Page 25 of Sinful

I went to the door and pulled it open to find Sin holding two paper sacks of groceries.

“What’s this?” I asked, frowning at him.

“I, uh, I saw Stitches at the gates. He said you guys didn’t have much food. I thought I’d bring you some. It’s not a lot—”

“We don’t want it,” I snapped, glaring at him. “Keep it.”

“Church, I-I don’t want Sirena to be without if something happens. Storms are coming—”

“I know how to take care of my girl,” I snarled at him. “Don’t come to my fucking door and insult me, Sinclair.”

“What’s going on?” Stitches came up behind me and stared Sin down. “Hey.”

“I brought supplies,” Sin muttered.

“Shove them up your ass.” I slammed the door closed on him, anger coursing through me.

“Man, he’s trying,” Stitches said, sighing.

“Doesn’t fucking matter. He fucked up. He can’t unfuck what he did. Our girl up there losing her fucking mind and hurting is a reminder of that fuck-up.”

“He’s our friend. Our brother. At least he was. Let’s just—”

“No. I’ll fucking kill him if he steps foot into this house, Malachi. You know I will. Then I’ll eat all fucking winter.” I stormed upstairs and went straight to my room to find Ashes sitting on the edge of my bed, watching Sirena sleep.

“Who was at the door?” he asked, glancing at me.

It was hard for me to keep my anger in check whenever I was around Sin. He’d been one of my best friends. We’d bonded in our traumas, but that fucking asshole went a step too far.

“Sin.”

He raised his brows at me. “What did he want?”

“He had supplies he wanted to give us.”

“Oh. That’s nice of him.” He flipped his lighter open and closed, his attention back on Sirena.

“Fuck him,” I said, sitting on Sirena’s other side.

The flame from Ashes’s lighter danced for a moment before he closed the lid and returned to his ritual opening and closing five times. A pause. A flame. Back to opening and closing.

“Maybe we should talk to him and hear him out,” Ashes started.

“No. I already told Stitches that Sin can fuck off. He’s not welcome in this house. He helped for a minute when Specter was hurt. I appreciate that, but it doesn’t erase his sins. What he did fucked everything up.”

“Dante, we agreed to let Asylum in here. To help. To. . . I don’t know. I think maybe we should hear Sin out.”

I ground my teeth together. “Asher, man. Enough. I’m already on edge with everything. It takes every ounce of control I have to not just gut him whenever he’s close. The fact you and Stitches are so careless with your forgiveness baffles me.”

Ashes sighed and looked back to Sirena. “You know Sinclair has issues. We all do. Would you cut me out for mine? For setting the house on fire? What about Stitches for fighting? For his anger? I mean. . . fuck, man. We all deserve a little grace.”

“He meant for her to die, Asher.Dead.He hoped Asylum’s crazy ass would take her out.”

“And yet you’re letting Asylum in.” He looked back to me. “Do you get my point?”

I let out a huff of frustration. This conversation was going in circles and pissing me off.

“Let’s put a pin in it,” Ashes said, clearly catching on. He closed his lighter and clenched it tightly in his hand. I noted the slight tremble. “We can revisit this conversation later. However, you need to understand that Asylum and Sin have obviously become friends. If you’re letting Asylum near, know that Sin will be too. You can’t be pissed about that.”

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