Ashes (The Boys of Chapel Crest, #2)

by K.G. Reuss

To all my screamers.

She was supposed to be dead. Safe. Far away from any fucker who could harm her. She was our Rinny. My forever girl. My everything. I was supposed to meet her in the afterlife after I’d killed all the wicked. We were meant to kiss and make love and dance on moonbeams together. Forever.

Church’s words as he had held her in his arms. “He broke her. He broke my specter. Fuck, baby. Come back to me.”

“He won,” Stitches said softly. “She screamed for him.” Church’s body vibrated with rage. “She screamed for me.”

“She screamed for Church. It’s how we found her. She screamed and screamed. It was the last place we looked for her. It took us forever to get inside because the door was locked. By the time we got the lid off and Church pulled her out, she was. . . gone. She was humming. Then she went stiff and hasn’t reacted since.” The words were hard to choke out.

“Eat shit, Dante. You don’t scare me.”

“One thing I’m not is a liar.” My hand shook around specter’s. “Sirena is my girl. She belongs to the watchers.”

And Sirena Lawrence belonged to me. I’d do whatever I had to do to prove it.

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK! Sinful. That was me. A disgusting fucking sinner. She’d named me well. The man who’d tricked her and locked her up with the devil. I was truly sinful. It just made me hate myself even more. I deserved this hell. Sinners got punished, and I wouldn’t be an exception.

“What do we do when we feel like we can’t breathe, brother?” “W-we fucking do it anyway,” he answered in a shaky voice. “And what do we do when we get lost in the darkness?” “W-we become the darkness.” He breathed out, the trembling slowing in his body. “Right. And what do we do when we need help?” “We t-trust each other to protect our sanity.”

“But we had a deal. Whoever could make her scream would get her. She screamed my name.”

“Where I’m from, good girls worship their god, not their demons.” I pressed my palms to my knees, shifting forward. “Where I’m from, we let gods think that.”

“The fuck? Shrimp dick?” I snarled at her. “I don’t have a fucking shrimp dick. I can prove it if you’d like.” She raised her brows at me. “By all means, prove it.” I scowled at her as Ashes let out a soft chuckle. “Fuck that. Fuck you too.” “Unlikely to happen with a shrimp dick.” This bitch…

“You just need to come back, baby. I’ll take you to our spot at Pictured Rocks. I’ll make love to you beneath the stars. I’ll whisper to you how much I love you because I do, heaven. I love you so fucking much.” I breathed out and swiped at the dampness along my lashes.

“You’re gone, aren’t you?” I whispered, caressing her cheek. “You fucking left me, didn’t you?” I bit back a sob. “Everyone leaves me. But you know what, specter?” I leaned in and put my lips to her ear, my tears falling into her hair. “I’m never leaving you. You are my love. My fucking obsession. And the next time you leave me, we’ll go in body bags together. I fucking promise you.”

“Just scream my name again, specter. Then I’ll know. I’ll know you’re ready to come home to me.”

Coming home and smelling smoke let me know we were all fucking spiraling. It wasn’t just Stitches. Ashes was losing it too. I wasn’t watching where I was going as I walked, my mind on my friends. I crashed against a hard body.

He nodded and let out a whoosh of air. “You’re right. I need to focus on finding out who helped Asylum. I think we need to start with his friends.” “Then let’s do it.” “I’ll get my tools.” And just like that, his entire demeanor changed as he rushed from the room to get his tools from his room. His hammer. His favorite skinning knife. His razor blades. They’d get the job done or we would. I wasn’t a good guy either, so I went to my room and grabbed my own tools. The night was about to get lit.

“Help me, Dante. Please,” I managed to say. He lay beside me and cradled my face as I panted. “It’s OK. I’m here. Everything is OK. You’re safe.” “I-I can’t—” “Fuck you, you can,” he said in a fierce growl. “You’re not going to fucking leave me too, Valentine. Get your shit together.” I sucked in breath after breath, desperate to not disappoint him. He was all I had right now. “Remember what we do when we can’t breathe?” “We d-do it anyway,” I said. “That’s right. We fucking do it anyway.” He wrapped his arms around me and held me against

his body as I tried to get my shit together. “Do you need fire? It’s been too long,” he murmured. “Y-yes.” “OK. Try to calm down. I’m going to get dressed. I’ll take you to the barrels.” I said nothing as I continued to focus on keeping myself in check. Church kissed my forehead fiercely before he released me and slid out of bed. I was too focused on holding myself together to hear what he was doing. A moment later, his hands were in mine as he helped me out of bed and led me to my room.

