Page 469 of The Sinner: James

She keeps her gaze trained on the two men.

“Are you going somewhere with this?”

She looks at me, smiling.

“Yeah... I’m in good company. Although I’m sure our reasons for being single are different.”

We move our eyes to the men again.

“Yeah... Perhaps. Or maybe not,” I say on second thought.

“Why do you think he’s single?” she asks.

I shift my eyes to her.

She swings her gaze to me, grinning.

“Asking for a friend,” she says.

A chuckle falls from my lips.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. I’m curious.”

I empty my glass of champagne and plop it onto a server’s tray before looking at Lex and David again.

“Because he’s bored,” I say.

“Bored?”

I toss her a glance.

She seems puzzled.

“Why would he be bored?”

“The man is jaded. He’s seen everything and had everything–– he had any kind of relationship that he could have. Lost half of his wealth when he divorced. I doubt he still believes in love or anything remotely resembling that. That ship has sailed already. I don’t think he’s interested in getting his life tangled with someone else’s ever again. He wasn’t a happy man when he was married. That much I can tell you.”

She tosses me a skeptical look before I continue.

“I know. I know… They all say the same thing when they cheat on their wives. But he wasn’t happy. I sensed it. I didn’t know he was married until the end of our affair, but I knew he was unhappy. He paid for sex because he wanted escapism more than anything else, even more than convenience. He wanted to forget about his life, and I gave him that in droves, not because I knew what he needed or what I was doing, but because that’s how I was. I think that was part of my appeal, and in a way, I became a necessity for him. I’m sure he could find someone like me, but he’s not interested in that either. With me, it was a genuine thing. An escort wouldn’t normally offer him what I’d given him. Sex? The man knows sex. And everything there is about sex. That’s why I think he’s just bored.”

“So what does he need, if anything? Or what do you think he does to... you know... have a good time?”

I train my gaze on David’s shoulders, observing him as he pivots to face Ed and Thea.

He smiles while talking to them.

“I think he has sex with an escort he has an arrangement with. Or maybe more.”

“You think so?”

“Yes. That way, he frees himself of any obligations.”

“Is he that cold-hearted?”

She tips her gaze at me, intrigued.

---