Everything hurt. My head hurt. My stomach hurt. My hair and my eyelashes somehow even hurt. 

I tried to open my eyes and moaned when I finally succeeded. The sun was like a knife driven right into between my eyebrows. I tried to clap my hand over my face, but the motion made the room start spinning. "Merciful God," I groaned and shut my eyes again. 

There was a soft sound of footsteps outside my bedroom door. I must have woken Everly. "Hey," I croaked, licking my parched lips. "Would you mind getting me a glass of water?"

"If you have water right now, you're just going to puke," came a deep, sleep-clogged voice. 

I shot straight up in bed and stared at Beau. Merciful heavens, what was he doing there, standing in my doorway all shirtless and rumpled and looking like every kind of sin I'd been warned against? I stared at him just long enough for his mouth to kick upward into a smile...

And then everything hurt again. I wondered if I had the flu. My little sister Miriam had said it felt like this when she got it. Everything hurting, 

 I fell back onto the bed, feeling like I'd been kicked in the stomach by a cow. "Dear Lord above," I panted. 

"Do you have any juice in the house? I'll mix you up something to help your electrolytes."

I had no idea what he was on about, but I nodded weakly. "In the fridge." Talking felt like dying. 

I heard his step on the floorboards as he walked back down the narrow hall that separated my room from Everly's. 

Everly who had left for Gabe's house early this morning. 

Everly was not here.

But Beau somehow was?

I squeezed my eyes shut - even that hurt somehow - and tried to piece together how it was that Beauregard King was in my house right now. We’d become friends once Everly and Gabe started dating, but there was no way anything more had happened. He was famous in the secular world. He’d want a girl who didn’t seem so sheltered and naive. He wasn't... oh heavens no, he hadn't been in my bed last night… right? 

A flutter of terror in my stomach made the contents rise. For all his sweetness, Beau was from a family steeped in worldliness. And while I didn't follow the laws of the Chosen anymore, I couldn't shake the warning voice inside of me. He was in a rock and roll band, it hissed. Satan's music. 

And he had stayed the night. Where? In here?

I clapped my hand over my mouth and rolled to the side, noting with muted surprise that there was a garbage can already sitting there at the ready. "Oh no," I breathed, touching my lips, my body, checking, checking...

Everything felt fine. Normal even. Flu aside of course. 

I swallowed hard and willed my stomach to settle. Beau - terrifying, fascinating Beau - was in my house, but it seemed like he had... slept on the couch?

Why?

I grew up a sheltered, good girl. I knew the outside world was wrong. 

Living on the compound, I was hidden away from the rest of the town. And away from the temptations of books, music and men. 

---

Especially men like Beau King. 

---

He’s famous. A rockstar. One of the wild, scandalous King Brothers that put our small town on the map. Hidden behind the walls of the compound, I heard whispers of what he was…

---

Everything I’d been warned about. 

Hazel eyes. Tempting voice. And a body made for sin. 

---

I was supposed to stay away. 

So I ran. But he chased me. I fell. And he caught me. 

And then we kissed... 

---

Heaven help me. 

---

I want his mouth on mine, and his hands in forbidden places. 

I want to confess the wild ache in my heart to him.

---

But even after I leave the cult behind, I still can’t escape. I’ve cast off its chains, but I am not free. I want a forever with Beau, but my family is in danger. I know my place. I know if I don’t return, I’ll never be forgiven.

---

But if falling from grace means I’ll land in Beau’s arms, then it might just be worth it. 

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