Page 10 of The Sinner: James

“Who is that?” Eve hisses in my ear.

“It’s the housekeeper,” I say quietly.

“Jesus, Rain. You scared me.”

I jump out of bed and crack the door open.

“I finished up my work, Miss. Is there anything else you want me to do?”

“No. Thank you. You can leave now. Have a good night.”

I leave the door open and tiptoe back to the bed, listening to the woman’s footsteps as they trail through the house, heading to the exit.

A moment later, I hear the distinct click of the lock, and I pick up the phone.

“Are you alone?” Eve asks.

“Yes.”

“Where’s Daria?”

“I have no idea. She left hours ago and didn’t want to tell me. A fuck–date, I suppose. Some guy picked her up.”

“Too bad you two don’t get along. She sure gets a nice supply of them,” she says, almost choking on a chuckle.

“Stop saying that,” I chide her, laughing. “Oh, speak of the devil,” I murmur, glancing at the incoming call. “What the hell does she want? She never calls me in the middle of the night,” I murmur, mainly to myself. “Okay, I gotta go.”

My sister’s voice grates my nerves right from the get-go.

“Um... Listen... You need to pick me up.”

“What?”

“You need to––”

“Why? Where’s your date?”

“He’s gone. We had an argument over some stupid shit… I don’t want to talk about it,” she says, panting.

Her voice fades in and out from walking briskly.

“I can send Joseph.”

“Keep him out of this.”

“You can get a car.”

“Not at this time, smartass. Besides, I don’t want to get into some creep’s car.”

“He has a dick,” I say, unwilling to stifle my retort.

“Stop wasting my time, Rain. Get off your ass and come pick me up,” she barks.

“Fucking princess,” I growl under my breath, throwing the covers off.

“What was that?”

I dash into my walk-in closet.

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