Page 80 of Savage

Alessio took in a deep, fortifying breath, and then we headed inside through the secret entrance to St. Andrews. It had been unlocked in anticipation of our arrival, same time every month, and the sanctuary never failed to stun our group into silence.

St. Andrews was one of the city’s oldest and most revered Catholic churches, a gothic revival masterpiece with towering spires and stained glass that even I could admit was breathtaking. I hadn’t grown up in church, and I couldn’t say I’d go now if it weren’t for these midnight confessionals.

Father Vitale sat in a pew near the confessional, a book in hand, but when he caught sight of us, he set it aside and rose to welcome us.

He always seemed too young for a priest, but then, I didn’t know many. I’d always pictured them as old and wise, not fair-haired and ridiculously attractive. He towered over King, whowas the first to greet him, then the rest of us joined except for Alessio, who nodded at the priest and then made his way toward the altar cross to light a candle.

Stubborn ass.

“Evening, gentlemen,” Father Vitale greeted us with his usual warm smile, and if he’d noticed Alessio’s snub, he didn’t let it bother him.

“Evening, father,” King said. “Thank you for accommodating us, as always.”

As strange as it was, Father Vitale could’ve easily fit in with our crowd—if one was to remove the Roman collar and wash all our sins away.

“At this stage I think it would feel off if Ididn’thave one of these late night sessions with all of you.” His eyes swept over our group, and considering some of the things he’d heard over the years, it was shocking there was no judgment there.

Me? I would’ve been judging the hell out of us.

“We wouldn’t miss it,” King said, and turned to the rest of us. “Who’s up first?”

Everyone’s eyes immediately turned to me, and I couldn’t really blame them. I had been causing the most chaos this month.

“Lachlan?” Father Vitale’s voice was gentle, as though he were coaxing a wild animal closer. “Would you like to come with me?”

As he turned toward the confessional booth, I glared at my brothers. “Really?”

When they all stayed suspiciously quiet, I followed in the footsteps of the good father and tried to think of a way out of this. When no miracle escape plan appeared, however, it seemed I would have to just suck it up.

I opened the door and slipped inside, and as I knelt in front of the lattice partition, Father Vitale said, “May God, who hasenlightened every heart, help you to know your sins and trust in his mercy.”

“Amen,” I muttered, and then took in a deep breath. “Bless me, father, for I have sinned. It’s been twenty-nine days since my last confession.”

I paused and thought about my next words carefully, because while I knew what Ishouldbe confessing, I wasn’t quite sure I could get the words out.

“These past couples of weeks I might’ve done a few things I…need to atone for.”

I was still for a moment, wondering where I should begin. The logical place to start was the alley, but did I really need to confess to knocking off a few drug dealers? I would’ve thought that was doing God’s work.

“Continue, my friend—unburden yourself.”

“Uh, yeah, so, um, a few weeks back I was assigned to trail these pieces of shi—unsavory sorts who are dealing some really nasty drugs that have been sending people to the morgue. Anyway, things were going along nice and smooth until out of nowhere this innocent bystander showed up.”

An image of Cooper flashed through my mind, his wide blue eyes full of fear as he knelt on the ground, the barrel of a gun pointed at his head.

“I see, and what happened when this man or woman…?”

“It was a man.”

“What happened when this man showed up?”

“Everything went to shit.”

Father Vitale said nothing in response to that, but as my mind replayed the carnage that had followed, I couldn’t find it in me to feel bad. Not when I had saved Cooper’s life.

“They threatened to kill him. I made sure that didn’t happen.”

There, that was an accurate enough assessment without going into the gory details.

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