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

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

I can feel him before I see him. You know that weird sensation you get when you know you’re being watched? That’s the only way I can explain how I always seem to know he’s there. I have to crane my neck to see through the crowd before I find him.

Leaning against the wall. Wearing a pair of denim jeans, a black V-neck shirt, and combat boots. His hands shove into his pockets as he stares right back at me. My eyes drift down his arms. He really does have nice arms. Tanned, toned, and inked. The ultimate bad boy.

I know I should avert my eyes, look away, but I couldn’t if I tried. I’d love to have those arms wrapped around me…

I haven’t spoken to him since that day at the park. I’m not sure why he’s gone back to staring at me from a distance. I could ask him, but that would mean I’d have to approach him myself. And, honestly, most of the time, Vin doesn’t look very approachable. He has this permanent resting bitch face, or whatever the male version of that would be.

That day in the park, though, I saw a different side of Vin. A small glimpse of someone he tries really hard to hide from the rest of the world. I wonder what he’s like at home, with his family. This whole don’t talk to me thing he has going on could just be a front meant to intimidate outsiders.

Two guys walk up and stand next to him. His friends. Their mouths are moving, but I have no idea what they’re saying. Vin doesn’t pay them any attention. No, he’s glaring at me.

“Cammi, come on. It’s your turn, babe,” Lauren says while shoving at my shoulder.

I look to her and then at the rest of the group gathered around the coffee table. I have no idea whose idea it was to play spin the bottle. I let Lauren and Elena drag me into the game.

“Okay, okay. I got this,” I say.

My hand rests on the bottle and the tiny hairs on the back of my neck rise. He’s still watching me. I know he is. Butterflies fill my stomach. Knowing he’s here gives me a little thrill I didn’t know I needed right now. I spin the empty bottle while praying it lands on one of my three friends, Lauren, Elena, or Devon. I can give any of them a quick peck and then it’s over.

My heart pounds as the bottle slows. And then I swear the organ drops when the bottle comes to a stop. Aimed directly at Jye.

He smiles huge as he pushes up from the sofa. “Looks like it’s my lucky night.”

My eyes widen and I turn to Elena. “I can’t kiss him,” I hiss under my breath.

“Yes, you can. It’s easy. Just close your eyes, kiss, and done. No big deal,” she says.

“It is a big deal,” I tell her. Jye is… well, let’s just say he’s kind of the class creeper. How I allowed myself to even be sitting at this table with him makes me question my own sanity.

“Just close your eyes and pretend it’s a Hemsworth brother,” Lauren chimes in.

“You’re not backing out, are you, Cammi?” This comes from Dean, one of Jye’s equally-as-creepy mates.

“Of course not,” I grit out between clenched teeth as I slowly rise to my feet. By the time I’m upright, Jye is standing right in front of me, licking his lips. Gross. “Let’s get this over with,” I tell him.

“Come on, babe, don’t be like that. You want this,” Jye says.

Before I can respond, his body is flying backwards. And I mean literally flying. His feet leave the floor and then he’s on his ass. “You’ll stay the fuck down if you know what’s good for you,” Vin grunts while pointing a finger down at him.

Everyone is staring. Then the crowd starts moving back, giving room for the fight they expect to happen. I can’t let Vin get into a fight because of me. I won’t. I grab his arm and pull, but he doesn’t budge.

He does turn around, though. He looks from my hand on his arm to my face, a frown tugging on his lips.

“Get me out of here, please,” I ask him quietly.

For a moment, I think he’s going to shake me off, ignore me. And then, without a word, he takes hold of the hand I’m offering him. “Let’s go.”

He steps in front of me and starts leading us through the crowd—they’re all still staring at us like we’re the most entertaining thing in the world. Which, I guess, Vin De Bellis holding the hand of a girl is new. I’ve never seen him with a girl. I’ve seen his friends in all states of undress at parties with girls, but Vin is usually just sitting around with that unreadable expression on his face.

That’s not to say he doesn’t or hasn’t been with any of the girls at school. I’ve heard the rumours; girls like to chat in the bathrooms. Although I think a lot of them also like to make shit up, so I don’t know if any of what they say is true.

