Page 76 of Bad Bishop
“Game. Set. Match.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
LILA
I’d really done it this time.
Mama wouldn’t evenlookat me.
Didn’t acknowledge my existence the remainder of the evening.
What did Tiernan say to her?
It made my stomach churn with panic, guilt, and something else, something I didn’t think I was capable of—hate.
I hated that she crumbled like a sandcastle when the going got tough. That she took a step back from me because I did the most natural thing in the world—communicated with my husband and opened up to him.
That night I slipped into my husband’s bed again. I didn’t hate it as much as Mama told me I would. I actually kind of liked having a firm, hot body next to mine. It made me feel secure.
And now I had Imma in the next room. She would keep me company, fill all those daytime hours I’d used surfing the internet. I found myself choking up with an unfamiliar emotion toward my husband. Somewhere between lust and affection, with a heavy dose of frustration thrown in.
I tossed and turned, as usual, until sometime around three o’clock, Tiernan turned me around to face him. He looked wide awake. He was still wearing his eye patch, even though I suspected he normally took it off at night. It seemeduncomfortable, and he often adjusted it, revealing the imprint of the string that held it together.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded.
“Nothing,” I said. “I don’t sleep much at night.”
“Always, or since the rape?”
“Since the rape,” I admitted. “I’m afraid he’ll come for me again.”
“Wish for it,Gealach. Because if he does, I’d find a way to kill him a hundred times over.”
I gave him a slight smile. He was still insufferable, but, as bizarre as it was, he felt safe. I hadn’t realized I was waking him up, though.
“If you want me to move back to my bedroo—”
He caught my wrists, stopping me from completing the sentence. “Forget about the other room. This is your new bed now.”
“Okay.”
“Anything I can do to make you less fucking jittery?”
“Well…”
I realized the only reason I could read his lips in near-complete darkness was because I found them the most fascinating thing on planet Earth. I wanted to draw them a thousand times over and ink them into my memory. To touch them. To…kiss them, even. Sometimes.
He was beautiful. And I had a feeling he found me attractive, too. I even found sick pleasure in realizing he dressed up Becky in my clothes to pretend she was me.
Tiernan gave me a quizzical look, still waiting for my words.
“I don’t know anything about you. Maybe if I did, it’d make sleeping in your bed not as weird.”
“What do you wanna know?” He turned to his nightstand, flicking the soft light on.
“Favorite food?”
“Beef jerky.”
