How to Be Cliche (A Novel)

(35) Pretending

                  Gary narrowed his eyes. "You have a few things you're hiding, Sin. Let's start with the obvious. I saw you pick up Pepper after I slit her throat." I flinched as the black clad assassin brushed over my death with ease. "You came to her rescue within a minute, which means you were already by the building. I'm guessing you saw myself or Vladimir's van on surveillance footage and hid in some secret room. Kudos, I didn't smell even a speck of your scent."

                  Sin shook his head once. "I was there right after Pepper was almost killed by you because I was informed  by friend that Pepper would be injured."

                  "You mean her parents told you to go find her?" Gary gestured with his gun as he spoke. "Yeah, I know. I'm the guy that finds out everything eventually."

                  Oh, mom and dad. They truly loved me. By my parents wanted to make sure that I was dead and so they contacted Sin Trinidad, who's family owes them a great deal for protecting them, to kill me before I became a vampire.

                  "It seems to me that the only person who comes even close to being a serial killer is you, Gary. You are the one who's armed, you are the one who is hostile." Sin's demeanor didn't crack as he spoke. However, I watched his chlorine blue eyes quickly fall to their corners towards me, then quickly rebound back to Gary, who caught the look between us but was clearly unable to read it. Was Sin trying to silently communicate with me? If so, he had to be a little bit more obvious because I was seriously getting light headed.

                  "I'm sorry, but you're very mistaken, and I won't let you separate her from me," Sin finally said, gripping my arm a little tighter. "You've already killed her once, I'm not letting you kill her again."

                  "Pepper, are you really buying this?" Gary stepped towards us, laughing under his breath. Sin shoved me behind him so quickly it made my head spin. The gun pressed between Sin's eyes, threatening his life.

                  Sin pushed me back as I tried to knock the gun away. "Don't interfere," he said simply.

                  "Gary, don't do this," I rushed out, eyeing the gun in horror. Sin was too calm. had he been in front of a gun before? "Let's talk about this," I pleaded. "Are you one-hundred percent sure that he's Smiley? I've heard Smiley's voice, he doesn't sound like Sin. I might call Sin a psycho, but he would never murder a bunch innocent people."

                  "This man is a sociopath." Gary's eyes flickered to light with grey and his fangs lengthened in his mouth. "I know this is hard to believe. I know that you no longer trust me because of what I did to you. I'm sorry that I slit your throat, I couldn't risk you telling your parents or someone about me. It was really hard for me to bring myself to kill you, and when I did, I forgot entirely that you were a hunter. I thought of you as an innocent girl who could have lived a much longer life if you had never met me. That's why you didn't die immediately, because I momentarily forgot that you were a hunter. It's my fault that you're a hybrid now. I can't even put into words how sorry I am."

                  "P*ssy whipped," Sin muttered. I could have sworn I saw him roll his eyes.

                  Something odd settled in the pit of my stomach.

                  I shook it off. "If you expect me to forgive you for injecting me with a needle, slitting my throat, then leaving me to die in a crusty old warehouse that smelled like dog shit and old lady urine, then no, I don't forgive you," I said.