Page 13 of Stitches

“No, you definitely are. You just know how to hide it.” The way he said that made me look at him.

“What’s going on with you? You’re not the same. You have me. . . concerned.”

“Do I?” he mumbled, and took another hit before blowing out the smoke. “I’m just saying we all wear masks. You know exactly who you are, Dante. Just like I know who I am.”

“Am I a monster?” I studied him.

His dark eyes glittered as he stared back at me. “We all are. It’s why we’re here.”

“But to specter. Do you believe me to be a monster to her?”

He licked his lips. “I believe we are who we are. Loving someone doesn’t change that. It simply means we’re worse than before because now there’s something to die for. To kill for.”

“I would kill for her,” I said softly. “I intend on it.”

“Me too,” he murmured. “Every single motherfucker who has wronged her will die.”

I said nothing else, opting to go back to watching her kiss Ashes. There wasn’t anything else to say. We both knew what was worth fighting for.

She was it.

We’d figure our own shit out later, and if that made us monsters, so be it.

* * *

I droveus back to the house after the fire, taking in specter nestled in Ashes’s arms in the backseat of my Bronco while she slept.

“Thanks for tonight,” Ashes called out. “I needed it after everything.”

Stitches grunted and stared out into the night from the passenger seat.

“I’m glad it helped,” I said, turning down another road to head back to Chapel Crest. The fact I was allowed a vehicle on campus spoke volumes about the status I held there.

Ashes dropped a kiss on the top of Sirena’s head.

“Did you fuck her?” I asked, catching his eye in the rearview mirror.

“Yes.” He held my eye contact. “That’s not a problem, right?”

“Right,” I muttered. I knew she was for all of us, but Stitches was right. We were who we were, and I was a jealous prick.

“You guys think Sin is OK?” Stitches called out, breaking the tension that had settled in.

Fucking Sin.

“I don’t know,” I grunted. “And after the shit he pulled, I really don’t give a fuck.”

“I don’t either,” Ashes’s voice was thick though.

“I care, but I think I’m more angry. It’s clouding my feelings,” Stitches murmured. “Shit was bad in the facility. Sirena. . . she. . .” His voice faltered.

“What?” I demanded, glancing over at him.

He simply sighed and shook his head before going silent.

I knew my brother well enough to know he wasn’t going to talk about shit, so I didn’t push it.

For now, I’d let it go, but at some point, he was going to have to talk, even if I was beating the words out of him.

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