Page 123 of Sinful

He looked at me and frowned. “I put it on my nightstand.”

“Yes. Then you picked it up and took it with you into the bathroom.”

He hesitated for a minute before stalking back to the bathroom. A moment later, he emerged, the rosary clutched in his hand.

“So they’re letting you in, huh?” I watched him grab a t-shirt from his dresser and tug it over his head.

“Not really. I get a week to win her over, then I can deal with Dante.”

“Who will try to kill you,” I said, cocking my head to the right. “But you’ll do the right thing and win him over.”

He turned to me, worry on his face.

“Is he actually going to try to kill me?”

I shrugged. “It’s Dante Church. Of course, he will. I don’t need to be psychic to see that. You just need to have a bartering chip. Well,weneed a bartering chip.”

“Do we have one?” He grabbed his jacket and turned back to face me.

“Maybe. I’ve been looking into this shit with the fucker who touched her in the woods.” My chest tightened with the barely control rage I had. I inhaled deeply, hoping to quell the storm within me before continuing. All I’d been doing lately was obsessing over the monster in the woods who hurt her. Who robbed her. She’d always been an easy target, and I was fucking tired of her being in pain. These assholes needed to pay.

“I know it’s not Linley, but it has to be someone in the same mindset as he is. A demented sex pervert.” I closed my eyes briefly, wishing I could get a clearer image of things.

Sin raised a brow at me when I opened my eyes. “Names?”

I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know. My fucking head feels like a dumpster fire lately. I don’t know what’s going on with it. Is this what it feels like to be. . . normal?”

Sin chuckled. “I’m not sure because I don’t think any of us here are normal, but maybe it’s a shadow of normal.”

“Shadow,” I murmured. “Shadow.” I picked my carrot up from my bedside table and took a crunchy bite before getting to my feet.

“Where are you going?” Sin called out to me as I went to the door.

“Out,” was all I said before heading to where the distant voices led.

* * *

I roundeda corner and nearly ran right into Bryce who was walking while staring at the ground.

“Shit.” He let out a gasp of surprise when he realized I was there. “Sorry, Mirage.”

I smiled at him, taking in the way he maintained his distance, his gaze darting around the empty path. I cocked my head to the right, surveying him.

“You’re always so nervous,” I commented. “Or are you?”

He scoffed at me and looked toward the science building. “Thanks for saving me in the woods. I don’t remember if I ever told you.”

“Don’t play games with me, Andrews. You know it wasn’t me who saved you. Right?”

He turned his attention back to me. “Asylum. Mirage. It’s all the same, isn’t it?”

I caught the meaning in his words, knowing no one having heard it would have batted a lash. But me? I saw right through it.

“Sure. We’ll let everyone run with that idea. It’s worked so far.”

He grunted. “OK. Great. I’m meeting up with my friends, so I need to get going—”

“Oh?” I crinkled my brows at him beneath my rabbit mask. “Where are you meeting them?”

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