Page 19 of Stitches

He tensed at my words, his green eyes flashing. “What did you call me?”

I cocked my head at him,listeningall around me.

“Sladkiy d’yavol.”I let my head fall back and breathed in. “Sweet devil. Kak ad blagoslovil menya.”

I knew he was going to hit me before he’d even made his mind up to do it. The impact of his fist into my face made me stumble back, laughter erupting from me as the blood dripped down my face.

I licked my lips, tasting the crimson life-force on my tongue, and smiled at him.

“I do so love a red breakfast. But so do you. You remember breakfast, right,Sladkiy d’yavol?” I said softly. I spit a mouthful of blood at his feet as he visibly shook. “Wicked as your father. Broken as your mother. Lover. Monster. Brother. Be careful with your next move. He is watching.” I backed away from him, taking in the way his green eyes tracked my every move. Dante Church was a predator through and through. He came by it naturally though. He was his father’s son, after all. I expected nothing less of him.

Monsters beget monsters in this world.

They also got pretty little fireflies.

“Come, Sin,” I murmured, backing away. “Let’s let Dante think about what I said.”

Sin glanced at Church, a pained expression on his face, before he backed away. His focus moved to my firefly clinging to Church. She twisted her fingers tighter into Church’s shirt, her head down.

Sin turned a moment later and joined me.

“She will come to you soon to end your punishment. I don’t know why you worry so much,” I said. “It’s not an attractive quality.”

“I wouldn’t talk so much after getting punched in the face,” Sin muttered. “Unless you want to get punched again.”

“You won’t hit me. You need me, bestie.”

“Fuck off,” he grumbled.

He didn’t deny it though, and that was how I knew I was right.

Again.

SIN

Istared out at the lake, Asylum’s words repeating in my head.

She will come to you soon.

While odd and completely off his rocker, I hadn’t ever known Asylum to be wrong. With the knowledge of her coming to me, my heart clenched, the pain very fucking real as I tried to keep my emotions at bay.

I didn’t know what any of it meant, just that I was hurting. Sure, my flesh was destroyed, but it was the emotional and mental shit that was taking its toll on me. I was drowning in it.

The waves crashed against the rock I sat perched on, the air chilly. Before long, the lake would freeze, and it would be nothing but white for miles. I shivered and pulled my jacket tighter around my body, wincing at the pain it brought all the cuts and wounds on my skin.

In some places, I probably needed a doctor, but fuck it. Maybe it would kill me finally.

Sighing, I stood from the rock and turned just as Church darted along the edge of the woods on one of his runs. He must have seen me because he slowed to a stop and turned his attention to me.

I swallowed hard and stared back at him.

I missed him and the guys so much that it was tearing me apart inside. The loss was all-consuming.

And her.

Siren.

She haunted my nightmares. My dreams. Everything. There wasn’t a place I could go where I could escape her because she was constantly on my mind. Even here at the lake, all I could think about was her. How she’d suffered because of me. How I’d betrayed her when she’d needed me. How fucking soft and sweet her lips were against mine as I’d kissed her for the last time.

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