Page 109 of Wicked Sin

“Yes.”

Her face softens, shifting from prosecutor to ex-girlfriend. “Do you know about her history?”

Something twitches painfully in my neck. “Of course I do. And she knows about mine.” I say this pointedly, because Nora can’t think she has the emotional upper hand when it comes to interviewing Taylor. If this goes to trial, it’s going to be messy and public.

I’ve reconciled myself to that fact.

I don’t like it, and Nora will know that. I’ve always been intensely private. From her perspective, there’s no way Taylor and I make sense.

Frankly, I don’t care if it makes sense to anyone other than us. “She’s been through a lot in the last week, in her whole lifetime, and she’s been brutally honest with me.” Even if it took some cajoling and threats-slash-promises of punishment. “There’s more, too. It’s for her to tell, and a lot of it is out of our jurisdiction, but she could bring down empires.”

Tension radiates from Nora’s gaze. I can practically hear her competing thoughts.But is she a reliable witness? What a challenge, though.

“Meet her with an open mind,” I say, my voice low and thick with urgency. “She busted this case wide open for us by putting herself out there on the ledge. It’s going to feel fucking precarious for her right now.”

34

Taylor

Cole bringsus takeout for dinner and passes on an update that Luke arrested Perry Newcomb at his apartment.

I let out a breath I feel like I’ve been holding since I arrived at the Wilshire. “That’s great,” I say, truly relieved. “Is Luke coming here?”

“He’s heading to the station,” Cole says.

I try to hide my disappointment, but I do a crap job, and my sisters notice. As the evening progresses, Ali gives me a look every time I say Luke’s name. Maybe because I say his name every third sentence despite trying really hard to talk about anything else.

Maybe also because I turn a little pink when she calls me on it. “Fess up. What’s going on between you and the hot cop?”

“Uh…” I look back and forth between my sisters. Hailey’s gaze is dark and unreadable. I hate that I’m worried about her judging me. I’ve done a lot of hard work to get out from under that shame monster. “We’re sleeping together. We’ve talked about dating once this is all over. It’s not ideal, we both know that, but we’re honest about it. He’s big on talking and boundaries. He’s a good guy,” I say, ending on what sounds like a weak note. Like I need to defend him. “It’s not—”

“It’s okay,” Ali says.

Hailey stays quiet.

“I know it’s okay. But it’s not ideal.” I repeat the lines I’ve told myself a dozen times over the last few days. “Maybe I’m not cut out for doing anything quite the right way.”

“There’s no such thing as a right way,” Hailey finally says.

I’m so shocked you could bowl me over with a feather.

She gives me a rueful look. “There are better and worse ways, don’t get me wrong. But Cole and I weren’t an ideal match when we got together. I didn’t trust him, didn’t like him. But he fit right up against me, and that was hard to argue against when my heart got involved.”

Fits right up against me. That’s Luke. He sees all my damaged, broken pieces, all my jagged sharp edges, and molds himself around them. When he’s wrapped around me, I feel whole.

“He makes me feel good,” I whisper. “Really good.”

“That’s hard to find,” Ali says, rubbing my knee. “Hang on to that.”

I’m going to try. “He might not want anything to do with me once this is all over.”

“You said you’d talked about dating, though.”

“Sure. It might just be talk.” I shrug, needing to protect my fragile heart a bit.

“I hope it’s not,” my youngest sister says softly.

That makes two of us.

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