Taylor

Sin never returned and I didn't go looking for him. He was angry and it was best to give him space until he cooled down. Somehow I drifted off into a restless sleep. When I woke up, I was tangled in the sheets and the sun was streaming through a gap in the curtain. I felt exhausted even though I'd slept a little.

I sat up and stretched. The sight of the bruises on my arms reminded me of the events from the previous night. I dropped my head into my hands when I remembered my heated conversation with Sin before he'd left. As much as I wanted to hide away from him and the world, I needed to face my problems. Hiding would only give me a temporary reprieve, but it wouldn't solve anything. I checked my watch and saw that it was seven. I didn't waste any time. I got up and got dressed. Out of habit, I made the bed before I went across the hall into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. The house was quiet and I doubted that anyone else was awake.

Quietly, I packed all my stuff into a bag and made my way downstairs. I hesitated on the last step as I saw Sin sprawled on the couch, sleeping. He looked so peaceful while he slept, lying on his back with his one arm flung over his eyes. I felt a pang of guilt at the fact that he'd opened up to me and I'd refused to tell him about my past.

I placed my bag gently by the front door, trying not to wake Sin up. He needed the sleep. My heart was still fragile and I knew that after last night things between us were probably over. I was staving off the inevitable heartache that was to come. I went into the kitchen to get some water. As quietly as I could, I got a glass and filled it halfway with some water out of the tap. I took a couple of sips as I began to think about what I was going to tell my brother.

In my mind I was already formulating my argument to him. He would try and make me go home, but I wasn't going to allow him to dictate my life, even if he meant well.

At the sound of a noise behind me, I spun around and nearly dropped the glass of water.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," the guy said. I think his name was Eric. He was one of Sin's roommates. I'd seen him around although I'd never actually spoken to him.

Unlike Sin and Slater, he didn't have any visible tattoos or piercings. He had short blond hair and green eyes. He wasn't bad-looking, but he didn't have the special something that both Sin and Slater possessed that pulled the girls in. From the little interaction I'd seen, I knew Sin wasn't as close to his other roommates as he was with Slater.

"It's okay," I replied, setting the glass down on the counter as I tried to calm my heart that was still beating too fast.

"You guys have a fight?" he asked as he walked over to the fridge and opened it.

The sight of Sin sleeping on the couch was a sure sign that everything wasn't going well between the two of us. But we weren't dating, and after last night I wasn't sure we were anything.

"Something like that," I answered with a slight shrug of my shoulders.

Eric got some orange juice out of the fridge and walked over to where I was standing. He reached past me and got a glass out of the cupboard beside me.

"I wouldn't stress about it too much," he told me as he put the orange juice back in the fridge. "Girls never last long with him."

I shrugged again as I took another sip of the water. There was no way I was going to talk about what was or wasn't happening between Sin and I with someone I barely knew.

"Although I've never seen him sleep on the couch before," he added.

I took another sip of water.

A slight noise made me look to the doorway of the kitchen to see Sin standing, watching us. Suddenly I felt nervous. His hair was rumpled and sexy. It was wrong that someone could look so hot first thing in the morning. He scratched his chest as he walked into the kitchen.

Eric grabbed his glass of juice and gave me a slight nod as he left the kitchen, leaving me alone with Sin. Sin watched him leave with an annoyed look on his face and then he turned to face me. I set the glass of water I held in my hands down on the counter.

"You sleep okay?" he asked as he stood a couple of feet away from me.

I nodded my head.

He stepped forward and took my one arm into his hands. His fingers brushed gently over the bruises left by my attacker. The touch tingled right through me. Then he dropped my arm and took a step back as if he needed space from me.

An awkward silence descended as I held his gaze. I didn't know what to say, I wasn't even sure if there was anything that I could say that would fix the rift between us. No, I was wrong—the only way to fix it would be to tell him about what happened and I just couldn't. My stomach twisted into knots. Any hope I'd had that last night wouldn't be as bad as I thought dissolved. My inability to open up had damaged what we had and there was no going back.

The doorbell rang.

Sin looked at me one last time before he turned and walked out of the kitchen. Being able to read minds would have come in really handy. I pushed off the counter and followed him out. Sin had just reached the front door, and I knew who it was without having to look.

"I think he's here for you," Sin said. As he opened the door more, I saw my brother standing with a thunderous look on his face. I wasn't surprised. I knew my brother would be mad when he saw who I'd slept over with.

"Get your stuff," my brother ordered me without entering the house. My brother was angry.

Sin threw him a glare but my brother ignored it while he waited for me with his arms crossed over his chest. More often than not, Connor acted like a father and not a brother. I let out a sigh and walked over to collect my bag nearby the door. Once I picked it up, I looked at Sin. He couldn't even look me in the eye. I felt myself tremble for a moment before I took a deep breath and buried my heartache down deep to deal with later when I was alone.

"Don't let Jordan go back to the dorm. Tell her I will call her a little later," I told him.

He nodded his head as he still held the door handle.

"Thanks for everything," I said softly as I hesitated in the doorway for a moment. I wanted him to say something.

"See you around," he said as his eyes held mine. There was no emotion in them and it sounded like he couldn't wait to get rid of me. With that final sentence, he made it abundantly clear that we were over and I felt a pain in my chest.

It hurt like I knew it would. I will never know how I managed keep myself together as I turned and walked out of the house to my brother. The door closed behind me as my brother pulled me into a hug. I felt the sting of tears as my brother pulled back slightly to scan my face.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he said, sounding relieved as I struggled to fight my tears of heartache. My brother mistook my tears for something else entirely and pulled me into another hug.

"It's okay," he soothed as he hugged me tighter.

For the moment, I wasn't okay. I was experiencing my first heartbreak. When I'd started things with Sin, I knew there was a possibility it would end up the way it had. But the reality of the heartache was much worse than I'd ever anticipated. My brother pulled away from me and ushered me into a waiting car. I brushed my tears off my cheeks as I stared unseeing at the scenery that passed as we drove to the hotel where my brother was staying.