Chapter 16 #2
“What? No, look, we were at my church in the shower. I remember kissing and heat and uh…an orgasm,” I admitted quietly.
“And then I don’t remember anything else.
I just wanted to ask you to make sure she got home okay…
and if she, uh, I don’t know, was happy with last night.
I am out of practice with this shit, okay, don’t make me fucking sweat. ”
Jerry exhaled slowly.
“She told Dawn you ran off last night, Jedidiah,” he said slowly. “She was at my house in the middle of the night, crying in Dawn’s arms.”
“She…what? But we…”
“Yeah. I don’t know who you think sucked your dick, but it definitely wasn’t Ramona. Her snot on my sofa is proof.”
I looked up at him, fear replacing my confusion.
“It wasn’t Ramona with me last night?”
“Nope.”
Then who…?
“Who did you talk to last night after you dismissed Dawn’s lackey?”
“Oh God, Jerry, I don’t remember. I am such an asshole.”
Jerry laughed and stood up to clap me on the back, and replace my coffee.
“Well, a mystery blowy wasn’t exactly the plan, Jeddy.”
I leaned back too quickly, my ribs instantly protesting while my face flushed absolute crimson to the point the heat was painful.
“I mean, it wasn’t very nice of you, Priesty Pop, to just bolt,” he said. “Not like that and snag some other lady, or was it the other variety of body parts. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with bein’ ga—”
Ugh, this was like being scolded by a teacher or something.
“I remember her voice—” I said, cutting him off. “I remember her calling me by name and even my title.”
Jerry’s jaw tightened.
“Hmm. Not good that a lady knows she’s giving a sloppy toppy to a holy man, Jed. Did you pick up a prostitute?” he said suddenly.
“No!” I said, flinching at how loudly that came out. I leaned in. “No, I wouldn’t do that. I would never go near a prostitute because of my mom. Nothing wrong with them, I just…no…definitely not that.”
Another silence that lasted longer this time.
“What?” I said sharply.
Jerry glanced toward the kitchen with the leaky faucet and then back at me. “Jed.”
“What…”
“If it wasn’t Dawn’s girl, and it wasn’t a hooker, then who the fuck got some premium god juice?”
He was laughing, but I was mortified. “Ew. Just stop. Are you the eight-year-old or is it Elias’s influence, for Christ’s sake?”
“Listen, you’ll understand when you have kids that their maturity has nothing on yours. I can out-toddler Maria if I want to,” he said. “Hell, anything for Dawn to give me a spanking.”
I rolled my eyes.
Dear God…married people were weird.
“Looks like we need to go lookin’ for who you mouth-fucked. And we need to do it before they open their mouth again, and this time to spill all that pretty come you left.”
“Jerry, would you stop! I didn’t…”
The image of shapely breasts in a tight-fitting shirt with dripping come all over until the water washed it away flashed in my mind. She was there and then gone. My pulse began to pound in my ears, and I shook my head.
“Fuck me.”
“You’re not my type, darlin’, but listen, I got one better for you. I will go on your sleuthing mission with you,” Jerry said, and before I could protest. “Lord knows you need a chaperone to keep you from fighting and mouth-humping strangers.”
My grip tightened on the mug. I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t.
“And what if the person doesn’t confess?” I said.
Jerry laughed. “You mean the lady doesn’t admit to sucking off a priest? Meh, no biggie. Then we know she doesn’t want to spill that info. Win-win.”
“I don’t know…” I said quietly.
The parish suddenly felt too small, but the memory of her voice surged back violently.
“Jed.” That was the way she’d said my name.
The hand in my hair.
“Let the water wash away our sins.”
I stood abruptly, like my ass was on fire, and hissed at the pain.
“You need some of Dawn’s magic before we go back there, playboy. You go in lookin’ like that and the only mystery date you’re gonna find is Jack’s deputies.”
The thought of being in jail made me itchy.
“Come on now. Let’s go.” Jerry said, getting to his feet too.
“Can I talk to her?”
“I know for damn sure you don’t mean the woman who was sobbing on my couch till two in the mornin’ from your sorry ass rejecting her.”
I sighed…I didn’t remember rejecting anyone, but I did hazily remember feeling unwell…then nothing. Dammit!
“Never mind. Let’s go.”
I pressed a hand to my ribs, grounding myself in the pain as I walked forward toward the truck outside.
“Jed. You really wearing your old clothes? Go shower, boy. And don’t expect me to sneak in for round two. I’ll make us some breakfast.”
Ugh. He was right. He was always right. Damn him.
The fight I understood. Not exactly why I fought a group of thugs, but at least the violence made sense.
The shower, though…not so much.
And losing time? Not a good combination
Not remembering a face? Even worse.
The shadow in my mind haunted me as I showered. That memory was unsettling me while making heat rise to my dick.
Jerry’s voice cut in over my spiraling thoughts. “You sure you’re okay?” he said through the door.
No, I wasn’t. And for the first time since waking up, the haze shifted from confusion to guilt.
It wasn’t about sin anymore.
It was about survival.
The realization that someone had been close enough to whisper my name. They knew me. They knew what I was.
I couldn’t even picture her face, but she was out there.
And she was the one person in the entire world who could irrevocably destroy me.