Page 40 of Sin

“I don’t care what you were trying to do, Mare,” he said, voice hard as steel. “I care that instead of coming to me and discussing your thoughts, you took matters into your own hands. By doing so, you let loose a dangerous criminal, endangering not only yourself, but this entire team.”

Mare snorted. “Oh, come on. Everyone here knows Sin’s as dangerous as an alley cat.”

“Even an alley cat bites,” London said, jerking his head at the destroyed cuffs. “In the future, I’d appreciate it if you came to me before breaking my rules. Understood?”

Though she looked far from happy, Mare relented. “Understood.”

“Good.” He directed his attention to Lewis. “Those working?” he asked, nodding his head at the cuffs.

“Should be,” Lewis said, tossing the ruined cuffs into his bag and standing. He eyed me curiously. “I might need to mess around with the programming though if Sin’s been able to fry two pairs. If these can’t hold him, they won’t hold Lucas either.”

London nodded. “Whatever you think. Have Blade get you whatever materials you need to make it happen. Now everyone, get ready to move out first thing in the morning. I found Lucas.”

“London, I don’t know if you should be alone with him right now,” Lewis said, avoiding the eyeroll I sent his way. “Whether Mare instigated the fight, Sin still managed to break free of his restraints to retaliate. Until I’ve found a way to strengthen the cuffs—”

“I appreciate your concern, Lewis, I really do. But it’s unnecessary. I’m not scared of Sin. Now, don’t make me repeat myself and do as I asked.”

The others filed out of the room, and London, despite his exhaustion, stood to lock it. For many moments, he stayed put, facing the wall and simply breathing. He was probably in a crazy amount of pain, and he was fighting to hide it.

“About practicing,” I started, standing from the bed. I was a little wobbly, but I’d be fine. “I could—”

“No,” he said, cutting me off.

He’d done that a lot to us tonight, I noted.

“Mare’s not wrong,” I mumbled begrudgingly, hoping not to irritate him further. Slowly, I padded closer to him, though I made sure to keep some distance between us.

He spun, jabbing a finger at me. “I said no, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

“Why are you being so stubborn?” I asked, my temper flaring hot. I was over this bossy attitude of his. “I’m only here because you need me to capture Lucas, and it’s very obvious now that I won’t be able to do that if I can’t even fight Mare off.”

“It’s not smart to practice with Mare. Not because I think she’d try to harm you, but because I’ve seen how easily you can be triggered into a panic attack, Sin. Her power is only going to aggravate that.”

“I’ll be careful,” I said softly, a blush warming my cheeks as embarrassment hit me. “The better I get at practicing my shields, the better chance we have against Lucas.”

“I don’t really give a damn about Lucas right now, Sin,” he said, his voice rising and making him grimace in pain. Still, he persevered. “There are other ways you can strengthen your mental shields that don’t involve potentially reliving your worst nightmares.”

“But working with Mare would be a lot faster.”

“I said no!” He was breathing faster and harder now, and his fingers clenched. “I’m not risking your mental health just to speed this mission up.”

“I thought you wanted this over,” I said, my own frustration building. “I’m just trying to find a way to move things along faster. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No.”

I stared at him, taking in his ticking jaw, his slanted brows, his heaving chest, the fear in his eyes. “I’m so confused right now. Why isn’t it a good thing to get this mission over faster?”

“Because then you can leave me again!” he shouted, stunning me and himself with his outburst. Working his jaw, he continued in a growl, “If you’re not forced to be here, I don’t know for sure you’ll stay. And I hate that I care if you don’t. I hate it, Sin. I really do.”

“I…” I was dumbstruck by his admission. “You said you didn’t want me here.” My eyebrows scrunched. “You said Osborne forced me on you.”

“I know what I said,” he snapped, moving faster than I thought possible and shoving me against the door. I let out a soft cry of surprise. “I already told you I said things I didn’t mean.”

“So you…?” I hesitated, my gaze ping-ponging all over his face in search of answers. My tongue darted out to wet my dry lips, and his dark eyes tracked the movement.

Oh, shit.

“I could have said no,” he said, confusing the hell out of me with his whiplash comments.

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