Page 199 of The Sinner: James

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. And you’re lying to me now, and I resent it.”

He tilts his head back, a pang of surprise flitting through his eyes.

Still, he doesn’t pull away.

“The night you spent at the strip club when you weren’t answering my calls...”

“Yes?”

“You said you checked into a hotel that night, got a couple of dance laps, and went to sleep…”

“Yes,” he says, poker-faced.

An amused chuckle peels off my lips.

“Really, James?”

He shifts his eyes away, barely containing a smile.

“I’m going to kill that motherfucker,” he murmurs.

Laughing softly, I slink my hand inside his shirt and run my palm across his bare chest.

He shifts his gaze back to me, his cheeks flushed, his lip rolled beneath his teeth.

I stroke his pecs and feel him tense.

If I know a thing or two about him, he must be rock-hard by now. My gaze drops to his groin before moving up.

He watches me with laughing eyes, still biting his lip.

“James Sexton...” I say before clicking my tongue and smoothly moving my fingers away from his chest. “Lex didn’t tell me anything. He didn’t need to. It wasn’t that hard to figure it out. Of course, I was too stupid to see it back then, but now I know. And you just confirmed it. And then, there was the blonde you claimed was your lawyer.”

“She was,” he says seriously.

“I bet she was. And I’m sure you’d slept with her before I spotted her that evening. I’m also sure you had her in your bed that afternoon. Her being married meant nothing to you. And she obviously didn’t give a fuck about it, either.”

“She’s still married. But she’s no longer my lawyer.”

“Mm-hmm... I wonder why. Anyway, it’s your life, and you do whatever you want to do with it. Sadly I bought your crap back then because I wanted to believe you. And in the end, it was all a lie,” I say, disappointed.

“It wasn’t all a lie,” he says, tense and frustrated.

“I know what wasn’t a lie, but that made things even worse because it didn’t stop you from doing what you did to me. And I couldn’t stop you, either. In the meantime, I’ve learned something important. I can’t afford lies of any kind, James. I need to know the truth at all times. It’s my fucking life, and this shit affects me. There’s too much at stake not to care. To me, it’s all about survival. I’m sure you know this too. You may or may not give a damn about this principle in your private life, but I’m sure you follow it in your business. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so successful.”

“How old are you again?”

“Not that old, but I’m no longer clueless.”

“I liked you when you were clueless and naive.”

“No, you didn’t,” I say, chuckling, entertained. “Don’t fool yourself. You loved my body, and I don’t blame you, but you didn’t know what to do with me. Everything was too damn complicated for your taste, and I couldn’t fit into your life. My sister was right. You had no use for me.”

A wall rises in his eyes.

He looks down, pondering, and then tilts his head up. Holding my gaze, he retrieves a cigarette from inside his jacket.

He slips it between his lips.

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