A Sinner’s Saint (De Bellis Crime Family #4)

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I f there ever was a time for a sinkhole to open up and drag me in, I’d really appreciate it happening right now. Frankly, I’d take any kind of disaster really. Something to get me out of this damn classroom. What kind of evilness exists within Ms Natt that she’d purposely give us an exam first thing on a Monday morning? I imagine the devil hand delivered the papers she’s putting on everyone’s desks—you know, since she’s besties with him, obviously.

I don’t do well on exams. Never have, never will. I know that. But this is senior year, and exams are heavily weighted. I get stressed, beyond stressed. I can’t help it. I have this fear of failing, of not knowing what’s going to be asked and not understanding the content. I wouldn’t say I’m an overachiever. I don’t want to be the best or at the top of the class. I just don’t want to fail. Give me an essay or assignment, and I’ll get great grades. When it comes to exams, though, the nerves and the fear of failure get to me and I literally buckle under the pressure.

And then there’s Vin De Bellis. The guy currently occupying the desk next to mine. That’s a whole different reason to be nervous. He’s not even trying to hide the fact that he’s watching me. I have no idea why he does it. Why he watches me. I’ve never spoken to him, and he’s never tried to speak to me.

Sometimes, when I feel him watching me, I almost think he hates me. For what, I have no idea. But he just keeps his distance and keeps watching. Except right now. When he sat next to me. I’m doing my best to not look at him. If I pretend he’s not there, I can get through the next hour.

The thing is, pretending Vin De Bellis isn’t there is impossible. He’s noticeable, right down to that little dimple in his left cheek. Those dark, honey-coloured eyes and tanned skin. And don’t even get me started on the lips. They look soft. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve thought about what they’d feel like against my skin.

Nope, not going there. Reality never measures up to fantasies anyway, right?

When Ms Natt slams a paper down on my desk, I jump in my seat. Shit. Get it together, Cammi. It’s only an English exam.

“Okay, you may turn your papers over and start,” she says.

With shaky hands, I flip the test face up. My eyes water, blurring the words on the page, and when a tear lands on the paper, I swipe at my cheeks. Great. Just great.

A hand leans over, resting on mine. “Relax. You can do this. Just breathe.” His whispered voice sends shivers down my spine.

And then I put the nail in my own coffin, so to speak. I look across at him. “Thank you,” I mouth.

“Camile and Vincenzo, pack up your things and wait for me outside the door,” Ms Natt says.

What? I look to the front of the room and all eyes turn towards us. Without a word, I pick up my bag and walk out of the classroom as quickly as I can.

The door opens and slams behind me. Vin slumps against the wall. So freaking close. He doesn’t look at me, doesn’t say a word. Just stands there. Silent. I don’t know why he chose that moment to talk to me. During an exam. And now, out here, nothing. He confuses me, and if I’m honest, he also takes up way too much space in my mind. I don’t understand what he wants from me. Or why he has a habit of watching me. I know it’s not an attraction thing. The kind of girls I’ve seen him with at parties, well, let’s just say I’m not one of them.

I’m short. Even now, standing next to his six-foot frame, he dwarfs me. I’m also a lot more conservative than the other girls around here. I wouldn’t say I dress prudish, but I don’t have my ass cheeks hanging out of my shorts either.

I open my mouth to say something, anything to break the silence, and then I close it again. I don’t need to break the silence. Sliding down the wall, I sit on the floor and cross my legs. I can feel him looking down at me. I refuse to acknowledge him. If he’s just going to stand there and not say a damn word, not even apologise for getting me kicked out of an exam, then he doesn’t exist to me.

About five minutes later, Vin turns and walks down the hall. “Where are you going?” I call after him.

He stops short and glares at me over a shoulder. “Anywhere that’s not here. Wanna come?”

“You’re ditching?” I ask, even as I’m moving to follow him.

“We’re already in the shit. It can’t get much worse.” He shrugs.

