Page 80 of Requiem

“There is a way for her to remember, though, isn’t there? And you seem to be making a lot of decisions on other people’s behalf. We’ve been here before, and it hasn’t ended well in the past. If you’ll recall—”

“I’mnot the one with the memory problems, Lani. Just keep those thoughts to yourself, okay?” I hate that she’s right. I am making decisions for Sorrell. Therearethings I haven’t told her, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay for my little sister to stick her nose in where it’s not wanted.

“Walking on thin ice,” Lani says in a sing-song voice.

“Just quit it. If I can keep Sorrell from seeing this for a couple of days,” I say, ripping the notice from the board, “that will give me some more time to figure out how to talk to her about…everything.”

“Hah! Good luck with that. These things are posted all over the academy. Seb and Callum are rallying the troops. They’ve planned a hangout down in Sumner for tonight already. Half the academy’s talking about it.”

I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose. Great. Of course Seb’s chomping at the bit already. What a fucking shocker that he immediately wants to party as soon as we’re given our freedom back. He and I haven’t spoken since he hurt Sorrell. The guy’s lucky he can still eat solid food. If I’d had my way, he’d already have been shipped off, out of Toussaint, but it’s too late for him to head off to college this year now, and the factors that have kept him here in the first place are still at play. Beth and Ashley, too.

“Look. If I were you, I’d talk to her before anyone else can,” Lani warns. “I mean, maybe she’s happy staying here at the Academy for the time being. She might not evenwantto go into town.”

I huff, clinging to that hope a little more desperately than I’d like to admit. “Yeah, you’re right. This has been a lot for her already. Maybe shewon’twanna go.”

“Are you kidding me? I absolutely want to go!”

Sorrell’s eyes dance with excitement. In her short little black skirt and strappy top, her long dark hair tied back into braids, she looks like a cute little manga character. I always used to love when she dressed like this. Throwing her arms around my neck, she laughs with what sounds like sheer relief. “Do you have any idea how hard I’ve tried to escape this place? I’ve been cooped up here for months. So have you. We all have. I can’twaitto get out of here. We can go have dinner somewhere. Watch a movie or something. Wait.” She leans back, her brows pinching together, the bridge of her nose wrinkling cutely. “Is there anywhere to go have dinner? Is there a movie theater? Oh god, I just want to do somethingnormalfor once.”

I have to laugh. Despite the worry that’s using my bones as toothpicks, I can’t help myself. “Yes, there are restaurants in Sumner. The movie theater’s tiny and smells like stale popcorn. They never have the newest releases playing but—”

“I don’t care. I really don’t!” she crows. “I wanna go. With you. Just the two of us.”

Relief floods me, beating back some of my concerns, but not all of them. There’s still so much that can go wrong if we spend time in Sumner. I risked it when I took Sorrell to Patty’s, the night I told her the truth, because I figured I had nothing to lose. It was two in the morning, so I knew the place would be dead. I thought she’d immediately slip away, too shocked by the truth to handle the enormity of it all, and I’d be taking her back to the hospital anyway. But that isn’t what happened. She’d coped with it, as much as any person could, and now I’m left fearful that being out in society will just be too fucking much, all at once.

I smile through my apprehension, plastering a broad grin on my face for her. She doesn’t deserve to suffer the weight of all the worst-case scenarios bouncing around inside my head. Not when she seems so goddamn happy.

“Alright then. Dinner and a movie it is.” I can deal with dinner and a movie. I think she can, too. So long as we steer clear of Seb and his crew, we should be fine. And who am I to deny her a little normalcy? I’d be a stone-cold fucking liar if I said I didn’t crave that with her as well.

My heart does that weird backflipping thing when Sorrell steps out of her bedroom and closes the door behind her. She’s dressed in skintight black jeans and a low-cut top that shows off her tits in the most distracting way. Her lips are painted blood red, and the pop of color draws my attention to her mouth—a mouth I still fantasize about doing very filthy things to. I have to scrub the mental image of her lips wrapped around my cock before I can even bend down to kiss her. Her hair is a waterfall of black waves, lush and thick, just begging for me to mess it up. I know she spent a long time blow drying and styling it for our date, however, so I settle for cupping her face in my hands, my thumbs stroking the line of her cheekbones as I kiss her gently.

“You are the most exquisite thing I’ve ever fucking seen,” I murmur against her mouth. “I wanna get you all dirty.”

“Yeah?”

“I want you covered in my sweat and come. Fuck dinner. We’re staying here.”

“You’re going to get red on you,” she says breathlessly.

“What, you don’t think I could pull it off?” Flicking my tongue against her lips, I growl, desperate to kiss her more deeply, to sweep my tongue over hers, to explore and devour every inch of her. If I were to give into my darkest desires right now, I’d open that door behind her and shove her back into her room. I’d have her on her hands and knees with her ass in the air, and I’d be buried up to my balls in her pussy. But this date is important to her.

As far as she knows, we’ve never been on an actual date before. All of the concerts we went to together, all of the movies we’ve seen, all of the weekend trips we’ve taken, all of the times I’ve badly cooked for her, or she’s badly cooked for me… Those experiences are lost to her. She needs to experience just how amazing those moments are way more than I need to fuck her, so I rein in the heat building between us, pulling back to survey her beautiful face. “Seriously. You look incredible. Sumner, population 1287, isn’t gonna know what’s hit it.”

She bounces on the balls of her feet like an adorable little kid. I haven’t seen her do this in far too long. “You clean up pretty nice yourself, y’know.” She eyes the dark blue button-down shirt and jeans I picked out for this evening with some amusement. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I really did think every single item of clothing you owned was threadbare and ancient.”

“Yeah, well.” I give her a small smile. “Clothes shopping hasn’t been a very high priority on my to-do list, the past couple of years.”

A flash of what looks like guilt passes over her features. Her grin dims a fraction. “I suppose not. You’ve been hanging out in ICUs and running around after that amnesiac with the multiple personality disorder, haven’t you?”

Ahhh shit. I’m such an asshole. I didn’t mean to spoil her good mood. I certainly didn’t mean to make her feel bad. “You don’t have a multiple personality disorder, Kid. And there was literally no place on Earth I would rather have been. And anyway, I was just using that shit as an excuse not to go shopping.”

She chuckles a little, her smile returning. “You hate it that much, huh?”

“So much. It’s the fuckingworst. But I bought this shit online, so…”

“I’m honored that you’d go to such great lengths to look good for me.”

“You should be,” I say, nipping at her bottom lip. “You…really…fucking…should…be…” My hands roam downward, cupping her tits over her top, and that fire starts building again. My dick’s already hard as hell. When her breathing quickens, her chest rising, her back arching, body curving into me, I can’t bite back the groan that slips out of my mouth. I want her so fucking bad. God, what I wouldn’t give to just strip her naked and bury my face in her bare chest. I’d make it last an eternity this time. I’d have her slick with sweat, begging for another orgasm quicker than you can say—

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