Page 31 of Bishop

“Still,” he whispered again. “I’m so sorry that I was so cruel to you.”

Before I knew it, I found myself relaxing into his arms. My mind and body surrendered to both his arms and the New Orleans atmosphere as if they both had some sort of power over me.

The two of us sat in a long silence, just enjoying the fireplace. Zane’s fingers drew lazy circles over my flesh.

“This is probably a crazy time to ask, but how often do you get checked?” I turned my head to take him in.

“What?” He murmured softly.

“Like for sexually transmitted diseases. The other night, I…that was insane of me to sleep with you with no protection.”

“Relax,” he whispered, shifting slightly so that I was angled better and could see him clearly. “I’m clean. I honestly don’t fuck anyone without a rubber. So, it was out of the ordinary for me as well.”

It grew quiet again and I watched as a couple splashed around in the pool.

Out of nowhere, Zane spoke again.

“Now that you know that, do you wanna come back to my place tonight? Or yours?”

I shifted my head and stared at him. This man had way to much fucking audacity, but I was already replying.

“I have work early in the morning, so definitely mine.”

Yup,I thought.

I’d just invited my high school bully home to fuck me.

ZANE

Afew days prior…

The stench of death seemed to surround me and permeate the air as if it were trying to suffocate me. A little bit of bile hit the back of my throat, but I forced it down as a raven gave a haunted caw nearby that seemed to echo through the swamp.

A shiver raked its way down my spine as I spoke. “We find that preacher’s kid and kill anyone who gets in our way.”

All the men who’d come with me nodded.

“Just waiting for Bo to send the signal,” Butch nodded as we continued to crouch down low.

Bo was at the top of the road, and he was keeping a lookout for any of the people Britney Lee was sending to leave from the property. From where we were hiding, we hadn’t seen her leave the house but had a strong feeling she was inside on the premises. He’d be down to join us as soon as he could.

“I got a bad feeling about this,” Titan whispered.

“Yeah?” I snapped looking back at him and saw him nodding. “Well keep that shit to yourself.”

Pulling the binoculars out, I watched as Britney Lee’s men started to come out of the house and get into two separate cars.

“That looks like six men leaving,” Butch whispered as he peered through his own set of binoculars.

Rattler pulled out an inhaler to the right of me.

“Really?” I felt myself frowning.

“Asthma,” he offered before taking a puff.

If I fucking die trying to get this kid back, I’m haunting the fuck out of the Sinners,I thought.

Time passed slowly as the cars pulled out of the yard and disappeared up the dirt road. We’d made sure to hide our bikes in brush along the route because we were going to need to make a clean getaway.

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