𝐀 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝

Chapter Twenty-Six

My stomach churned and I hurried off the floor and into an empty stall, throwing up the contents. Aiyden appeared behind me and gathered my hair, caressing a hand over my shoulder.

"We should...he's..." he stammered, his voice sounding a little shaky for the first time since I had met him.

I flushed the toilet when I stopped hurling, wiping my mouth with a piece of toilet roll. "I need to get out of here, Aiyden."

My eyes trailed to the little ribbon of space underneath the stall, showing me the dark curls of the guy who laid there. Bile rose in my throat once again at the sight of all that blood, but I pushed it down, holding onto Aiyden as he helped me up.

This was the second time I had found a body. Was the killer setting me up? Or was this just ajusta coincidence?

I took a better look at the body-against my better judgement-and my eyes widened when I saw a noose around his neck. The rope had seemed to cut into his flesh and severed nearly his entire head off, explaining all that blood.

The word 'sinner' was written on his forehead with his own blood, and my stomach protested again. I turned away, trembling.

"I'll ask someone at the bar to call 911, you stay here until I come back, okay?" Aiyden grabbed me by the shoulders but I couldn't rip my eyes from the corpse. The blood hadn't dried yet and I started to wonder how long he had been dead. Had the killer just done this? When we were all here?

And what were the odds that I would find another body? Oh, God.

"Aiyden, stop."

He froze mid-step and looked back at me, a look of pure concern on his face. "What?"

"Don't leave me." I paused, looking at all the blood on my hands. Oh, God. "The cops can't find me here." I took a step in his direction and pulled him closer. "What if they think I did this?"

Tears started to line my eyes and I didn't know if it was from pure exhaustion or terror, but it was difficult to keep my emotions in check after everything I had seen. However incriminating it looked, seeing so much death up close couldn't be good for a person.

Aiyden cupped my face in his large hands and rubbed circles over my cheeks with his thumbs. "Jamie. You're going to be okay. When I'm getting someone to call the police, you sneak out of the bar, okay?"

Maybe doing what he said would make me look even worse, but I nodded frantically and wiped my tears away. I wanted to get out of there. I wanted to get somewhere safe. Preferably in Aiyden's arms.

"Okay. What about Felicity?"

"I'll have Isaiah bring her home. We can trust him." Aiyden let me go before I was able to answer and stepped out of the bathroom, loud music filling the space as soon as the door opened. It did nothing about the intense feeling of dread in my stomach, though.

-

Aiyden's street was quiet and deserted as we walked up to his house. He had lent me his coat, protecting me from the cold winter air, and all I could do was stare at the pavement as he led me into his home.

Reality had crashed down on me in the last half hour and I still couldn't quite believe what I had seen. My mouth was dry and I tried to wipe my clammy hands on my dress as I stepped over the threshold. I was grateful for the silence, though the dark of the night didn't help ease my nerves.

"Come on," Aiyden said, turning on the light on in the hall and gesturing up the stairs.

My feet were moving on autopilot, bringing me to the bathroom where Aiyden started to take off the coat.