Sinful (Goddaughter Book 2)

by Raven Crow

  “I went to school and there cops everywhere, they wouldn’t let me in because they said the campus was closed. Isn’t that crazy? What do you think was going on?” My mind went to the first thing I could think of. I concealed my conversation with the king.

  “Really…that is crazy. I have no idea what they were doing on campus. What kind of police officers were they?”

  I stopped to think before remembering the name on the officers’ uniform.

  “I think they were Bakersfield Police Officers. Do you think that it had anything to do with Daphne’s murder?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, maybe. Why do you think that?”

  I could tell that this time Pen’s focus had changed. Her body language had become energized as well.

  “Daphne was killed and she went to that school maybe the police have a lead they are following.” She widened. “Maybe we should ask Sax if his parents told him anything about the killer. He might know what was going on over on campus too.”

  “I doubt that he knows anything but I could text him and see what he does know.” She acted unsure of herself as she pulled out her phone to text Sax.

  She stood up suddenly before pacing back and forth.

  “What did he answer you already?” I asked while watching her burn a line in the floor.

  “No—no I didn’t text him yet. I think I need to talk to Sergio. Will you come along with me?”

  What was she talking about? I felt stuck between two pivotal choices; go with her to talk to some jerk next door, or push her to forget about her past and move forward with Sax.

  “I don’t know about that…do you think that is wise? Why don’t you just call Sax and see what he is doing?” I begged her. Her eyes shot over at me like I called her a dirty word. “I mean—I bet he would know how we could find out about the cops at the campus.” I tried to recover.

  “You are right, I shouldn’t talk to Sergio he’s only going to lie to me anyhow. Obviously a promise doesn’t mean shit to him or he’d never have brought those haunting memories back to this house to begin with.”

  Somehow she’d found reason in something I’d said.

  “I hate being lied to, liars are the worst.”

  “Well you’d really hate Sergio than. That boy lied to me about so many different things. You know he had asked me to marry him at one point only to end up dumping me the last day of my senior year. I was so devastated that I blow off my senior graduation party. I wandered town for hours before I ended up at this bar I’d never been to before. I met Van that night my next boyfriend. We dated for over seven long, bumpy years.” She paused before sitting down next to me. “Those were the darkest times in my life so far I don’t want to relive any of that at again.”

  I felt so badly for what Pen had been through with men so far; it seemed to really be having a negative effect on her life.

  “I’m the worse person to give out relationship advice since I’ve had three total relationships in my life so far. I should mention that only two of those relationships lasted longer than a month. Like I told you we were always moving so by the time I’d get to know someone it would be time to move again.” I placed my arm around her back before smiling. “But seems how we are sisters I will tell you what I think.” I winked at her and she giggled. “I do not know Sax very well; however, he sure seems to be completely in love with you. I’m a bit jealous at times how devoted he is to you. How do you feel about him? Do you love him?”

  “Yes I love him very much.” Her whole face beamed.

  Chapter 11

  Pen

  Why had I decided to wear my favorite leggings while clearing my yard? I was covered in leaves, mud, and other crap from all the work I’d put in this week. I had to admit that the yard hadn’t ever looked as good, at least since I could remember.

  I looked over at the old maple tree and the tire swing that I’d used as a child. I was instantly haunted by past memories of my mom who’d swing me every day. It was like the strength of her love almost reached out to comfort me in that moment. She was only twenty-two years old when she went missing. I had lived longer then she did and it sickened me to realize that fact. The past week of cleaning and clearing out this old house had taken more out of me than I had anticipated. It had been long overdue and now I had completed the task of renewing my families’ home. My grandma wasn’t due to be released from rehab until late August but I knew that she would love coming home to a house that’s cleaned.

  I would need to head to the bank in town later to get out some of the money that’s in my accounts that I didn’t know that I had. With all of my families’ assets freed up from apparent frozen accounts I had millions just waiting for me. Honestly, I had been putting off going into town for anything. I was stuck in the past thinking that these people in this town will treat me like a cursed woman as they always have. I had been trying all morning to grow the courage inside of me in order to finally head to town but I still didn’t have the emotional strength yet to go.

  “Wow, the yard looks totally different Pen you did all of this by yourself?” I turned to see Sax standing at the end of my sidewalk in front of my house. “Seriously, this looks amazing.” He expressed while walking through the open gate towards me.

  “Hi. Yes I did this all by myself. It took days though you are seeing the final product.” I felt immediately at ease with his presents.

  “Well, now I know why you weren’t answering your phone. I have been calling you all morning, doll face.” He approached with a smile before kissing me.

  “Oh yeah, I left my cell phone in the house hours ago I hadn’t even thought about it all day. Sorry.” I apologized while hugging him briefly. I pulled away once I remembered how dirty I was. “Oh shit, sorry. I’m so dirty I need to shower.”

  “I will help you.” He chuckled before winking at me.

  “You will help me shower…I bet you will naughty man.” I let go of him to go into the house, he followed closely behind. “Come on, and stop staring at my butt.” I caught him checking me out before we entered the living room. “You wait here and I will be right back.” I started up the stairs.

