Page 174 of Lessons In Grey
He shrugged, joy seeping from him in waves. “I love it and Matthew is a great cook. Not to mention the free gummy worms.”
I gave him a look. “Mygummy worms. You have no sense of boundary.”
“Boundaries are limitations I refuse to put on myself.”
“You’re not…” I sighed and turned to Matthew who was sitting at the end of the table, reading and enjoying a cup of coffee. “Thank you, Matthew.”
He gave me a kind smile. “You’re welcome.” He closed his book and inhaled deeply. “I’m going to get dinner started, any requests?”
Jeremy and I locked eyes, smiles growing. “Burgers,” we both sang.
I wanted Grey to come back. At least for my graduation. Charlie and I were supposed to graduate together. She would walk across the stage and then me, and we would hug at the end. I needed him to be here. I needed him to see that I had done it, that I hadn’t failed.
But I also understood the situation. If this lasted until graduation, that was fine. I wouldn’t like it, but I would get it. At this point, I hated Louis more than I had ever hated anyone. I wish the universe, the stars, whomever, would just give us a goddamn break.
Even if the break only meant that he could come back for graduation. Just one day. Just one. I would be okay with it if he could justmake it back for that one day.
46
Grey
April 1st, 2022
We sat in the third pew from the back, Azrael on my left, our guns loaded under our jackets.
He was bitter. He had a thing about churches, about the religion of this world. The fact that Louis had led us here made him angry. I, however, didn’t care. Church, store, fucking preschool, I didn’t care. We got him.
We fucking got him.
The priest went through his normal ‘lines of bullshit’ as Azrael liked to put it, while we studied the congregation. Such devout followers, unknowing of the fact that their newest member was a murderer.
Louis was sitting near the front, unknowing of our presence. As much as I wanted to end his life right now, I couldn’t risk the congregants. There was no need for innocents to be lost in this.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you pray during a service, the silence is proof of the answers they will never get,” Azrael stated bitterly.
I pressed my lips into a thin line, my fingers itching for my gun. I could see the back of his head. The ring of hair around his pitiful bald crown. How could someone so fucking ugly cause this much damage in my life?
I couldn’t wait to put a bullet in his fucking skull.
Most of his loyal followers were dead now. Some blown up, others poisoned, some killed simply by a rain of bullets. The only people left were his two favorite men, sitting on either side of him, ‘protecting him’. If they truly cared for his wellbeing, they would be at the only entrance into this small church.
Malachi had several men outside the church now. He was waiting against his car with a PTR91 PDWR semi auto pistol. Small and powerful. He didn’t like getting his hands dirty unless it came to his family. If someone threatened us, they personally attacked him, and that’s how it had always been.
He had been visiting Emily once a week for the last month and a half. For my benefit and for his. He was enthralled by her. I didn’t know if she knew this yet, but she had been fully accepted into our family now. She was Malachi’s daughter, and God help whoever hurt his daughters.
I had felt a kind of jealousy over the fact that Malachi had gotten to see her and I hadn’t, but this whole thing was for the best. Had I gone home, she would have been in danger, Azrael would have been in danger, Ash and Syn, everyone. Our plan had been for the best and it was finally coming to a close.
Louis would die today, and I would go home, and I would fuck her for hours, hold her, kiss her. Tell her over and over again how much I loved her, and we would spend the next two weeks locked up in the loft just the two of us.
I was going to make her my wife and add one more ring to my finger to wear for the rest of my days.
She had mentioned to Jeremy wanting to get a tattoo. She was ready. She wanted to get a bleeding, blooming red rose on the inside of her left wrist. The stem would end just at the crest of the heel of her palm, and along the length of the stem it would say‘Halfway out of the dark’.
Fuck, I loved her.
She wouldn’t get it until I returned. It only gave me more of an incentive to get home, not that I needed another reason.
“…and so, I leave you with this,” the priest said, looking across his small church, “whatever you do, do it in the name of the Lord, for he saves us, protects us, watches over us. Good day.”
