Page 65 of Chasing Lynda

Starting Over

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Aaron

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THREE DAYS LATER

Lynda is smiling at me, her blue eyes full of that innocence that drew me to her like a moth to a flame. That innocence I enjoyed taking from her on our wedding night.

I inhale sharply, clenching my fists on the mahogany of my desk, careful not to crumple the yearbook photo we used for her missing person report.

The day I find her, I’ll show her that she can’t run from me; there’s nowhere to hide. She belongs to me, heart, body and soul. I’ll take everything that soils her soul and force her into enlightenment. I’ll fill her with it until she fulfills her purpose, being a vessel for the purest being—

A knock on my office door pulls me out of my reveries and Andy Greggs, Lynda’s father comes into the room before I have the chance to invite him in.

“Aaron, we need to talk,” he begins, coming to sit down on one of the two chairs facing my desk.

“What about?” I snap, irritated by his excessive familiarity. He’s my fucking deputy and father-in-law but he should always remember that I’m the head of the church, of the elder’s council and of the inner circle.

I’m the one our congregation follows blindly on the path to enlightenment.

I don’t meet his gaze, looking away from Lynda’s photo. I’m fucking hard and I don’t give a shit if Andy sees it; after all, his daughter is my wife.

“There’s something I need to tell you—”

“I don’t care if the inner circle men are unhappy about the change in the women’s mission! After Harold’s whore of a daughter got us all arrested, we’ve been under scrutiny. Exposés in the press, photos of the pregnant women who stayed in the compound when the government took it over. You know better than me that we’ve been trying to stop that documentary about ‘our cult’ and that Real Life movie inspired by Harold’s life and death. The enlightened need to find a different way to get their fucking rocks off. I’m thinking about something, but in the meantime, they need to be patient and fuck their own wives or keep it in their pants! If they disobey my order, they can go look for a different community.”

Greggs shakes his head, his mouth curved down in a displeased expression. “No, that isn’t what I wanted to see you about. The inner circle has faith in you, Aaron. They’re willing to wait for whatever you decide. Even though Sheriff Kirk’s proposal of spiritual marriages to go alongside our official marriages deserves some consideration. They could be like commitment ceremonies in front of the entire community. Then if we want to share our ‘wives’ behind closed doors, that’s up to us; as long as we look kosher to the outside world and we can attract more followers, we shouldn’t have any problems.”

I sit back in my chair, tracing the edges of Lynda’s photo with my fingers. “That could be something we need to do to appease the inner circle,” I agree. “But we must return to Harold’s original doctrine. Things started to go wrong when we deviated from the concept of purity. After all, if we want to have our community grow with enlightened members born into our church, we need our women to be pure. Taking all the whores who left the rightful path and having them carry our children was a flawed plan.”

Greggs looks perplexed. “Sure, you’re right, in theory. But how do you propose to have children and keep the women pure at the same time? The two things negate one another.”

I smile. Andy Greggs might be a genius when it comes to finances; if you need investment advice or to figure out how to pay little to no taxes, he’s your man. However, he couldn’t even control his own daughter, so when it comes to matters of enlightenment and faith, he’s a complete and utter moron. “Trust me, I have a plan. Just tell the inner circle to be patient until I unveil it. I have a test run soon.”

Andy nods. “Sure, I’ll make sure they know you’re going to take care of their needs. But that isn’t what I came here to tell you.”

Now he’s making me nervous. “What is it? Spit it out.”

He squirms in his chair. “We’ve had some interesting news from Bridgeport.”

I narrow my eyes, annoyance mounting again. “What now? After Harold’s scandal, they’d put a halt on the construction of the new church, but I thought the mayor’s office took a bribe and things were progressing without a hitch? Please don’t tell me that crook pocketed our money and went back on his word.”

Greggs stops my onslaught making a pausing gesture with his hand. “No, no. That’s progressing well. We’re a few weeks away from completion. All you have to do is appoint a new pastor to lead Bridgeport’s sister church.”

I snort. “Right! Unless you want to do it, I don’t think we have anyone trustworthy within our ranks. I might have to travel between both locations and have services at Bridgeport on a different day than in Shell Cove. So, if it isn’t the inner circle and it isn’t the new church, what do you want from me? I was meditating and you interrupted me.”

I’m considering kicking him out of my office but his next words stop me in my tracks. “It’s about Lynda.”

“What about my wife? Did someone see her?”

Andy nods. “Kinda. There was a promising sighting last weekend on the beach. So I alerted our man at the County Sheriff’s office. But it’s better if he explains what he found out.” He raises his voice, looking at the door. “Vince come in, please.”

The young man who enters my office looks vaguely familiar.

Greggs makes the introduction. “Aaron, this is Vincent Kirk, our sheriff’s eldest son. He recently joined the police force in Bridgeport, serving as our connection with law enforcement in that county. Vince, this is Dr. Aaron Lawrence, our pastor and Supreme Enlightened Being.”

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