11. Chapter 11
Harley
“What do you mean, you slept with a monk?” Bella’s blue eyes nearly popped out of her pretty head as she stared at me.
“I didn’t sleep with him.” I returned my focus to my blood-splattered T-shirt. Hopefully this stain remover would work just as Coco had promised. I sprayed some on the gray fabric. “We slept in the same bed. Big difference.”
Or maybe not so big, because it had been a twin bed, and I’d been cocooned in his strong arms, my back pressed against his solid torso the entire night.
At least that’s what I guessed, because when Kingsley had woken me up the next morning for Vigils, he’d been squatting next to the bed instead of lying in it.
So maybe he’d returned to his spot outside the guesthouse right after I’d fallen asleep.
“Why would you share a bed with a monk?” Coco stuffed the rest of my clothes into the washer in her usual brusque fashion. Unlike Bella, she wore ripped jeans and a white T-shirt, part of her shoulder-length raven curls tied into a bun at the back of her head.
“I had a panic attack and he calmed me down.”
“I wasn’t aware you had panic attacks,” Noa Rose came over the phone we’d propped up on the sink.
The three-story concrete building of the Darkwater Refuge Police Department rose into the darkening evening sky behind her.
The usual compassion in her tone made me nearly cry.
Five days had passed since that nightmare, and it still haunted me.
“It was a first. I’ve never had this happen to me before.”
Coco poured a generous amount of detergent into the washer. “What triggered it?”
“A nightmare. Craig grabbed me by the throat so hard my feet lost contact to the floor. His face was . . . contorted.” A shudder seized my body. “Almost demonic.”
Bella’s perfectly plucked eyebrows drew together. “What a horrific dream. Wait, has Craig ever hurt you?”
Er . . . He’d chased me, run us off the road, and attacked Kingsley—all because I’d witnessed him kill two men in cold blood.
But I couldn’t tell them that. Not with Noa Rose literally sitting on the steps outside the DRPD. She was working towards becoming a parole officer and maybe had connections to other crooked LEOs without her knowledge.
“No, he’s never hurt me.” Not a lie, strictly speaking. He’d never actually laid a hand on me.
“And the monk was there and calmed you down?” Coco gestured for me to hand the T-shirt over.
I tossed it to her. “Yes. He was guarding the guesthouse I was staying in. He must’ve heard me scream or something.
” I threw up a hand. “Look, I know this is all sorts of wrong, but I was so ensnared by that panic attack that I clung to him like a drowning woman. And then he climbed into bed to hold me. And he . . . chanted until I fell asleep.”
Lord have mercy, the man’s voice. It was deep and rich and soothing and stirring alike. I could listen to him chant for hours on end.
Coco got the washer going, and though her back was turned to me, I knew she was sharing a look with Bella.
“What?” I asked.
Bella heaved a sigh. “We’re worried about you. You’re taking time off work and retreat to that monastery for no reason. You hardly texted us over the past week. And then you show up with a puffy nose. What’s going on, Harry?”
Once at church an elderly woman had asked me what my name was, and instead of Harley, she somehow understood Harry. I’d been so stunned that I didn’t correct her. As a result she still called me Harry to this day. Of course my savage friends had to brand me with this nickname.
“Sorry, I know. The reception up there is spotty at best. And I took a soccer ball to the face.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I just needed a break from life. It’s been crazy.” And I was on the run from my deranged ex.
Oh, how much I wished I could tell them everything.
“The monk you mentioned . . .” Coco pulled out her phone, thumbed the screen several times, then turned it to me. “Is that him?”
A short reel played of Kingsley standing behind the monastery’s F-150 on Velvet Drive, hands cuffed behind his back and legs spread, while Officer Moore searched him thoroughly. It had over three hundred thousand likes.
Something akin to a groan escaped me. “Yes, that’s him.”
“Shut up!” Bella yelled. “He’s a Grady!”
I chuckled. “He is.”
“Oh my—” She slipped from the edge with a squeak, and despite flailing her arms, slid backwards into the tub.
Coco burst out laughing, and I joined in. How could we not, when all we could see were Bella’s bare legs sticking out of the tub?
“What happened?” Noa Rose asked.
I grabbed the phone and angled it towards Bella splayed in the tub.
Now even Noa Rose laughed. Which said something. She was usually the one who got overly concerned in the most harmless situations.
I set the phone back down, then Coco and I pulled a cackling Bella out of the tub.
“So he’s Keaton’s youngest brother.” Sitting back down on the edge, she brushed her blonde waves out of her face.
“Yup.”
