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“Being chased by a lion,” she muttered as she glared up at me, and I shook my head, trying not to laugh.
I cleared my throat as I pushed my eggs around my plate. “I thought you needed to go to Jasper for the Raymond case? It’s a slam dunk with the doctor’s deposition.”
Co
I sat straight up as I clenched my jaw and avoided A
Co
“I’ll be right up.” Grace collected her dishes and carried them into the kitchen as I ran my hand roughly over my jaw. “Ya’ll better go on and get ready. You don’t want to be late for church. God sees everything.” Even knowing about our past, Grace refused to let us blame God. From the first day she arrived, she told us stories from the Bible and how God had given her so much even though we were her only family. Her positive outlook in even the bleakest situations baffled me, but I admired her for it.
“Wouldn’t want that.” A
“I’ll grab my makeup bag from the car.” Amanda stood and bounded down the hall to the front door.
“You’re not going to church in that outfit.” I drummed my fingers against the wooden table as she got up and walked behind me toward the stairs.
“Who’s going to stop me?” she whispered as she continued by.
“A
Her eyebrows pulled together, and I knew her mind was replaying her walking into my bathroom because her cheeks flushed and her gaze fell.
“What I meant to say was change your fucking clothes now.” I tilted the glass toward her, and she shrieked as the cold liquid soaked through her shirt onto her skin.
“You son of a bitch!”
Thirty minutes later, A
We drove my car, a black 300S, to the church. It was just A
A
“I’d hardly compare you to an elephant,” she deadpa
I laughed as I shook my head. “Now you’re just being cruel.”
“I learned from the master.” She blushed and turned her gaze back to her window as I turned the radio back up. We drove a few more blocks before turning into Holy Trinity’s gravel parking lot. I put the car in park and turned to A
“Hey.” I touched her leg, and she jumped. “You all right?”
“Yeah.” She tucked her hair behind her ear with a nervous smile. “I still don’t really like these places.” She shrugged, and I smiled sadly at her.
“This is a long way from the commune.”
Her eyes searched mine before she nodded.
“Good girl. Let’s go.” I got out of the car and rounded the front of the vehicle, pulling open A
I put my hand on the small of her back as I guided her toward the door. We were greeted warmly by everyone we passed. Inside, the church was small but air-conditioned and well maintained. I preferred this to the megachurches you see on television. This was more personal, hands on, although not to the degree I was used to.
A
“Never.” I tapped my finger on the side of my head and winked. She shook her head and suppressed a giggle as the other members found their seats. I cleared my throat to keep myself from laughing as I nodded hello to Shelly Kline. She’d had her eye on me for a year, and it took everything I had to avoid her advances.
“She likes you,” A
“She’s not my type.”
The service was short and to the point. The preacher spoke about sin and redemption. Before I knew it, we were back on the road speeding toward home.
“Do you believe all of that?” A
“Believe what?” I asked, my eyes focused on the road ahead.
“That sins can just be wiped away? That you can do anything you want and there are no real consequences as long as you ask for forgiveness?”
There was a pregnant pause as I thought over her question. Was she asking for herself? Was she contemplating committing a sin, or was this about acts committed against her? “Some things are unforgivable, little one.”
Her eyes narrowed, and I felt her gaze burning into me. “Do you still…believe in God?”
I looked over at her angelic face, the i
“She’s the one, Colin. She’s the one who came to me in my vision.” Taylor was wildly animated as he dug through the pile of papers on his desk, searching for something.
“You say that about all the new girls.” I tried not to sound bored, but this conversation was getting redundant, and I was growing tired of our monotonous routine. Taylor would bring a new family into our church and force them to live by his standards, only to molest and abuse their children.
“This one is a pretty little thing. You’ll like her. Her name is A
He spent years trying to mold me into him, but he only succeeded in wearing away at my conscience until sick and twisted perversions were the only thing that made me feel at all. It didn’t matter to me in whose name I acted.
“She is yours. A gift from God himself.”
Chapter 3 - A
When we returned to the house, Co
I hated going to church every week because it brought back the parts of my past I liked to pretend didn’t exist. A time when I held hope for the future and trusted in humanity.
“Colin, I’d like you to meet A