Chapter Forty-Nine
Sawyer
“Do I really have to wear this?” I pull at the button-up dress shirt Brynne picked out for me. She swats at my hand and fixes my shirt. I look like a suburban dad who gets cuckolded by his wife.
“Stop fidgeting before you wrinkle your shirt,” Brynne commands. The guys laugh from the living room and I glare at them. “If I have to wear this itchy wig then you can wear a dress shirt,” Brynne adds.
I run a strand of the brunette hair through my fingers. “I prefer you blonde,” I joke. Brynne shakes her head and kisses my lips.
“Here put this on, we're running late and need to get going,” she urges. I grab the wedding band and slide it on my ring finger. I look between the both of us and smirk. We really look the part. It's crazy what some clothes can do to disguise you.
“You guys look like you came straight out of a home goods magazine,” Matteo jokes.
“Oh, fuck off,” I say .
“We will be back in a little while. Please don’t get into trouble while we're gone,” Brynne says as we walk toward the door. “Oh, can one of you take the trash out when we're gone? You know since you live here now,” she winks.
We drive to the other side of town to the church I saved on my phone. According to Caroline’s Facebook, she and Westmoore have been members of this church for years. Brynne reaches over the middle console and grabs my hand. “Are you ready to be my husband?” she smiles and bats her eyelashes.
I laugh. “Of course, my lovely wife.”
“Did you ever see yourself getting married?” Brynne asks. I think back to my childhood and then when I met
Damon. Never once did I think about my future until I met her.
“Not really. I didn’t plan my future until I met Damon and we came up with our plan. Marriage wasn’t in the plans. I had never met someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with until I met you,” I confess. Brynne's eyes widen in shock. Then I watch her emotion drain from her face.
“Was that you playing the part?” she asks.
“What if I said no?” I pull into the church and Brynne takes a deep breath.
“I'd say that I was okay with that,” she smiles. She turns toward the church and she freezes. “I thought I would be fine facing them again, but for some reason, my body is still frightened of them in a small sense,” she adds.
I grab her hand and squeeze it. “This time is different. You have us and I won't leave your side the entire time we are inside,” I kiss her hand. “I promise,” I add.
She blows out a breath. “Let's go get this fucker,” she says in a determined voice .
“That’s my girl.”
We slowly walk to the big wooden doors at the entrance. An older man in a suit hands us a pamphlet. I smile politely and take it. Brynne is wrapped around my arm as we walk inside. It hasn’t caught fire yet so that’s a good sign. Pews line each side of the aisle. “Where do we sit?” Brynne asks.
I look around the room and spot Caroline Westmoore in the front row. I nudge Brynne and tilt my head to the front of the aisle. “Looks like someone likes being front and center,” I say. “We should sit behind them,” I suggest. We walk down the aisle toward Jesus on the cross. I have to suppress my laugh when I see people already praying. If only they knew they were praying to no one. Their god is a false god. If he is real then he has quite a sense of humor.
We get to the second row and I motion for Brynne to
sit. I follow behind her and take a seat. The church starts to fill in with regulars. Caroline doesn’t acknowledge us until Brynne starts her act. “Do you think this is it honey?” she asks me.
“Let’s listen to the pastor before we make a decision dear,” I pat her hand. Caroline pauses her conversation with another woman to interject in our conversation.
“I don’t believe I’ve seen you here before,” she says innocently.
“We're new to town,” Brynne says in the sweetest
voice. “We are trying to find our new church, but it's become harder than we thought,” she adds. She smiles but her hand grips my leg when a man comes up beside Caroline and kisses her cheek.
“You guys will love Pastor Sam. We are so delighted to have you with us,” she smiles. “This is my husband, Benjamin. I’m Caroline Westmoore,” she reaches out to shake Brynne’s hand. It takes her a few seconds, but Brynne finally takes her hand and shakes it.
“Delilah and this is my husband, Landon Graves,”
Brynne introduces us. We didn’t decide our names, which looking back was probably not the smartest since we needed to make sure our cover didn’t get blown. I guess I can work with Landon.
Westmoore reaches his hand out and I take it so Brynne doesn’t have to touch this man. “How long have you two been part of the church?” I ask. Westmoore looks to his wife for an answer. She looks like she is thinking. She truly is a beautiful woman, it's too bad she married a piece of shit.
“At least twelve years,” she answers. The pastor walks out of a door to the side of the stage or whatever the hell you call this platform. Caroline and Westmoore both take their seats. “You will have to let me know how you like it after the service,” Caroline says to Brynne. She nods and gives her a fake smile.
I rub my thumb over the top of her hand. I lean closer to her. “You are doing great,” I reassure her. She looks into my eyes and she starts to smile until the pastor opens his mouth. Her eyebrows scrunch together and then I watch her eyes fill with distant memories. Her chest rises and falls rapidly. She slowly turns her head toward Pastor Sam and she whimpers. Her back goes ridged and her face pales. “Brynne,” I whisper in her ear.
She whips her head toward me and shakes her head. “I-I can’t,” she says with panic. I tuck a loose strand of the wig behind her ear.
“Look into my eyes,” I whisper. I can’t have her freaking out right now. We need to get more on Westmoore so we can plan his demise. She should be the one to kill him and I need to make sure we don’t fuck this up. She deserves her revenge, and I won't stop until she gets it. “You are the strongest person I know. You can do this. Close your eyes and listen to my voice. I’m right by your side and I’m not going anywhere. You’re safe,” I say softly.
