Page 21 of Sinful

I blinked rapidly, the ugly thoughts and anger receding. The room came back into focus.

The living room. I was naked, and Ashes was cradling me in his arms on the couch.

“It’s OK. It’s OK,” he repeated, his voice trembling while he rocked me on his lap. “I’ve got you. I won’t let you go. It’s OK.”

I blinked rapidly before running my fingers through his soft hair. He pulled away and stared down at me, worry in his blue eyes.

“You scared me,” he murmured.

I took his hand and traced letters gently onto his palm.

Tired.

He nodded, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“OK. Let’s get you dressed, and then we can rest.”

With ease, he lifted me into his arms and brought me to Church’s room, where he placed me on the bed. Quickly, he grabbed a pair of panties for me and shimmied them up my legs before pulling one of Church’s long shirts over my body and tucking me beneath the blankets.

Wordlessly, he rounded the bed and lay beside me after taking me into his hold.

“Sleep,” he whispered. “You’re not well. You need to rest.”

The way he said the words made the fear swell within me again.

Because he was right.

I wasn’t well. Something was happening to me.

Something really bad.

Something that could get someone killed.

BRYCE

Fuck the watchers.

I let out a groan and shuffled to my feet from my bed, my body feeling like I’d been run over on repeat, and then dragged for miles.

A creak at my door had me looking over to see who it was.

“Hello, bunny boy,” Asylum said, cocking his head to the left at me, a tiny deranged smile on his lips that made me take a step back.

“Have a minute to. . . talk?” He raised his dark brows at me.

I swallowed hard. “All I have is time. You know that. This is my purgatory.”

He pushed off my door jamb and came fully into my room, twirling a damn fork around his fingers.

“Put your weapon away,” I muttered, not moving from my spot. I kept a close eye on the psycho as he slowly prowled my small dorm room. They’d let me out of the facility a few days ago, and I’d been here since. I’d left my door open to get some air in.

I was really great at making bad decisions.

“It’s only a weapon if I use it to carve out your eyes. Or tongue. Ever had your tongue forked out, Andrews?” Asylum stopped his perusal of my room and turned to face me. Dressed in all black, he gave off the vibes of someone who would truly fork me to death before slipping away back into the shadows he dwelled in.

“Can’t say I have,” I answered tightly.

He studied me, still twirling his damn fork. “First time for everything, right?”

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