Page 14 of Ashes

It was the same thing I was.

Seth Cain really did win. She was his more than ours.

And that really fucking sucked.

SIN

Ipaced back and forth in the lobby of the medical wing. I’d gotten no less than ten messages from the guys telling me to get my ass there.

She’s saying your name. Get here now.

If she was saying my name, it was only a matter of time until she spilled my ugly truth. I hadn’t anticipated this.

Fuck, it was a flaw in the plan.

A plan I regretted in the deepest part of my soul. I’d really fucked things up. I’d spent the night it happened drunk and stoned off my ass, trying to force my worries for her out of my head. I knew Seth Cain had tried to kill her when they were kids. Sure, he’d claimed it was to protect her.But seriously, who the fuck did that?

A crazed, obsessed madman.

The same one you locked her in a fucking box with and made her go crazy.

I hated myself. Fuck, I did. I’d even contemplated ending my life just to escape the agony of what I’d done to her.

I knew she was bad. I’d seen it all over Stitches’s and Ashes’s faces the morning I’d stumbled in. I’d broken what I’d desperately been trying to save.

Drawing in a deep breath, I knew I had to face the music. I nodded to the nurse at the desk and marched down the hall. There were a few patients in rooms. Most faking ailments so they could skip classes. A few were restrained to their beds as I passed by. Danny Linley was wrapped in bandages and staring at his ceiling. Overall, there seemed to be a lot less students stuck in here today than what I’d seen before. I supposed that was a good thing. The place had been packed when Stitches had lost his shit.

“Hey, buddy,” a familiar voice called out to me as I passed a room.

I paused and backtracked to find Asylum sitting on the edge of his bed, his face badly bruised and scratched.

I hesitated for a moment before I stepped through his doorway.

“I see you made it,” I said.

A tiny smile quirk the corners of his lips up. “So close, yet so far away.”

I swallowed hard. “Does that upset you?”

He shrugged. “No.” He didn’t elaborate.

“What are your plans?” I ventured, my throat tight. I had to know how deep my problems ran.

His blue-eyed gaze locked on me. “I won. I plan on taking my forever girl. Those were the terms, right?”

I nodded tightly.

“It may become a bit of a problem since I don’t think the watchers are going to play fair. I guess that means we won’t play fair.”

I moved farther into the room and closed the door. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well…” He licked his lips. “You did a very bad thing, Sinclair. You betrayed your friends to help me win. I bet they won’t be too happy with you once they find out. Especially since the whispers in this place say she’s gone a little. . .mad.”

Nausea twisted in my guts. “What do you want?”

“For you to secure my win. I don’t want to hurt anyone. Not really. But I will. If I don’t have my forever girl, I’ll take her with me. Death doesn’t frighten me. Third times a charm, right?”

“So you’re blackmailing me and threatening to kill siren?”

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