Page 158 of Ashes

I nodded at her. “Perfect. All you need to do is lure her away. Say you want to dance with her or just talk. If Asylum let you near her twice now, he’ll do it again.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Ashes asked, glancing around at each of us in the circle we’d formed.

“I’ll distract him,” Stitches said quietly. “I need to talk to him anyway a-about some-some stuff.”

I studied my brother for a moment. He looked sick to his stomach. He caught my eye and quickly looked to his feet.

Anger boiled inside of me. This wasn’t him. Even at his worst, he’d always crack a smile and a joke. Stitches was deep in some internal turmoil, and I wasn’t going to rest until someone was punished for it.

“I think it was Sin,” I murmured, locking eyes with Ashes. “I think he’s the one who helped Asylum.”

“I think so too,” Ashes agreed softly, wincing.

I looked to Cady. “Don’t fail in getting her away tonight, OK? We need this. It’s closure in a way. It would be nice to know the cunt who hurt her isn’t walking around campus like nothing is wrong. And if it’s Sin?” I breathed out, feeling sick.

“We’ll punish him,” Ashes finished. “No one goes unpunished. Not for this.”

“Then why don’t we punish Asylum too?” Cady asked.

“Who knows? Maybe we will,” I said, catching a glimpse of Sin coming down the path to the house from the direction of the cemetery. “When you get specter, bring her to the cemetery. Got it? The old willow. I’ll wait there for you.”

Cady nodded.

“You’ll leave her with me,” I continued.

“With us,” Ashes corrected. “Because I’ll be there too.”

I looked at Stitches. “Do you want to be there?”

He chewed his bottom lip for a moment. “Yes. . . but no. I think it’s best if I keep Asylum distracted.”

I nodded. I was agreeable to that.

“Just. . . tell her I’m sorry, OK?” he said, his big, dark eyes wavering. “She’ll know what I’m talking about.”

I wanted to get him to open up to me, but I knew he wouldn’t until he was ready, so I agreed as Sin stepped onto the patio.

“Hey,” he called out, eyeing us.

“Where were you?” I asked, breaking away from everyone.

“Out,” he answered without missing a beat. “I went into town.”

He sparked up a joint and smoked. He had a guy in town who hooked him up with weed whenever we needed it. It was good shit, so I wasn’t going to bitch at him for it.

I’d save that for later if my suspicions were right.

“You know, once we get specter back, we still have two occurrences to give her,” I said, leaning against the patio railing beside him. I took the joint from him and inhaled a hit, relishing the high. “What do you think? You going to give her the one you owe her?”

I was fishing. Hard.

He let out a soft huff. “No. I’m done with that shit.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s been through enough. Let Stitches do what he needs to do. I’m out.”

I nodded. He wasn’t going to break. That was fine. I’d try another way.

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