Page 30 of Sick Little Devotion

“Do you?” She rolls over to face me, her pretty ocean eyes glimmering under the moonlight. “Do you promise to come and get me? Take me away from here forever?”

I nod slowly. “I do. I promise I’ll save you from this hell—and I’ll fuck you silly on the day when age doesn’t matter.”

“No one would judge you now,” Sara teases me, bopping me on the nose with a red-painted fingernail. “I have a lot of friends whose boyfriends are in college.”

“Yeah, but they probably don’t have dads like yours.”

“He’s not my dad.”

“He’s your stepdad, and you know as well as I do that if he knew I was in here, he’d be calling the police. I’m not supposed to be within fifty feet of Ron or whatever.”

She bites down on her lip before letting out a ragged sigh. “I sometimes wish he’d died. But then you’d have gone to prison for murder.” Her eyes dart downward. “Do you think that makes me a bad person?”

I shake my head and tip her chin back to me. “It’s not a bad thing to want to rid yourself of monsters and nightmares, is it? To be free of people who hurt you? I don’t think anyone can blame you for that. But he can’t touch you now. He won’t ever touch you, and in two years, you’ll never have to see any of these people again.”

“I’ll still write to my mother.”

“I know you will,” I say quietly, not quite understanding, but at the same time—I did get it. Before her biological father passed away, her mother was different. I thought at the time that she might become my mother, too, but she got lost in the bottle before that ever happened. I was on my own. And I always would be.

“I love you, Aiden,” Sara whispers groggily, nearly inaudible. Her eyes flutter shut, and I stare at her for what seems like hours. My heart feels full when I lie in bed with Sara, but all the other times, I feel as if I’m suffocating, and I find myself using whatever I can find on the streets to ease the pain. That has to stop before I can rescue Sara.

Otherwise, she might have to rescue me.

***

Chapter Fourteen

SAHARA

“You’re coming with me,” Aiden says as I step into the kitchen. He rakes his eyes over my messy hair and sweatpants. Honestly, I hadn’t expected him to still be here when I got up—and I don’t know why.

I’m still angry, and I feel sore.

“Where are we going?” I ask wearily, wrapping my arms around myself.

“On a hike,” Aiden answers flatly, pushing a plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and sausage links in front of me.

“A hike?” I ask, sliding onto the stool at the bar. “I don’t know about that. I’m not really the type to do—”

“To do anything other than watch out for everyone else and work,” Aiden finishes, shaking his head at me. “You deserve something better than that. I’ll show you that you can have it.”

“And yet, you keep me captive here,” I bite back, narrowing my eyes at him. We might’ve had an intimate moment in the woods, but that didn’t mean that I was going to give in to him. That’s not how life worked. That’s not how this would work.

Aiden’s smile fades. “Not forever, Sara. I have to tie up the loose ends, and I have to know that I can trust you before things change.”

I want to press him on the matter but choose not to. I don’t know if I want to know what the loose ends are that need to be tied up. “Fine.”

“Good,” he says, suddenly sounding more chipper. “Eat your breakfast, and then go change into some appropriate clothing.”

“Is this not good enough?” I snap back, my tone cold.

“Of course not. We’re going hiking. You’ll be sweating your ass off in a sweatshirt and pants. You need clothing that can breathe.” He doesn’t seem to want to play into my fiery mood, and honestly, it shuts me down.

I finish my breakfast in silence as he hovers around, cleaning up the dishes as if he’s more than happy to do it. I frown as he swipes my empty plate, not even grumbling about having to pick up after me. It’s strange to be treated this way—as if I’m not a burden. I feel as if I lived a life like this once upon a time, but too much has happened for me to remember those days.

“Go ahead, run up and change. I’ll see you back down here.”

I nod, once again opting for silence. I charge up the stairs and head for the bedroom where I pull out a pair of jean shorts, a tank top, and surprisingly, hiking boots. I don’t question it and change into the clothes. Stopping at the mirror in the bathroom, I brush my hair and pull it up into a bun on the top of my head.