Page 109 of Sinful

“Only three,” Church answered stiffly.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I started, but he cut me off.

“What I want is for you to get your ass over to Cady’s and get our girl home.”

I sighed. “She hates being controlled like that—”

“I understand,” Church said through clenched teeth. “But she needs to understand some prick is probably still running around out there. We don’t know who he is or what else he’s capable of. Don’t you think you should be watching her? Our home is the safest place. You know this. You promised her safety. Just get her home.”

“Fine.” I gave in. He was right. We did have the safest place. Even though I knew Cady would protect Sirena with her life, it wasn’t right to leave her alone the way we had. Or rather, I had.

“Good.” Church unbuttoned his shirt and sat with it open. The blood spots weren’t visible on the black, but I knew they were there. He lifted a glass of alcohol to his lips and sipped before lighting up a joint and taking a deep hit. “How has everything else been?”

“It’s been fine,” Stitches said. “No noise here. Haven’t even seen Sully.”

“It’s because he’s been in and out here,” Church grumbled. “Saw his prick ass yesterday. Father let him watch me disembowel someone. I wanted to wrap the entrails around his fucking throat like a necklace."

I winced at his description.

“I assume it was a way to remind him to stay in line, but you know Sully. The twisted fuck has dick for brains.”

I couldn’t argue that. The guy was trash.

“Vice Headmaster Atkins hasn’t been around either. I think Emerson and the nuns are holding it down,” I said.

“He’s not here. He’s never been here, that I know of, so whatever the piss he’s doing doesn’t concern us, at least outwardly.” Church took another hit.

“To be fair, you didn’t know Adam or Asylum were involved with your old man,” I pointed out.

Church blew out the smoke. “You’re right. So who the fuck knows. I’m only saying they aren’t here, to my knowledge.”

We were quiet for a beat before Church spoke again.

“What’s up with Sinclair?”

Stitches and I looked at each other.

“What do you mean?” Stitches asked.

“You know what I mean. Has he been spending time with Sirena?”

“He has a few times. Asylum. Him. It’s not been substantial. He’s been helpful taking over when we have therapy and all that bullshit,” I said, feeling on edge at Church’s terse tone.

“Shit better not happen there. We’re already dealing with this third rabbit shit. We don’t have a name. She was meeting Asylum, Mirage, whatever fucking name he’s using now, in the woods, then was hurt by another who wasn’t Mirage or Bryce. So some shit is going on. What have you found out about it?”

“Nothing,” I mumbled, hating that we hadn’t. If it was someone on campus, they were remaining tight-lipped on it. It was frustrating, but we weren’t exactly actively looking. Our concern was simply keeping Sirena safe and happy.

“I see.” Church’s face was emotionless. “Get your asses out there and get some kind of information. Sinclair is a last-ditch fill-in. He’s not coming back. I won’t allow it. He fucked everything up with his shit. I’ll let Asylum and his twisted white prick rabbit alter ego in before I fucking allow Sinclair back.”

“Right,” I said tightly, hating the way he was behaving, but I knew arguing wasn’t the way to win this, so I let it go.

“It’ll be handled,” Stitches broke in. “We’ll do more digging. Everything so far has been radio silence.”

Church said nothing, opting to simply smoke and drink more.

“How close are you to getting this horsemen shit taken care of?” I pressed. “Won’t it set off a chain reaction and bring hell to our doorstep?”

“Well.” Church sat forward. “Let’s hope we can just pin it on my old man, and I walk away without a scratch. I don’t give a shit what any of them do. They can go feral and tear each other to pieces, but I still wouldn’t care.” He paused. “But if shit goes south and they come for us, I’ll kill them all without hesitation, and I’ll own the fucking city. I don’t have time to look over my shoulder. I prefer to look forward.”

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