Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 52190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
The keys. The keys to the classic car. Martin left them under the wheel arch. I saw him do it.
“Kitty. Please. You have to let me explain.”
“No.” I shake my head, and when he tries to touch me again I scream.
I literally scream.
“You lied to me! You talk about trust and truth and none of it’s real! How can I believe anything you say?” I step back, shaking. Trying to process it all as Grandma stares and Nathalia heads towards me. “You lied!”
“Kitty, I—”
As he tries to reach for me again, Nathalia steps in between us. “Father Martin, I… Have you violated this girl? Have you broken your vows?”
And I take the opportunity. I grab my phone from the desk and I run.
I run down the corridor, not stopping at my room. I run out into the courtyard where the old sports car is parked. I grab the keys and I climb in, starting it up in an instant as Martin runs out of the building behind me, glancing left and right.
As I drive, the tears flow. I don’t even think about what I’m doing as I pick up the phone and start to text, pulling up my mom’s number and tapping out the first words that come to mind:
Me: How could you do this to me? Why didn’t you tell me the priest was my stepbrother?
Mom: Honey, are you okay? You’re not supposed ot have your phone.
Me: Really? That’s what you have to say?
Mom: I have no idea what you are talking about. Are you drunk?
Me: NO I AM NOT DRUNK. But I’m fucking pissed.
Mom: What is going on there? Hoover said you would be safe there. Saint Margarets is highly respected, he knows the headmaster. He’s a family friend.
Me: LOL you go the family part right. HEADMASTER FATHER MARTIN IS HOOVERS SON!
Mom: …
Me: Never mind. I’m just letting you know, I’m leaving and I don’t know if I’ll ever talk to you again I thought you should know. BYE
Mom: I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS SON THING. I know Hoover has three sons…he doesn’t talk much about them, but yeah, one I’ve never met. Cole. Hoover told me he was a recluse…that’s all.
Me: *eye roll* well, sure, he’s a recluse alright. At SAINT MARGARETS.
Mom: OMG, honey. I’m calling you. I didn’t know. Hoover lied to me…
CHAPTER 17
Martin
“Tell me where the fucking cat is, Dad. Tell me now, or I swear to God—” I curse under my breath as I try to step harder on the gas, but the pedal is already flat on the fucking floor. This old limo doesn’t have anything more to give and it’s barely doing fifty. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
My dad growls, his voice coming through the car’s speakers because yeah, this old thing might not be breaking any speed limits but someone installed Bluetooth. Of course they did. “You talk to your parishioners with that voice, son?”
“Fuck you!” I grunt.
“No, fuck you, Martin. You don’t want anything to do with me, that’s fine, but from what I’m hearing you’re out of your goddamn mind. Some sort of affair with Kitty? That’s going to get you defrocked, if it doesn’t get you a prison cell.”
“We’re both adults.”
“You could have fooled me.”
A horn blares as I swerve out into the center lane, trying to get ahead of a semi that’s somehow going slower than I am. The limo lurches like a fucking hearse, the weird weight distribution catching me off guard as I haul on the wheel to bring it back in.
I give them the finger, but I doubt they see it, not with the tinted windows in the back.
“I don’t care about us, Dad. The only fucking reason I agreed to this whole thing with Kitty is because I was curious about my new stepsister. Because, you know, all us step-siblings gotta stick together with a father like you.”
“Father like me? What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve always taken care of my kids—”
I laugh. Actually belly laugh. “Taken care of us? We’ve had to look after ourselves. Kitty was better off before she ever met you, I know that much.”
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“What I know is, you were never there for any of us. Six kids and not one of us has a good word to say about you. And when you had another chance, when Kitty needed you, instead of being there for her you sent her to me, and told me not to reveal who I really was.”
“Because I didn’t want her to think she was going to get any special treatment, not because I wanted you to fuck her!”
I seethe at that.
He still speaks to my grandmother, they don’t exactly like each other but they’re allies when it suits them. And as soon as my grandma found out what was going on with Kitty, she called him right up. But he doesn’t get to lecture me. Not about this.