Page 38 of Bells

I looked over at him and nodded. I hadn’t said a word to anyone about what had happened in our kitchen with her. And it wasn’t because I was scared or shit like that. I was playing a game, after all, and that was one of my favorite things to do.

“We’re all gluttons for punishment one way or another,” I said.

Stitches grumbled and bit into his pizza and went silent. I continued to watch Isabella, knowing that if I wanted to get her away from Sin, I’d have to make a move. A move that was really going to hurt Sin if my suspicions were true. I’d been rolling it over in my mind since the kitchen incident with her.

Sometimes to save someone you had to hurt them. The pain may change him, but in the end, if something didn’t get done, he was going to fall even harder. I had to trade one evil for another.

It was the story of my fucking life.

* * *

A week later,I watched as Sin sat staring at a wall in the living room. He had a cut on his chin and bruises littered his jaw. He hadn’t spoken since he’d gotten home over an hour ago from seeing Isabella, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out they’d been fighting again.

Stitches shot me a quick look, his dark brows crinkled. We were all thinking the same thing. That bitch needed to go.

“Sin?” Ashes called out, glancing at me. “You want to talk about it?”

“No,” he grunted, lifting his bottled water to his lips and taking a sip.

“Dude, break up with her. You can still take care of your kid if you’re not together,” Stitches said. “You’re a fucking mess, man. Your face is fucked.”

“It was just a bad day,” he murmured, not bothering to look away from the wall. “That’s all. Tomorrow will be better.”

Sin was checking the fuck out on us. He wasn’t this guy. The Sinclair Priest I knew was filled with fury and didn’t take shit from anyone. He’d fought his way out of everything in his life and emerged on the other side.

I’d be damned if I let this bitch take him out when bullets couldn’t.

Without a word, I got to my feet and left the room. I didn’t want to hurt him, god I didn’t, but all was fair in love and war and this bitch chose the wrong guy to go to war with.

No one fucked with my friends, my brothers, and got away with it. Pussy or not, we were all equals here.

If she wanted to play, we’d fucking play.

SIN

Ibit back a hiss as Bells’s nails gouged my neck. My tolerance was waning lately. I wanted to be supportive of her break or whatever the fuck was happening, but this shit was getting painful in more ways than one. She made me bleed daily. She screamed at me. Then she’d hold me and kiss me and tell me how sorry she was.

But then it would happen again.

It was brutal, and it was fucking up everything.

“Bells, come on,” I coaxed, wrapping my arms around her small frame as she snarled obscenities at me for probably the tenth time that day. “Relax. Let’s just relax. Together.”

“Fuck you,” she snapped. “Let me go. You’re always doing this to me! You’re always hurting me! Let me go! Let me fucking go! All you do is ruin everything. Everything you touch, Sinclair! You’re ruining me! I want to be alone and you just can’t let it happen!”

I released her, my chest heaving. I was so tired of dealing with it. Shame washed through me daily over my feelings of just wanting to walk away. If I couldn’t handle her hateful words and outbursts, how the hell was I ever going to make it through her pregnancy and be there for the baby? It was driving me to the edge of what little sanity I had left.

“Fine,” I shouted, losing it as she glared at me, her lips twisted into a sneer. There was nothing on her face that suggested she gave a shit for me in that moment. Maybe I’d been trying too hard. Clinging too tightly when I needed to let her have space.

“You want me to leave you alone? Then I will. Don’t fucking hurt yourself or the baby,” I continued, trying to keep my voice even.

She rolled her eyes at me. “There you go again. Accusing me—”

“I’m not fucking accusing you of anything. I’m just telling you to be safe. That’s all.” I backed to the door of her dorm. “Just. . . please. I’ll give you space. I love you. So fucking much. I only want you to be safe.”

She continued to glare at me until I turned and left the room, blood on my neck and face from her latest attack. She said her meds had changed. I wanted to believe it, and I’m sure they had changed, but I couldn’t attribute it all to that. As long as I’d known her, she’d been a little volatile. I accepted that. Even thought I might be able to fix her.

But fuck.

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