Page 176 of Sinful

“She’s. . . out. I don’t know. Fuck.”

I swallowed hard. “I’ll be there in a minute. Keep her safe.”

I cut the call off and phoned Church as I continued my run. I suddenly wished I had done more cardio because the cold air was killing my lungs.

“Sin,” Church’s gruff voice came over the line. “What’s wrong?”

“S-Sirena,” gasped out, seeing our house in the distance and making out Mirage’s figure on the front step holding a limp Sirena in his arms.

“What happened?” His voice came out tense, and I could hear him curse at someone before a flurry of movement because he was obviously running now too.

“Don’t know. Mirage called. He’s at the house with her. I’m almost there.”

“Get to her. I’ll be there in a minute.” Church hung up, and I raced up the steps to get to the door as Bryce came around the side of the house, looking worried and frustrated.

I unlocked the door and ushered them inside.

Mirage took Sirena to the couch and laid her on it.

My chest constricted as I took her in. Her eyes were open, but she’d checked out.

“Fuck, what happened?” I whispered as Mirage shifted her to remove her coat.

“I don’t know. Adam Larson pissed her off when we were at the vending machine. He was being his typical dipshit self and saying stupid shit,” Mirage said, pushing her hair gently away from her face.

I noticed his busted knuckles and the drying blood and realized Adam Larson probably had a broken nose.

“What did he say?” I demanded.

“Just being a dick,” Mirage muttered, checking out on me and focusing completely on Sirena. “Rinny? Hey. Come on. We can’t do this. Come back, OK?”

He began humming that song I’d heard so often, his hand clinging to hers.

I backed away before going to the hall closet and getting a heavy blanket for her since I knew she had to be cold. All I could think about was losing her and questioning why.

Why did this shit need to keep happening? It wasn’t fucking fair. I couldn’t lose her. Damnit, I couldn’t. My heart couldn’t handle it. I knew I needed to pull myself together, so I drew in a few calming breaths.

I came back in to find Mirage still humming and Bryce sitting on the edge of the couch, worry written all over his face.

It took me a moment to realize what I was witnessing.

Two more guys who loved her dearly. It was what love in action looked like.

There was no time to dwell on it, though, so I covered her when Bryce moved aside for me.

Admitting it killed me inside, that she’d gone blank again like she had before.

Church burst into the house with Ashes and Stitches on his heels. Bryce was shoved aside as they all gathered around her.

Bryce tensed but lurked on the edge of the group, his focus on everything going on. Instead of dwelling on that, I kept my attention on what was really important, and that was our girl.

“She’s. . . fuck,” Stitches rasped. “No, man. Not again.”

“It’s fine,” Ashes said, his voice shaking. “We’ve done this before. She came back before. She’s only. . . taking a break. She’s been under a lot of stress.”

“Right,” I murmured. “Stress.”

“What happened? Tell me everything,” Church demanded. It was Bryce who spoke because Mirage was too busy humming to her.

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