Page 6 of Sick Little Devotion

“Look who’s had a shower.” Ron’s voice sends a chill down my spine as I open the bathroom door. His dead green eyes are focused on the water droplets cascading over my collar bones.

“Please just let me get to my room.”

He’s blocking the exit though, and he doesn’t budge.

His yellowed teeth flash at me in a grin. “Don’t be shy, Sahara. Let me see what you have under that towel.”

I swallow hard, shaking my head.

“No.” I was barely sixteen. “Please let me through.” I try to peer around him. Where is my mom? Where is Will? Where is Aiden?

“No one is home, sweetie.” He takes a step forward, his hand reaching for the gray towel that’s wrapped tightly around my body. “I’ve noticed you’ve been maturing. You’re at my favorite age, you know…”

I trip over my own feet, crashing down backwards onto the black and white-tiled flooring. I let out a wail as pain sears up through my tailbone, tears gathering in my eyes. Ron takes advantage of the moment and rips my towel off me.

I’m naked. Under his gaze.

I can’t miss the tent in his gray slacks, and I feel the urge to vomit as I try to cover myself. Sobs rattle my chest as he dangles the towel.

“See. How hard was that, Sahara? Look at those perky little—” He doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as his body is suddenly careening backward and slamming into the wall. I use the moment to jump to my feet, my awkwardly maturing body still uncomfortable to me. I need a towel.

“You fucking psycho!” I hear Ron croak out from the hallway, and that only serves to send me into more of a panic. Did someone break in? Footsteps grow heavy as Aiden becomes visible in the doorway. His face is red, and there’s blood on his knuckle.

He’s seventeen, almost eighteen now, but he looks like a fully grown man—other than his boyish face. His razor-sharp jaw and muscles make all the girls at school swoon. My friends remind me that he’s my foster brother, but I don’t see him like that… Not anymore. I have a crush.

Now he’s staring at me. Naked.

“Oh my God,” I squeak, grabbing the shower curtain and pulling it over my body.

“It’s okay, Sara,” he says softly, wiping the blood from his knuckles onto his jeans. “Ron ran out to the pool house.”

“Will is going to be mad… at you.” My face heats up as his dark eyes hang on my form.

“He can beat me again if it makes him happy,” Aiden snorts, flipping his golden-brown hair out of his face. He lets it get a little long, showing off the slight wave—further making the girls fall apart. Who knows how many girls he’s slept with at school…

My eyes fall to my bare feet.

“Here.” He steps into the bathroom and holds out my towel. “Please put this on.”

“Sorry.” I take it from him and try to wrap it around my body without him seeing me. I’m certain that he still does. His gaze isn’t focused on me though. He’s staring at the wall.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get here faster. I got hung up at practice.”

“I’m not your responsibility.”

“You are, Sara. You’ve always been.” He looks back at me and then reaches out to grab my hand. I wince, and he retreats.

“Did he touch you?” Aiden whispers, his dark-brown eyes troubled.

I shake my head, my wet hair slapping my shoulders. “No. He hasn’t touched me, ever. I think he might’ve today though…” I feel ashamed to admit it. I’m terrified of what Ron might do to me if he gets the chance—but only Aiden knows. When I try to talk to my mom about it, it’s as if she doesn’t hear me.

Probably because she’s not listening. All she cares about is her booze.

But Aiden cares about me. Even if it’s not in the way I want him to.

“Let’s go, come on.” He gestures toward the door, and I follow him hesitantly. I messed up tonight, thinking that I could take a shower without bringing my clothes into the bathroom with me. It’s my fault. Not Aiden’s. But he’ll blame himself. That’s what he does.

“How was practice?” I ask as he closes the door to my room behind us. I don’t want him to see me as a pity case. I want him to think I’m strong. I want him to fall in love with me—like that Taylor Swift song about Romeo and Juliet. I want that. With Aiden.