One Last Sin (The Sin Trilogy #3)(22)

I want Sin to say something to make her feel better so I nudge him with my foot.

"I know he acted a fool but he loves you. He told me so after you left."

"Not possible. A man would never say things like that about the woman he loves."

I don't have an argument for that and I'm certain Sin doesn't, either.

Leith appears in the entrance to the living room. He's shirtless with a large white dressing over his upper left shoulder. There's a small amount of blood seeping through. "Thank God I caught you before you left." 

"I'm on my way out the door right now."

He moves closer to her, holding the wall for support. "Don't go. We're not finished talking."

"I'm done."

"I didn't mean any of it. Not a word."

"When Sin proposed a match between us, all you had to say was that you weren't interested. Instead you were cruel. You humiliated me and it broke my heart into a million pieces. If nothing else, I thought we were at least friends. But a friend would never be so heartless."

"How can I fix this?" Leith's voice is desperate.

"You can't be fixed by the same person who broke you."

Lorna takes a ring of keys from her purse and holds them out to Leith. "You should give my position to Greer. She's the most capable."

Leith refuses the keys. "No. I'm not taking those from you because you're not quitting the pub."

"I am. Doesn't matter if you take these or not. I won't be back."

"Where will you go?"

"I hear Leon is hiring at the club and the pay is good."

Leith's jaw becomes rigid. "Absolutely not. There's no way I'm letting you dance naked."

"Guess what, Leith? Whores are pretty limited in what their job description includes."

Lorna drops the keys on the cocktail table and walks out the front door without looking back.

Leith fists the front of his hair while both hands rest on his forehead. "I'm so stupid."

I hope he feels like a piece of shit for what he did to Lorna.

He stumbles and Sin rushes toward him. "You look like shite. You need to go back to bed before you collapse."

"I have to go after her."

He looks like he could crumple at any moment. "No. The only thing you have to do is lie down before you cause yourself to hemorrhage."

Leith sways as he closes his eyes and holds the front of his head. "That may not be the worst idea you've ever had."

Sin and I help Leith back to bed. "Bleu. Tell me how to mend this."

I assume he's asking me because I'm a woman, but I'm not experienced in relationship drama. All I can do is tell him how I'd feel. "It's a fresh hurt. You can tell her over and over that you're sorry but words are meaningless to her right now. All she's going to hear is the echo of you calling her a whore."

"You're saying she's never going to forgive me?"

I can't speak for Lorna. "Maybe. Maybe not. I'd bet money that even if she does, she'll never forget. I know I wouldn't."

"I've ruined my relationship with her forever." At least he sounds remorseful.

"You confuse me, Leith. I'm not sure what kind of relationship you think you have with her. From where I stand, all I ever see is you ignoring her."

"We work together all the time. It isn't possible for me to ignore her."

"Yet you do. You may occupy the same room but you look straight through her as though she isn't there."

"Is that how she feels?"

"Every day, all day long. She feels invisible to you."

"I had no idea."

"You've been thoughtless where Lorna is concerned."

"I've never done anything to hurt her. She's the one who hurt me."

Cry me a fucking river.

There's no way I'm going to let him off easy. "You parade women in and out of your office in her face. She isn't stupid. She knows you're screwing them yet she chooses to not let a man touch her in more than two years. She did that for you –  – to change the way you saw her. But her self-denial didn't change anything. You've been too busy fucking around to notice. It's time to stop punishing her because you can't get over what happened with the three of you."



       
         
       
        

Leith jerks around to look at Sin. "You told her?"

"We don't keep secrets from one another."

"It's in the past, Leith. You can't keep punishing Sin and Lorna for what happened."

"I'm not good at letting things go."

"Then learn to be good at it. Or risk spending the rest of your life being miserable without Lorna. Your choice."

"You're my best mate," he says to Sin. "You knew I loved her."

"I do now, but not back then. I swear."

They need to talk and I have no business being part of the conversation. "This is for the two of you to work out."

