Page 152 of Sinful

Ashes tore his gaze away from me and looked to Church.

“He said he loved her and would beg forever on his knees if that’s what it took. That he wanted another chance to prove himself.”

Church nodded and flipped through the notebook more, clearly reading all our private conversations.

He pulled his knife out of his boot and twirled it between his fingers as he read. Sirena’s soft cries echoed around me, twisting my guts like a snake. The thought brought back my memory of William Snakespeare, my retic, and how she was scared of him. How I wanted to teach her not to be. How I wanted to prove to her that not all snakes were bad. Because I was a snake too.

Fuck.

I wiped at my eyes again and looked to her. Her chest heaved. She had to be so cold.

“Asher and Malachi helped me punish her today,” Church called out, pulling me from my thoughts. “Of course, they didn’t know they were doing it. It took seeing their reactions today for me to realize something was very wrong here. They were feral for her. Like they hadn’t fucked her tight pussy in ages. I guess they hadn’t.” He let out a humorless laugh. “I’m good at reading people. Always have been. Asylum has his parlor tricks, and I have mine. Isn’t that fun, Sinclair?”

“A fucking riot,” I answered in a monotone, tearing my focus from Sirena and back to him.

“Let’s go for a walk. Shall we?” Church rose from his seat, his knife still in his hand. I looked to Stitches, who shook his headnoat me, and then to Ashes, who pleaded with his eyes for me to just walk away and not onward to my certain death.

“You love the lake, don’t you?” Church continued as I got to my feet.

“I do,” I answered softly.

“Then I think it’s the perfect place, don’t you?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Good. Malachi. Asher. Get her cleaned up. We’ll talk when I return.” Church stomped past me and grabbed his jacket. I followed and cast a look to my girl lying on that fucking table.

“Dante, don’t do this,” Ashes said. “Please.”

“It’s already done,” Church answered before pulling the door open and stepping into the night air.

“For what it’s worth, thank you for giving me this week with her,” I said. “Siren.Baby.I fucking love you. M-make sure Bill eats, OK? A-and keep dancing. I want you to dance no matter what happens. I’ll see you soon.” I stepped out the door to hear her wail my name.

Sinful.

I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. Nothing about what would happen next was good.

“Let’s go,” Church called out, nodding for me to follow him.

Without protest, I followed him into the dark trees, catching a glimpse of someone darting behind a tree wearing all black.

Shadow.

So many secrets were kept in the dark at Chapel Crest.

Mine was out in the open now.

It wouldn’t be long until Shadow was brought to light either.

All monsters at Chapel Crest eventually paid for their sins. He’d be no different.

I sent up a silent prayer for him, hoping that if I didn’t make it, then maybe he would.

CHURCH

“It’s cold out,” I said as we stood staring out at the frozen lake. “Hard to hide bodies this time of year. We’d have to really get out there to do it.”

“The lake hasn’t frozen in its entirety since ’94,” Sin answered, his voice showing no emotion.

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