Page 28 of My Forever Sin

“You remember what it was like, don’t you? Our love?”

I catch hold of the metaphorical clamp around my heart before it has a chance to make it hurt because I’ll be damned if I let it.

I’m stuck to the spot, my hands gripped to the cloths as his hand ventures around my waist, smoothing over my stomach. I loathe every second of his treacherous skin on mine, but it seems that my brain wants to bask in the touch that once used to feel like home.

“I remember,” he whispers, his breath just a fraction away from my ear. “And you do, too”—his fingertips drag up the middle of my torso and over the curve of my cleavage—“otherwise you wouldn’t be standing here, letting your stepbrother touch you.”

I whirl, shoving his hands away from me and come face to face with his bloodshot eyes and lips pulled into a wry grin. “Will you stop calling us that?”

“What?” Now he’s acting a fool and making my limbs tremble from annoyance.

“Siblings,” I grind out through my teeth. That word on my tongue feels wrong in all ways.

“Isn’t that, technically, what we are?” He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

Slapping his hand away, I attempt a step back but hit the hollow opening of the wardrobe and have to use all my strength to not fall backwards. Kain steps towards me, both of us now hidden by the open door. “No. We’re not.”

“Our parents' marriage certificate says otherwise.” His gaze roams over my face, the tip of his tongue darting out, dragging over the top of his lip and I swear I catch a glint of something for a split second. His arms are spread wide, resting on each door. “I think I like it.”

I recoil. “Like it?”

His eyes dip to my mouth as his part slightly. There’s something on his tongue, but I don’t stare too long to figure out what it is. He nods slowly, teeth grazing over his bottom lip.

“I’d rather live out the rest of my days in that hellhole than be related to you.” His expression falters for a split second. Noticing the small pocket of an escape, I swing myself under his arm and out into the open. Dust and oxygen fills my lungs in heaps as all tension drops from my shoulders.

“Kain,” Heath thunders. “I told you to stay away from Jordan. If someone saw you in here—”

“Relax, old man. I was just helping my stepsister with her chores,” comes Kain’s nonchalant response. “You can’t keep us locked away forever.”

Heath’s mouth curls upwards as he strolls up the altar steps. “Oh, I can. And if I have to, I will.” He stops just short of Kain, looking up at his much taller frame as if they’re the same height before his attention locks onto me. “Jordan, I’m taking you back,” he barks, and I make my body flinch.

“Yes, sir,” I whisper, pointing my face to the floor.

“I’ll be waiting in the car.”

I’m about to move when the corner of my vision snags on a small book under the wardrobe.

“Go on then, stepsister, after you.” Kain flicks his head towards the exit.

Curling my lip in his direction, I storm out of the church but linger in a small corridor just before the exit doors.

I need that book. It might hold information I need.

The words on the page start bleeding together as I strain my eyes to focus on the ancient textbook resting on my thighs. The stench of herbs is potent in my nose, and the rumble of music vibrates my entire bed.

I managed to go back for it when Kain left through a side exit and sped away. Heath was none too pleased with having to wait for me but the degenerate can bite me. I needed to know if this was going to be of any use for me, but I haven’t been able to focus on it through Kain’s ruckus all night.

Frustrated, I throw the hardcover on the bed. Pulling the door open, it slams against the wall as I stomp across the hall in my fluffy socks and skimpy pyjamas, the cooler air sending goosebumps along my skin. I whack my fist on the culprit’s door and it doesn’t take long for him to answer, and as he does, the sound of ‘Dethrone’ by Bad Omens amplifies. He’s wearing nothing but grey joggers which hang low on his hips, revealing the V of his chiselled stomach and tattoos dotted around his torso and arms—most of them ones that weren’t there before I left. Damp hair sits messily on the top of his head, and a rolled cigarette hangs from between his teeth as he grins, eyes leisurely swimming down my frame.

“I told you you’d be back, little devil.” Eyes back on mine, he hooks his hand to the top of the doorframe, muscles flexing as he leans forward into my space. Way too close.

“You’re stinking out the entire wing with whatever”—I wave my hand around in what little space there is between us—“that is,” I fume over the music. I’m not a stranger to cigarettes so whatever it is could explain his new, infuriating behaviour.

He pulls in a lungful of it and grabs it with his pointer finger and thumb, blowing the smoke in my face, all smug and annoying dimples. I cough, my face twisting at the smell, and Kain’s smirk deepens. I quickly recover and school my features.

“Weed. Want some?”

“Fuck, no.” I cough, wafting the smoke away. What the hell is weed? “And turn your music down, some of us are trying to have a peaceful night.”