Skin of a Sinner

by Avina St. Graves

To all the self-proclaimed good girls who want to be chased through the forest, then fucked by a masked man.

oh!

“I’m sorry, Princess. I didn’t mean to wake you.” It’s him. He’s here. He’s back.

“You’re crazy. You’re fucking crazy.” “I prefer the term ‘artist,’” he quips.

I am an angel. But I wasn’t sent, I fell. I descended through the sky with burning wings, landing outside Eden in the land writhing with serpents.

Sometimes when angels fall, the serpents devour them. Other times, they learn to live with them.

“You fucked with my girl.” Roman chuckles darkly, glancing at me before saying, “And you should never fuck with my girl.”

We might be a match, but matches burn. Stories end even when the love hasn’t died.

“When will it end?” He smirks. “When I’m in a grave, and even then, Hell won’t keep me from you.”

He has the face of an angel and the mind of the devil.

“Don’t worry. If you break, I’ll put you back together. If you run, I’m running right behind you. If you burn, I’ll burn with you.”

“You will never be alone again. I swear on my life. Wherever you go, I’ll be right there. We’ll always find each other. I’m not going anywhere. It’s a promise. We’re forever, Princess, and nothing will ever come between us. Do you understand?” She sniffles. “Yes.” “Say it.” “We’re forever.”

“You’d get on your knees for me if I asked. Does that make me your god, Princess?”

I may make art, but she is art made flesh. Every stroke, every color. Masterpiece doesn’t come close to describing her.

“You never needed me. You needed someone to love you for who you were. I love you—all of you.”

Even if it is full of love, all a ghost can do is haunt.”

“You’re mine.” Thrust. “Fucking mine.” Thrust. “You’re not getting away from me.” Thrust. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Everything she’s ever liked is marked on my skin for the rest of my life: her favorite animals, the trips we’ve done, things that matter to her.

“The last time you surprised me, you committed double homicide.” “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll outdo myself this time. Make it triple.”

We’re polar opposites, but work so perfectly together. Or maybe so tragically.

Fuck baby steps. Why isn’t she madly obsessed with me yet?

Christ. The things I’d do for this girl. And to this girl.

“Either I follow you, or you follow me. There’s no version of this where we go our separate ways.”

“I hate you.” She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself. “That’s fine, Princess. You can spend your life searching for a reason to hate me, but the truth is, you hate that you can’t live without me. And you know what? I would rather die knowing you wish I were dead than for you to feel nothing toward me at all.”

“Maybe I haven’t made this clear: You have never been just a phase to me; you’ve always been the whole picture. Without you, I am incomplete.”

“My heart has only ever belonged to you, little Bella. You. Are. It.”

“You don’t know what I want, even though you’ve already given me everything I need.”

I realize another truth: we bring out the best and the worst in each other, but the only time we can breathe is when we’re together.

With all the darkness in our past, our love story is as cheesy as it is cliché, because nothing else matters as long as we’re with each other.

“You’re my knight in shining armor, Roman Riviera.” He nods his head against mine. “I am. But you never needed saving. You just needed someone to remind you that you’re not alone. And in case I haven’t told you, I’m proud of you, baby girl.”

He’s my own personal homicidal Mickey Mouse. He’s all mine.

The only certainty in life is death. But that rule doesn’t apply to me. I love Roman Riviera, and that’s the only truth I know beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“Do you doubt what I’d do for you, Isabella? If you’re in a grave, I’m in one. I promised you forever. We won’t end in death.”

Fate, that’s what this is. Two lost souls finding each other in the darkness and knowing they’ll always have a place to call home.

Nothing in this life or the next would hold a candle to her, from her glowing brown Bambi eyes to her plump pink lips. Every part of her is perfect.

The easiest thing I’ve ever done is love her. If I could do it all again, I would do it the exact same way. I would pick her. Every time.