บททั้งหมดของ WHERE SIN FEELS LIKE HOME: บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

CHAPTER ELEVEN : Just Once More~Zella's POV~The penthouse was too quiet and the night was too long and I had known within approximately twenty minutes of Brynn leaving that staying in my room was not going to work.I tried. I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling and scrolled through my phone without absorbing anything on the screen and rearranged my pillow three times and had the internal conversation about the agreement again, which was becoming less convincing every time I had it. The quiet kept pressing in from the edges. His footsteps had gone still somewhere down the hall and that was almost worse than hearing them, the not knowing where he was, the awareness that the penthouse contained exactly two people and one of them was me and the other one was the reason the agreement existed in the first place.At some point my stomach made a completely reasonable biological complaint that had nothing to do with anything else, and I picked up my phone and ordered food because at lea

CHAPTER THIRTEEN : The Day Before~Zella's POV~I had barely put my coffee down, the same one Evander had made, still warm, which I was not going to read anything into before Brynn started moving.Drawers opening. Music turning on. The unmistakable sound of someone committing to being awake whether they felt like it or not.I sat on the edge of my bed for a moment longer than necessary, staring at nothing in particular and thinking about the fact that I had already had one conversation this morning that I didn't know what to do with. Two days. I exhaled, stood up, and went back to the kitchen for a refill because if today was going to be whatever it was going to be I was going to need more than one cup.“Get dressed,” she said, pointing at me with a piece of toast. “We’re going shopping.” "It's eight thirty.""The shops open at nine.""Brynn.""New Year's Eve is tomorrow and I refuse to wear something I already own. Get dressed.""I have things I already own.""Yes and I've seen them

CHAPTER FIFTEEN : New Year~Zella's POV~The penthouse was very quiet.Outside Paris was doing what Paris did on New Year's Eve, being dramatic about it, lights and noise and the particular energy of a city that took celebration seriously and had the architecture to match. Inside there was just the sound of Brynn's door and then nothing.Evander was looking at the door.I was looking at him looking at the door.Neither of us spoke for a moment. Then he moved toward it and I followed without being asked, stopping at the doorframe while he knocked. Three times. Quiet, not demanding.A pause. Then the door opened slightly. Brynn, still in her black dress, mascara telling a story her face was trying not to, looking at her father with the expression of someone who had cried a little and was going to absolutely not admit it."Hey," she said."Hey." He looked at her. "Can I come in?"She opened the door wider.I stayed at the doorframe. Close enough. Far enough. The witness rather than the

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN : Instagram and Honey~Zella's POV~The dishes weren't going to wash themselves.That was the thought I had pulling on something more comfortabl, skirt , an oversized top, the version of myself that existed when nobody was performing anything. Practical. Useful. The kind of thought that didn't require examining anything else.I went back to the kitchen.Evander was at the sink already, jacket off, sleeves rolled up, running water like a man who had been cleaning up after himself for a long time and had no particular feelings about it."You don't have to," he said."I know." I picked up a dish towel. "Move over."He moved over.We cleaned up in the quiet that had developed between us over two weeks, the kind that didn't need filling, that wasn't uncomfortable, just two people in the same space not requiring anything from each other. He washed. I dried. Outside Paris had gone quieter, settling into the first proper night of a new year."She'll be back soon," I said."

CHAPTER NINETEEN: The Date~Zella's POV~"Absolutely not," I said."Absolutely yes," Brynn said."Brynn...""His name is Felix, he's lovely, he has all his teeth, and you're going." She picked up her wine glass with the finality of someone who had closed a discussion that hadn't technically been opened yet. "End of conversation.""I just went through a breakup.""Six weeks ago.""That's not...""Six weeks, Zella. You've had enough time to be sad. Now you need to have dinner with a man who isn't Cole."I looked at Evander across the table. He was looking at Brynn with the expression of a man choosing his words."She might not be ready," he said.Brynn turned to him. "Dad.""I'm just saying...""You literally said at dinner the other week that she might like someone else already." She pointed at him. "Your words."Evander's jaw tightened slightly.