Page 29 of Sin

What is it about this wild girl that calls to something deep inside me? Is it because she’s my polar opposite? If I’m a joy vacuum, she’s the sunshine that warms every shadow.

What the fuck? What a sappy thought. My recent fixation with her is making me crazy.

I clear my throat. “You’d better start the movie soon if you want me to stay awake the whole time.”

She scoffs. “Try falling asleep during the T-Rex chase scene. I dare you.”

Hours later, we’re sitting on the couch with empty bags littered over the coffee table. Tiny crumbs are scattered over the wood. My hands have been itching to pick up the trash and wipe down the table, but Lily hasn’t even glanced at it. I doubt she ever thinks about cleaning during her leisure time. She’s not wired the way I am.

I won’t clean it until after she leaves. I’m letting go, which apparently means resisting my instinct to wipe up chip crumbs.

Epic music plays over the stream of credits drifting up the screen. Lily hasn’t acknowledged that the movie is over. In fact, her breathing is soft and rhythmic. Hasn’t it been that way for a while now?

I twist around and see that her face is resting against the arm of the couch. When I lean forward, I see her eyes are closed and her mouth is open.

Holy shit. She’s asleep. Sound asleep by the looks of it.

My stomach flips over. I stand up from the couch as quietly as I can, exhilaration pumping through my veins. This is a big deal. A really big deal.

Or maybe I’m making too much of this. With as little sleep as she’s been getting recently, she was bound to pass out eventually from sheer exhaustion.

So why do I feel like a king?

She told me she hasn’t been able to sleep because of anxiety, and I’m now almost certain it has something to do with Mason. I was somehow able to make that anxiety go away, even after he grabbed her wrists today.

I think she’s starting to trust me.

I’m pulled back into the present when a door slams, and loud voices from downstairs filter into my room.

Apprehension jolts within me as I glance at Lily. Her fiery hair spills over the side of the couch like a blanket. That full mouth of hers is wider now, and a faint snoring sound echoes through the room. It’s fucking adorable.

I’ll be damned if I let anyone wake her.

I rush out of my room and down the stairs. When I get to the bottom floor, a group of my frat brothers are standing around our beer pong table.

“Keep your voices down,” I command as softly as I can. “I have a girl over, and she’s sleeping.”

When their eyes grow huge, I want to wince. I wish I had thought more before I phrased it that way.

“You have a girl over?” Damian nearly shouts, and I shush him. “Is Ethan finally getting laid?”

“I hate to tell you this, Ethan,” Aiden says, “but if she’s asleep, you’re doing something wrong.”

I roll my eyes. “Or maybe I did something right, Aiden. Maybe you’ve never seen a girl sleep after sex because you don’t know where the clitoris is located.”

When “Oh’s” break out throughout the room, I want to kick myself. What possessed me to clap back at Aiden? My brothers’ relentless teasing over my virginity has never bothered me before.

But this is Lily, and somehow, the idea of boring her to sleep during sex doesn’t sit well, which is stupid. I would never, ever have sex with her.

“Do not repeat what I just said,” I command the room. “This girl is…like a little sister to me.”

The words taste like ash in my mouth. I wish I hadn’t even said them, but it’s not fair to Lily to have people thinking we slept together because of my careless words.

And I wouldn’t want it getting back to Noah.

When the guys have finally quieted down to my liking, I make my way back to my bedroom. Lily is in the exact same position as I left her.

Shit. Her hands are curled up underneath her head, and she’s probably so exhausted she doesn’t even feel the pain in her wrists. I can’t let her sleep like that much longer.

---