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“Tell me more.” Her voice is a soft whisper, reminding me of a warm summer breeze.
“My dad lost his job when I was thirteen, and life became hard. We lost our health insurance, which was very problematic, considering my mom had terminal cancer. He searched for another job but became despondent that he couldn’t find anything that paid what he needed to sustain us while offering health insurance.” Embarrassment heats my cheeks as I focus my attention on Mackenzie’s reaction to my next words. “My dad started drinking and using drugs to cope.”
I wait for the judgment to cross her face. For a negative reaction, alerting me to her disgust, but find none.
“That must have been so tough.” Sympathy shines in her eyes, but once I tell her about my father’s downward spiral, I’m sure that’ll change.
My voice quivers when I continue speaking. “My mom’s health dramatically worsened. We were able to get public assistance, which, when the kids found out at school, they made fun of us. It really bothered Elsie. So much so that she quit ballet. Not that my family could afford to pay for her lessons.” I’m unable to keep the bitter tone from my voice. It was the one thing Elsie loved most and the first thing she lost during her short life span.
Mackenzie’s fingers resumed stroking my jawline. I wince, gripping her hand so she can’t move it. She stares at me, puzzled for a minute, before understanding dawns in her eyes. “I like the stubble, Chase. It makes you look rugged. Manly.” Her lips are a breath away from mine. Amber eyes drop to my lips, causing my emotions to go haywire. My gaze drops to her lips then back to her eyes, seeking permission. As soon as she nods, I go in, capturing her lips with mine.
All the agony and humiliation fade away when I kiss her. I forget we’re in an attic with a sinister, psychopathic cult leader somewhere in the house. I forget about Rosario, the strange, veil-wearing woman who is both his accomplice, yet has been taking care of our wounds. When she was putting ointment on my back after the bath, she informed me she was a nurse, which shocked the hell out of me.
While none of that makes sense, there is one thing that does—Mackenzie and me. Nothing has ever felt so right. I’m sure the outside world would judge us for what is happening right now as I kiss her mouth slowly, reverently, learning every curve of her lips and relishing in her taste. They’d fault us because I’m her foster brother, even though we aren’t biologically related.
But I don’t give a fuck.
As my heart beats in time with hers and I swallow the sounds of her sweet moans, I’m determined to get us the hell out of here.
Orpheus killed his family and many others. He bragged about it when we were walking to the basement of the desecrated church, pointing out that the skulls lining the walls and church were people he killed.
I’d be damned if he ends up with our skulls hanging from his wall.
26
CHASE
When I finally drag my mouth away from Mackenzie’s, I’m breathing heavily, lust swirling beneath my veins. But I can’t and won’t act on it. There’s no way. Not after what Mackenzie has been through.
She smiles at me, her fingers resuming their trail along my jawline. “Finish telling me your story.”
I raise a brow. “Are you sure you want to hear it? It doesn’t have a happy ending.”
Mackenzie smiles, lighting up the deep shadows of the eerie attic. “I think it does. You ended up living with me. I mean, my family and me.” Her cheeks are scarlet beneath the dull light. The room has darkened since I first began speaking. Glancing through the iron bars on the windows, another day has turned to night.
Turning away from the window, I stroke her cheek with my knuckles. “You’re right. It has a happy ending because I live withyou.”
Mackenzie’s face lights up, and her serene smile stirs something deep inside me. I’ve never been more certain that I’m head over heels in love with her. Staring at her in a daze, I’m completely clueless about what the hell we were just talking about.
“I want to knowyou,Chase.”
The earnest look on her face does me in. I want to confess everything to her. Every fucking dark secret I’ve kept bottled inside me rushes to the tip of my tongue, ready to come out.
“My mom died two days before my fourteenth birthday. Even though we knew it was coming, you’re never prepared. My sister, Elsie, fell into a deep depression, as did my dad, who was still reeling from the loss of his job. Although he worked at a couple of seasonal, temporary jobs, he’d been let go from every one of them. We didn’t think anything of it since it happened when my mom was very ill. But after her death, it continued. I was pissed. We barely had any food, and there were piles of past-due bills lying around the house.”
Mackenzie’s wide eyes and concerned voice pull me from the rage simmering through my veins at the memories dragging me into my wretched past. “What was he doing?”
“Drugs.” The words leave a bitter taste of a pill on my tongue. “He became addicted to crack. I knew something was off with him when my mom’s cancer worsened. He’d come home with dilated pupils, and he acted differently. He was restless, irresponsible, and aggressive. One day, I followed him and discovered what he was spending the money on. It was sickening and infuriating.”
“Did you confront him?”
“I spent the rest of the day contemplating what to do until Elsie’s school day ended. I boarded the bus with her and, once at home, made her something to eat and helped her with her homework because he still wasn’t home. Once he did, I was furious. We argued and he punched me.”
Mackenzie stares at me with her mouth hanging open.
“Things only worsened between us after that. We’d argue and fight often, especially when we lost our house because he was too far behind on the payments. He moved us to a rundown mobile home, which was all he could afford.”
Shame causes my cheeks to burn as vivid images of living in the drafty, shag-carpeted trailer fill my head. Elsie lost all her friends, as did I, once the other kids found out what happened. Our ill-fitting clothing, unkempt hair, and too-skinny frames made it obvious that the rumors circulating were true, even though I tried to hide the conditions we lived in as much as possible.
