Page 10 of Sinful

When we’d gotten Asylum to come to her that day that she’d asked for him, she’d slept through it, and he hadn’t been back since. Now, here he was.

“I’m worried, man. Whoever did this is still out there.” Stitches glanced at me and then to Church.

I nodded. He was right. It wasn’t Bryce. We hadn’t seen him since we’d attacked him in the woods. We were beside ourselves, trying to figure out what the hell was going on with Sirena meeting whoever was in the woods. We were being patient, though. It’s all we could do at this point with her.

“We’ll keep her safe,” I said.

“We said that last time. Look what happened.” Church swore softly and stopped his pacing to stare up at the ceiling like he was contemplating it all.

We were all quiet for a moment before I said what I’d been thinking since this happened.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe we can’t keep her safe. Maybe. . .”

“Don’t fucking say it, Valentine. I’m not in the mood,” Church said, glaring at me and going to his chair to sit. He slid back and scowled.

“What are we going to do about Cady? She threatened to feed me my own cock today on my walk back here after therapy.” Stitches looked at each of us in turn. “She pulled out a fucking spork and told me it was what she’d use to mutilate my dick from my body before she toasted it over a fire and force-fed it to me.”

I shook my head. Cady was wild.

“Claws will lose it if we tell her,” Church said. “Sirena needs to be healed. She needs to decide if she wants Cady to know.”

“It could be weeks. We can’t hold her off that long. I’m not even sure we can last another day.” I breathed out and rubbed my eyes. “Plus, it’s the holidays, man.”

I couldn’t take this damn stress. I pulled my lighter out and went to flipping it opened and closed, counting softly as I did it while igniting the flame for a moment before starting all over.

“Fuck the holidays. We don’t celebrate that shit anyway. We’ll figure it out.” Church turned his head as Asylum came downstairs.

“Watchers,” Asylum said, inclining his head at us.

“How did it go?” Church demanded.

“It went. . . well.” Asylum flashed a grin at us. “Little firefly has made a decision. We must help her carry it out with precision. To win the game. We stoke the flame. It’s going to get bloody, boys. Buckle up.”

I raised my brows at him. Asylum was nothing if not entertaining with his rhymes. He tended to confuse and frustrate me more than anything as of late, though.

“What happened?” Stitches asked.

I gestured for Asylum to sit. He did so at the end of the leather couch and surveyed us with his blue eyes.

“She has made a choice. We are going to guide her through it.”

“She spoke?” Church was all ears while he stared Asylum down. She’d come a long way in the last few weeks and was communicating more. Then, this entire ordeal pretty much sealed her lips and made her regress. It was two steps forward and a million back.

Asylum nodded. “She has. It’s unlocked the next step. It’s a good thing because everything has just been a haze to me lately. Her choice tonight let me know where she is on things.”

“Did she say who hurt her?” Stitches demanded before I could ask it.

Asylum’s hands visibly shook. “She did not. I didn’t push it either. She will tell us eventually. We just need to have patience.”

“What if he hurts her again? Whoever it was?” I swallowed hard. “I swore I’d protect her, and I failed her.”

“Me too,” Stitches whispered.

“I think we all failed her. So many things could have been done differently.” Church sighed, his voice shaking slightly. “I need to find this motherfucker and kill him. I need it more than anything else in the world right now.”

We were all feeling it. It really sucked. It was definitely a contributing factor to my lack of sleep as of late.

I restarted my lighter ritual, hoping it brought me some comfort but knowing it was just igniting the agitation within me. I was a moth to the flame it seemed because I couldn’t force myself to stop. It was my one vice, and I was going to use the hell out of it.

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