Page 83 of Fourth Point Of Contact

Her chin wobbled as tears filled her eyes. “Your father and I tried to raise you the right way. We took you to church. Do youremember going to Sunday school? Pastor Connolly was always so sure you would follow in his footsteps and go to Seminary.”

“Mom—”

“And then you turned your back on the church.”

She was overreacting to this, and it was all Chase’s fault. “I did not turn my back on the church. I joined the military!”

“And then you started watching this filth!” she said, pointing at the case on the table. “I don’t know where I went wrong.”

“You didn’t go wrong, Mom. I’m still your son. There is absolutely nothing wrong with me.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she shook her head at me. “If only I had set you up with a good woman when I had the chance. Now there’s no one. Who will take you when they find out about your fetishes?”

“It’s not a fetish!” I groaned, scrubbing my hand over my face. “This is all one big misunderstanding!”

She picked up the case and waved it at me in anger. “How could this possibly be a misunderstanding? It’s on the cover!”

“I thought it was a joke! I didn’t know people were actually into that stuff!”

“You shouldn’t even be doing…that!” She eyed me for a moment before turning away, her face tinged with red. “You’re a young man. You should be…finding a wife and loving her.”

Piper immediately flashed in my mind, but not because of the wife part. No, loving her was at the forefront of my mind since I came home, and I wasn’t sure how to fix that.

Setting down her ice pack, she stood and held out her hand, which Chase immediately grabbed to steady her. “There’s only one thing to do. We will attend church tomorrow.”

“Mom—”

“Patti, don’t test me on this. Do you want me to have a heart attack and die?”

I really didn’t. And not because I loved my mother with all my heart, but because there was no way in hell I would attend her funeral knowing she died because she caught me with animal porn.

“No.”

“Then we will attend church tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Chase snickered at me, but the moment my Mom turned to face him, he schooled his features and pretended to be the better of the two of us.

“In fact, I think it would be wise for your entire…group of friends to attend.”

“But—” Chase started, but quickly snapped his mouth shut when she turned to him with her best Mom glare. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, now that that’s settled, perhaps you could show me to my room. I trustthatis free of any of your…things.”

My face turned red, but only because Chase had literally just cleaned out the room. “It is.”

“Good.” She looked around the house and sighed. “This place really needs a woman’s touch. We’ll start looking first thing at church tomorrow.”

My jaw dropped at her statement and I turned to Chase as she walked out of the room. “She doesn’t mean?—”

“I think she does.” His face morphed into a grin and then a full-blown smile. “Dude, you’re getting hitched!”

I walkedbeside my mother into the church with a pack of angry OPS men, their wives, and their children trailing behind me. It wasn’t my fault that my mom twisted their arms until they all showed up this morning. I mean, not totally. They could havesaid no, but that would require them to all act like they didn’t care if my mom had a massive coronary.

Being told you had to go to church was not something any of these men were used to. Some of them went when the mood struck, but it wasn’t like any of us were particularly religious. The only person who went regularly was Max, and that was because his wife was religious and he would do anything to keep her happy. Though, I was pretty sure he always sat in the back and drank.

“How about we sit over here,” I said, pointing to the back pew.

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