Like, is he really hung like a horse? Who knows? Does he have a thing for tying you up? Again, who the hell knows? Do I want to find out? I think I do.

My mind is reeling with things I want to know about this guy, and then there’s a tiny little warning flashing back there as well. Telling me to be careful, to watch out for whatever darkness lurks within him.

It’s not until we’re walking down the street that I dig my feet into the ground. “Wait! Where are we going?”

Vin turns back around to look at me. He tilts his head, and his hand squeezes mine a little tighter, as if he’s afraid I’m going to run in the opposite direction. “You asked me to get you out of there. We’re leaving. My car’s just up here,” he says.

“Okay. But if I come with you, you’re not going to like drive me out to a deserted forest and cut me up into tiny pieces, are you?”

“Do you have some kind of weird fetish about being cut into pieces?” Vin asks.

“No.” I shake my head from side to side.

“So, I just give off serial killer vibes, then?” Vin raises one eyebrow at me while the corner of his lips tip up.

“Well, I mean… you kinda do.” I shrug.

“And yet, here you are, in the middle of a dark street, holding my hand.”

“We all do reckless things when we’re young. It’s why so many teenage girls end up in a situation they’d rather not be in.”

“I would never do anything to you that you didn’t ask me to do,” he says, then turns back towards his car and continues walking, with me in tow.

Vin opens the passenger’s side door. “Nice car,” I tell him. I know Vin’s family is not short of cash. Again, the rumour mill runs rampant when it comes to what people suspect his family has their hands in.

“Thanks,” Vin says, closing the door once I’m fully seated in the car.

I have no idea where we’re going. Vin’s fingers tap on the steering wheel as he navigates us around the city. When he pulls into an underground car park, I decide I really should know where he’s taking me.

“Where are we?” I ask.

“We have an apartment here. No one’s home,” Vin says.

“Okay.” I look out the windscreen, staring at the cement wall in front of me. I’m about to go up to an apartment with Vin De Bellis. Alone.

“I can take you home, if you want. You don’t have to come up,” Vin says, as if reading my mind.

“No, I want to.” I smile at him, trying to convey that I do want to be here. With him. I open the car door and climb out before pulling my phone out of my bag.

“Who are you texting?” Vin asks, walking around the car.

“My mom. I need to tell her I’m staying at Elena’s tonight,” I explain as I press send on my message.

“Elena, huh?” Vin chuckles, his eyes drifting to my hand. I hold it out to him on instinct. His much larger palm closes around mine, his touch warm, and bolts of lightning run up my arm.

“Well, if I tell her I’m about to walk into an apartment with a boy and without parental supervision, that wouldn’t exactly go over too well,” I say.

“Are your parents strict?” Vin asks.

“Not really, but they definitely still think I’m a virgin.” I laugh.

Vin’s hand pauses midair, hovering over the button to the lift. Then his gaze turns to mine. “You’re not?”

I shake my head. “Are you?”

“Who?” he asks.

“What?”

“Who have you slept with?”

“Who have you slept with?” I fire back at him.

“I’ll give you a list of names if you really want it.” He shrugs.

“I really don’t.” I reach out and press the button myself. “Are we going to stand here talking about our pasts all night or are we going up?”

The doors open and Vin pulls me inside the lift. My back slams against the wall and Vin’s mouth comes down close to mine. “Ask me,” he says.

“Ask you what?”

“Ask me to kiss you, because I really want to fucking kiss you right now. But I need you to ask me first.”

“Vin, kiss me.”

His lips drop to mine as soon as the words are out of my mouth. My hands land on his chest, and he tenses momentarily before he tilts my face up and deepens the kiss. This isn’t the sloppy, hurried kind of kiss I’ve experienced before. It’s slow. The strokes of Vin’s tongue against mine are gentle. Like he’s mapping out every inch of my mouth, memorising it.

The lift starts to ascend. I don’t remember either of us pressing the button to any of the floors, but Vin must have because he breaks our kiss and pulls me out of the open doors into a foyer.

“You know, I’ll take you home or to Elena’s whenever you want to leave,” he tells me.

“Do you want me to leave?” I ask him.

Vin shakes his head. “Not even a little bit,” he says, biting into his bottom lip.

“Okay, guess I’m staying then.”