Page 50 of Penalty to the Heart

“Never.”

“See?” Jack smiles warmly. “That’s because we’re family. And family never forgets. Never.”

“Caleb?” I hear someone call out my name, successfully pulling me away from the memories of the past.

As the fog lifts from my sight, I see Roxanne standing just a couple of steps above me, staring at me with morbid fascination.

“I’m glad you came. I wasn’t sure you’d show up.”

Like the first time we met, her amber gaze is just as scrutinizing and evasive, like she wants to seep into my subconscious and pull out every hidden secret.

It’s so unnerving that it takes me a second to get my shit together and reply.

“Well, it’s not like you left me much choice, Doc,” I snap, glad that my voice has a little bite to it.

“I could say the same thing about you,” she counters without missing a beat, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “But now that you’re here, how about you follow me so we can get on with it,” she adds, quickly turning around and walking up the stairs before I have time to say anything to the contrary.

“If you brought me here so I could confess all my sins to a priest, then we’ll be here a while,” I joke once we’re inside.

“No confession will be needed,” she responds with a flat tone, dipping her fingers in holy water before making a cross.

Great.

That’s all I needed—a Catholic girl.

If my mother and I were on speaking terms, she’d be all over me to date her.

Argh.

“Why are we here, Roxie?” I ask, purposely using the nickname I came up with since I saw how much she despised it.

“You’ll see in a minute,” she says dismissively while heading towards the altar..

“I don’t like surprises, Doc. Not ones I don’t see coming anyway.”

“Duly noted,” she replies with her no-nonsense tone.

I shove my hands back into my pockets, uncaring for the baseball hat still on my head inside God’s house. When I was younger, my mom would have slapped me across the head for insulting her beloved church in such a way. But as we’ve covered, she couldn’t care less what I do nowadays.

However, my curiosity is piqued when Roxanne turns a corner and heads to a closed door at the side leading to the church’s undercroft.

What the hell is she up to?

The faint feel of spiders’ legs crawling up my spine tells me that whatever the good doctor cooked up for me, I won’t care for one bit.

When we approach another set of doors, these ones wide open, Roxanne stops midway before I can look inside, only to turn around to face me.

“Now, I know this is a lot to ask of you, but I need you to be on your best behavior. There are people inside that room who won’t appreciate your brand of sarcasm. Is that understood?”

I really wish I didn’t find her so good-looking.

It would make things so much easier for me.

Even now, staring daggers at me, she’s sexy as hell.

I guess the upside of feeling numb is that I have no wish to flirt with her.

Piss her off?

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