Immoral Confessions - R. Holmes Page 0,3

me even more scared about what I’m hearing.

I watch as Rhys goes completely rigid. His body turns straight to stone. He clenches his jaw so tightly I think it might crack, but he eventually speaks again.

“There was no one there. We checked, three times.” His cold, dark eyes search the room as if he’s worried of anyone overhearing what he’s saying. If he knew I was here, I don’t think I would be safe any longer. If he knew that I was stealing his secrets, he’d come after me next.

“We didn’t check the basement. I thought I heard something when we were leaving, but I figured it was the house shifting. What if it wasn’t? Man, what if we killed someone? This shit isn’t just arson anymore.”

Oh, God.

An audible gasp escapes me before I can clamp my mouth shut and my heart stops beating in my chest. I don’t even think, I just turn on my heel and run. As fast as my legs in these stupid shoes will carry me. I slip out the back exit door as quietly as I possibly can and fly out into the cool summer night air, taking in gulps like I’m drowning.

Maybe I am.

Does this make me an accomplice to murder?

I run over to the side of the building, where it’s dark and I’m hidden by shadows, then drop my hands to my knees while I try to catch my breath. Not from overexertion, but because of the enormity of what I just witnessed.

“Don’t fucking move.”

A cold, unnerving voice comes from behind me. Whipping around, I suck in a cold, hard breath of the air that’s piercing my lungs.

“I-I…” I start as Rhys comes into view under the streetlamp. His face is a mask of no emotion, showing nothing but the signature scowl on his lips. He looks deadly. He stalks forward as I get up and take steps backward, until I feel the cold brick against my back. My backpack lays on the ground next to where I was moments ago.

“I-I didn’t hear anything,” I say, stuttering over my words.

My voice shakes from fear. I’m scared shitless of the guy standing before me, and I’m scared with the way he’s looking at me now, I might be next on their list.

Get a grip, Valentina. He wouldn’t hurt you… Would he?

“You’re lying,” he sneers, standing right in front of me now.

“I’m not.”

He smirks without a trace of humor and brings his hand up to my hair, twirling a piece around his finger.

“I detest liars,” he says simply. “Who are you?”

“Don’t touch me,” I spit back at him. I jerk from his hold, trying to create distance between us, only for him to cage me in even closer.

He chuckles darkly.

“Oh, little lamb… you’re not in any position to sass me, now are you? All alone out here in the dark, no one around to hear you.”

“Get off me. I didn’t hear anything, I didn’t see anything. I just want to go back to my dorm. Let me go, now.”

“That right?” The muscles in his jaw tick as he clenches his teeth tightly. He’s close enough that I smell his cologne. Musky, manly, a hit of cedarwood.

I nod.

I go to open my mouth to speak, and he places his finger against my lips, silencing me. My heart pounds in my chest so hard it feels as if it may come out of my skin, and a shudder racks my body with his hands on me.

His eyes drag up and down my body in a slow perusal until the bottomless black pits of his irises bore into mine. They search my own, for what, I don’t know, but seconds pass in uncomfortable silence.

“Let me tell you how this is going to go…” He inches even closer until I’m pressed tightly against him and his finger still rest on my lips, gently yet menacingly rubbing my tender flesh. His knee parts my legs, wrenching them further apart. I’m pinned against the cold brick of the building and he has no qualms about how he’s invading my personal space. Being in my presence seems to do nothing but make him even more angry.

“You’re going to take your books, and go back to your dorm, and forget you ever came here tonight. Obviously, you’re a nobody, or I’d know who you were.”

My hands are shaking against the wall as I dig my fingers into the frigid, hard brick, trying not to show any sign of weakness which would only