Chapter 4
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Chapter Four: The Visitor in the Night
The floor was clean, but the air was not.
It hung between them—thick, humid, tense. A silence just shy of uncomfortable as Sinndy leaned the mop against the wall and smoothed the jersey over her thighs.
“I’ll make myself some tea,” she said, not asking.
Derrick hesitated. “Sure. Kitchen’s right there.”
She walked past him barefoot, the damp clinging to her skin catching the low light. Her hips swayed with quiet confidence—less an invitation, more a reminder: I’m not afraid to be here. She moved like the house already knew her. Like the walls whispered her name before she’d arrived.
Derrick stood in the middle of the living room like a man caught in his own home. The tea kettle whined again, this time under her hands. He could hear her humming softly as she poured, as if they’d done this dance before.
Eventually, he cleared his throat. “The guest room’s this way.”
She followed him without a word.
The hallway was narrow, lit by the muted glow of a single nightlight—something Nia had insisted on for late trips to the bathroom. Derrick pushed the door open. The guest bed stood neatly made, the comforter smooth and untouched, like it had been waiting for a ghost.
“This okay?” he asked.
Sinndy looked around, expression unreadable. “Perfect.”
She stepped in, and he turned to leave.
“Goodnight,” he mumbled, already halfway down the hall.
In his own bedroom, he sank into the mattress with the weight of a man carrying too many thoughts. The storm outside had softened, but inside, the air still bristled with invisible electricity.
He had nearly drifted into sleep when the knock came.
Three soft taps.
His eyes opened to darkness.
Another knock.
“Derrick?” Her voice was a whisper—fragile, urgent.
He sat up, heart thudding. “Yeah?”
The door cracked open.
Sinndy stood there, hair loose around her shoulders, the jersey falling just past her thighs. She stepped into the room, silent on her feet. Her eyes looked different—less playful, more haunted.
“I… I think there’s something in that room,” she said.
He frowned. “Something?”
“I know it sounds crazy. But I swear I felt someone in there. Breathing. Watching.” Her voice broke slightly. “I don’t think I can sleep alone tonight.”
Derrick’s throat went dry. “Sinndy—”
She moved closer.
“I don’t want to do anything,” she whispered, lips brushing his ear. “I just don’t want to be alone.”
Her breath was warm, sweet like peppermint and tea. He could feel the curve of her body beside his, the jersey brushing his arm like silk and sin.
“I promise I’ll behave,” she whispered again. “Ssshhh.”
She climbed into the bed slowly, curling against him with disarming innocence, her back pressing gently to his chest. He could smell the faintest trace of coconut oil, feel her bare legs tangle with his beneath the sheet.
She turned.
Their faces were inches apart.
“Thank you,” she said, eyes wide, soft as an open wound. And then, almost imperceptibly, her lips brushed his.
Once.
Twice.
And then again, slower. Fuller. She kissed like someone painting—slow strokes, deliberate touches.
He kissed her back.
Clothes slipped away like secrets.
And then—just as he was above her, her breath quick, her eyes wide with trust—she whispered:
“Be gentle…”
His body stiffened. He pulled back.
“Wait… Sinndy—are you a…”
She nodded slowly. “Yes.”
Derrick sat up like he’d been shocked. “We can’t… I can’t do this. Not like this. Not with you. Not with me being—married.”
He tried to put space between them, guilt clawing its way up his chest. “You don’t know what this means. You shouldn’t lose something like that to someone like me.”
She sat up, moved closer, her fingers dancing across his bare chest, trailing lower—slow, knowing.
“I know exactly what this means,” she said. “I want you to be the one.”
Her hand slid down, brushing over the soft place that made him clench his jaw. Her fingers lingered there, circling, pulling heat from his skin like fire teasing dry wood.
“I don’t care that you’re married,” she whispered, climbing back over him, straddling his waist. “I want this. I want you.”
She leaned in, her lips grazing the shell of his ear.
“Let me give it to you.”
He tried to resist—but her touch was an unraveling. Her scent, her skin, her voice—all conspired against his will. And when she moved beneath him again, her hands guiding him, her mouth silencing his doubt…
He gave in.
And when it was done, the air was thick with breath and sin.
And on the white sheet between them—
—red.
Stark, startling. Proof of her innocence lost.
She curled against him afterward, her face calm, almost peaceful. And before sleep took him, he watched her chest rise and fall, and wondered what storm he had just stepped into.
By morning—
She was gone.
No sign of her.
Not in the guest room. Not on the couch. The front door was locked.
The bed beside him was cold.
And the sheet with the blood?
Gone.
All that remained was the scent of her skin and the memory of his fall.
To be continued...
