Page 44 of Stitches

I launched myself at him, but Ashes was quick to intervene at the same time Sin did. Sin pushed Asylum in the chest, moving him away from me while Ashes tugged me backward.

“You’re on his side, you prick?” I shouted to Sin. “You fucking asshole. Should have known!”

“I’m not on his side,” Sin yelled, turning back to me. “I’m fucking not, Dante. You know me. You fucking know me better than that—”

I spit at his feet. “I don’t know shit about you other than you can’t be fucking trusted.”

A look of despair washed over his face as I backed away.

“Come on,” Ashes said, casting a look at Sin who stayed rooted in his spot. Asylum moved forward and whispered something in his ear that made him visibly swallow.

“Take care, Dante. Mind what we said. You’ll be the monster your daddy wants if you aren’t careful, and many will end up dead. Trust me.”

Asylum’s words were so fierce they made me pause for a moment. The blue of his eyes darkened with sadness.

“I’ll see you soon. . . friend.” He nodded at me before gesturing for Sin to follow him.

“He’s so odd,” Ashes murmured. “He scares me sometimes.”

I stared at their backs as they walked through the courtyard, neither of them speaking to one another.

“The truth is always scary,” I answered back in a soft voice.

“What’s the truth?” Ashes stood beside me, watching Sin and Asylum disappear into the crowd of students.

I swallowed, not wanting to voice my thoughts. Instead, I turned and walked the way Stitches had taken Sirena.

She was who mattered right now. Not Asylum. Not Sin. Not anyone.

Her.

It would always be her.

If that meant I had to eat shit with Asylum for a little while, I’d tuck in and do it with a smile on my face.

I’d learned how to dine with monsters. It was the monster who hadn’t yet learned to dine with me.

But they fucking would. Every single one of them would if they kept pushing me.

I wasn’t my father.

I was worse.

They’d all find out just how much if they kept playing games with me.

ASHES

We found Sirena sitting with Cady near the science building, Stitches nowhere to be seen. I’d had hope blossom in my chest he was getting better based on the fact I’d gone into his room to find Sirena curled in his arms and him holding her tightly as they slept.

The look on his face when he’d come out of his bedroom this morning had doused those hopes in ice-cold water.

And now he’d left her with Cady as a means of escape.

The irritation at that was apparent on Church’s face when he went to Sirena and pulled her off the bench she was sitting on and kissed her deeply.

Cady raised a brow at me and shook her head.

“Where’s Stitches?” I asked, ignoring her reaction.

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