Page 143 of Stitches

“Hey,” he said, glancing at me before looking at her.

She looked awful. Her face was swollen and bruised. Even her lips were. She’d had stitches on them from something I didn’t even want to contemplate.

She had some oxygen on her and IVs hooked up with her heart monitor.

“Are you OK?” Church asked, squeezing my shoulder.

“Yeah.”

He patted me on the back and looked down at his phone. “Ashes is here. I’ll be right back.”

He left the room, leaving me with my broken angel and Sin.

“Thank you,” I said to him as I went to her other side and stared down at her. “For finding her. For all of this.”

“I owe you,” he answered. “I owe her.”

“It’s more than that, Sinclair, and you fucking know it.”

He said nothing but didn’t let go of her hand.

Ashes and Church returned. Ashes made a beeline for her and let out a curse upon seeing her, tears in his eyes.

“Is it your father? Did he have a hand in this?” Ashes looked to me then to Church.

“I don’t know. This seems like something he’d be gloating about, and I haven’t heard from him. He had no reason to do this. None.” Church sighed and rubbed his eyes.

He was right. Everett was a wicked cocksucker, but he was also vain and would want to take credit for something so heinous.

We sat in silence for a long time. Everything about this shit made me sick to my stomach. Someone had hurt her. Stolen from her. I kept swallowing down the bile that threatened me. I was barely holding it together.

“Sin, take a break,” Church finally said. “Get yourself something to eat and drink.”

“I’m not leaving—”

“That’s not a fucking request,” Church said, his voice laced with venom. His expression softened. “Please. You need to eat. Check on Asylum.”

He stared at him for a moment before he got to his feet and left the room.

“Heaven?” Ashes called out.

We all snapped our attention to her as her lashes fluttered. Finally, they stopped, and she stared up at the ceiling, her brows pinched in pain.

“Specter.” Church doted over her. “Fuck, baby. It’s good to see your pretty eyes.”

I brushed her hair away from her face, praying she wasn’t locked away in her head again.

“Who hurt you, angel? Fucking please. Tell us so we can find him,” I begged.

Her breath caught in her chest before a single, soft word fell from her lips.

“Rabbit.”

I looked at Ashes then to Church whose face took on a demonic look.

“Let’s hunt,” he said fiercely, Sirena’s lashes fluttering once more before her eyes closed.

“Let’s hunt,” I whispered.

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