Page 85 of Art of Sin

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” I say, my voice rough and pained.

“Welcome to being human,” he says, the words softened by a half smile.

Squaring my shoulders, I face London. “Thank you for telling me, and for helping Nate. You’re a good friend to him.”

I almost tell her that he won’t have to worry much longer, but bite my tongue.

“I’d love to be your friend, too, if you need one.” Her smile is slight and sad. “No matter what you think, Deirdre, you don’t have to be alone.”

An odd choice of words with Gideon standing beside me, but her meaning is clear. She’s offering help in the form of contacts who don’t shy away from violence. Or making bad men pay for their crimes.

Though no charges were ever filed, Nate shared his belief that Dominic himself killed the man responsible for London’s kidnapping and the death of her husband.

But it doesn’t change anything.

I won’t put anyone else at risk cleaning up my mess. My crime. For better or worse, it’s up to me to make restitution.

“Thank you,” I say, meeting her knowing gaze with effort. “I’ll keep your offer in mind.”

London nods, glancing again at Gideon. “Sorry to dampen the mood. Oh—forgot to say, Finn’s already upstairs.”

With a wave, she disappears inside.

Finn is upstairs.

Gideon palms the back of my head, drawing me into his front. I melt into him, breathe him in, soak him up.

“Ready for worship?”

“I don’t deserve it.”

He lifts my chin, placing a soft, almost chaste kiss on my lips. “Good thing that’s not for you to decide.”

Fisting his T-shirt in my hands, I shake my head in bafflement. Aching words spill from my lips. “How can you stand to be around me, knowing everything you know?”

He studies me for long moments, that penetrating stare that I’d once hoped to never have directed at me. Now it’s oxygen. Gravity. My sustenance. And the only thing keeping me sane.

“Did I choose to love you? That’s the real question, isn’t it? And if I did, then there must be something wrong with me. Right?”

At my pained nod, he smiles. A slow, gentle dawning that warms me from head to toe. And I know what he’s about to say, because I feel it in my bones.

Bending his lips to my ear, he whispers, “I’m not afraid of your dark any more than you’re afraid of mine. And I’ve just realized something else, too. Wherever you go, you’ll come back to me. I’m inside you, Deirdre Moss. We belong to each other. We are each other’s cornerstones.”

Shaking from the impact of his words, I admit for the first time aloud, “I love you, Gideon.”

The truth is a relief and a purge—an immediate, final cleansing of my mother’s loathing. Her sickness. Her lack.

And Gideon… Gideon stares unflinching into the deep, dark quiet of my tree-root cave. Where I hide my secrets and fears, my shame and self-loathing. He comes to me there, first in dreams and now in life. Unapologetic in his desires and his acceptance. Bright as a dawn with his love.

My cornerstone.

His lips graze my temple. “I know, mon bijou. Now let’s go, because Finn’s waiting and I still have to decide which part of you he’s allowed to fuck. Any preference?”

My body heats. Begins to pulse.

I tell him what I want.

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