Page 325 of The Sinner: James

“Do I have a choice?” he asks.

His eyes are filled with me, his grin fading.

“I don’t know if it passes the test of time, but I know it’s real, and I want to give it a shot,” he says.

“How can you tell if it’s real? After everything that happened…?” I ask

“Love didn’t have much to do with some of the things that happened to us. In the end, what really mattered stayed in our hearts. Everything else was whatever life threw at us. There were good things, and bad things, some mistakes, and definitely some bad decisions. Neither of us could avoid them. But good love can survive all that.”

“Do you think that’s what it was…? Good love?”

“It was both. But the bad made the good part so much better. That’s why we couldn’t pull apart. And that’s why we’re here today.”

“If this thing happens between us...”

He smiles.

“There is no if. This thing will happen,” he says. “We can’t run away from it more than we already have. And we can’t ruin it more than we already did. We have to live through it till the end. Let it consume us and see where it leads us. We have to trust that it’s something good. And even if it isn’t, what do we have to lose?”

“And when it happens–– if it happens––what would it look like?” I ask.

A smile lines his lips.

“When it happens, things will be different.”

“How?” I ask softly.

“There will be no one between us and nothing to hurt you. No lies. No doubt. No guessing. You’ll have no reason not to trust me.”

“Despite all this?” I say, motioning at his place resembling the Devil’s Den.

“Yes. Despite everything. You’ll only get the truth from me.”

“Speaking of which...” I say, glancing at the bed again.

He catches sight of my gaze and smiles.

“Have you brought women up here?”

“I think you know the answer. But that life belongs to the past. The same way your past life does.”

“Why dancers?” I ask.

“They don’t ask questions,” he says.

I laugh softly.

“Are you complaining already?”

“No,” he says, smiling.

“Why two?”

He ponders for a moment.

“So I don’t get attached,” he says, grinning.

“You don’t expect me to believe this, do you?”

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