Brynne rubs my thigh and my cock hardens in my
pants. The image of bending Brynne over this pew and fucking her in front of everyone crosses my mind. Showing everyone what we all crave but are too chicken shit to go after. Well, everyone besides Westmoore. I look around the church and wonder how many people in here are lying to themselves by being here.
“Sawyer,” Brynne whispers in a plea. “Please don’t ever leave me,” she says more like a question.
“I’ll never leave you as long as I’m breathing. Even when I’m six feet under, I’ll haunt your ass. You can’t get rid of me that easily baby,” I jokingly say the last part. It works and Brynne opens her eyes and smiles at me. I lean in and kiss her temple.
P astor Sam spews his religious bullshit for what feels like hours and we sit there like everyone else. Except we don’t believe a word of this nonsense. Pastor Sam thanks everyone for coming and I look over to Brynne who is glued to the man. He has to be one of the men from her past, but I can’t ask right now. Caroline and Westmoore stand when Pastor Sam finishes. We do the same and walk toward the door for some fresh air.
Caroline intercepts us before we can take another step down the aisle.
“Pastor,” she waves him toward him. I expect Brynne to tense but she steels her expression. This is the Brynne I remember from the night we broke into her house. This is the hardened version they made her into. Pastor Sam walks over to us and the Westmoores.
“Good afternoon, Caroline,” he says as he kisses her
cheek.
“We have some newcomers today looking for a new
church,” she explains. I wrap my left arm around Brynne and reach my other hand toward him.
“Landon Graves,” I shake his hand and gesture toward Brynne. “This is my wife, Delilah,” I add.
“It was so very nice of you two to join us today. Are you new to the area?” he asks.
“Just moved here a few weeks ago,” Brynne says in a sweet voice. “We finally got all unpacked and I told Landon that it was finally time to search for a new church,” She leans into my arm.
“Where are you guys from if you don’t mind me asking?” Westmoore asks. Caroline nudges her husband in the side.
“It doesn’t matter where they're from. It only matters that they are here now, and we welcome them with open arms,”
“Upstate, a small little town called Silvervalley,”
Brynne interrupts. I don’t miss the look Westmoore and Sam share. I don’t know if that is where Brynne lived when Westmoore took her.
“I’ve never heard of that place,” Sam lies through his
teeth.
“ There's not much there. That’s why we moved here. I want a good city to raise our kids in,” Brynne says.
“You two have children?” Caroline asks excitedly .
I wrap my arm around Brynne’s shoulder. “We’re trying for a baby. No luck yet, but maybe god will bless us with a little one soon,” I manage to say.
“Awe that is so sweet. This man is too busy for kids,” Caroline pokes Westmoore in the side.
“I sure hope you folks loved the service. I do hope to see you next weekend,” Sam says before leaving to join another couple in conversation.
“Well, we better get going, honey. We did tell my brother that we would meet him at noon,” I say to Brynne.
“Oh yes, I almost forgot,” she reaches for Caroline’s
hand and shakes it. “It was such a pleasure meeting you,” She then turns toward Westmoore and reaches out for his hand next. He grips it and Brynne doesn’t show any emotion. She looks up into his grey eyes. “Pleasure meeting you,” she says again.
“You too,” he says. I watch his eyes narrow like he is trying to place Brynne in his mind. I grab her hand and pull her gently toward the door. I don’t need him seeing through her disguise already. We get to the car and I take a deep breath.
“When was the last time you saw him?” I ask.
“When I was eleven, why?”
“He looked like he knew you at the end, but he wouldn’t know what you look like now if he hasn’t seen you in twenty-one years,” I reassure more to myself than Brynne.
“He was here,” she mumbles. “Pastor Sam is one of them,” she says as she turns toward me.
“Brynne, I’m so sorry you had to go through that. They all are going to fucking die for what they did to you,” I say angrily. I wish I could walk into that church right now and slaughter them .
“How did I not realize how close I was to them?”
“Were you really from that town you told them?” I ask.
“That is where the cabin is, or I think it is. There was a doctor that came to the cabin and I saw the name of his
practice on his coat,” she explains. “I’m from here, just like Damon and you,” she clarifies. “I moved back to find them, but I didn’t think it would take this long to find them. They were right under my nose this entire time,” she sighs.
“The guys aren’t going to like the news of adding another person right now. We may need to think this through more strategically Brynne,” I pull out of the church and drive toward the house.
“I know. I want them in the basement Sawyer, all of them. I don’t want this to be a quick kill. They need to feel all of the pain I felt when they were laughing at my cries,” she says with finality.
“However you want them, you will have them. We will make sure of that,” I promise. The only information we got from the church is that Westmoore and the pastor know each other and are hiding something. The look they shared wasn’t a coincidence. Looks like we will have to go to church again next week unless we can intercept them this coming week.
Revenge is fun and all, but when it gets messy, mistakes happen and we can't afford any mistakes right now. Maybe it would be easier to get our hands on Hachett first. My mind is racing and I can't calm my heart rate. I know our girl is a badass, but the thought of her getting caught in the crossfire of this scares the shit out of me.