Page 38 of Stitches

His words made my guts clench.Sin was in the facility? He cared about me? He could be hurt if he’s in the facility.Fear raced through my body. His hurting would hurt the guys, despite their anger and denial over it. I didn’t want anyone to hurt anymore.

Please, no. . .

“He’s out now. He is safe. For the time being. I can’t say for how long. His fall is long and hard. He’s struggling.”

I licked my lips and stared into his eyes, a cool breeze sending me shivering. Immediately, he reached out and rubbed my arms up and down.

“I will wait for you. I will wait forever if it’s what you want. I’ll keep watch over you. Always.” He rubbed my arms again. “I come here every night. If you ever want to see me, you can find me here. You decide the when. This is the where.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Go. Church is searching for you. He’s upset. He’s. . .” his voice trailed off for a moment. “He needs you. I’ll make sure you get there safely.”

I didn’t hesitate. I backed away from him and turned, rushing through the dark forest until I hit the old trail. My chest ached as I ran to the house. Something told me my rabbit was somewhere behind me, doing as he promised.

I burst into the house right after catching a glimpse of the white bunny ears disappearing into the darkness of the trees.

Church’s arms wrapped around me immediately and crushed me against his body.

“I couldn’t find you,” he whispered, clinging to me. “I was worried.”

I held him back and looked over his shoulder to see Stitches watching us from across the room. His dark eyes locked on mine for a moment before he raked his fingers through his shaggy black hair and looked away from me.

The overwhelming urge to go to him overcame me, but there was no way Church was going to let me go, so I continued to hold him back before burying my face in his chest.

“Where were you?” he demanded softly, tilting my chin up so he could look at me.

I stared into his green eyes and said nothing.

“It doesn’t matter. She’s here now,” Stitches said, going to the living room and settling on the couch. I watched him light a joint and take a hit, his head falling back against the cushions, a cloud of smoke hanging over him.

“Don’t ever fucking do that again,” Church warned. “This is your warning. You don’t disappear like that. Not now. Not when my father is on campus.” He gripped my chin tightly. “Do you understand?”

I twisted my fingers in his shirt, wincing beneath the pressure he was putting on my face.

“I love you. If something happened to you, I’d fucking die. You know that, right?”

I lunged forward and kissed him hard, his words doing something to me.

He fell into the kiss immediately, his hands all over me. Easily, he lifted me off my feet, allowing me to wrap my legs around his waist. Without another word, he walked us upstairs.

I cracked my eyelids open along the way to see Stitches watching us, a look of sadness on his face that made my heart hurt all over again.

We needed to talk. And we would.

Tonight.

But right now, I had an angry watcher to soothe.

And confusing thoughts about my rabbit to deal with.

Sometimes I hated myself. Today was one of those times.

STITCHES

My night had been pure shit.

Everett showed up just to fuck with us. A power trip. That was all it was. A way for us to know he was watching. Waiting.

Fucking prick.

Church and I discussed it at length after he’d left, warning us to be good boys or suffer the consequences.

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