Page 55 of The Sinner: James

“It wasn’t a lie,” he says, dark and quiet, flushed with frustration.

“Then what the fuck was it?”

He stares at me, refusing to give me words and restore my sanity.

I won’t get an answer from him.

In fact, I won’t get anything from him other than what he’s willing to give me, and right now, that’s nothing.

“You know... My sister had a theory. She said you didn’t want to touch me because you didn’t want my heart. As it turns out, she was right.”

I search his eyes, hoping to find a sliver of emotion or thought––regret, perhaps––but other than a flitting light, I find nothing.

Like an elusive comet, it’s not close enough to see it and not far enough to miss it.

“You’re nothing but a fucking coward,” I say, shaking my head with regret. “And I wish I never met you,” I add in a broken voice.

I yank my hands out of his lock, run my fingers over my face to wipe off my tears and step away.

In one smooth gesture, he snakes his arm around my waist and pulls me back to him.

“Hey. Hey…” I snap. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Let me go.”

I fight him, pushing hard against his chest.

“I don’t want you, James... Not like that. I don’t want your pity.”

His eyes turn dark.

With one swift motion, he grabs my hair and tilts my head back, forcing me to follow his hand and bend backward while he leans forward, drilling me with his eyes.

His arm tightens around my waist, locking me against his body, his gaze streaming dark power.

My hands crawl timidly up his arms.

He clenches his jaw, barely pushing back his madness as he lowers his head and growls against my temple.

“Has it ever crossed your mind that I might not be the man for you?” His teeth grind, his grip hurting me. “Hmm?”

He jerks me hard, yet I don’t flinch, studying his dark lashes and the specks of light caught in the velvet of his eyes.

“How can you possibly know if you’re not willing to try?” I ask in a quiet voice.

My tone doesn’t calm him down in the slightest.

“I don’t need to… You don’t know me, Rain. You don’t know my life. You’re just a kid who’s spotted a shiny toy and wants to play with it. I’m not who you think I am. I’m different than the men you know and far from what you have imagined. I’m not a good man, and you deserve someone better than me. I did what I did because it was the right thing to do.”

“How can you be so sure? And what makes you think you know me after all? It’s not your business what I want or what I deserve,” I say, riled up again.

He pulls my hair back even more, tipping my face up, his lips stopping a mere inch from mine.

“I know everything about you, Rain,” he says. “And it’s way more than you think.”

His phone vibrates in his pocket, prompting him to move his focus away from me as he retrieves his cell from his jacket and glances at the screen.

His expression changes, his focus no longer on me.

“Love chatting with you, darling, but I have some business to attend to if you don’t mind,” he mutters, reading something on his phone.

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