Page 20 of Second Sin

His head dips slightly, chin brushing the top of mine.

Then he pulls back.

Not all at once. Like it costs him something.

His arms loosen, his warmth retreats. And I feel the loss of it immediately—like cold air rushing in through an open door.

A war flashes behind his eyes. The kind that lives in a man who’s spent his whole life learning how not to need. Not to want. Not to feel.

A throat clears.

Sharp. Deliberate.

I flinch, the sound slicing through the fragile quiet like a blade.

Blake leans against the doorframe, one brow raised, eyes flicking from me to Sebastian, then back again. His expression is unreadable—casual, almost—but he saw enough to ask the question without saying it.

“Is my session still on?” he asks, voice light, like we’re all pretending this isn’t what it looks like.

My stomach flips. I take a step back—automatically—creating distance I should’ve never let close.

“Yes,” I say, too fast. Too high. I swallow and try again. “Yes, of course.”

Sebastian doesn’t move.

Not at first.

But something shifts in him.

His shoulders go rigid again, that sharp edge sliding back over his face like armor he never really took off. His eyes flick to Blake. A flash of something unreadable passes between them—an exchange not made of words, but weight.

Sebastian glances back at me. One eye twitches. His jaw ticks. Nostrils flare—but he doesn’t say a word. Just turns and walks out, shoulders squared, pace sharp. He clips Blake hard on the way past, doesn’t even look back.

Blake doesn’t say anything. Just walks in and drops into the chair like nothing happened. Like he didn’t just walk in on something private. Something raw.

And maybe it was just a hug.

Even if Blake saw it—a hug isn’t crossing a line.

Not technically.

But the lie tastes sour the second I tell it to myself.

Because it wasn’t just a hug.

It was comfort. Possession. Longing. A thousand things I’ve spent years learning how to survive without.

And all of it—every beat of it—settled right beneath my skin like it belonged there.

And that’s the part I can’t explain away.

Because I know better.

And I still wanted more.

CHAPTER 8

SEBASTIAN

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