“I want kids,” I say, defensively. “Probably not a mobbed up manwhore’s kids, but, you know, someone’s kids. Someday.”
“That’s a dumb reason,” he states.
I shoot him a dirty look. “Well, I didn’t ask for your opinion.”
“I’m giving it to you anyway.”
“I see that,” I mutter, trying to step past him to head back to the stairs. “Can we just go, please? I don’t need you to approve of my life choices.”
Instead of moving out of my way, he moves into it. “Give me the night. Let me take you to a hotel and put you up—”
“I said no,” I reply, glaring up at him.
“Why?”
“Because this has been one of the worst nights of my life and I want to go home. I don’t want to spend another night here. I don’t want to see Rafe tomorrow. I’m done with all this.”
“I’m going to ask one last time,” he says.
“Please don’t. I’ll just say no again.”
He shakes his head, annoyed. “Fine. Do you need to pee before we leave?”
I frown, but just the mention of it reminds me I sort of do need to pee. I don’t know how far we are from the airport, but it’s probably better to go here than in public anyway. “I guess so. Where’s your bathroom?”
Sin takes a step back and nods up another set of carpeted stairs. “Up there. I’ll show you.”
I head up the stairs, but I’m acutely aware of him right behind me. The bathroom door is cracked open at the top of the stairs, moonlight spilling in on the shower curtain. I don’t know why he’s still following me when I can clearly see where I’m going. A wave o
f unease moves through me like earlier, but again I tell myself there’s no reason this man should want to hurt me.
“I think I can handle it from here,” I tell him, when we get to the top landing.
He nods and sinks back against the wall. I expected him to give me some privacy, but he’s clearly going to stand here and wait for me right outside the door. I watch him for a moment, tempted to ask why, but I know he won’t answer me anyway. I’ll just go pee so we can leave; the sooner I get out of here, the better.
Shutting myself inside, I hurry up and pee, then wash my hands. As I’m drying them on a soft hand towel, I look over at the shower. It’s fairly standard, but there’s a metal bar affixed to the wall. That’s a bit odd.
I pull open the door and flip off the light. Sin appears in front of me, startling the hell out of me. I jump and grasp my chest, even though I knew he was standing out there.
“Jesus, you are one stealthy motherfucker.”
He cracks a smile. “Yeah, I am.”
Clearing my throat, I cast a hopeful glance past him at the stairs leading downstairs—to my path out of this house. “Ready to go?”
His hand closes firmly around my bicep and he says, “One more stop before we leave.”
“For what?” I ask, not moving.
“Phone charger,” he says, indicating my purse with his finger.
Oh, yeah. I did tell him I needed to charge my phone. Jesus, everything he does feels so scary. I need to cool it. The man is just grabbing a charger I specifically asked him for.
Now I let him lead me down the dark hallway. It feels ominous with only the moonlight spilling in through cracked-open doors and large, barred windows. Wait, why are his windows barred? There’s glass beyond the bars, but that’s fucking creepy. He did say I should come inside because it wasn’t safe to wait in the car, but does he really live in such a dicey neighborhood that he needs barred windows?
I have half a mind to halt and tell him never mind, I’ll just let my phone die. Better my phone than me, and he lives in a house with barred windows, so I’m beginning to worry about those odds.
Before I get the chance, Sin pushes me through the door and inside a dark room. This time, he doesn’t turn the light on. He doesn’t let go of my arm once we’re inside, either. Instead, he drags me over to his unmade bed and pushes down on my shoulder until I take a seat on the edge of the mattress.