Page 1 of Sinful Storms

PROLOGUE

ARIA

EIGHT YEARS OLD

Branches scraped across the stone walls, making me shiver. Then, the rain rattled the windowpanes, and I gasped out loud. In the darkness, the shadows loomed over me like monsters from my dreams.

There was a loud rumble, followed by a bright flash of light, and I dived out of the warmth of my bed, scrambling into the space beneath the frame. Curling my body to make it as small as I could, I squeezed my eyes shut.

I could still see the lightning.

A creak sounded in the split second of silence from the storm. Tears fell from my eyes as I bit down on my lip to stifle the cries that wanted to escape.

“Aria.”

A thin, small pair of arms came around me, a body curling up against mine, warming the chill across my back.

“I’m scared, Tristan,” I whispered.

“I know. I won’t let the storm hurt you,” Tristan whispered back, placing one hand over my exposed ear and another overmy eyes. We were cocooned by the darkness beneath my bed, and gradually, I felt myself relax.

“Do you trust me?”

His voice was uncertain, and it made me sad because Ididtrust him. I trusted my godbrother more than anyone in the world.

“Course I do,” I said immediately.

“Want to see something cool? I promise it’s safe.”

“Okay.”

“Put your hands over your ears and keep your eyes closed,” he said. I held myself still with my palms covering my ears and my eyes squeezed shut until Tristan came back. I knew I shouldn’t be scared, but ever since my grandma had told me her twin brother had died in an accident during a storm, I’d been afraid at the first sign of lightning or rumble of thunder.

When Tristan returned, he put some big headphones over my ears, and everything went silent. I felt hands on my face, and I dared to open my eyes. A head of tousled blond hair was the first thing I saw, and then electric-blue eyes met mine. He nodded encouragingly. I gave him a wobbly smile, and he returned it with one of his big smiles that showed all his teeth. Those were my favourite smiles from him.

Letting go of my face, he gripped my wrist, pulling lightly, and with a shaky breath, I slowly crawled out from under the bed. He led me out of my bedroom and down the hall to his room. It seemed like a long way, even though his room was next door to mine. I’d been staying here for almost a month now, and I still wasn’t used to the size of this mansion. It was the biggest house I’d ever seen, like a royal palace or something.

I dragged my heels when we were inside Tristan’s bedroom, and I realised he was leading me to his window seat, but he shook his head at me, tugging harder. My gaze darted to thewindow, and another flash of lightning lit up the sky. I gasped, squeezing my eyes shut again as my whole body trembled.

Tristan’s arm wrapped around my waist, and the next thing I knew, he was pulling me down, his chest warm against my back and his legs on either side of mine, which were stretched out in front of me. When I opened my eyes again, I realised we were on his window seat, and he was cocooning me as best as he could with his body. His arms were around my waist, and he’d balanced his iPad on my thighs.

I temporarily forgot about the storm. Curious, I watched as he put his finger to his screen and began carefully writing a message, all in shaky capitals.

DID YOU KNOW LIGHTNING BOLTS ARE 2 MILES LONG?!!!

He added a little drawing of a lightning bolt and then a few extra exclamation marks. At the hesitant shake of my head, he started writing again.

THEY ARE AS WIDE AS A MAN’S THUMB. WEIRD!!!

A smile pulled at my lips.

THEY ARE 5 TIMES HOTTER THAN THE SUN!!!

A laugh burst from me, and I felt Tristan laugh against the side of my head. He switched to the eraser tool and quickly cleared the screen.

WE HAVE A LIGHTNING ROD SO WE CAN WATCH THE STORM AND BE SAFE. IT WON’T HURT YOU.

When he lifted his hand, I carefully added a word below his sentence.

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