Page 106 of Stitches

SIRENA

Iwalked through campus with Stitches’s hand in mine, him quiet like he tended to be these days.

He seemed content. Maybe not happy, but it was far better than the man he’d been just weeks ago. I’d feared for his life. I didn’t want him to fall again. It was something that kept me up at night. He slept in my room with me often, only being chased away by Church twice and Ashes once, but he always came back the next night and curled up beside me.

“Hey,” Bryce said, coming to stop in front of us.

“Hey,” Stitches muttered.

“Movie night?” Bryce looked from me to Stitches. I knew it was a touchy subject with them, but Bryce had been lying low lately. In fact, so had Cady. I’d seen her making out with Adam earlier. I assumed that relationship was going well.

I was happy for her.

“Uh, angel?” Stitches looked at me for direction.

I reached out for Bryce’s hand and squeezed it. He grinned and backed away.

“I’ll come over around seven?” He looked to Stitches for confirmation.

Stitches sighed, but nodded.

“Awesome. I’ll see you then.” Bryce looped off to his friend group, leaving me and Stitches alone.

“I know he’s your friend, but he just seems too…normal,” he said.

I gave him a tiny smile. Normal was nice sometimes. I didn’t hate it.

Stitches’s hand trembled in mine for a moment, making me look up at him. He was staring across the courtyard at Sully who was reprimanding Danny Linley who was holding a fistful of what appeared to be ground hamburger.

I was the queen of freak outs and could sense them a mile away. I took his face in my hands and forced him to look down at me.

His dark eyes wavered.

“Hey, come on,” Ashes called out, grabbing Stitches by the arm and dragging him in the opposite direction of Sully. I trotted to keep up with them. Ashes was quick about getting Stitches out of there. All I could really do was divert his attention, especially if he had been unwilling to follow me.

“Stitches, man. Come on. Breathe a little,” Ashes said, stopping in a small grove of trees. I shivered despite my jacket. The weather here was getting brisk and little snowflakes were floating through the air.

Stitches sucked in breath after breath, his face still pale.

“We still have classes left today. You need to be put together so you can attend. We don’t need you getting called down to that fuck head’s office,” Ashes grunted.

It made me wonder why I hadn’t been called down for missing classes. I hadn’t even considered that as a potential complication. It made me think maybe Church had something to do with me not having a meeting with Sully.

“Fuck. I-I can’t. Goddamnit.” Stitches raked his nails down his face, making himself bleed. “I-I’m sorry. I-I don’t know what’s happening to me. Fuck, Asher…”

“I’ll take her. You deal with this.”

I hadn’t even noticed that Asylum had appeared next to us.

Ashes’s eyes darted to me for a moment before he gave Asylum a tight nod.

“Don’t fuck this up,” Ashes warned him.

Asylum raised a brow at him but didn’t say a word. I stared at Ashes, wondering what was happening and why this was suddenly OK.

“It’s OK, baby. We have an arrangement with him. He’s going to help keep you safe. I promise. I’ll come find you later. Just go to class. You’ll be safe.”

Asylum snagged my hand and pulled me away before I could hug Stitches goodbye.

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