Page 10 of The Sin

After a quick shower, I dressed for comfort in sweatpants, a hoodie I could drown in, and fluffy socks. At some point, Roman had turned on the heating, but AC couldn’t wrap me in the kind of warmth my soul was craving.

When I drew open the drapes, I saw why the room was so much darker than normal. The wooden shutters on the outside of the window had been latched.

The window cracked open about an inch before it hit the shutter.

Sudden claustrophobia squeezed the breath in my lungs.

I was locked in.

Trapped.

Heart pounding, I spun about and charged out of the room, down the short passage to—the door leading into the living area stood wide open.

I wasn’t locked in.

I put a hand to the doorjamb, another hand to my thudding heart.

Roman looked up from where he sat at the oak kitchen table with a mug of coffee. He must have seen something in my eyes, because his brow dipped. “What’s wrong?”

“Why did you shutter the window?” I hated the panic in my voice, turning my words into breathless whispers.

I was not this weak.

I refused to be this weak.

“To keep the room dark so you could sleep,” he said. “I went to check on you earlier and the sunlight was filtering through the gaps in the drapes.”

“Oh, okay…” That was thoughtful. My gaze drifted to the expresso pot on the stove.

“The coffee’s fresh,” he said. “Would you like a cup?”

“I’ll get it.”

“Feeling better after your sleep?”

I gave a small nod as I passed him to get to the stove. I felt rested, less cotton-brained, if not exactly better about everything that happened.

Roman stood and brought his mug over to the sink. “I have to go out.”

“Work?”

“I shouldn’t be home late,” was his only answer.

I shrugged and took my coffee with me to the armchair. The glass sliding door was closed against the howling raging outside. Roman didn’t attempt further conversation. I didn’t breathe freely until I heard him gathering his things and leave.

I didn’t know how to deal with him.

Scrap that, I didn’t know how to deal with my feelings about him.

I should be grateful. I did realize that. He’d gone way and beyond a husband’s duty to save me from a stint in rehab. Turns out, the great betrayal was yet another lie, a different kind of lie. He’d betrayed me to protect me.

But he’d still betrayed me—I couldn’t shake that, no matter how he excused it. He’d betrayed my trust in him, inus. The past twenty-four hours wouldn’t allow me to forget just how long my trust had been misplaced.

Sector Five.

The Outerlanders.

Restless energy tickled my bones as I sat there, sipping on my coffee, staring at the gusts of wind sweeping through the treetops. As miserable as the weather outside was, I was desperate to walk off the stiffness in my muscles.

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