Conviction: Devine by D H Sidebottom Page A

as fucking painfully as possible.
    Gen had given me the nod regarding her father. Freddy knew I was going in and had arrangements already in place for my stay. It wouldn’t be the Ritz but for what I was doing, it was the least the arsehole could do.
    The flap in the door finally opened, making me jolt in surprise when Graham, a PC on my payroll, looked through to me. The door opened and I braced myself, expecting my father to make his dramatic entrance.
    What I didn’t expect was to see Isla.
    The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention, my dick twitched as was habit whenever she was in the same room. I couldn’t get a reading on her emotions, her face void of any expression as she regarded me.
    She turned and smiled at Graham. “Thank you. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
    He nodded, patting her on the shoulder. “No rush, love. The others are on break.”
    Isla stepped into the cell as Graham closed the door behind her, locking us both in. My heartbeat quickened at her nearness and the familiar scent of her perfume soothed the rampant turmoil of my soul.
    Slowly she walked towards me, her high heels clicking on the concrete floor. Time seemed to stop when she slid between my open knees, the outside of her thighs touching the inside of mine and sending my cock crazy. I gazed up at her, too choked up to say anything, the restriction in my throat as painful as the agony in my chest.
    I gasped when her palm struck my cheek and my face flung to the side, the sting making my ears ring.
    Looking back at her, I gulped at the tears that forced free from her eyes. “I’m sorry,” I choked out, her pain my own as I tried to grab her hand. Pulling it back, she slapped me again, the hatred on her face as potent as my guilt.
    “Tell me, Jake. Tell me exactly what you’re sorry for.”
    I sucked in my lips and lowered my eyes. “You know what for.”
    Her fingers gripped my chin harshly and she yanked my face back up to look at her. Shaking her head, her rage at the forefront, she sniffed and straightened her shoulders as she tried to pull herself together. “Actually I’m struggling to figure out which bit you’re sorry for.”
    “All of it. The pain, the lies, the . . .”
    “Oh! You’re sorry for the lies?” Her voice rose as her tone sharpened, her high pitched shout becoming a squeaky shriek. “Which ones, Jake? The one where you made me believe that you fucked the blonde bitch?” My eyes widened on her, my jaw dropping with her next words. “Or the fact that you have ended your life for the person who killed my family?”
    She lashed out again, this time her knuckles connected with my cheekbone, the force of her punch so powerful I winced at the crack, knowing she’d just broken my cheekbone.
    “How dare you put the murder of my family before me?”
    I reared back when she exploded, her fists hitting me time after time, her loud screams letting out her hurt and rage. I took it. I sat back, placed my hands in my lap and allowed her to break me like I had broken her.
    “I loved you, damn it!” She cried, crushing me more and more. “I fucking love you! Why, Jake? Why?”
    Eventually she accepted my attempts to console her as she sank into my arms.
    “I’m sorry,” I whispered over and over, her despair bringing forward my own as we both sat and cried. “I’m so sorry.”
    “How can you do this to me?” she asked with a hiccup when she looked up at me, her red-rimmed eyes still exposing all of her glorious spirit. I was relieved to see I hadn’t massacred that as well. “Why, Jake?”
    My love for her was so powerful that having her in my arms again was overwhelming, her little body against mine something I thought I would never feel again. “Because I love you,” I replied quietly as I stroked my thumb across her cheek and wiped away her tears. Looking away, I sighed heavily. “You could never understand.”
    Her face hardened. “Try me!”
    I gazed at her, drinking in her natural beauty,