You Are Mine Little Sister (by Syra Tucker) novel Chapter 134

RALI

Six missed calls.

My heart flinched at every ring.

I tipped the bottle again. Big gulps. Bitter burn. My head ached. My heart hurt. Every fucking thing hurt. Lately it felt like the universe's been chewing me like gum it's already lost the flavor for. Was I being punished? For what?

I kept drinking until the bar thinned to silence around me. Didn't even clock the rest of the people filtering out. I was completely oblivious of my surroundings until I caught the unmistakable scent of him.

I lurched to my feet, stumbling backward so fast my pulse moved into my ears. The devil in black stood in the doorway, night poured into a man. Eyes dark as a shut church, gaze cold as a wintered moon.

He didn't come closer. Just stopped mid-room and watched. Watched me backpedal. Watched my panic bloom at the sight of him. He had to know something was wrong; I hadn't been this afraid of him in a long time.

I turned toward the counter, hoping to speak with the bartender. But I was met with emptiness. I looked back at the bar and really realized that everyone was gone. Right now, we were the only ones here.

No. How did this happen?

Silence stretched thin between us. My anxiety climbed it hand over hand. I tightened my grip on the counter edge until my knuckles hurt.

Still rooted to the spot, he finally spoke: "You haven't been taking my calls."

I took a hard gulp. "Get away from me." The words trembled on their way out of my lips.

He didn't move. His eyes didn't even twitch. The guy was set like a block of ice.

"I—I want to be alone."

A pause, then, "why?"

"I just want to be alone! Can you let me be!?" My voice blew apart mid-sentence, shattering into sobs. One, then another, then a string of them. "You monster. How could you? How could you have been so evil at sixteen!?"

Something changed in his eyes. It was darker, like a door locking from the inside. The kind that screamed recognition and caught.

"How much did Ginny pay you?" I choked, my spine finding the counter's edge. "What price buys a family's death? Say something, you son of a bitch!"

He didn't flinch. He stayed exactly where he was—as cold as a closed morgue drawer, as unreadable as a locked screen. There was something dangerous about this very look. You know, when someone looked so blank you couldn't tell what was running through their minds. It should've sent me scuttling back into myself, but the rage was louder than fear.

A bitter laugh scraped up my throat as I turned to the counter, palmed my beer and took some large gulps. Every soft thing he'd ever done for me flashed behind my eyes. And to think I'd been making excuses for him, trying to see the good in him because my stupid heart drowned my brain whenever he was around.

For God's sake, I was trying to accept him as he was. And now that I knew he'd killed my parents, I felt like the biggest fool breathing.

I drank without coming up for air, the bottle's mouth welded to mine. Then it was yanked clean from my hand, the jerk sloshing beer over my knuckles.

I turned to the devil beside me who looked pissed. Like he had any right to be.

"Stay away from me!" My palm cracked across his face before I even knew I'd lifted it. I shoved his chest hard enough to rock him a step. "Don't ever touch me! Don't come near me! You hear me!? Don't you dare!!!"

His eyes were molten at the rim, but he didn't react. Didn't try to stop me as I grabbed my bag and stormed out of the bar, knowing deep in my bones that the before of my life had just ended.