I shut the door behind me. I consider going to bed but it's early yet so I plant myself on the sofa in the living room. I turn on the television but it literally takes nothing more than a slow blink for me to fall asleep. This pregnancy and the accompanying anemia continue to rob me of energy despite the vitamins and iron.

I'm dozing on the couch when Ellison and Jamie return from their stroll. "That wasn't a long walk."

"Brrr. It's so cold out there, the hookers are blowing on their hands." Classic Ellison comment. And I love it. I've missed her sense of humor.

"You two act like we're in Antarctica. It isn't that cold."

"It's cold compared to where we come from. Which gives me something else to consider while making my decision to stay. You know how much I love being in a bikini on a boat drinking a cold beer in the middle of a lake on a hot day."

Jamie's eyes blatantly roam Ellison's body. Yep. He's totally imagining what that might look like.

"Nope. That won't happen here."

I have no doubt that Jamie is attracted to my sister. Perhaps I should have Sin speak with him about a match with Ellison. I already know she'd be keen. That is, if she decides to stay.

"I assume Leith did all right while I was out since you didn't call."

"Fine, if you don't count when he got up and tried to go after Lorna when she left."

Jamie looks irritated. "What a dumb arse. He could have caused himself to hemorrhage."

"We put him back to bed."

"I should check on him before I go to make sure he didn't cause his wound to start bleeding again."

Sin and Leith have been talking for a long time but I don't want Jamie to interrupt. "It might not be the best time to check on him. Sin and Leith are hashing out the problem they have after what happened with Lorna a couple of years ago."

I lift my brows at Jamie and hope he gets my drift since that's all I can say in front of Ellison. 

"I can check Leith's wound when they finish talking if you'd like to go home," Ellison says.

Jamie doesn't look convinced. "Sure you don't mind?"

"It's no problem. I know what complications to look for and I'm here anyway. I might as well be useful."

"It would be nice to get some sleep. I start a twenty-four-hour shift tomorrow."

I figure Sin and Leith will be a while. "All the more reason for you to go. Don't worry. Ellison's a seasoned nurse."

"Aye. She told me about her experience while we were out. Time wise, she has more hands-on experience than I do. She's seen a lot."

Ellison can be humorous and immature at times but she's a damn good nurse. "She's very competent and will have us call you if there's a problem."

"Okay. I'll check in before my shift starts in the morning."

Ellison's willingness to help and Jamie's ability to accept it is a good sign. There are going to be times when Jamie will need assistance and I can't think of a better candidate.

I'd like to ask her what they talked about during their walk but I don't want to push. The choice to stay must be hers. I can't have her blame me for pushing her into a decision she'll regret later. It's no different than when Sin proposed. He was right to back away so I could weigh the pros and cons, so I'm going to do the same with my sister.





Chapter Twelve





Sinclair Breckenridge




"Well, hell. I bought this dress two weeks ago for your swearing-in ceremony and it fit fine. I put it on tonight and I'll be damned if it's not almost too tight."

Bleu turns to study her profile in the full-length mirror. She cups her hand beneath her small baby bump. "Do I look like I've grown that much in two weeks?"

I wrap my arms around her from behind, my hands covering her lower abdomen. "I think they're the ones who have grown. Not you."

"Good answer."

She weaves her fingers with mine. "It won't be long until you hug me like this and your arms will barely be able to fit around me."

I look forward to it. "Only means our babies are getting strong and healthy."

"If I keep growing like this, I'm going to be huge."

I don't like the worry in her voice. "Your body is expanding to accommodate the growth of our babies. That's the goal. We want them to stay in for as long as possible so they're not sick or scrawny when they're born."

"I know. I want them to be big healthy babies."

I kiss the side of her neck. "Never worry that I don't think your body is attractive. You're carrying my children –  – a part of me inside you. Nothing is more appealing than that. And I plan to show you just how sexy I think you are when we get home tonight."