Page 17 of Sin With Me

Chapter5

Cameron

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.

Taking a deep breath in, I paused and looked up at the cross in front and above me. My pulse picked up its speed. It felt like it had only been days, not years, since I’d knelt in front of the cross with my father at my side. Each time, he’d whispered words of wisdom into my ear; wisdom I’d carry with me for the rest of mylife.

“You can’t change yesterday, but you can move mountains tomorrow. Never lose hope, son.”

His words had become the foundation of my life: each one acting like a stepping stone to understanding human nature and behavior. That wisdom had built over the years and proved to be more crucial for my job than I could have guessed.

I’d come to this church to move mountains. I’d come here to make right of what had been wronged, to find justice for my father’s torture, and to keep my family safe. In the process, I met a gorgeous woman who kept eluding my questions because I was a priest. I thought priests were supposed to be easy to talk to? Yet during the past four weeks, she’d been the one who helped me open up about my father. I missed him greatly. I missed my entire family. Despite what many thought about my father, he was one of the most faithful men I’d ever known. He was the one I’d always look upto.

I lowered my head, resuming my prayer.

It’s been way too long since I confessed. I’m sorry. They were the only words I could muster at this moment. I wished that I could bear my soul. I wished I could remove the burden I was carrying from my shoulders, but as the eldest in my family, I knew they were counting on me. What was the point of confessing now if I’d sin again? Temptation was alwaysnear.

All it took was one look. A simple glance at Kate’s legs and I was sinning in my mind like a man who’d carried blue balls for decades and finally found his release.

And it wasn’t only her body; it was every little detail that I noticed about her. The way she attended to each kid, with individuality, or brought Father John warm tea first thing in the morning to cure what was turning out to be a perpetual cold. The way she held her breath when she saw me shirtless last month. I watched her reflection in a glass portrait on the wall as she stood against her office door, wondering whether her pebbled nipples could contract any further.

A woman wasn’t supposed to look at a priest the way she looked at me that day. She wasn’t supposed lust over me, and then fan herself cool. When I wasn’t looking, I felt like Kate was a completely different woman. Every so often, a spark of her frivolous nature lit her golden eyes on fire, as if she were awakening from a deep sleep. I would be willing to pay for my sins a thousand times over if I could only know the real Kate. Counting the number of sins accumulating under my name, that meant my soul would be an eternal slave.

Keep her safe, these townsfolk safe, and please help me find the woman who stole my father’s heart. Help me avenge him. Amen.

I made the sign of the cross and went back to my office, momentarily stopping by Kate’s door. She didn’t work on Saturdays, though from what I’d seen, she liked to pop in even then to check on the parishioners.

The phone rang as soon as I closed the door behind me, and the familiar number brought a smile to myface.

“Hey, Brook,” I said to my brother. “Did you findher?”

“No hello? That’s pretty rude for a priest.”

“Fuck you.” Swearing was a habit I’d had the most difficulty breaking since coming to Pace. That, and thinking about Kate’s long legs. I turned around to ensure that no one was looming on the other side of the frosted glass door, and lowered my voice, repeating. “Did you findher?”

“Our sources tell us that she’s in the southwest.”

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with that information?”

“We’re working on it, Cam. All while you’re relaxing.”

“Again, fuck you. That guesstimate leaves us like, what? One hundred and fifty million to sift through? That’s too many, and we don’t have time. I’m still not sure how she managed to stay under the radar with all that money.”

“Anything new on your side?” he asked.

“There are piles of unsorted and uncategorized papers. Coming to their home town was definitely the right way to go. I’m hiding in plain sight. It’s the last place they’d think of looking, but I have to say, it won’t be easy to find the records.”

“Don’t worry, Cam. We’ll get her before year end, and then you’ll come home. If all goes well, we may even come out ahead on thisone.”

“Howso?”

“So here’s what I found. The word on the street is that Cortez hid fifty million in thattown.”

I laughed, but my brother remained silent.

“Oh, you’re serious?”

“Of course I’m serious. They denied the claims and left town to hide, but if you manage to find that money, that would be great leverage. It could get them off ourback.”

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