Page 5 of Ashes

“You need to rest. You haven’t taken your meds.”

“Fuck the meds. They won’t fix what’s wrong,” he said, his voice hoarse.

“We don’t need anything else shitty happening. We need to be strong for her right now. When she comes back to us, she’ll need us to be ready. OK?”

He didn’t move from his seat. I thought I was going to have to get physical with him, but he finally rose and pushed past me without a word.

I followed him out, my guts tight and worry thrumming through my veins.

* * *

Sleep evaded me.I lay in bed staring at my ceiling, Sirena on my mind. A tear worked its way out, and I hastily swiped it away. I wasn’t sure what went down in that mausoleum, but I wouldn’t rest until I found out. There was no way she’d go with Seth willingly. Her fear over him was evident. I’d seen it.

When the sun rose, I got up and showered then went downstairs to check on Stitches. He was shirtless and sprawled out in his bed, sleeping soundly. Judging by the state of his twisted sheets, I’d say he’d struggled to get to that point.

Quietly, I closed his door and went to the kitchen to make something to eat, deciding I’d try Sin again since I knew he wasn’t home because his shoes weren’t at the door where he always left them.

My thumb was just over his name when the front door opened, and he trudged in, looking like he’d been drinking.

“Where were you?” I demanded.

He shuffled past me without a word and sank onto the couch.

“The fuck, man? We’ve been trying to reach you since last night. Where the hell were you?” I glared down at him.

“Drunk. High.” He scrubbed his hand over his face.

“Sirena was hurt.”

He nodded wordlessly.

“She’s in the medical ward. We found her and Asylum locked together in the mausoleum. Stitches almost killed Asylum last night. And Church. . . isn’t fucking well.”

Again, Sin nodded wordlessly.

“Don’t you have anything to fucking say?”

He breathed out. “Is…is she OK?”

I unclenched my fists and pulled my lighter out. I sat down and flicked it opened and closed five times as I tried to control my emotions.

Sin peered over at me as I breathed in and out.

“She’s not OK,” I finally said.

“What’s wrong with her?” his voice was soft.

“She’s lost her mind,” I whispered, flicking the lighter opened and closed five more times. Stop. Again. Five times. Faster. Fuck, I was going nuts thinking about her terrified in that box.

“What do you mean?”

I glared at a fixed point on the wall. “She screamed for Church. It’s how we found her. She screamed and screamed. It was the last place we looked for her. It took us forever to get inside because the door was locked. By the time we got the lid off and Church pulled her out, she was. . . gone. She was humming. Then she went stiff and hasn’t reacted since.” The words were hard to choke out.

“Seth won?” Sin asked softly.

I nodded.

“Where’s Church?”

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