Chasing Sin

24

"Who the hell is Archer?"

I briefly look away from the tall tattooed man quietly brooding in front of me and answer Taylor. "The guy from the parking lot, the crazy one that Sin was fighting last week."

"Archer, the creepy one? The guy you punched?" Taylor asks, shifting back on a hip as she looks on in shock.

"Wait a minute," Kace jumps up. "Why the fuck do you know who Archer is?"

"You know who Archer is?" Taylor asks, equally shocked.

"Of course," he says, getting angry. "But why do you? When were you around Archer Greystone?"

"He was just in the parking lot at school when Haven and I—"

"He was at the school? When you were around?!" Kace shouts, getting really pissed off.

"Stop yelling at me!" Taylor shouts back.

I watch their budding fight, feeling guilty about being the cause. I feel like a pot-stirrer. My stomach sinks, and I contemplate jumping in to help clear things up.

Before I can jump in, though, Sin—who has been silent since I said Archer was the one who attacked me—moves swiftly, with a 'whoosh,' out of the room.

I whip my head over to him as he storms out, and my feet move before I even stop to think about it. I chase after him, leaving the house after him.

"Sin, stop!" I shout, rushing after him on Peyton's front porch and down the driveway before stopping in front of him.

I don't even need to ask where he's going.

"Sin, you're not going to go fight Archer," I tell him. He looks at me, anger written on his face. I briefly wonder if he's angry at me for telling him what to do, for stopping him, or for lying to him. I silently hope it's none of the above, and he's just really pissed about Archer.

"He attacked you, Haven," Sin bellows loudly, his voice cutting through the small space between us. "He hurt you to get to me. I won't let him get away with that."

"Fighting him won't help anything," I try and reason with him, putting my not-injured hand on his tattooed arm.

"I think it's worth a try," he retorts, still talking through clenched teeth but giving me a chance to talk him down.

"Sin, I know you're upset, and he totally deserves it, but you can't go around punching people just because you feel like it. You've got to think these things through!"

"Funny coming from the girl who punched Archer before ever knowing who he was."

Damn it. He's got a good point.

I take an exasperated breath and push an annoying strand of hair out of my face while trying to come up with more ways to convince Sin not to go picking a fight with Archer.

"Well, I know you two work together. So whatever you do, whatever that God-forsaken, top secret, sketchy ass job you have is, this could only complicate it. Do you really want Archer walking around with a broken nose, telling your boss you came after him?"

I know I'm taking a shot in the dark with this one, but it seems to work. I have no idea what Sin does for a living, and seeing as it's likely something shady, who knows if his boss would care if Archer showed up with a black eye?

However, something I said stops Sin. His mind catches onto my words, and I can see him processing a thought. His jaw relaxes, and I can tell it's working.

"If I found him, he wouldn't be walking around with a broken nose," Sin finally says, but I can sense a bit of resignation in his words. "He wouldn't be walking at all."