Page 85 of Sinful

Ashes chuckled. “Do you not brush your hair?”

“Some of us aren’t responsible like that, Asher. I’m lucky if I can find my carrot in the morning.”

“He means the vegetable,” I cut in. “Not his dick. He always has that in his hand.”

“Fuck you.” Mirage chortled. “Asshole. You’re one to talk.”

I caught the small smile on Ashes’s face at our bantering and fixed one on my face that, for once, didn’t feel so forced.

“I lived with Sin. I know too much about his carrot issues,” Ashes said, bumping his shoulder with mine.

It almost felt like the old days when I was still a watcher. The smile faltered on my lips at the thought that now I was just the odd man out, looking in.

“So, Sirena?” Ashes looked to me.

“Uh, yeah. I, um, I can do that.”

“Awesome. Thanks, man. I set Stitches’s homework on fire in the sink this morning.”

I winced at that. It wasn’t often Stitches even bothered with homework, so for Ashes to have burned it on him. . .

“Hey.” Stitches rounded the corner with Sirena and joined us, his arm around her waist.

Her colorful eyes met mine for the briefest moment, making my heart lurch with want. I inhaled deeply to calm myself before watching her gaze move to Mirage. I studied them, noting Ashes and Stitches weren’t paying attention as they talked.

Mirage’s blue eyes sparkled, a tiny smirk on his lips as he stared back at her. Her cheeks darkened a pretty pink color, and her bottom lip pulled between her teeth.

I wondered if he was doing some head shit with her. He told me he couldn’t read minds, but that didn’t make me believe anything because he still always knew things.

It wasn’t a secret to me that Mirage and Asylum wanted her and wouldn’t stop until she was theirs. Sometimes I wished I had their stamina for getting their lives fucked up by Church and the guys. And their hearts because I wasn’t so sure any of this was going to work out for anyone.

Especially once Church figured out she had room in her heart for the psycho.

“Faith, Sinclair.” Mirage’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

“What?” I blinked at him, stopping Stitches and Ashes’s conversation.

“Faith. It’s what you lack. Have some, OK?” Mirage’s voice was gentle, but he was the gentler one if I had to label him. He was also more unpredictable than Asylum was. Sometimes, though, it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began.

I pushed my hand into my pocket and felt the rosary Sirena had given me. I’d prayed with it every night since I’d gotten it. I’d even gone to the lake and sat in the cold, looking out at the frozen water, making wishes and saying prayers I hoped were heard.

I offered Mirage a brittle smile and looked to my feet.

“OK, well, that was weird, but what did I expect?” Stitches called out. “Asylum, man, you’re nuts. Anyone ever tell you that?”

“I’m Mirage,” Mirage said instantly. “Not Asylum.”

Stitches rolled his eyes. “You’re nuts.”

“I don’t disagree.” Mirage shrugged, still smiling. “So. Heard your homework got torched.”

Stitches let out a sigh. “Ashes set it on fire this morning in the kitchen.”

“It wasn’t like you did it,” Ashes shot back.

“Dude, I did, like, three questions on there.”

“Malachi, you literally wrote,Fuck this. Fuck that. Fuck you.That doesn’t qualify as doing your homework.”

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