“Okay.” I nod and take quick steps to close the distance before he heads towards the door again. I have to practically jog to keep up with his strides.

It’s not until we’ve slipped out the back of the building and I watch him climb through a hole in the fence that I stop and question if I really should be following him. The fence leads to the park, a park where not much of anything good happens. “I… ah…”

“You’re scared,” Vin says. It’s not a question.

“Should I be?”

“Of me? No.” He shakes his head while holding the fence piece back, waiting for me to climb through.

“You taking me to the park to… I don’t know… cut my body into tiny pieces?” I ask him.

“I’d need a saw or something to be able to do that. Which I don’t have. You can either come with me or you can stay,” he says.

Fuck it. There’s a pull I can’t deny, so I step through the fence and look up at him. “Just so you know, if you do cut me up, I’ll come back and haunt you. I’ll be your worst nightmare,” I tell him.

Vin runs those honey eyes of his up and down my body. “You couldn’t compete with my nightmares,” he says, then turns and walks towards the park. “Come on.”

Finding a spot he deems suitable underneath a huge old gumtree, he sits and pulls out a little tin box. I plop down in front of him. I don’t make a habit of ditching school. I have ditched, just not as often as Vin has.

“So… how much trouble do you think we’re in?” I ask him.

“You won’t get into trouble. I’ll fix it,” he says.

“Just like that, you’ll fix it?” I raise an eyebrow at him as he pulls a rolled-up piece of paper from his little tin. There’s a floral outline detail on the lid, and the name De Bellis engraved on top. But the thing is old, worn, and looks like it could be an antique. “You always keep your weed in family heirlooms?”

“It was my mother’s.” He shrugs. “Considering she’s the reason I smoke, I figured it’s only fitting to use her tin.”

“What did she use it for?” I ask, not broaching the fact that he just said he smokes weed because of his mother. I want to know, but I can read the room, and he’s about as closed off as anyone could be.

“No idea. I didn’t know her.” He places the joint between his lips and lights up the end. After taking a puff, he offers me a hit.

I shake my head. “Thanks, but I’m good.”

“Suit yourself,” he says before bringing it back to his lips.

“Why’d you do that?” I ask him.

“Do what?”

“Talk to me during the exam?”

“You looked upset. I wanted to help. It’s not a big deal, Cammi.”

“Thank you.” I sigh, unsure of what else to say. He claims it’s not a big deal, but it is. To me. That he noticed and cared enough to want to help me.

“Why do you get so nervous during exams?” he questions.

“Why do you watch me all the time?” I counter.

“You’re like a bright light. I can’t help but notice you,” he says.

Okay, well, that’s… weird. I’m not sure why he’d think I’m a bright light. To be honest, Vin has always been a little strange. Standoffish. He has two friends he’s always with, Dash and Marcus. He doesn’t give anyone else the time of day, while people give him a wide berth when he walks by. Though that has more to do with the rumours that surround his family. That’s to say, I’ve never seen Vin do anything that warrants the fear people have of him.

“You should go back, Cammi. You being here, with me—well, you shouldn’t be,” he says.

“You invited me,” I remind him.

“A moment of weakness. You shouldn’t be around me.” He takes another puff of the joint and blows the smoke upwards. Away from me.

“Why? You said you wouldn’t cut me up into pieces.”

“There are worse things people can do to you than kill you.”

“Are you going to do those things to me?” I ask.

“No. But if I were, it wouldn’t be in my interests to tell you, now would it?” he fires back.

“So, you’re not going to cut me up, or do anything worse to me. I don’t see why I shouldn’t be around you, then? Unless you just plain don’t want me to be here. I mean, I can take a hint.”

Vin stares at me, and for a moment, I think he’s going to tell me he doesn’t want me here, and then he shakes his head. “The problem isn’t that I don’t want you here. It’s that I do.”

“Mm, I’m not sure we have the same definition of the word problem .” I smile at him.