He didn’t answer. Just stared at me like he hated me.
“We both know,” I whispered, “you’re going to let it happen again.”
Before he could answer, I opened the closet door and slipped out, calm and cocky, humming under my breath like I hadn’t just brought the man I couldn’t stop thinking about to his knees.
I knew the truth now. He could deny it all he wanted. He could run. He could hide. But Theo? He was already mine.
And next time?
He’d beg.
CHAPTER 10
SIN
I’d expected Theo to push me away. To shut down. Pretend like what had happened between us had been a lapse. A mistake. But he didn’t. Not entirely. As days bled into weeks, it kept happening. I became his dirty secret. A drug he couldn’t quit because I offered him a taste of freedom.
Behind locked doors. Between half-breathed lies. In linen closets, staff bathroom stalls, the walk-in cooler after closing, the back seat of his car parked behind the dumpsters like we were teenagers too scared to be seen.
He’d look at me like he wanted to stop. Then he’d devour me like he wanted to die with my name in his mouth. Like his shame could be drowned in sweat and friction. Like his sins could be repented on my lips.
Theo kissed me like he was burning alive, and I was the only oxygen left. Fucked with me like he could outrun the guilt crawling under his skin. But he never let it go further than a quick release.
A hurried handjob, a rushed blowjob between shifts with both of us still half-dressed. As if he kept his belt and shirt on, it didn’t count. Like if he didn’t say it out loud, he didn’t want me. Not really.
But I saw it in the way his hands shook after. In the way he lingered, his forehead pressed to mine for a second too long before pulling away like the world would end if he stayed.
And every time he left—eyes blown, jaw tight, shame rising like steam off his skin—I told myself I was fine. That I liked it this way. The thrill of catching fire and pretending we weren’t the ones holding the match. No strings. No expectations. Just lust in a box. Just your regular fuckboy getting his fix.
That’s who I’d always been.
But the thing no one tells you about forbidden things? If you taste them enough, they stop being forbidden. They start feeling likeyours.
And maybe that’s what scared me most.
Because I wasn’t supposed towanthim. Not like this. Not in the way that made me start watching the clock between his texts, even though they only ever said“Upstairs. Now.”or“meet me out back in 10.”
Not in the way that made my heart skip when I smelled his cologne in the hallway before I saw him. Or the way that made me crave his attention, like I was drowning, desperate for sweet oxygen only he could provide and hating myself for needing it.
I told myself I was still in control. That I wasn’t falling. Even as I memorized the rhythm of his footsteps. Even as I lingered in rooms for too long, just hoping he might walk in. Even as I reached for my phone like a fucking addict, knowing it wouldn’t be him unless he wanted something physical.
NeverI need you.
NeverI miss you.
NeverI want you.
Just enough to keep me crawling back. A secret. A sin. Something dirty he couldn’t stop touching.
I told myself I didn’t care. That this was what I wanted, and soon I’d get bored and move on.
Until Thalia cornered me mid-shift, her brows drawn tight in that no-bullshit way that made her look more like a general than a friend.
“You’re off your game,” she stared at me, arms crossed. “That guy from Table Five? Walked out with a smile and your dignity.”
“What?”
“He didn’t pay?! I thought he left a card,” I mumbled, rubbing a hand through my curls.
