Page 76 of Priest (Confessions 3)

“You don’t care about him,” Julien said. “You never once thought about your son. How what you did would affect him. I don’t think a monster like you is capable of thinking of others, which is why you no longer have a son.”

“You’re right. I don’t have a son!” Jimmy said. “Because he walked away from me, his father. Away from his name. He ran away like a spineless little coward and left his old man to rot in a prison cell.”

If Julien had been able to, he would’ve killed Jimmy for that statement alone. Priest was anything but spineless. Something his father would soon learn when they finally met again face to face.

“He was a child, and he left a nightmare. One where you were all that was evil and still are. But that boy who left…” Julien thought of Priest’s shrewd eyes, cunning brain, and powerful body, and felt a warped smile hit his lips. “You better watch out, because he’s coming for me. I promise. And you won’t recognize what you see.”

Jimmy’s hands dug into Julien’s arms as he clenched his teeth. Then his voice dropped several bone-chilling octaves as he said, “You love him.”

Julien refused to look away as Jimmy moved closer. Instead he focused on the lines around Jimmy’s eyes. His cold, dead eyes that revealed the empty pit where his soul used to be.

“Yes. You do. More than boyfriends, then,” Jimmy said, and tilted his head to the side as though inspecting a bug under a microscope. “Are you and Joel… married, Mr. Thornton?”

Julien raised his chin a fraction, refusing to cower. Priest would be coming for him. Julien knew that all the way down to his very soul. His job now was to stay alive until Priest got there, stay alive so he could see Robbie’s smile again, even if that meant telling this savage things he normally wouldn’t divulge.

“Yes,” Julien said, and Jimmy did something Julien never would’ve guessed—he laughed.

“Oh,” Jimmy said. “This is even better than I originally planned. When I saw you on the TV telling that reporter that Mr. Priestley was your lawyer, I never suspected this kind of connection.” He laughed again, and the sound was sinister and devoid of emotion as Jimmy straightened and moved away.

Julien kept his one good eye on Jimmy’s back, watching as he picked up a tire iron. Julien’s adrenaline spiked and his fear kicked in as he tried to think of something, anything, to keep Jimmy talking.

“Why are you doing this?” Julien said. “You were up for parole. You could’ve walked free.”

Jimmy twisted the bar in his hand as he walked back toward Julien. “Ohhh, so you were keeping tabs on me, huh? Well, I would’ve been dead in days if I stayed. The second it was leaked, a target was on my back. Talk through the grapevine had my number coming up very soon. But then, like some miracle of God, you appeared with Joel beside you.”

“So you escaped?”

“I did,” Jimmy said, clearly proud of himself. “Then I…procured myself a vehicle and again fate stepped in. The owner? He was a gun-carryin’, law-abidin’ citizen. God bless America.”

Julien looked to the gun in Jimmy’s pants, and then to the iron in his hand. “If you kill me, Priest will never give you what you want.”

Jimmy raised his arm as if he was about to swing the iron, and it was just enough to distract Julien from the fist that landed against his bruised right cheek and sent a burst of pain into his swollen eye socket. It was so agonizing that Julien’s vision went spotty, his head started to spin, and everything began to fade.

Jimmy bent down and said in his ear, “Oh, he’ll give me what I want, Mr. Thornton, because I took something that he wants. Don’t those fancy lawyers call that something? Ah yes, quid pro quo. So sleep tight—we have a long day head of us tomorrow.”

As Julien’s head lolled to the side, his eyes fell shut and he heard Priest’s voice in his head…

“JULIEN THORNTON, THIEF of my heart. I will always be there for you.” Priest took a step forward until their bare toes touched on the white sands of Pelican Point Beach while the sun set out across a calm Pacific Ocean. “When you are tired, when you are sick or in need, I will be there. I will never abandon you, never let you feel you are alone, because you are not. As long as I am alive, you will never know a day where you don’t feel loved or protected.”

Priest shifted to place his cheek by Julien’s and kiss his temple. “I will be there to help carry whatever burden you might find too heavy, and to fight off any demons that come for you. Je t’aime, Julien, and I will love you until my very last breath…”

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