“How can a monk be so hot ?” Coco mouthed the last word.
I grimaced. “You should see him in real life. There’s something about him that sucks you right into his spell.”
“By the way, I applied for a job at Tatum’s real estate firm. I had an interview this morning, and boy, that man is a grump.”
“Shut up!” Another squeak, and Bella disappeared in the tub a second time.
Coco and I all but rolled on the tile floor, laughing.
“I’m about to pee my pants,” Coco wheezed. She was squatting next to me, white-knuckling the tub’s edge.
My heart felt so full it was about to burst. I loved my girls and had missed them last week. We usually met every Tuesday for dinner, and went to church together every Sunday. There was nothing better than having a group of friends who shared your love for Jesus.
“Who is Tatum?” Noa Rose asked over the phone.
“The oldest Grady.” Coco straightened, and so did I. “He’s a lawyer and has his own real estate firm. If I get that job, I’ll be his personal assistant and can ask him for Keaton’s autograph for you, Bella.”
I snickered. “Or I could ask Brother Samuel.”
Still lying in the bathtub with her legs hanging over the edge, Bella let out a grunt. “It’s just a stupid celebrity crush, okay? He’s happily married, and I’ll probably be in a relationship soon, too. Now can someone please pull me out?”
We all gaped at her.
“What do you mean?” Noa Rose asked. “Did Josh ask you out?”
“He did. We’re having dinner at his parents’ restaurant tomorrow night.”
Coco and Noa Rose started talking over each other, but I didn’t say anything.
Something about Josh didn’t sit right with me.
I had a feeling he saw Bella as a trophy.
She was absolutely gorgeous, not to mention one of the sweetest souls I’d ever met.
Maybe Bella liked him, but something told me the only reason she’d said yes to that date was because of the pressure her parents put on her.
Because they wanted her to date a guy coming from a good family.
But how was I supposed to tell her that?
We moved our tea party into the kitchen where we made and devoured tacos while my clothes were being washed and dried. Eventually, Noa Rose had to return to work. We were in the middle of sharing what God had been teaching us lately when the doorbell broke into our conversation.
“This has to be Father Cruz.” I rose from the chair and headed into the hallway.
Since he had to visit someone in this neighborhood, he’d offered to drop me off at Coco’s and pick me up again after his visit was over.
Wanting to respect Kingsley’s request to not leave the monastery alone, I had jumped at the opportunity.
I opened the door, finding not Father Cruz standing on the illuminated porch, but Kingsley in his habit and sandals. My belly did a little flip.
“Hey.” He smiled down at me, the hints of dark circles under his eyes poking at my conscience. He’d spent the past five nights outside the guesthouse, sleeping in the grass. And while he’d insisted he did that a lot and loved it, something obviously robbed him of the rest he needed.
“Hey. What are you doing here?”
“Father Cruz had an emergency, and since I’m on my way back from seminary, I thought I’d pick you up instead.”
An emergency. Of course.
The idea of getting to drive back to the monastery alone with Kingsley sent a thrill through me. I shouldn’t get so excited, but we hadn’t had the chance to talk since my nightmare because we’d constantly been around people. I still had to thank him for what he’d done that night.
“You must be Brother Samuel.” Bella squeezed past me and extended a hand to Kingsley. “I’m Bella.”
He shook it, smiling. “Nice to meet you, Bella.”
She nearly melted, her face glowing like a Christmas tree. Oh boy, hopefully she wouldn’t start drooling.
“Don’t forget your clothes.” Coco stepped up to me with my duffle. The smell of fresh detergent nearly made me weep. I’d already panicked about having to handwash every single piece like the monks did.
Before I could take the duffle, Kingsley reached for it.
Coco handed it to him. “Thanks for taking care of our girl.”
He cleared his throat. Gave a curt nod.
Sensing how uncomfortable he was, I turned back to my friends. “All righty, ladies. Thanks for this fun evening.” I hugged them both, then followed Kingsley down the porch steps—
Someone caught my arm from behind. “Harley, the way he looks at you . . .” Coco whispered.
I turned to her. “What do you mean?”
She glanced at Kingsley, then back at me. “You guys have to be careful.”
“I agree.” Bella nodded. “The man carries a torch for you.”
Coco snorted. “Not a torch. A flipping flamethrower.”
There it was, other people seeing it, too. I hadn’t wanted to admit it. He was a monk about to become a priest, for Pete’s sake. He wasn’t supposed to look at me like that, and I wasn’t supposed to develop feelings for him. But I couldn’t help myself. Not after everything he’d done for me.