Page 27 of Heartless Heathens
“Would you prefer it if I wasn’t? I can get Sonny back in here…” I asked and she actually took a moment to think, almost garnishing a laugh from me.
“People aren’t nice unless they want something,” she said.
“Oh I definitely want something from you,” I assured her with a smirk and she raised both eyebrows high up. “Just not quite yet.”
I dropped to the bed, leaning onto the headboard with my arms behind my back.
“Come here,” I beckoned. “I won’t bite.”
She exhaled out heavily and took her time inching my way. She was hesitating so I tapped the bed in a friendly way.
“You won’t hurt me?” she asked, plopping her ass down on the bed.
“Who’s hurt you?”
She hesitated.
“Who’s hurt you Romina?” I hardened my voice but she kept her gaze down.
The seconds ticked by on my wristwatch. She brought her hand up to her throat and I could see my twin’s fingerprints making themselves known in a beautiful shade of blue.
“Don’t answer that.” I exhaled heavily.
“You won’t hurt me?” she asked again, her eyes glazed over with shine as they met mine.
“Did Frollo send you here because of us?” I asked and she shook her head. “Then no. I won’t hurt you.” I hooked my arm around her waist and pulled her into me as I slid down and laid in the bed.
She took a few nervous breaths but eventually settled into place, her back pressed to my chest, exhaling in sync.
I woke up to the feeling of her body quaking against mine with each heavy sob that left her mouth. It was the kind of painful cry that could dissolve the strongest of armor and seep through to your soul like acid rain. I pulled her into my chest tighter and her breathing hitched like she didn’t expect me to have woken up.
“I-I’m sorry,” she apologized with a hiccuped cry.
“Who hurt you this badly? I’ll take you home if it's what you want,” I whispered into her ear but she shook her head, sobbing louder. “Do you have a home? Do you want to go back to Frollo?”
Her body tensed and she held her breath.
“Tell me what he’s done. Maybe we’ll kill him for you.” I would kill him for me, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Why would you say something like that?” she asked, still frozen in my arms.
“Because something about you crying in my arms doesn’t feel right. Feels like I should be doing more, you don’t feel it too?”
She didn’t answer. I traced my fingers along the side of her arm for a few minutes, calming her down until her tears dried and her breathing returned normal.
“The other one…” She spoke out of nowhere and after a few minutes said, “He said I was trash.”
“Sonny? He’s… complicated. It would probably be for the best if you tried to steer clear of his path.”
“He’ll hurt me?” she asked, turning her cheek to try to look back at me.
“He will.”
She exhaled heavily like she’d been holding it in.
“Why?”
“Because you're either not on Sonny’s radar or you are. And if he decides you are, then I might not be able to protect you.” I tucked her hair behind her ear. “The world is a terrible, fucked up, horrible place full of atrocities and monsters.” I pulled her chin up so I could look at her better. “We are no different.”
