Sacrificial Sinners (Blackwood Institute Book 2) by J Rose

Author:J Rose
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J Rose Books
Published: 2022-01-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

TWENTY-TWO

Eli

Higher by Sleep Token

Piling into the classroom, I hold on tight to Phoenix’s hand and let him drag me over to our usual seats. Brooklyn clings to my side, sandwiching me in between them.

The three of us are sticking together like glue; safety in numbers and all. I wish I could say that were the case for the rest of our group, but life loves to fuck us all over one way or another.

When I picked Phoenix up from his room, Kade was already gone—locking himself away with stuff to do now that Mike’s managing the ex-warden’s workload for Augustus.

It’s obvious bullshit. He’s been avoiding us all, not even turning up to eat dinner. Hudson neither. The pair of them have fallen in at the deep end and show no sign of emerging anytime soon.

Phoenix pulls my chair out for me, and I slide into it, dropping Brooklyn’s bag from my shoulder. She does this girlish little smile when I carry it for her, almost like we’re a normal couple. Not this complicated triangle with an even more complicated web on top.

Maybe it’s best we don’t label it. Me and Brooklyn. Me and Phoenix. The others too. What we are together, and what we are apart, there aren’t words to describe it. Maybe there doesn’t need to be. I don’t want to make us fit into one of society’s tight little boxes, because it will only lessen what we have.

“You heard from Hudson?” Phoenix asks.

Brooklyn drops her notepad and pen on the table, running a hand over her loose braid. “He had therapy with Mariam this morning. Obviously, he couldn’t talk about what happened, but I’m hoping it helped. He’s shut me out, won’t even let me in the room.”

“He’ll come around.”

“Seems like I’m always waiting for someone to come around.”

Pressing his lips together, Phoenix fiddles with his phone for a distraction rather than replying. Their temporary truce has offered some respite, but we’re far from out of the woods.

After I had an anxiety attack when they started to argue again, they agreed to keep things amicable around me. At least for the time being, while the rest of our group is splintered apart.

Once the room is full, Crawley begins the lecture and at least half the patients fall asleep in the first ten minutes. The guards have taken to performing random spot checks, chucking people out in the dead of night to ransack their rooms.

“Guys?” Brooklyn nods towards the door. “Look.”

Two guards have slipped into the room, coasting around the perimeter. Her hand lands on my leg and squeezes, urging me to remain calm. I’ve become a regular victim of their bullying, a figure of ridicule.

“Over my dead body,” Phoenix grumbles.

Brooklyn studies them both. “Agreed.”

“You two stay out of this. Let me handle it.”

“Like hell! They’ll kick your ass, pretty boy.”

Phoenix glares at her. “Who are you calling pretty boy?”

“We both know I throw a better punch than you.”

“Wanna bet, firecracker?”

“I’d bet my damn life,” she boasts.

“You’re on.”

Brooklyn shuffles her chair closer, so our bodies are touching at all available points.

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