Page 353 of The Sinner: James

“Is this about her?” he asks.

“I don’t want to talk about her right now,” Ed says.

James shifts his eyes to me, his phone still glued to his ear.

“It’s about all of us,” Ed says.

His words are puzzling at best.

Staring blankly at me, James ponders.

“Okay, then. I’ll be there.”

He ends the call, a shadow sliding over his eyes.

“What was that all about?” I ask.

He stares at his phone, sunk in thought, still musing over something, his hand peeling away from my body.

“I don’t know...” he murmurs. “Something going on. He sounded different.”

I slide my hand to his arm.

“Different how?”

He lifts his eyes to me.

“Not like him.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he had news for me but didn’t want to share them over the phone. He wants to speak to me face to face.”

My eyebrows tilt up.

“Why you?”

He shrugs.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think it’s bad news?”

“Uh… I have no idea. Anyway...” he says, shifting his focus to me entirely, his gaze hovering over me again.

A smile tugs at his lips.

“What were you doing a moment ago...?” he asks quietly, his eyes drifting down, making me all tingly between my thighs.

Crushing a smile, I run my hand up his chest until I reach his neckline, slip my fingers inside his shirt, and stroke his neck.

“I heard...” I murmur before rolling my lip beneath my teeth and waiting for his eyes to meet mine. “I heard you talking on the phone, and you said you were flying back to Singapore this morning.”

He doesn’t comment.

“You said you were going to spend some time with me this week,” I point out.

“That was the plan, but I got a phone call last night and need to go back.”

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