Sweet Desire

15 Involuntarily vulnerable

Sighing, I leaned up against the doorway. If I told her I'd been following her, I'd dig my own grave.

"I happened to see you walk into this house from the car window, and I assumed you lived here," I lied, amazed at how quickly my brain generated explanations.

"That's hard to believe, but I'll pretend to believe it." Winter crossed her legs and stared at me intently. "Why did you have blood all over you?"

The tone of her voice made me feel like I was being interrogated by the FBI... as a particularly dangerous criminal.

"It was wine," I said calmly, because calmness is the most important thing during the interrogation.

"And how often do you drink?" came the question that slightly disturbed my composure. Not that often, I should've answered.

"Two bottles of wine a day," I joked in a serious tone, but then quickly followed up with fake indignation, "What kind of question is that? Are you implying I'm addicted to alcohol?"

With the exception of you, Winter, I don't have any other addictions.

"I'm not implying, I'm asking straight out," Winter said. "It's pretty likely you did something illegal while you were wasted."

I wasn't wAsTeD. Gosh.

"You think I could've done something like that?" I pointed a finger at myself, making an astonished face.

"I wouldn't be surprised... you have all the predispositions."

"What kind of predispositions?"

"Addiction to alcohol, lack of shame and common sense." Winter reckoned these off on her fingers, and I wanted to laugh. "Plus, you're trying so hard to look to people as someone you're not... a major trait of psychopaths, by the way."

"What are you talking about?" I batted my eyelashes. Of course, I didn't want to admit that it was true. Partly true. I'm not an alcoholic, just doing my father a favor, or his bottles would soon rot in that cellar.

"Don't act like an innocent fool. Answer me, why did you come to my house in the middle of the night?" Winter squinted her eyes.

"Believe me, it wasn't on purpose," I said honestly, which felt weird. "I forgot my phone and I couldn't call Aeri to come get me."

Winter hummed and looked around her desk. "Here, you can call her using mine." She held out her phone to me. To be honest, my jaw practically fell open. Winter, seeing the look on my face, smiled faintly. "Ok, you can stay this time... your clothes are still being washed, just don't talk and go to sleep."

Since Winter didn't specify where I would sleep, I decided, with a satisfied grin on my face and lewd fantasies in my head, that I would sleep next to her.

However, as soon as I sat down on the bed, Winter almost screamed at the top of her voice.

"No!"

She caught up to the bed with quick strides, and before I could react, pushed me to the floor so violently that I hit the edge of the nightstand with my thigh. A shriek came out of my mouth as the pain pierced my leg.

I pressed my palms against the painful area, teeth clenching. Fuck, when are these damn wounds going to heal. It was too torturous.

"I'm sorry..." Winter tentatively trailed off, and I thought I heard hints of guilt in her voice. "Hasn't healed yet?"

"As you can see, no," I said through gritted teeth, counting the seconds until the moment when the pain would lessen, usually it didn't last for long.

"No wonder. It'll heal for sure if you walk in the cold and rain with almost no clothes on. You're making things worse yourself," Winter said like a know-it-all practicing doctor. And I realized she wasn't feeling guilty at all.