SINN | +18

• chapter • 6 •

chapter six:
izabelle

• • •

DINNER PASSES FASTER THAN I WANT but it was all very enjoyable. Most of the time I was listening to Ava tell Sinn about the trip we took to DisneyWorld and how she wishes he went on the Dumbo rides, and him promising that we could all go soon. I was OK with just watching because they both looked so happy being able to connect.

The only thing that made or incredibly uncomfortable was when Ava asked why I was walking funny when I went to wash the dishes. Thankfully, Sinn was there to help her start getting ready for bed so I didn't have to think of a shitty excuse.

"She's asleep," I hear his voice from in front of me. I look up from the dirty dishes and saw him walking out in nothing but a pair of basketball shorts.

"Where'd you go?" I ask, continuing to do the dishes. "And where'd you get those?"

"I helped Ava get bathe and brushed my teeth with her, thank God for the spare toothbrush," Sinn responds. He walks around the counter and starts drying the dishes with a towel. "Then I got some stuff from my place. I feel like sometimes you forget I'm a demon and can get from one place to another in literally a second."

I smile, allowing a comfortable silence to pass through us. Once Sinn finishes with the last plate, he wraps his arms around me from behind and kisses my neck. I rest the back of my head on his shoulder and feel my eyes flutter when he gently nibbles on it.

"Thank you," he whispers.

I don't ask what he's talking about because I already know. I turn around, wrapping my arms around his neck and tilting my head back.

"There's no need to," I mumble back, playing with the hair at the back of his neck. "I'm just glad to see the two of you happy. If I thought she was happy with me it's nothing compared to how happy she looks now that you're here, too."

I sigh and stare at his chest, removing my hand from his hair and tracing every small detail. "I'm sorry I didn't try to contact you about Ava. There was just so much anger I felt towards you and I allowed it to cloud over the fact that you're the father figure she wants to come home and see standing next to me.

"I was selfish and inconsiderate," I continue, staring up into his eyes. I quickly look away when I feel them starting to water. "I'm sorry, Sinn. For everything."

Sinn stares down at me and I wait for a response. I'm taken aback when he pushes me between the counter and his body, tilting my head back by the chin with his finger. The look in his eye is unrecognized but he has the smallest of smiles on his lips.

"Don't apologize," he tells me.

My eyes grow. "But I—"

"You kept our daughter a secret, I know." He lifts me up and puts me on the counter. "But thinking of how I was all those years ago, I don't think I would have been the best father figure for Ava and wouldn't have wanted anything to do with her. I was drowning in a pool of my own self pity because I didn't realize that it was my fault as to why you left.

"I was drinking all the time," Sinn admits, his eyes darkening as he recalls the memories. "Working my life away, getting tattoos, trying to find some sort of distraction from the truth. I only started cleaning my shit up when my brother told me to stop feeling bad for myself because there was obviously a reason as to why what happened between us happened. He said some things that opened my eyes to how I treated you and..."