The Sinner

18

thank you guys so so SO much for 21k reads !!!! here's another long chapter for y'all :)

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I could cut the tension in this room with a knife.

So I decide to step out. It definitely wasn't my place to stay - it might've not been my place to push Rafe to say anything either.

I move down the steps, allowing them to sort things out. I could hear soft voices coming from a room near the doorway, which I remember was where Sarah had been before. I peek over the doorframe to see the two of them seated next to each other on the guest bed.

I knock on the wooden door, neither of them bothering to jump apart when they flipped their heads around. Sarah's face seemed to light up once she saw me.

"Cory," She beams. "I didn't know you were stopping by." About that.

"Yeah I thought I would. I haven't heard from you," I tell her, glancing at John B in the process. "What's...What's going on?"

"Um," Sarah seems to try to find her words. "John B's going to be staying with us for a while." I notice the white cast that was wrapped around his wrist tightly. That must've been from the fall.

"That's nice of your dad to bring him in," I say. She nods, the tension was even high in here. Was she going to tell me they've been spending time together? "How are you feeling?"

"Me?" John B asks, I nod. "Oh, um, I'm fine. I only really got this stupid cast."

"You're lucky that's all that was broken," I tell him. He nods awkwardly, glancing at Sarah. We've never really had a conversation before, unless it was one of us trying to settle an argument.

"How have you been?" Sarah asks, breaking the silence.

I shrug, "Same as before. I was hanging out with the guys a lot."

"Yeah my dad said you've been over a couple of times." Was that a dig? There's no way she knows about Rafe and I.

"Yeah, I was bored," I attempt to cover up. "It gets lonely at my house."

"Right," Sarah says with a friendly smile. "How is your dad?"

"Busy with work and his new girlfriend," I say while leaning against the trim that surrounds the door. "You wouldn't like her."

Sarah chuckles, "I assume that means you don't either."

"When do I ever like my dad's girlfriends?" She smiles, and then her eyes wander down to my body. Oh no.

"Who's clothes are those?" She asks, her brows causing a crease in the middle of her forehead.

"Um, Rafe took me home from the party last night," I say. "I didn't bring my house keys so, I had to stay here."

"Oh," is all she says. John B scratches the back of his neck at the awkwardness in the air. "You...stayed, with him?"

"No," I lie quickly, trying to make the judgmental look on her face disappear. It didn't, she still looked rather unamused that I stayed here without her knowledge. I hear heavy footsteps behind me, clunking on the hardwood floor.

"So, where did you sleep then?" I push my lips out, not knowing how to tell her I slept in her brother's bed. I watch Sarah's eyes flicker behind me, and she stands almost immediately. The footsteps come to a halt.

"Dad," Sarah says, I mentally sigh in relief knowing I got out of the conversation."Where are you going?"

"Rafe and I are stepping out for a while," Ward says shortly from behind me. I hear some more footsteps come down the stairs, and then I feel a hand softly touch my side.