kids.”

Seeming thoughtful, Raine nods as he catalogues this new information. I haven’t shared this much with anyone since I met Holly. She was the only one I trusted enough to share my life with. I don’t know why I’m doing it now.

“I started painting at a young age. I was lonely and needed an outlet, I guess. Set up a business to sell my art, and after a few years, I bought my own flat. I moved out the first chance I got.”

“That must’ve been hard,” Raine muses. “Going out on your own like that.”

I shrug, forgetting he can’t see the gesture. “Like you, I grew up fast. Just in a different way.”

“How so?” His head tilts.

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