Page 35 of Sinful Storms

He placed his thumb beneath my jaw, tilting my chin up so our eyes could meet. Then he dipped his head, brushing a soft kiss across my lips.

Butterflies exploded in my belly.

My hand flew to my mouth as he released me.

“Fuck,” he muttered, rubbing his hand over his own mouth. “Sorry. That was completely inappropriate?—”

I reached up, tugging his head back down to me, and kissed him back.

“I got you something.” Reaching into the luggage area behind our seats, Tristan handed me a manila folder.

Opening it, my eyes widened as I stared down at the contents. “You found a photo.”

“Yeah.” He shot me a quick grin before sliding his sunglasses over his eyes and starting up the car. “Head boy perks.”

“You’re not the head boy anymore.”

“I kept my key card, so I can get into places the rest of you can’t go.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you did.” Returning my attention to the photo, I traced my fingers over the rows of faces. It was a school year group photo, with my great-uncle on the end of the second row of students. I could instantly make out Tristan’s grandfather in the centre of the third row. He looked so much like Tristan.

“This was in the library archives. It was the term before the accident, so they would’ve been in the equivalent of our year twelve. I thought it might help us to put faces to names.” Tristan tapped the folder. “There’s another copy hidden in Knox’s room in the crypts. I went through it with Knox and Ro, and we’ve annotated it with the names of the people in the journal. If you wanna meet up with Elena and Quinn to look through it?—”

There was a weird lump in my throat. “Thank you,” I said again. This was the second time I’d thanked him today and meant it.

But this time, there would be no kissing.

“Uh, yeah. No problem.” He shifted in his seat, clenching and unclenching his fingers around the steering wheel. He was probably just as uncomfortable with me thanking him as I was. And the kisses, which I knew we were in silent agreement to never mention again. This wasn’t our usual dynamic.

Clearing my throat, I nodded. “I’ll text Quinn.”

In response, he turned the music up, saving the need to attempt any more conversation.

Leaning back in my seat, I closed my eyes. I wished I’d never investigated the loose floorboards in the tower. Everything was changing, spiralling out of my control.

The box was open now, though, and there was no way to close it.

INTERLUDE

The student rubbed his hands together, swallowing hard. His shoulders were hunched over in an attempt to protect him from the driving rain. The fabric of his cloak was already soaked through, his hood sodden and heavy with water, melding to his skull.

Overhead, lightning cracked, followed by the distant rumble of thunder. A dim golden light illuminated the stone tower in front of him, radiating from the lantern clasped in the hand of the hooded figure to his left.

“You don’t have to do this,” the figure called, their words whipped away by the wind. “It’s dangerous.”

“You said I would be accepted. I won’t give in, not when it’s within my grasp. I can do this.”

“John. Please be careful.”

“I will.” The student took a deep breath, curling his fingers around the rough fibres of the rope. He tugged on it, making sure it could take his weight and noting how his hands slipped on the coarse material. There were knots at regular intervals, which would make the climb easier, but it would still be fraught with danger.

He looked up, the rain instantly soaking his lashes, stinging his skin. The top of the bell tower was barely visible in the dark. As he stared upwards, lightning cracked the sky again, and the tower appeared in relief for a brief second before plunging into darkness again.

A faint yellow light appeared far above him. There it was. The sign. His destination and his future. This was the most difficult part of his initiation ritual. Once he’d made it to the top of the tower, he’d complete the blood pact, and then he would be one of the Brotherhood. He would finally belong.

Lowering his head again, he gripped the rope more firmly and began to climb.

18

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