The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation) by Pembroke Sinclair Page B

angry angle. He smiled, but the gesture did nothing to hide the demonic look the light cast onto his face. Or was it from the light? Katie shuddered.
    “What text?” It was all she could manage to squeak out. She wanted to ask how he had gotten in her room and why he was there, but her mouth wouldn’t obey her will.
    Delicately, Josh reached for the phone, his fingers brushing against hers. Katie shied away from his touch, yet found it strangely alluring. His fingers were warm, soft. She remembered how they felt on her face days earlier, right before his lips connected with hers. When she believed he was human. Oh, how she wished he was still human. He unlocked her phone and pulled up the texts. He turned the display so she could read it.
    Have you decided if you want to talk to me yet?
    He’d sent it during the time she had been at Randy’s. Must have been around the same time Wes called her again. How did she miss that? Probably because she was so distressed Wes called again she didn’t even think about looking at her texts. Plus, she was tired. That explained everything. Her mind wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. She glanced from the phone to Josh’s face.
    “So you thought you’d just make your way into my bedroom in the middle of the night to see what I was up to?” The fear she felt initially drained from her body, replaced with irritation. This was the second time a boy had climbed into her room unannounced, and look how that had turned out. What was going to happen now with Josh?
    He shrugged one shoulder. “Something like that.” He leaned forward, resting on his elbow. His head was level with her chest.
    The citrusy scent of his soap drifted into her nostrils. She closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. She opened them quickly and mentally chastised herself for the small indulgence. Josh was the enemy. No matter how wonderful he smelled or how warm his touch was, he had tried to kill her. He couldn’t be trusted. She cleared her throat and clicked on the reading light next to her bed. It wasn’t overly bright, but better than her phone. She squinted against the brightness. Josh held up his hand to shield his eyes.
    “I’m trying to figure out how to convince you that you can trust me. That the other day in the warehouse was a misunderstanding.”
    “A misunderstanding?” Katie fought to keep her voice quiet.
    Josh held up his hand to silence her. “If I could do it over again, I would do it differently. I can’t, so now I’ll have to make it up to you in other ways. What can I do? Tell me. I’ll do anything.”
    Katie folded her arms across her chest. “The first thing you can do is get the hell out of my room and let me get back to sleep.”
    Josh smiled, and Katie’s resolve faltered slightly. “I can definitely do that. I’m sorry for bothering you at such a late hour, but I wanted to see you. Make sure you were all right.” He stood from the bed. “We’ll continue our discussion at a more regular hour.” He stared down at her for a moment, then headed for the window.
    As soon as he was gone, Katie got up and flipped the lock. She didn’t even check to see if he was in the yard. She didn’t care. Throwing herself back into bed, she pulled the covers up to her chin. Thankfully, her arm had stopped throbbing, but now her mind was racing. Maybe she should have gotten those precautions from Randy to keep Josh out of her room.
    Katie punched and squished her pillow, trying to make it as comfortable as it was before. Why weren’t boys climbing through her window when she wanted them to? And why couldn’t they be normal boys? Did she do something in a past life to deserve this torment? She threw her head onto the pillow with a huff.
    The only bright side was she didn’t have school tomorrow. She could be tired around Wes. It might give her a good excuse to leave. She frowned. She was still unsure how she felt about seeing Wes. She should have been excited to be with him,