“He sure stole enough to buy something nice,” someone snorted, ignoring Hyde’s words.
“I didn’t steal anything,” Cecil snapped.
“That must be a first for you,” said the meathead from before.
Cecil winced and bit his lip—that one stung a bit.
“Enough!” Sin shouted.
All of them listened, except one—Meathead.
“You need to see reason, Sin. The kid is a thief! He’s not right for you. He doesn’t belong here!” Many of the others nodded.
“That is not for you to decide, Kevin. None of you get todecide who I am with,” Sin growled, his voice sounded deadly.
The man’s tone of voice, if not his words, quieted them down. Even though they were silent, Cecil still felt their accusing glares. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone?
“Even if Cecil is stealing, it wouldn’t matter to me.”
Is… Did Sin think he was the one doing it? A tremble of doubt ran through him.
“Thief or not, I like Cecil. Everything else can be worked out. You can either deal with it or leave.”
Is that what I am to Sin? Just a thief. Can I be nothing else, even to the person I love?
Oh, fuck, he loved a man who thought so little of him. Cecil felt tears try to build, but he forced them back. No! He wouldn’t cry! He wasn’t that weak.
Then the anger came, at Sin, at the people in this horrible place, and lastly, at himself, for thinking he could be more than a thief. Jerking away from Sin’s grasp, he glared.
“Cecil…” Sin appeared taken aback.
“I didn’t steal anything!” Cecil shouted. Maneuvering around everyone, he stormed off down the hallway.
Sin followed and tried to get him to stop walking. “Cecil, I never said you did.”
But hadn’t he? The ‘is’ was clear enough. If Sin hadn’t thought it was me, he wouldn’t have said that.
When he reached their room, Cecil slammed the door open and walked in a few feet before spinning around to face Sin. “You are just like them! I knew all they saw was a thief, someone who was different, someone who didn’t belong. But I thought you were different!”
“I’m not… I don’t think that,” Sin denied.
There was a hurt look on Sin’s face, but Cecil couldn’t push the anger down. He couldn’t stop his doubts from coming out.
Cecil laughed bitterly. “Everyone here is terrible. Fucking judgmental assholes. I wonder how many cases they’ve dropped simply because they thought the victim wasn’t worth saving.”
“They wouldn’t do that,” Sin defended stiffly.
“Yeah, you would defend them. We both know I’m just a thief who lies all the time.”
“It’s not?—”
“It’s not like that? Then what the hell is it like?!” he screamed. “Am I just someone you fuck around with?!”
“No!” Sin yelled back.
“Then what am I, Sin? As you sure as hell don’t care enough about me to believe anything I say! God, I thought it was all about me needing to trust someone again. Jokes on me. What a dumb fuck I was for believing that my trust would be returned.”
“Enough, Cecil,” Sin said softly.
