Page 100 of The Sin Binders Ascent

“I’m gifted.”

I reach up and flick his forehead with two fingers.

He flinches like I slapped him. “Ow.”

“That was for the bat. You owe me a sandwich.”

He grins. “Grilled cheese?”

“Triple cheese. No pickles.”

There’s a pause. Then, quieter, he says, “When we get out of here… I’ll make it for you.”

I turn my head to look at him. A promise made without grandeur. A simple thing. And it’s almost worse than if he’d kissed me. Because that? That I’d be ready for. But this? This feels dangerous in an entirely different way.

“Stop being nice,” I mutter, tilting my head just enough to glare at him.

“What?”

“This.” I wave a hand vaguely toward his face. “Whatever this soft, protective energy is. You’re creeping me out.”

He laughs, low and surprised, like it slips out before he can filter it. His breath brushes my cheek, and I hate how my chest flutters in response. Not because it means anything. Just because I’m tired and bleeding and stuck under a demigod with intimacy issues.

“I’m not trying to creep you out,” he says, smiling. “I swear.”

“You’re doing it anyway. All this… gentle touching and grilled cheese promises.” I squint at him. “You’re not dying, are you?”

He rests his head back on his arm, still propped above me, still too close. “No. Not dying. Just… confused.”

“That’s new.”

He gives me a look. “There’s something about you. Something in my chest starts scratching at the walls every time I see you hurt. I don’t get it. I’ve never had the urge to protect anyone but myself, and even then, it was mostly out of spite.”

I shift under him, not entirely comfortable with the turn in the conversation, but too exhausted to derail it. “So what, you’ve got some heroic streak kicking in? Late-blooming empathy?”

“God, I hope not,” he says, smiling faintly. “That sounds awful.”

His fingers tap idly against the dirt near my hip, like he’s thinking through it in real time. “But seriously. It’s weird. You get scraped up and my entire brain just screamsFix it.And not in the usual ‘seduce it until it forgets it’s in pain’ way. I just… don’t like it. You hurt.”

I stare at him. “And you thinktelling me thatmakes it better?”

“I don’t know. Maybe?” He shrugs. “I’m new to this whole emotionally functional thing.”

“Noted.”

Theo’s gaze doesn’t leave mine. “You didn’t push me off.”

“I’m tired. You’re warm. Don’t make it weird.”

“Too late.”

I groan and cover my face with one hand, dirt smearing across my cheek. “This was already bad. Now it’s worse.”

“Why?”

“Because,” I say through my fingers, “I think I believe you.”

He’s quiet for a moment. Then, softly, “Good.”