Page 29 of In the Light of Sin

“How did you get here?”

“She hot-wired your Cadi.” Tyrant was enjoying this, leaning against the opposing vanity.

I would’ve done anything to see his facial reaction. “You stole my fuckin’ car?”

Surprisingly, I think that’s the least of our worries right now. “That’s not important right now. Why do you fight in these matches?”

“That’s club business.”

That wasn’t good enough for me. “You know that’s not a good excuse, right? The best way to protect someone like you’re claiming to protect me is by telling me what’s going on with the people who are out to get me!”

He grabbed his hood, obviously frustrated with my behavior, as strained words escaped him, “You’re so fuckin’ reckless it drives me crazy.”

“Says the one who comes down here with a chance of getting killed!” Tyrant and Knight’s eyes widened at my outburst. I guess no one dared talk to Sarge the way I was. “You’re telling me I’m the reckless one, but I’m not the one who had a bullet graze my arm or goes into a fighting match where the goal is to literally hurt each other as much as possible!”

He turned to Tyrant and Knight and seethed, “Leave.”

They hesitated as Knight responded, “No way, man. You’re wound up. You might actually hurt her.”

“I’d never fuckin’ hurt her!” He roared at them. And despite the uncontrollable rage he was presenting, I truly believed he wouldn’t either. He’s had every opportunity to hurt me and hasn’t yet. He was rude, abrasive, and undermining. But he hasn’t hurt me. Not physically, at least.

Knight and Tyrant still stood their ground. They were loyal, unbiased men towards Nyla, Oakley, and I. Their club obviously came before us, but they wouldn’t let us get hurt needlessly.

“It’s okay.” I shot them a convincing smile, hoping it was enough leverage for them to leave. “I can handle him.”

They didn’t look convinced as they eyed Sarge suspiciously. “We’re gonna be right outside the door. You got ten minutes.”

They walked over to the door, Tyrant shooting a warning glance at Sarge as he shut the door behind them. The tension between Sarge and I was almost suffocating, but I refused to relent. He wanted me safe. But he couldn’t keep me safe if he kept me in the dark.

I felt like we were the ones in the ring, waiting for the other to make a move. A dangerous move that could either mend or destroy—

“You’ve done it now, Joslyn.”

Destroy it was.

Chapter 8: Joslyn

“I’ve done what?” I shot back, “Worry about you when you just stormed off? Caring that the fact that you were as angry as you were made you more susceptible to crashing and hurting yourself?”

“Caring for me is a big fuckin’ mistake.”

I refused to feel sympathy for him being this crass. “I hate that you think so little of yourself that you believe that.”

“Not everyone can be saved.” His words were as cold as a frost-covered ground. “And not everyone wants to be saved.”

“So you’d rather self-destruct the way you are? Living in limbo with no end in sight?”

“It’s how I’ve survived.” He stepped towards me, my shadowman coming into the light. I had to crane my neck to look at him, the palpable rage radiating off of him invading my skin, the empath in me trying to absorb the anger he felt at me chasing after him and discovering a secret I was never meant to be involved in.

He’s killed before. He’s even killedforme before. I thought that would be enough to get his violence quota in–why sacrifice himself in these matches? He wasn’t invincible like he thought he was. He couldn’t take on the crowd of people if they turned on him. It just took one order for a hivemind to start…

Someone who thrived on violence was a lost soul using physical pain to numb their emotional trauma.

“You need to live, Sarge.”

“I have nothing to live for.” He sounded so sure it rattled my heart painfully.

A distant part of my brain wanted him to sayme. But it was unfair of me to even fathom that. “But—”

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