Lust.
What had I done?
I was too stunned to pay attention to the decor or the people watching my boyfriend pull me through the poker room and up the stairs. I could only focus on how tightly he was gripping me and the blood. The blood. So much blood.
I didn’t find my voice until Desi opened a pair of giant doors and threw me into the dark room. I hit the floor with a yelp. It was only then that my brain comprehended that he had taken me up at least three flights of stairs and down a long hall.
“Are you proud of that?” He snarled. I scrambled to my feet and smoothed my skirt down. He stomped into the room without shutting the door. He stalked over to me,and I started walkingbackward. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“What? I had to—” I protested. His eyes looked murderous. His chest was heaving,and he looked as if his sanity was hanging on by a thread. His eyes widened,and I could almost see his brain exploding.
“You had to? I told you not to play games with him. Scout, I fucking told you nottoget involved with us.” I bumped against a wall,and Desi closed in on me. He grabbed my chin, pinching it tightly between his fingers. I clenched my jaw and steeled my nerves. He tilted my head up to force me to lock eyes with his. His words came out so cold they chilled me to the bone. “You play with the Seven Sins,and you will lose every time.”
Then, just like that, he let me go and stalked out of the room. I debated following him, explaining that I hadn’t wanted to, the candy had confused my mind,but my body refused to let me move. He turned back to me at the doors.
“You can sleep here today. I don’t want to be anywhere near you.”
The doors slammed closed, and I blinked. I slid down to the floor and blinked. I couldn’t cry anymore.This entire night seemed almost too insane to be real.
Eventually,I got up and locked the door. I turned back to the room in which Desi had tossed me.It was a suite. There was a bathroom off to the side and another small room that was almost a living room. I didn’t plan on using the latter,though. I just needed a shower andabed.
I realized then that I didn’t have any of my clothes. So I stripped down, took a shower, and climbed into the giant bed bare. Exhaustion took me quickly, with my last thought of the night being that I shouldn’t have enjoyed that as much as I did.
The next night, I had no choice but toputon the same clothes I had worn before. They smelled of smoke and had crusted spots of blood in the spots in which Desi had touched me.
There had been so much blood.
I sat there with a dry mouth and a sunk stomach, afraid to leave the room. He hadn’t told me I couldn’t leave, but he had been so angrythatI didn’t want to test him.
I’d seen him angry before. He was Wrath, the literal Sin itself. But never at me.Surely, if I could explain to him what that candy did to my brain, he’d understand.
A knock on the door took my attention from my thoughts. I went to it, quickly unlocking the door and letting inDesi, much to my surprise. He stepped in cautiously, hands stuffed in his pockets and eyes on the floor.
“I have your clothes.” He motioned to the hall. I peered out and saw our suitcase. I grabbed it and brought it inside.
“Thanks.”
“I don’t want you participating in any of their games. Toulouse or Dante’s. I think we can both agree that last night was an introduction to what kind of currency they use here.”
I nodded.“Are they alright?” I asked, recalling them unconscious on the floor of that room. Desi’s eyebrows furrowed.
“They’ll be fine. They took advantage of the situation,and I didn’t like that.”
“What situation?”
“You, being alone. I wouldn’t have let that happen.”
I crossed my arms. I didn’t like this whole possessive thing he was doing. “You think that? Because if you had spent all night acting like this,I probably would have still played with him just because you said not to.”
He licked his lips and glared at me. “Oh? So what,youwantto fuck him then?”
“No, but I do enjoy pissing you off.”
“Well,I bet you’re fucking ecstatic then.” He started back out, stalking away from me. I followed behind him but stopped at my door.
“What am I supposed to do?” I called after him. He didn’t pause or turn back. Instead,he just shouted over his shoulder.
“I don’t fucking care. Change those clothes, for one. You smell like a turtle tank.”
