“Bullshit!” He rolled his eyes. “You’re trying to give it up to a guy who calls himself Moth and is a pathological liar. Respect is not what I saw downstairs.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I pointed out the door. “What do you know? You didn’t try to call me or message me for four years. You don’t get to play big brother now. I can sleep with whoever I want.”The look on his face told me otherwise, but he knew I was right. He didn’t control me. Maybe when we were younger, he could threaten and blackmail me to get what he wanted, but not now. We stared each other down for a long moment before I continued.
“And what’s more, Tristan asked me to be a nude model for one of our class days and I said yes.”
“Like hell.” Priest stepped forward, and I did the same.
“You can’t stop me. I will be sleeping with Moth, I will be posing nude for the class, and you will always be my brother.”
I stopped. I didn’t know where that last part had come from. My brain began to ache as a memory tried to burstthrough my fog, but I couldn’t quite figure it out. Had I said something to him like that before? When?
Why?
“Laney.” Suddenly, Priest’s hands were on my cheeks, holding me gently. “Don’t do this.”
“Why not? It’s my body.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “Respect it enough to not waste your first time on someone like him.”
I blinked away the frustrated tears. He wasn’t saying anything different from what my friends had said when I told them my plan. There were plenty of good men to pick from, so why a complete stranger who was married?
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” I brushed his hands away. The lights above flickered and panic shot up my spine.Priest gave me an odd look and then a flicker of remembrance flashed on his face. His hands went to my hands, squeezing tightly.
“It’s the storm. Just some strong winter wind. It’ll be fine.”
My stomach tightened as the lights continued to flicker and glass around the room rattled. My heart raced to the point of painful as I feared for—The lights went out completely.I screamed, and Priest instantly pulled me into him, covering my mouth.
“Sssh, it’s fine. You’re safe. The lights will come on in a second.”But they didn’t. Priest rubbed my back and continued to try to calm me, but the deep-rooted fear took over my brain and I sobbed.“Laney, you’re fine. Here, come sit on the bed.”
I let him lead me to the bed. He tried to let go of my hand, but I held tight.
“I’m just going to go see if anyone has candles or flashlights or something. Maybe we have an ETA on when the power will come back on.”
I pulled my legs up and fell back onto the bed, curling myself up in a ball.
“Okay, I’ll be back in just a second. Stay here.”
In the back of my mind, I knew it was a silly fear. An absurd trigger, a childish one. It was just a storm. No electricity? Who cared? But a switch flipped whenever it happened. I reverted back to the child who had no one to protect her from the loud, scary storm. No one but Priest, who hadn’t been there.
It was easier, once Priest began saving me from the wind and rain. After that night, he’d refused to leave the house if there was a storm, in case I needed him. But after I’d been taken away, I was forced to handle the darkness alone. Each time, I still ended up a crumpled mess until morning.The windows rattled and the wind howled outside, sending me back to a dark time in my childhood.
“Laney, I’m back.” Priest returned and sat at the foot of the bed. “Power is out until morning. I didn’t realize you were still like this.”
I kept my eyes closed. “You weren’t there. You don’t understand.” I tossed the words at him, knowing they weren’t fair. He touched my foot, and I jerked away.
“I know, I should have been there, but I’m here now. Let me help you get through this.”
Flashes of the night that started my lifelong fear of storms and the outages poured one right after another through my mind.
Priest slid his hands up my legs, massaging the tight muscles and saying soft, encouraging words to get me to relax. “Ssh, everything’s fine. No one’s going to get hurt. I’m not at summer camp this time. I’m here, Laney.” He tugged my legs loose and sat me up. He pulled me into his lap and began to rock me until I stopped crying.
“See, I’m here. I’ll always be here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“But you did. You left me!” I clamped my hands over my ears to stop the loud banging coming from the windows.Priest grabbed my wrists and yanked them down.
“I said I’m not fucking leaving,” he snarled. “I swear my life on it. I’m not going anywhere ever again. Why do you think I left Cunningham’s?”
“What?”
