Taylor

Sin looked slightly surprised to see me when he opened the door. His eyes brightened and he smiled when he saw me. He looked happy and relieved to see me and I felt the flutter of awareness that I felt when I was around him. There was something about this guy that made me come alive when he was near. I'd never felt it with anyone before and I had to admit I loved the feeling.

When his gaze moved to Matthew, his eyes hardened and his lips thinned. He wasn't so happy to see Matthew.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" he asked angrily as he glared at me. All the softness he'd been looking at me with was gone.

"Calm down. Don't jump to conclusions," I said to him, holding my hands up to him. "Just let us in and I'll explain everything."

He studied me for a moment before he stepped back and allowed me to enter. Matthew followed behind me. He seemed unfazed by the glare he was getting from Sin. He was his normal easy-going self even though Sin looked like he wanted to hit him.

"I need to talk to him alone," I said to Matthew. He gave me a brief nod of his head.

"I'll stay here," he said as he sat down on the sofa and made himself at home.

Sin had been watching the two of us with his arms crossed. I looked to him. He dropped his arms to his side and walked up the stairs to his bedroom. I followed him into his room. He closed the door and leaned against it.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked. Normally where Sin was, Slater was as well.

"They're out," he said in a clipped tone.

"So are you going to explain the tag-a-long?" he asked as he crossed his arms and fixed his gaze on me. There was no warmth in his eyes for me, his features closed off.

"You've met my overprotective brother," I began to explain. He gave a brief nod.

"Well, that overprotective brother hired a bodyguard," I explained as I clasped my hands together, waiting for his reaction. I should have just told him from the beginning who Matthew was.

"And I thought that overprotective brother of yours was stupid," he remarked. His hard features softened and he dropped his arms.

The jury was still out on that as far as I was concerned. I knew that my brother did things that he thought were in my best interest even if I didn't agree.

"He doesn't look like a typical bodyguard," he said as he cocked his head to the side. I was glad to hear I wasn't the only one who thought that.

"I know, it's probably why he is so good at his job," I replied with a shrug.

"And here I thought he was my replacement," he added as he straightened up but didn't close the distance between us.

My eyes lifted to his. I didn't want anyone but him. To me there was no replacement for Sin. He'd hurt me by looking my past up, but that didn't mean that I didn't care about him or still want him. He was the one who had brought an end to our arrangement. For a few moments our eyes connected. There was so much between us that needed to be talked through. He'd shut me out when I wouldn't open up and I was still upset with the fact he'd found out about my past.

Deep in his gaze was still the look I'd been running from. It was a look of sadness. There was also that part that looked at me, not quite knowing what to expect. It was finally time to talk about my past. I had shut him down before, but now I was willing to listen to what he had to say.

"I'm sorry for shutting you out," I murmured, dropping my gaze to the carpet. I hated talking about my past. Talking about it gave it life to haunt me. It kind of felt like no matter what I did, I couldn't escape what had happened.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have taken things into my own hands. You didn't want me to know, but I went searching anyway," he said, rubbing his hands over his face and into his hair. "But no matter how mad you are and how sorry I am, it doesn't change the fact that I know."

He dropped his hands. His hair was messy and I had to fight the urge to walk up to him and run my hands through his hair.

"I was upset after I'd told you stuff about me and you refused to open up," he began to explain. "I was angry so I tried to shut you out."

I remembered the heartbreaking moment when he'd told me he'd see me around.

"Then your brother came to see me," he said, running an agitated hand through his hair. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the mention of my brother who I still wasn't talking to because of that visit.

"He told me to stay away from you. He said that you wouldn't recover if I hurt you," he said softly, watching for some sort of reaction to his words.

And there it was, that look again.

"I know that you didn't want to tell me about your past, but after your brother came to see me I couldn't stop myself," he reasoned softly. I bit down on my lip.

"There were so many things about you that just simply didn't add up. Your naivety and lack of knowledge."

I swallowed hard as he paused for a moment.

"Then your brother came to see me and told me to stay away from you. That just pushed me over the edge and I had to know. I tried asking your brother, but he wouldn't tell me so I did the only thing I could think of, I googled your name."

It hadn't been hard for him to find out. A simple Internet search would have brought everything up I'd been trying to hide. He took a step closer as his eyes held mine.

"I've been through some rough shit, but I don't know how you survived what happened to you," he offered softly.

I swallowed hard to keep the emotions from bubbling over to the outside. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to keep the tears at bay. When I opened my eyes again, Sin was standing closer, but he didn't touch me. He stood only two feet away as he watched me while I struggled to rein in my emotions.

"I don't like it," he said softly to me. I wasn't sure what he was talking about so I gave him a questioning look.

"What?" I asked.

"I don't like seeing you upset," he answered and I felt my heart melt a little. He had the power to make me feel alive and he had the power to make me feel like I couldn't go on.

Just thinking about what happened was enough to evoke a whole array of emotions. Talking about it was worse, which was one of the reasons I didn't like talking about it. It was just too emotionally draining. I'd been to endless shrinks and I'd talked about it so much, but no amount of talking would erase the events of that day or bring my parents back. All talking did was remind me of that horrific day.

"You don't have to talk about it," he said as he reached out and caressed my cheek with his hand.

He'd told me he knew everything so anything I told him wouldn't be anything that he hadn't already read about, but I felt that I had to tell him the story in my own words. Everything he'd read would have been correct with the facts of what had happened, but I was the only who was able to relay the events with the human emotion because I'd lived it.

"I've been trying to forget that day for as long as I can remember," I began. He reached for my hand and held it in his.

"I was nine." I swallowed hard. "It was a Friday night and Connor went out to a party. He was eighteen at the time and he'd planned on sleeping over at his friend's house."

That night had started off as a normal evening. I'd pouted a little when he'd left. I loved my older brother and at that age I'd worshipped the ground he walked on. In my eyes he could do no wrong and he loved me just as much. He loved to do things with me and didn't mind me tagging along with him most of the time.

"I spent the evening watching a movie with my mom and dad. They liked to do that with me so I wouldn't miss Connor too much when he was out," I told him, smiling at the fond memory I had of them.