Page 27 of Take Me to Church
Lydia keeps her hand fisted in my shirt, using the hold to lead me into Cody’s office. The door to the adjoining private bathroom is open and she hauls me inside, closing the door behind us before she drops her purse to the floor and faces me. “Arms up.”
I immediately do what she says, drawn in by her sudden bossiness as much as the feel of her hands on my skin.
Lydia drags my shirt over my head, dropping it to the floor and kicking it away before turning to switch on the faucet. “I’m guessing this is an everyday thing for you? That’s why you’re being so nonchalant about it?”
The guilty part of me wants to lie to her, to hold back the truth of what I’ve become since she last saw me, but there’s no hiding it from her now. “It’s not an everyday thing anymore.”
Lydia turns back to face me with a stack of dampened paper towels clutched in one hand and goes to work clearing away the blood on my skin. “Anymore? What does that mean?”
I hold still as she fusses over me, letting her clean my skin. “It means things like this used to happen a little more regularly than they do now.”
Lydia turns back to the sink, chucking the first round of paper towels before grabbing another. Her expression is thoughtful as she comes back, movements slower as she continues stroking the damp towels across my stomach. “How much more regularly?”
I lift one shoulder in a small shrug, careful not to move too much in case it makes her decide to stop touching me. “Not every day, but often enough you won’t have to worry about anyone finding Rodney and connecting him to you.”
Lydia chucks the rest of the paper towels into the trash and I hold my breath, knowing judgment is coming.
There’s plenty of supposed sins that are easy to move past. Modesty. Cussing. Drinking.
But most people still get stuck up on murder. No matter how deserved it was.
Lydia rolls her lips inward, eyes still focused on my stomach. The tips of her fingers inch toward me, barely tracing along the lines of my abs. “Thank you.”
“You shouldn’t be thanking me. Not now that you’ve seen what I’ve become.” Maybe that’s part of why I was so excited to see her again. Because Lydia might still see me the way I used to be. Before the world changed me.
Lydia’s eyes lift to mine, her brows pinched together as she continues sliding her fingers against me in a whisper of a touch. “What have you become?”
I tip my head toward the main portion of the warehouse. I don’t want to remind her but I have to. She deserves to see the truth. “You watched me kill a man, Lydia.”
She rubs her lips together, easing in a little closer, the drag of her fingers against my skin firmer. “I watched you kill a man who was planning to rape me.” Her eyes meet mine as she flattens her palms against my chest. “You protected me because you’re still the same as you’ve always been.”
I want her to be right, but there’s no denying the years have changed me. Built me into the kind of man who knows how to clean up every kind of mess, because he’s made more than a few of them.
I grit my teeth as her hands slide higher and the soft curve of her body presses closer. “You’re making me out to be better than I am.” Deep down I still want her to see me the way she used to, to look at me for help and protection, but the reality is I can’t always give it to her. That’s part of what brought us here. “I can’t help you get Myra, remember?”
As expected, the reminder changes everything between us in the blink of an eye.
Lydia’s hands fall to her sides, the warmth of her touch abandoning my body as her expression hardens. “You can help me get Myra, you just won’t.”
This time I see it completely. The flash of anger. The flicker of defiance that tells me, in spite of everything that’s happened, she’s not finished trying to save her sister. Lydia might be just as sweet and soft as she ever was, but there’s a strength to her that is impossible to deny.
And it’s going to be one hell of a problem.
I open my mouth to argue with her, to start laying out all the reasons she needs to believe me when I say we have to wait, but someone starts banging on the bathroom door. Lydia gives me one final glare before turning to yank the door open.
Damien and Levi stand outside the door. Levi’s expression is serious, but Damien just smirks at me as he tosses in a fresh T-shirt.
“Excuse me.” Lydia shoulders past them, head down as she escapes the office.
Levi watches her go before turning back to face me. “Who in the hell is that?”
“That’s who Rodney tried to kidnap.” I shake out the shirt Damien brought, pulling it over my head before grabbing the one from the floor and shoving it into a fresh trash bag, wincing a little at the metallic scent of the blood soaked into it.
Levi looks me over as I scrub my hands in the sink. “I guess that explains why he ended up dead.”
“It’s not like that.” I finally offer up the truth since it’s going to come out anyway. “We knew each other when we were kids, that’s all.”
Levi stares at me like he doesn’t believe shit I’m saying and Damien just continues to smirk.
