Page 113 of Stitches

Stitches had entered the ring. It wasn’t an argument. It was about to be a murder. Stitches’s fist made contact with the side Adam’s head, putting him down on one knee. The crazy bastard laughed, only egging on the guys.

I was going to have to intervene.

“Fucking watch Sirena. I need to stop this,” I said, pulling Cady against my chest and speaking in her ear. “Do you understand?”

Cady nodded without a word. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I released her and jumped out of the car and pushed Church away before pushing Stitches off Adam.

“Not fucking here,” I said as Adam continued to laugh and bleed on the ground. “Fuck this guy. Let’s get Sirena home. She needs us. Please. This is scaring her.”

Church nodded at me and walked back to his side of the Bronco and got in. Stitches surveyed me for a moment.

“He’s a fucking asshole,” Stitches said.

“Just get in the damn car,” I said, sighing.

Stitches left me, and I stared down at a laughing Adam. It was just me and him in the cold, the doors to the Bronco closed.

I went to my knees and twisted my fingers in his shirt and brought his nose to nearly mine.

“I know you’ve been watching her,” I said in a harsh whisper. “If I ever see you look at her again, I’ll burn your fucking eyes out of your head.”

“What if I fuck her?” he asked gleefully, blood still pouring out of his nose. “What will you do to me then, you worthless piece of fuck? I bet her pussy is tighter than her sister’s.”

I ground my teeth together before planting my fist in the center of his cackling face.

“I’ll fucking kill you.” I released him and let him crumple to the ground, his laughing turning into wheezing. I stepped over him and got into the backseat, Cady now between me and Stitches.

“Go,” I said.

Church didn’t question it. He hit the gas pedal and left Adam laughing like a lunatic on the side of the two-track.

No one said a damn word for a minute until finally Cady spoke.

“I didn’t get to hit him.”

“I’m sure you’ll get your chance,” I said tightly.

“If I don’t kill him first,” Stitches said. “Because I really fucking think I want to.”

I nodded and caught Church’s eye in the rearview mirror.

Good.

We were all on the same page.

SIRENA

After the guys cleaned the blood from their hands, they piled into bed with me. It wasn’t a typical thing with them to all be in bed with me. I think they tried to give me my own space whenever they could, but tonight had been awful.

We needed one another.

I had a king size bed, but it was still a little tight with the four of us on it. I cuddled against Church’s chest with Stitches on my other side and Ashes next to him.

Cady had decided to sleep in Ashes’s room for the night instead of going home. He’d stayed in his room and talked with her. I assumed it had gone OK since he hadn’t come out with a black eye. I’d simply hugged her tightly and gave her cheek a kiss before going to bed.

It was a fairly subdued night, and when I woke in the morning, the only one in bed with me was Stitches.

“Morning, angel,” he murmured, peering at me with his dark eyes.

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