My legs give out, and I drop down beside him, the hardwood floor bruising my knees at the force.
I kneel in front of the only person with a heart blind enough to love the evil that exists here.
I lay my hands over my mom’s bloody throat, her empty, lifeless eyes staring back at me.
I failed.
We all did.
16
Echo
There’s always a priceto pay for sin. Take a bite from the apple and a higher power will make you regret it. There is no escaping punishment. And I should know better than to try.
My hands are stained in blood.
In infidelity.
In transgressions.
Every last one of them coming full circle as the elevator doors slide open, and I’m met with my father’s eyes.
Beside me, Crew is casually leaning against the back of the elevator wall with his hands tucked in his sweatpants pockets. We haven’t spoken since hanging up with our parents, and I’m not sure if the silence is tension or regret as he pushes off the railing and waits for me to walk out of the elevator first. But he doesn’t so much as glance in my direction when I pausein front of my dad.
Crew breaks off toward his father, and the room stretches with every step he takes—with every wrong thing we’ve done. And what’s worse, I’m not ready to let it go.
I still smell him on me, feel him in me. Soreness and relaxation all at once.
While I told him it was a one-time thing, it hurts to think that as I glance over at him walking away.
“Echo, honey.” Dad grips my shoulders, snapping my attention back to him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I swallow hard, hoping Dad didn’t notice me staring. “What happened?”
Dad’s face pales under the fluorescent hospital lights. “Max is still trying to figure that out. Rhett was heading home when he was shot in his driveway.”
Both of us ignore the fact that he was heading home at three in the morning. And even if it should help me feel less guilty, the fact that he’s my boyfriend and I have no idea what’s going on with him only amplifies it.
“Who would do this?”
“We aren’t one hundred percent sure.” Dad straightens up, gripping my shoulders tighter, and I can’t help but feel secrets in the current of his stare. “But there’ve been threats.”
I shake my head. “People are threatening Rhett? Why?”
People love Rhett. He’s the golden boy in the community. Church boy turned progressive preacher.
“Not everyone is on board with the direction he’s taking the church. It’s to be expected. You’ll have your loyalists. But there will always be people whoresist change.”
Rhett mentioned something in passing after his sermon a month ago when he spoke about God loving all his children without judgment. But I didn’t think anything of it. LA is progressive, and Rhett is determined to draw a younger crowd. It made sense he shifted his stance to be more inclusive, even if there has been some pushback.
“Who’s sending them?”
“We don’t know yet.” Dad drops his hands and tucks them in his pockets.
“But you know something…” More like—he’s hiding something.
Dad shuffles on his feet. Digs his hands deeper and curls his shoulders up the slightest.