“Do you want us to trust the process. . . or you?” Sin called out. Asylum’s blue gaze snapped to Sin, and a frightening grin carved his lips upward. “Trust the process. Don’t trust me. I’m crazy.”

Church let out a sigh. “Just. . . fucking go back to your room, you nut job. And keep my family safe.” “Surely not all your family? Your father. . . we should bury him with the bones beneath Sully’s office too. Yes?” “Yes,” Church said fiercely. Asylum’s eyes lit up. “We won’t kill him right away.” “No,” Church murmured. “Not right away. He has sins to pay for.” Asylum’s lips quirked up at one corner. “Perfect. Foreplay.”

I blinked at her. She was the complete opposite of our sweet Sirena. Cady was fire. I liked fire. I grinned at her. “What did you do to get thrown in here?” “Set Jerry’s car on fire.” She smirked widely at me. “You gave me the idea with all your talk of flames.” Church scoffed. “That’s hardly enough to get someone thrown in here.” Her grin widened. “I guess I forgot to mention he was in it at the time.”

I got in her face, my pulse roaring in my ears. She didn’t back away from me as I stared her down, my chest heaving. In fact, she pushed back, clearly ready to fight me if it came down to it. “Don’t fucking come at me with that shit. You’ll find yourself dead.” “Don’t threaten me with a good time,” she grumbled back, poking her finger hard into my chest. “Fuck with me, and I’ll fuck with you right back. And fuck with my sister? You’ll be the one who fucking wakes up dead. I’m going to find out who did this to her. So if it was you, I’d start running. This is me giving you a head start.” “Yeah?” I breathed out, my hands trembling.

“I’m fast as fuck, Sinclair,” she said softly. Dangerously. “I promise that you don’t want to find out just how fast. If I catch you, you’re a dead man.” I swallowed thickly. I’d never met a girl, or person for that matter, who’d ever stood up to me. I wasn’t even sure how the fuck to navigate it. Backing down seemed like a pussy thing to do, but deep down inside, I wanted to run. And she was right. I wanted to die. “Everything OK?” Ashes called out, strolling out onto the patio as Cadence and I stared one another down. “Yeah,” she said, stepping away from me. “We were just getting to know one another better.”

I caught Cadence’s gaze when I came back in. She winked at me, making me want to launch myself across the room and pummel her tiny ass. Instead, I opted to give her the finger. She acted like she caught it in mid-air and then gave me one right back. Fuck, what a nightmare.

“She’s a fucking nightmare,” Church complained with a grunt, scrubbing his hand down his face and sighing.

“So are we,” I murmured. But two nightmares could only make a night terror. At least that was the hope I had as the heat from my flame burned my thumb.

“Sin will go in and see Stitches. He’ll get all the information we need. OK? Trust in Sin.” “Fuck Sin,” she snarled, glaring at me. “Fuck you right back, bitch,” I snapped. She stuck her tongue out at me, and I stuck mine right back out at her like a damn child. “For fuck’s sake,” Ashes mumbled, rubbing his neck. “Claws, do you understand what I’m saying to you?” Church demanded, pulling her attention from me. “Yes,” she muttered. “I get it. I’ll hold off. For now.” “Thank you,” Church said, actually sounding grateful. “But if you fuck this up, I’ll kill you and

pretend like you never existed. No one will find your body.” She rolled her eyes. “I said OK, dick weed. I won’t. I’ll wait. For now.”

“I go to the lake. Or cemetery.” “Why?” She gave Melanie the finger as we passed by. I didn’t know if they’d been introduced or not, but I was guessing they’d had an interaction or two given Cadence’s waving middle finger as Melanie scowled back, her eyes dark and filled with quietly controlled rage. Great. Like we needed more problems. “To be alone. To think. To. . . pray.” “Pray?” She glanced at me. “You don’t strike me as the praying type.”

“I-I want to be normal,” I finally whispered. “Only death makes everyone equal. So yeah. I guess in a way I do. I don’t deserve to live.”

Secrets. Lots of secrets. A man. Dark hair. A blonde girl. A queen. Hiding. He’s hiding.