Page 17 of Intimately Faithful

“Are you serious? You obviously know who he is. Would you call the police on a man like that who killed a woman and then went out to eat a steak dinner? He’s a screwed up lunatic.”

And you’re involved with him.Was on the tip of his tongue to spit out, until he got himself in check. Partly because his jealousy was burning a hole through the lining of his stomach.

She was right.

Even being a pastor who was far removed from that kind of life, he knew the cops had little jurisdiction with those type of men. Nor the MC either, but at least as far as he could tell, the MC ran on a different wavelength. Just this past winter they’d helped out with a charity event for his church and raised more in one night than Danny had managed over four years.

It would be laughable to claim Rider Marinos and co were legal men, far from it. But in comparison to the mob, the bikers were virtuous angels.

“You witnessed a murder, and then you ran with his kid? That’s a lot to process. I know you must be terrified, Aoife. Scared that this will all come crashing down.” He stroked a thumb over her hand and as one they both watched him touching her. It felt wrong and intimate and before he could haul her into his arms to hide her from everyone, he rose and wiped the tingling touch on his pants before taking a seat. “But you have to know, it’s going to be okay, you did the right thing.”

Not that he could give assurances, but the look on her face about killed him.

And then a nastier thought occurred to Danny.

It burrowed through the soft part of his brain until it nearly had bile throwing up into his throat. His eyes pinned hers. “Has he hurt you? This mafia man…did he put hands on you, Aoife?” He didn’t recognize his own voice.

“No. No. He was hardly around. We barely saw him. It was …” she took a breath like she was giving herself strength. What had her life become?

She was meant to have a life that was full of color and happiness.

Not this. Never this.

Had he known …

Had he known this was how it turned out for his lifelong girl; he would have done something about it forever ago.

He would have moved heaven and earth to pull her out of these situations before she could ever develop a flinch and a haunted look in her eyes.

He pushed the tea closer to her, so she’d take a sip of the hot sugary brew as his gaze dropped to the baby.

In another life that would be his baby.

They’d planned to have a house full of kids.

Goodbehaved ones, of course, that had been a stipulation because any kid of Aoife’s would ordinarily be a wild animal. They’d be a big loving family, a noisy boisterous one who all climbed into bed on Sunday’s and ate pancakes for dinner and never hated each other.

It was their dream and then it crashed and burned down around them.

Shit had escalated out of control for Danny after that.

Taking drugs became his only source of living.

He couldn’t get out of bed on a morning without his heart breaking in two thinking of her climbing into another man’s bed.

A bed she’d willing gone to, according to anyone in their town who went out of their way to gossip to him about Aoife.

He tried to hate her for a long time.

I can’t marry you, Danny-boy. We were stupid kids making grown up plans.

A stupid note was all he was worth.

He blamed her for his addiction.

And when he came out of the other side, he saw how he was always destined for self-destruction. It had been coming for a long time.

Weed, pills and powder.

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