  “My offer still stands if you should change your mind and need my help showering after all.” He shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

  “Be good Sax, I will be right back.” I yelled down to him while giggling.

  **

  I finished drying my dripping wet hair while walking into the parlor where Sax was standing with his back to me. As I got closer to him I could see that he was looking at something in his hands.

  He turned suddenly appearing startled. I realized that he was looking at the pictures of my mother and me from my memory box. Something inside of me just snapped causing me to grab the pictures from his hands leaving him with an open mouth.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snoop. I just saw them there and your mother looks just like you—I can’t believe it.” He struggled.

  “What are you doing with these?” I held the pictures with a rage that seemed to come from nowhere. “These are the only pictures of me and my mother together there are—nothing can happen to these.” I carefully started scooping up the rest of the photos on the table before placing them back into the box. “You shouldn’t touch things that aren’t yours.”

  “I apologize it won’t happen again Pen.” He neared me with a sweet look on his face.

  How could he not want to run away from me after the way I talked to him? I had scolded him like he was a young child.

  “I don’t know why I yelled at you like that I should be the one to apologize.” I admitted. “I am so mad at myself for—” I paused before I started pacing, “letting go of her memories so easily. I was only four years old when she went missing. I was only six when they found her remains.”

  “Jesus Pen I had no idea that happened to your mother.” He stressed in a low tone.

  “How would you have known you were only three and five years old at the time, your dad wasn’
t even a detective back then? My mom went missing and my grandparents went to the Bakersfield police who did nothing because my mother was an adult. They told my grandparents that she probably skipped town with a boyfriend because the pressures of being a mother at such a young age probably got to her.” I recalled past conversations with my grandma. “My grands would always tell me that my mother felt so blessed to have me and that never once did she regret being a mother.”

  “A classic example of lazy police work, of course your mother wanted you. I saw those pictures and all I could see was a woman in love with her beautiful ‘mini-me’ daughter.”

  His nickname for me touched my heart.

  “I knew it! Of course they didn’t want to help us. They didn’t care one bit about the troubles of the dirty gypsies from across the lake. There’s so much about back then that I want to know. I need to know what really happened to her.” I added before going over to him burying my head into his chest as he held me.

  “I am so sorry Pen I didn’t mean to upset you I feel completely responsible about this situation had I left your things alone this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “This isn’t your fault. I am upset in general.” I pulled back to look at him. “This is a long time coming the way I feel has been bottled up for years so I was bound to overflow eventually.” I wiped my tears before trying to crack a smile. “I’m sorry for blowing up on you. You didn’t deserve that little outburst earlier and you don’t deserve my continued drama.”

  “Pen everyone has their moments you are certainly entitled to your time to express your frustration. I’m not going to judge you for being yourself I happened to love who you are Pen.”

  In an instant he took away my pain with his eagerness to be there for me with his thoughtful words. He had become more than just another guy that I had sex with, he was my friend.

  “I’m not sure how you can tolerate me some times Sax I’m so emotionally its nuts.”

  I started to giggle which caused him to chuckle at me.

  “Pen I have been in love with you since I can remember and you have been nearly perfect in my eyes.” He put his hands on my cheeks to cup my face in his palms. “Honestly, getting to know you the real you that is has been better than I could have imagined.” He kissed me slowly sending chills down my spine.

  “Do you want to go upstairs Sax?”

  “Yes…but I can’t. I have to get to a meeting in about an hour.”

  “We have plenty of time then.” I started to pull his shirt up while I rubbed his belly with my fingertips.

  “I really want to but—I can’t be late.” He pulled away. “I will come back later and we can have dinner maybe watch a movie or something.”

  As he moved towards the door something inside of me just snapped making me angry at him for no good reason. He kissed me on my cheek which almost made me flinch but I resisted.

  “Alright that sounds good. I can’t wait to see you later.” I forced myself to smile even though I was heated on the inside.

  He walked out while I closed the door behind him. I didn’t understand why I was angry at him. He hadn’t done anything wrong as a matter of fact he was the perfect boyfriend. Boyfriend? Wow he was my boyfriend. I had finally realized that fact. I had been so busy dealing with my own cursed life that I hadn’t let that nice piece of reality sink into my head until now.

  Chapter 12

  Sax

  I had no clue just what a hard childhood Pen had endured until now. Her mother had been murdered when she was only a little girl. Basically Pen was an orphan which explained so much about her to me.

  I stood outside of her house next to my car unable to move. I needed to go and take care of business but I couldn’t allow myself to leave her in such a state.

  After making the necessary calls to cancel my meetings for the rest of the day I knocked on Pen’s door and received no response. I grew worried and tried the knob out of fear to my surprise it opened. I found Pen there with her back to me. She seemed to be on the phone so I remained quiet. She turned looking at me unfazed as though she had been expecting me.

  “Ok thank you so much for calling me have a nice day.” She said into the phone before disconnecting. “Hi again.” She said before embracing me.

