“That shouldn’t have happened. It sounds like he should be hung up and publicly shamed. I’d force-feed him his balls if I met him in a dark alleyway for what he did. But just because you stayed doesn’t make you at fault, or him any less culpable.”
“I stayed for two years.”
“Did you have another place to live?”
“Not without the scholarship.”
“A place to work?”
I shook my head. “I looked, but he just kept piling up my workload, practically forcing me to work after hours with him. I needed the money. I was living off a twelve-pack of stovetop noodles and condensed soup. I couldn’t turn down the work, but every time I tried to turn him down…”
“Tressa.” Lucy came around the table, wrapping me in her arms and holding me fiercely. “If I find him, I’ll kill him for you. That bastard needs to suffer.”
A weak smile split my cheeks. “I’m okay. Finish your drink before it’s cold.”
I wiped at the tears wetting the corners of my eyelids, some odd, newfound sense of calm settling into my bones from sharing even a fraction of the most horrible time in my life.
Correction.
Just one of the most horrifying.
There wasn’t enough coffee in all of Philly to get me through the rest of it.
Not now, maybe not ever.
“I’m gonna miss you so much when you’re gone.”
“If I don’t leave, Bastien and I will destroy each other.”
“Yeah.” She popped her head to one side. “There is that. And you’re sure leaving me to fend off the ghosts of St. Mike’s alone is the right thing to do?”
I laughed, thankful as ever for her wit. “I’ve been up and down all the halls of St. Michael’s far into the night. Anything lurking in the shadows is friendly.”
“Oh?” She quirked a naughty eyebrow up and winked. “How friendly are we talking? Do I need birth control?”
I nearly choked on the hot latte. “I think you’ve got birth control covered for at least a few more months.”
She whistled softly, patting her tummy again beneath her dark puffer coat, and we both laughed until at least half a dozen eyes were on us and happy tears were stinging my eyelids.
Maybe I could find a place sort of close to Lucy; the thought of her all alone the next few months while her baby grew was almost unbearable.
And losing one soul mate who made me laugh this hard felt like a tragedy anyway. I didn’t think I could bear to lose two.
“I hate to ask, but just how friendly were the dark hallways at St. Mike’s, T? There aren’t any virgin births in your future are there?”
My heart flipped at the thought as we walked the few blocks from the bus stop.
Bastien’s babies.
I couldn’t even fathom.
“You’re certifiably insane because there is a zero percent chance anything holy is finding its way inside this temple.”
She spat out a giggle before I joined her, thankful for some release from the ever-present gravity that floated around the topic of Bastien and me.
“But those hallways…” I sighed, the memory of Bastien’s thumbs working against my skin almost more than I could handle. “I would definitely be knocked up if they were any friendlier.”
Lucy whistled, rubbing her belly with both hands. “Ai, Papi!”
