Page 85 of Priestly Sins

Her sharp intake of breath says she’s putting things together faster than I did.

“And there was another with Bobby’s body.”

“But my mom…” she stares off.

“….wasn’t killed by Enzo.”

“But he had to have done it. It helped him. He had to have—”

“I think there’s another threat. I’m so sorry. I’m…. I’m so, so sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything.”

“I brought this down on you and Clara. If there’s a second player, and it looks like there is, he killed your mom. That’s on me.”

“But…” She swallows, but the hoarseness in her voice ushers in her tears. “That can’t be right.”

“Love, the house in Charleston was in my birth name. Enzo couldn’t have followed that trail even if he were alive.”

“But then…” Her eyes brim with tears and as they spill over, she turns her back on me. Fuck, that hurts! “Then…”

“You can say it, baby.”

“Then my mom didn’t have to die.”

Silence. My mouth feels full of acid and my guts feel like they’re burning from the inside out.

She turns enough to look me in the face, her body still facing away, hiding, protecting.

“Baby, neither of your parents should have been killed. Just like my ma.”

Her tears flow. She slides to the floor and curls into a tight ball in the corner of the shower, folded in on herself and letting the emotions come. She pulls her knees up to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around them, resting her head on her knees. Her body racks with sobs.

I wait. It’s awkward and my hands feel leaden like all they can do is hang at my sides.

I block the water as much as I can until I finally turn off the shower and step out, grabbing a towel. I come back, wrap it around her and lift her, carrying her to the bed where she sits like a zombie, staring out into the unknown. I dry her as best I can, catching the water droplets from her hair as they sluice over her. I find an oversized tee and pull it over her and tuck her in. I use the same towel and drop it on the bathroom floor before grabbing a pair of pajama bottoms and pulling them on.

I turn off my bedside lamp and climb in behind her.

She doesn’t mold to my body. She is just a lump near me. Her tears are gone, but her sniffles remain.

She allows me to spoon her but her fists are clenched, her knuckles white.

We stay like that for a long time. “Why did you tell me?”

“Which part?”

“That my mom— that you think there was a second threat.”

“Because I think thereisa second threat, notwasa second threat.”

She stiffens.

“I loved Bobby like a brother. He is one of less than a handful of people who knew my secret. You and Killian are the others. You and Clara are my family and I will protect you at all costs. But you have to know that someone’s out there.”

“Someone who would hurt me or Clara.”

I slide her hair off her shoulder and move my lips to her ear.