Sin

Initially I'd been angry and disappointed when I'd shared snippets of my past with her and she hadn't trusted me enough to share any of hers with me. I don't even know why I'd opened up to her. Maybe it was because I rarely felt calm, but I did when I was with her.

My life had always been a rush of activity and noise. Maybe it was because in those moments of quiet I had time to think of all the things I'd done wrong in my life and, trust me, I could spend a lot of time on that.

Taylor.

When I thought back to the first time I'd met her, I couldn't help the affectionate smile that tugged at my lips. She'd been a breath of fresh air the moment I'd laid my eyes on her. She was beautiful—there was no denying that. But a lot of girls were beautiful. Taylor's beauty went deeper than just the surface of her skin. She was like an enigma that I couldn't figure out. It was obvious from the start that she wasn't like other girls her age. There was an innocence about her that had nothing to do with the fact that she'd been a virgin. It was more than that.

Her brother seemed to be the overprotective type, but why was he that way? Had it been the result of her parents' car accident that her brother had become overprotective over her? Plenty of people lost their parents, so it didn't explain the extreme naivety in Taylor. It was like I was sitting with more questions than answers.

"Sin!" I heard Slater call from downstairs. If my bedroom door hadn't been open then, I probably wouldn't have heard him.

I stood up and rubbed my hands over my face. I was tired. Since I'd told Taylor 'I'd see her around' I'd been agitated and nervous. I had no idea what was wrong with me. I made my way down the hall and then down the stairs. I hesitated for a split second when I saw the person standing beside Slater waiting for me. For a moment I'd hoped it might be Taylor, but it was her brother studying me with a reserved expression.

I knew how this talk was going to go before we even got started. He was going to tell me to stay away from his sister. When he'd come to collect his sister the day before, I hadn't missed the looks. He didn't think I was good enough for her and he was probably right. I'd spent my life not being good enough. For my sperm donor, I hadn't been good enough to be a son he could love, and even my own mother struggled to love the reminder of her bad judgment. It didn't matter what I did now or what I had, nothing would change that.

The only person I was good enough for was Slater. I was good enough to be his friend. Maybe it was because he'd grown up in a similar situation to me that had bonded us in friendship and had pulled us through a lot of dark times.

As I reached the bottom step, Slater gave me a questioning look that Connor didn't see because his eyes were fixed on me. I shook my head at him and he reluctantly left us alone.

"What do you want?" I asked him in a clipped tone as I held his gaze. It didn't matter that I already knew the answer. We stared at each other, neither of us wanting to look away first.

"I wanted to talk to you about Taylor, my sister," he began. And there it was. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for him.

"Whatever is going on between the two of you needs to end," he stated firmly and I laughed in his face. He looked a little taken aback. He hadn't expected my reaction.

"And why would I listen to you?" I scoffed. I hated being told what to do by people I knew so I didn't take it very well from someone I was meeting for the second time. It didn't matter that I'd pretty much ended things with her a couple of days before. I'd meant it when I'd told her 'I'd see her around'.

With that one sentence, I'd closed the door on our arrangement and made it clear from then on I would only consider her an acquaintance that I would see when we passed in the hallways.

He studied me for a moment.

"I know what type of guy you are," he said. "You'll have your fun and then at some point you'll get bored and then you'll walk away."

I remained silent. He pretty much summed me up. The only difference was that, with Taylor, it had been more than one night and I'd formed a connection with her. I didn't want to admit it, but when she'd been attacked in the stairwell, it had scared me. It was then that I'd realized then that I cared about her. It wasn't like I wanted to date her or anything like that. I just didn't want anything bad to happen to her—it was hard to explain.

"Look, man, I don't know how any of this is any of your business," I retorted, feeling my anger at his outright meddling in his sister's life. She was an adult and she could make her own decisions about her life. There was no need to be difficult, but I couldn't help myself. I wasn't going to let him think that he could control me.

"She isn't like other girls," he tried to explain. I knew that already, but the way he said it piqued my curiosity. There was a somber sadness in his voice that was matched in his eyes.

She'd been so adamant that she didn't want to share her past with me, but I knew that the knowledge of what happened to her would help me understand her better. I didn't know what made me want to understand her. I'd never wanted to know anything about the girls I fucked. There were a few times I wondered whether the fact I'd been her first had made me feel more protective over her.

The fact that she was so naive worried me. It left her more susceptible to something bad happening to her. It shouldn't be my problem, but somehow it was.

"Why isn't she like other girls?" I asked, hoping that he would tell me what I wanted to know.

"Something really bad happened to her...I don't want to go into details, but she had a very protected childhood."

That was all he revealed. I could tell he wasn't going to tell me any more.

"You are going to hurt her and she might not be able to recover from it," he added. That was really weird to say. Girls had their hearts broken all the time and they got over it, though some took longer than others.

I held his gaze for several moments.

"What happens between your sister and me is our business. Stay out of it," I warned. I could be intimidating when I wanted to be, but I didn't feel the need to be. He gave me one last look before he turned and left, slamming the door behind him.

"You okay?" I heard Slater ask as I turned to walk up the stairs.

"Yeah."

My curiosity got the better of me in that moment and I climbed the stairs on a mission to uncover what Taylor was hiding. I wasn't trying to go against her wishes, but I felt that knowing everything would help me understand her and help keep her safe. She'd been drugged and if it hadn't been for me, God knows what would have happened. As soon as I got to my laptop, I started searching the web. I searched her name and it didn't take me long to find the news articles.

My blood ran cold and I felt the horror come alive inside of me as I read the details of her parents' death. After nearly half an hour, I knew enough and closed my laptop. She'd lied about her parents dying in a car accident. It also explained why the cop had recognized her name. I rubbed my hands over my face as I contemplated what to do next. There was a pain in my chest at the thought of what she'd been through and I knew I had to see her.

She'd probably be mad when I told her what I knew, but there was no way I would be able to look at her without thinking about it. It would come out eventually.