Page 94 of Heartless Sinner

Gemma and Seraphina joined her. Gemma reached for my arm, but she never got the chance to look.

Brooks shouldered between them. An unwanted shiver raced up my arm when he closed his fingers around my wrist.

He brushed his thumb over the small, tender bruise, like touching it enough times might tell him who’d put it there.

“Who the fuck did this to you?” he growled.

I opened my mouth, ready to lie, but the words died on my tongue.

Brooks would see right through it. He’d threaten every person on campus until he got a name.

Telling Brooks the truth felt like signing Sinclair’s death certificate.

The man looked like he’d been hit by a truck, yet somehow my tiny bruise was the emergency here.

I didn’t pull away, lying to myself that it was because I didn’t have the energy to fight. Truth was, I wanted him touching me. I wanted the warmth of his skin and the careful way he treated my bruise like it mattered more than all of his.

Which further proved I was insane since he’d almost killed me TWICE.

He suddenly froze mid-stroke.

I gasped when he dropped my arm and caught my jaw, turning my head sharply to the side.

The room seemed to tilt around me.

Oh shit.

He’d found Sinclair’s hickey.

Twenty-Three

Brooks

Iwas going to murder whoever had done that to Daphne.

I just needed a name first.

The rest was just logistics.

I dragged her out of the Devil’s Lair, ignoring the other girls’ protests. Adelina yelled something at my back, but unless it was the name of whoever had touched Daphne, I didn’t give a fuck what anyone had to say.

Daphne didn’t try to fight me. She followed me through the corridor, and I helped her up the ladder. Outside, the moon sat buried behind the clouds.

I marched her toward campus, past the stone fountain, and straight to the steps. She took them painfully slow, like each one required a damn toll.

Halfway up, I lost my patience. I tossed her over my shoulder and climbed the steps. Her weight landed across the dark, swollen bruises covering my shoulder. Every step fucking burned, but I didn’t give a fuck.

People watched as I carried her through the vestibule and up the grand staircase. One dumbass stopped dead in the middle of the stairs to stare.

I stared back until he remembered how walking worked.

I didn’t set her down until we were inside her dorm room.

I kicked the door shut behind me hard enough to shake the wood. “Was it Cory?”

“No,” she muttered without looking at me.

She slipped out of her shoes, grabbed a blanket from her bed, and wrapped herself in it until only her head poked out.