Page 46 of Stitches

“Fine.” He nodded and took her hand in his. “If this is what you want, I’ll agree to it.”

Her entire face brightened, and she threw her arms around Church’s neck. He seemed surprised for a moment before he wrapped her in a tight hug and held onto her, murmuring things to her we couldn’t hear.

“Seven tonight,” I said to Bryce. “Does that work?”

He seemed completely surprised we’d agreed to it. “Y-yeah. That’s perfect.”

“That’s only if Stitches is cool with it.” I looked to Sirena who was still being mauled by Church. “If he says no, then it’s off. We all have to agree.”

“OK.” Bryce gave me a quick smile. “I understand.”

“I’ll be there too,” Cady piped up.

Bryce’s gaze darted to her before looking back at me. I figured Cady would be there. She was over nearly every night since Sirena had moved in with us.

“Claws,” Church warned, untangling himself from Sirena long enough to aim his wrath at her.

“What?” Cady gave him an innocent smile. “I’m the babysitter, chipmunk murderer. It’ll free you up to go scare the local wildlife.”

Church scowled at her while I let out a laugh. Even Bryce cracked a grin. And Sirena? She went up on her tiptoes and kissed Church gently on the cheek, making all his anger melt away as he dragged her back into his arms.

* * *

I flippedmy lighter open and closed five times before pausing to breathe, then starting the rhythmic flipping again. The smooth patch I’d worn into the metal of the lighter brought me comfort as I rested my head against the willow tree in the dark cemetery.

“Want some?” Stitches asked, handing me the joint he’d been toking on.

I didn’t typically partake in weed, opting to go with my cherry vape, but I decided I might as well since both he and Church were pretty toasted. Felt weird to be the odd guy out.

I inhaled deeply, feeling the warmth of the high slowly seep into my body. The smoke left me in a heavy haze before I took another hit and handed it back to him. He took his turn before passing it to Church.

“It’s weird to be out here,” I murmured, staring into the darkness.

“What’s so weird about it?” Church blew out his cloud of smoke and sank onto the stone bench he seemed particularly attached to.

“I don’t know,” I muttered, accepting the joint Stitches passed back to me and taking a big drag from it.

“Is it because Sin isn’t here?” Stitches’s voice was soft as he took the joint back from me.

I blew out the smoke and coughed, my chest feeling heavy. “Yeah. I guess. Just feels weird with only three of us. We’ve been the four of us since we were kids.”

“He fucked up.” Church tipped his head back and stared up through the branches of the willow tree. Many of the leaves were beginning to fall. I loved this time of year. It was beautiful in Northern Michigan when the leaves changed. There was a whole-ass trail dedicated to driving through the tunnel made of trees. People from all over the world came to see it.

I hadn’t been there in years. Not since Abby was alive. We’d drive there every year and look at all the colors.

My chest ached at the memory of my twin, and I ground my teeth to keep from letting go of my emotions. I always felt like shit when I thought about her. It reminded me of what a fuck-up I was.

I hated that part of me.

“Are we going to forgive him?” Stitches asked, sinking down to sit on an old headstone.

“Fuck him,” Church muttered. “He can fucking rot with Asylum.”

I sighed. I didn’t know what I felt and said as much.

“It’s too soon,” I said. “All of this. I want to forgive him, but he hasn’t really done anything to earn it. I don’t even know if we can trust him around Sirena. If something happened to her because he lost it again. . .” my voice trailed off.

“Exactly,” Church said, getting to his feet. “That’s a hard fucking pass for me. He needs to prove himself.”

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