Page 132 of Stitches

Church kicked his boot and snow wafted over her, making her sputter. I thought she’d finally taken the hint because she’d been so quiet lately, but I guessed she was bored.

Stitches reached down and gathered a snowball and chucked it at her, hitting her in the shoulder before trotting after Church who was headed for us.

Melanie’s shrieks about Stitches being a giant dick sounded out around us.

“Specter. You look like a snow angel out here,” Church said, taking her from me and kissing her.

I watched as she kissed him back before I looked to Stitches.

“The snowball was a nice touch,” I said.

“I’d have thrown it harder if I didn’t think she’d cry to someone over it.”

Church broke off his kiss to Sirena and Stitches took his turn. When they were done, he held her hand.

We walked back to the house, shooting the shit the entire way. I brought out my lighter and flipped it open and closed. The moment we were in the house, Sirena darted upstairs, leaving us alone.

“We need to talk,” I said, giving them a pointed look.

“Bryce?” Stitches asked, grabbing a soda out of the fridge and going to settle on the couch.

I nodded. “And Sin.”

“What did you hear?” Church took his usual seat, and I grabbed mine before launching into what Sin and had said and the interaction I’d seen with Bryce and Sirena. I even spilled on what she’d written on my hand, hoping to god Church would be levelheaded about it.

He simply nodded. “I see.”

“And?” I pressed.

“And what? We have no proof of anything. If he gets too close, we make an example out of him. I’m not letting her go. She knows that. Stitches?” Church inclined his head at him.

“I’m not letting her go either. So…yeah. I’m with you. I think she needs time to think shit through. She was thrown into everything so fast. But like you said, she’s ours. She’s not going anywhere.”

I nodded. “So we agree.

“Absolutely. As for Adam, fuck him. He tries anything and he’s a dead man. It’s that simple. I draw the line at Sirena. He gets too close, game over. Fuck my old man.” Church gave me a fierce look. “There are some things I can wait to deal with and plan out. This isn’t one of them. Father told me it would be handled. If Father breaks his word, I’ll break Adam’s neck. End of story.”

“I’m with you,” I said, hoping it didn’t come to that.

“Me too,” Stitches agreed.

“So…what’s for dinner?” I asked, looking at the pair.

“Whatever you feel like burning, brother,” Church said, but there wasn’t any humor in his voice.

I knew where his mind was.

It was the same place mine was.

On a pretty girl with colorful eyes two floors above us.

SIRENA

Ineeded to see Mirage.

It had been well over a week since our last contact. My head was a mess over Bryce begging me to at least consider him someone special. There was no way, no matter how I felt about Bryce, that the guys would let him join us.

I wasn’t even sure if I wanted him with us.

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