Page 25 of Priest

I’m not a violent person. I’ve always believed that words can solve any situation given the chance, but after meeting Priest’s mother, I’ve never felt so murderous. She’s a vile human being, filled with hate and as spiteful as hell. How can you treat your babies like that? So what if your babies are in their thirties? You’re always gonna be a mom to them. My mother still calls me on a chilly day to remind me to wear my hat and scarf.

This woman, who I can’t even grace with the term “mother,” is a leech. She clings to whoever is available and sucks the life right out of them. And today, she did that to my guy. I saw red! I wanted to go for her throat. The only thing that kept me from doing that was Priest. He didn’t need any more of the drama that was already unfolding before him.

What a dick move! She arrived, throwing sass, riling everyone up, then told her kids their father is dying. Who does that? Sure, they haven’t been close to their dad for quite a while, but he’s still their dad. And I saw it in Priest’s eyes, the conflict about whether he should give a damn about a man who ignored him all his life or rise above. I also saw how he was protective of his sister and trying to shield her from her mother.

After War and Hammer walk Priest’s mother out, Guard and Ghost redirect everyone back to the party, then come over to where Camille, Steady, Priest, and I are huddled together. I still have my arms around Priest’s waist. It’s the only thing I know how to do considering I don’t have enough of the backstory to make comments on their discussion.

“You don’t have to go, Camille. Let me take this one,” Priest tells her.

“No way am I letting you back into the viper’s den alone. It took us years to get out of that dysfunctional hell. You were lost to me for years, and I’m not going through that again,” she states with determination. I would never have imagined that Camille could get so angry, but her eyes are like daggers, and her finger keeps digging into Priest’s chest. I know that anger’s not meant for him, and so does he.

“Calm, Cammy.” A low rumble emits from Steady as he gives her waist a squeeze.

She spins on her heel to face her man. “He’s finally happy. He has the Pride and Quinn and he’s smiling again. Priest’s too good. He’ll try to make Mom and Dad see the light, but they’re filled with hate and it’ll eat away at him,” she sobs, dropping her head onto his chest.

Priest reaches out, turning her into his arms. “I’ve also got you and Kyrian. I’m not giving up everything I’ve worked for to appease that woman. But I think we’d both feel the guilt if I didn’t go see him to assess the situation. If it’s a bunch of lies, I’ll come home, conscience clear. If he’s in bad shape, we’ll talk about it and decide what we want to do.”

“I don’t want you going alone,” she whispers.

I say, “He won’t be alone. I’ll be with him.” I meet Priest’s eyes. “If that’s okay with you.”

“That’ll be good. But before we do that, I think you need to hear the whole story,” he says with a sigh. Obviously, this is something he’s not looking forward to, and based on his tone, I’m not sure I am either.

“Whenever you’re ready,” I reply.

He lets out another heavy sigh and releases his sister. “I’m done with the party. Let’s find a place to talk.”

He kisses his sister’s cheek and Steady gives him a slap on the back, then he takes my hand and leads me away, back through the compound and up the stairs until we reach one of the last doors, and we end up in his bedroom. I stand in the middle of the room, waiting for him to stop pacing. He rakes a hand through his hair, looks in my direction, and drops his ass on the edge of the bed.

“This is a fucked-up mess,” he declares. His elbows on his knees, he leans forward and puts his head into his hands. It’s killing me to see him this way. I take a step closer and touch the top of his head, leaning in. He spreads his legs and grasps my hip to bring me closer and pulls me onto his lap.

“We all have a history, Priest. Some are uglier than others, but they shape you into who you are, and you’re pretty wonderful. At least to me,” I say, hopefully encouraging him to open up to me.

“What’s your past, precious? Failing a midterm and sibling squabbles?” he jokes.

“You say that like it’s a joke, but the psyche is a very delicate thing. Some people carry that failure like a chip on their shoulder and blame the world for how their lives turned out. You didn’t do that. You fought back, and although I don’t know it all, I can see that you’re loved and respected, so whatever it is that you’re so reluctant to tell me, it’s not as bad as you’re making it in your own mind.”

“I was weak,” he says. “I gave up. I figured if life was going to keep knocking me down, I’d just stay down and save myself the trouble of getting back up. It’s not what I did to myself that bothers me. It’s that I let them beat Camille down over and over again and did nothing about it. I didn’t know that our older brother, John, was physically beating on her for money, but he did that too. He barged into her apartment, hit her repeatedly until she was unconscious, took all her savings, and left her there, bleeding.”

“That was John. Not you,” I remind him.

“But I didn’t know anything because I was too self-absorbed in being a shit brother. I lived paycheck to paycheck and spent it all before my mother could get her grubby hands on it. So she had John go after Camille. John was always a monster. He was going to survive, didn’t matter what the cost, even if that meant throwing his sister to the wolves.” His voice is full of disgust, his expression twisted with regret.

“You found your way back to her,” I say, gently stroking his hair.

“John got out of jail and went after Camille for more money. By then, she’d met Steady and he wasn’t letting anyone near Camille. One day, John showed up when Steady wasn’t around and Wildcard got the brunt of that fight. John stuck a knife in him. Of course, the story I got was completely different, and our dear mother made it seem as if Camille instigated an attack on John with her biker friends. I rode out with my parents to give her hell. I was going to make her drop the charges against John. That’s when the truth came out.” Priest shakes his head. “I couldn’t believe the lies I’d been told. I was so utterly confused. I just stood there like an idiot.”

“What happened next?” I can’t imagine the emotional roller coaster he’s been on.

“Believe it or not, Cammy wanted me in her life. Steady tolerated me, and I worked up the courage to speak with Guard. I thought everyone would hate me for what John was doing to them, but they accepted me. Wildcard especially became my best friend, and he had the most to be pissed about.”

“Oh my God,” I breathe.

“It gets worse before it gets better, babe.”

“How can it get worse?” I furrow my brow.

“Even with John in jail, he managed to put the club in a bind with the gang he owed money to. They wanted Camille to pay up. The club went to war. We won, but it was ugly. Then a while back, the brother of the leader of that gang recognized me. He decided to take his anger out on me. I was attacked and was close to death when the Pride burst in to save me.” He lets out a heavy sigh. “So you see, I will never turn my back on these men and women. I won’t do that.”

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