Lahat ng Kabanata ng Buried Beneath Sin: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

She went to bed and told herself she would sleep. She did not. She floated in the half-space where morning already exists even if the sun hasn’t agreed. When sleep grabbed her by the wrist and yanked, it deposited her into a dream where she was climbing a staircase that kept changing direction, and

She slept for an hour, then not at all. Around four, she gave up. She showered in water that alternated too hot and too cold and emerged raw and shivering and alive. She put on jeans and a sweater and then changed into a dress and then back into jeans because if she was going to break her own heart

“What is it,” he asked, and didn’t bother to hide the question behind softer words. She lifted one shoulder, and the move made him want to put a hand on it, to weigh it down so she wouldn’t float away. “Nothing,” she said. The lie was not sloppy; it was efficient. He’d heard that same efficiency i

She nodded once, the kind of nod that means I am filing that between the bones. “Two?” “Two,” he said, and allowed himself the smallest smile because this was a truth that would be easier to carry if it had teeth, “I’ll be a problem if anyone touches you. That’s not romance. It’s operational.” H

You’re keeping him safe, she told herself. That’s the point. That’s the only point. Her mind disagreed and put other points on the table, rude as coins slapped onto a bar. You wanted him. You were better in your skin with him in the room. You liked how you sounded when you weren’t editing yourself