Sinful Urges: A Five Points Novel by Clarissa Bright

Author:Clarissa Bright [Bright, Clarissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

Trine

After Misha tells me to brace myself for anything, and above all, stay behind him, I walk into Tom Souter’s house.

There’s nothing particularly interesting about the house itself. From the corner of my eye, I can hear Luke talking quietly to a woman in the living room, but Misha doesn’t stop to introduce us. When he notices I’m lagging behind, he reaches back and grabs me by the hand, pulling me close to him.

He doesn’t have to do that. I can follow him without prompting. Yet as soon as we are in front of an open door, quiet male voices projecting to the sunken hallway, my heart drops to my stomach.

There might be nothing ordinary about the house, but the air thickens the moment we approach the room, and I can smell something acrid and rotten nearby.

Misha pushes me back gently, his finger on his mouth. He shakes his head as he gestures for me to be quiet. "Remember, don’t make any comments about his appearance," he says. "You’re only there to help him answer any questions."

My heart hammers in my chest. I feel like I’m going to be sick, partially because I wonder if they had a similar debrief before going into my bedroom and performing my exorcism. I haven’t even seen Tom yet and I know for a fact that this is going to be bad. Just thinking about how he looks is enough to send my pulse skittering.

I tell myself I’m just overreacting. This is just a kid; his situation is nothing like mine. I’m here to help him, not to worry about myself. Misha’s hands are on my arms, his fingertips digging gently into my biceps. "You don’t have to go through with this," he says. "You can get in your car and drive away. You can go home and forget about all this."

I can’t deny that there’s a part of me that really wants to do that. My body is screaming at me to run out of here. Leaving seems like the smart idea.

But I can’t. I won’t. I’m staying.

I’m going to do whatever it takes to find answers. Even if it makes me feel like I need to vomit.

I close my eyes so I can take a deep, steadying breath, and I wrap my fingers around Misha’s forearms. I meet his eyes, and for the first time since we’ve met, Misha looks genuinely worried.

I can’t allow myself to let his feelings get to me. "I’m sure," I say. "I want to do this."

He nods, his arms falling to his side. "Just look at me if you need to get out of there."

I force myself to smile at him. "I’ll be okay," I say. "I promise."

It’s a lie. Not a good promise. We’re both aware of that, but he lets it go anyway.

"Stay by the wall. And, uh, he might say things that are…"

"What?"

"Hurtful," Misha says. "Ignore it. That’s not him. You can’t pay attention to that part of him."

"How will I know?"

He shakes his head, shrugging.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.