  Her hair was still wet and had soaked through my shirt. I didn’t want to let go of her she seemed so broken. If I was going to be of any help to her I would need to get more information from her first.

  “Why did they think that she had a boyfriend, was your mother seeing anyone? Was she still involved with your father?” I wanted to ask who her father was but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. “Did she leave a note or something indicating that she was leaving?”

  “No—none of that happened. My mother wasn’t ever in a relationship that my grandparents ever know about. My mother didn’t even tell them who my father was. All she’d ever say to them about my father was that I was created with love and that’s all that mattered.” She pulled away. “Oh shit I got you all wet, I’m sorry.”

  “Hey I’ve had worse things on my shirt what’s a little water?” I joked with her while brushing her wet hair back behind her ears. “How about I take you out to eat? We can go check out that new barbeque place in town, I heard it’s good?”

  “Actually, that sounds amazing but I thought that you had to go to work?”

  “I called and cancelled my afternoon business. I wanted to spend time with you today.” I kissed her forehead before winking at her.

  “I will go get dressed. Just give me ten minutes.” She dashed over to the stairs. “Do you need me to get you a dry shirt? I think my grandfather’s clothes are still upstairs in one of the spare bedrooms.” She offered while walking up the steps.

  “No it will dry when we get outside; it’s like nearly ninety degrees out there already. Thank you though.”

  Truthfully, I had no idea what questions to ask Pen seems how I wasn’t a detective nor would I ever be. I was going to need my father’s help if I was going to be able to find out what happened to her mother all those years ago. My plan now was to get her out of the house to help get her mind off of her past.

  She bounced down the stairs in a cute, purple jumpsuit and matching sandals. She had pulled her hair up into a bun on top of her head. It appeared as though she was in a more positive mood. All I could think was how much I wanted to make her happy like she desired.

  “Thanks for waiting. I’m ready and I’m starved. Ha-ha.” She smiled as she put her hand on the front door knob. “And…I’m paying for dinner.” She ordered while opening the door before walking out.

  “Uh…ok you can pay for dinner. You don’t have to talk me into a free meal.” I eagerly agreed.

  Once we were on the porch I’m hit with a fowl odor before I noticed that the lawn was covered in garbage. Pen started to backup into me while shaking her head. Someone had purposely trashed Pen’s yard after she’d worked so hard to clean it up. They had been quick about it too because I had just been outside earlier and there wasn’t any trash then.

  She turned passing me to go back into the house. I tried to grab her but she was too quick so I followed her in closing the door behind us.

  I remained quiet unsure what I should say. I was so angry that nothing I was thinking made any sense. I walked over to her putting my hand on her shoulder.

  “It’s ok. I’m used to this.” She looked up at me. “Now, I know why my grandmother stopped picking up the yard years ago, these assholes have been trashing her house for years. She must have given up trying to fight this war on her own. I don’t know why I thought that having the curse lifted would change anything. These people need to have someone to hate, someone to kick on the way to the job that they hate so they can feel like they have some kind of control over their endlessly dole lives.”

  “I’m sorry I’ll understand if you’d rather stay in. I will help you pick up the lawn again tomorrow if you want or right now if you’d prefer?” I struggled with suggestio
ns to help her.

  “F—that I just forgot my purse is all.” She grabbed her purse off the table by the door. “I’m going out to eat. These idiots aren’t stopping me from living anymore.” She demanded with a smile.

  “I like this side of you Pen. Don’t let them win.” I remarked while grinning at her.

  I watched her tiny body as it seemed to grow in size from somewhere inside of her. She had summoned her own inner power it appeared.

  “And I’m not picking up that yard again, I’m calling a crew tomorrow to come and do it for me. I’ve got money now and I’m going to fight back.” She smiled at me while opening the door. “I’m going to have cameras installed around the house so the next time they try this shit I’ll have them on tape. They can pay for the littering tickets too. I’m over this…” She turned to walk out onto the porch. “I think I might even get a dog too. Let’s see how they like fighting off a giant beast trained to eat them.”

  We both burst out into laughter.

  She’d never been sexier to me then at that moment. Watching her take back her power from the haters made me so proud of her.

  I spotted a black, Lamborghini Aventador S, in the driveway with no one inside. That amazing, convertible, beauty was worth close to a half million dollars.

  “Hello there.” I heard from the far corner of the front yard before realizing that it was King Moreau II. “Does this kind of the thing happen around here often?” He asked while pointing to the pile of trash on the lawn.

  “Yes this kind of the thing happens often. The townsfolk find it fun to taunt my family; they consider it their right actually.” Pen snapped while we both walked over to my car. The king joined us.

  “This is unacceptable; I won’t stand for this kind of treatment towards one of my most valuable tribe members. I will have this cleaned immediately.” King Moreau offered. I scoffed to which he looked at me but said nothing.

  “I am fine I have the whole situation under control King Moreau, there’s no need for you to have someone clean this up.” Pen insisted.