Sin & Salvation

Chapter 42

My eyes follow the bright glow of the moon in the night sky as it chases the car while we drive. It reminds me of all the times I spent sitting in the backseat of my parent's car with my sister just watching the sky, wondering how the moon was always able to keep up with us no matter where we went or how fast we were going.

Thinking about my sister reminds me about how little I've spoken to her recently. We've never had a falling out, but I noticed that she distanced herself a few years into me dating Brett. They've only met a handful of times at holidays and family gatherings, but she never really seemed fond of him.

She's been traveling the world for the last few years and never really has time to talk to anyone, including my parents. I pull my phone out and send her a quick text to tell her that I love her and miss her and ask when I can see her soon. We were always so close growing up and it breaks my heart to think that Brett may have come between that.

"Who are you texting?" Brett asks, his eyes wandering over to the phone I flip over in my lap.

"Kacey," I reply truthfully. He makes a face and I ignore it, trying to keep my composure. He's never really been fond of her either, mostly because she's been the one person in my family who never really fell for his bullshit charm.

"Telling her about how I'm kidnapping you for a nice weekend away?"

I put on my fakest smile and grab his hand in mine. "Nope. Just telling her how much I miss her and asking when I can see her." I want to gag just touching him right now, but I've decided to put on my big girl pants and suck it up until I can figure out how the fuck to get out of this mess.

I'm going to be so perfect that he's going to fucking hate me.

"I can't wait to spend time with you this weekend," I say, slowly choking on my lies. "I just think we've both gotten so caught up with life and you taking over as CEO in a few months that a weekend away is just what we needed."

I turn my head to give him my most genuine smile, hoping he believes it. He glances back at me, taking his eyes off the road for a second and smiles back before squeezing my hand harder and facing back to the road.

We drive for a few more minutes and the familiar pine trees lining the long driveway come into view. It's fairly dark out, but Brett's bright headlights illuminate the way as he turns into the driveway. As much as I'm dreading this weekend, I've always loved coming up here. Most of the time, Brett spends his days on the boat fishing or relaxing by the fire pit at night, so I usually get some alone time to read without him pestering me.

The automatic lights surrounding the house flicker on as we approach and the dark wood and stone on the house comes to life. Through the massive windows, I can see there's already some lights on in the house. Brett usually keeps some on to make it seem like people are here in case anyone tries to break-in. He has cameras here as well, but not nearly as many, so I'm hoping he won't take advantage of me at all this weekend.

Even though I don't want to, I'm more than okay with giving myself up to him willingly rather than him just taking it from me. We pull up the driveway and he puts the car in park, signaling for me to get out. I open my door and walk around to the back of the car to pull out my bag, but he comes up behind me, placing his hands on either side of my waist and kissing my neck softly.

For just a second, I forget who he is and imagine it's Silas touching me right now. But when I think about him, I remember that it's his birthday tomorrow and he's probably not doing anything to celebrate which breaks my heart. Grabbing my bag, I haul it out of the trunk as Brett takes it out of my hand.

"I got it, baby. Take the key and head inside," he insists, holding out the house key with one hand and hoisting my bag over his shoulder with the other. I'm mesmerized and terrified by his strength.