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While he’d found God sometime after turning eighteen, I’d shifted toward my obvious vocation of criminal activities with my father’s encouragement. However, Dominick didn’t judge my behavior and I didn’t try to sway him back into my life. That made us extremely compatible.
“Scotch. Neat.” His growl was entirely different then I typically heard. “Long damn day.”
“Wow. A curse word.”
“Don’t taunt me. I’ve fully admitted I’m still a sinner.” He half laughed but his scowl remained.
I tipped my head toward him, watching as he ripped off his jacket, tossing it aside. I was easily able to tell by the haunted expression he wore that he was troubled deeply about something. That was rare for him or at least had been given the last few years. However, while his current parish was in a decent part of town, that didn’t mean he’d started out there. He’d serviced some of the worst humanity had to offer, trying to provide guidance while hoping they atoned for their sins.
He took his oath seriously, so I’d never learned names and had stopped asking. Still, for him to have an outlet the way he provided me one made our relationship stronger. After a few years, nothing seemed to bother him any longer.
Until now.
“That bad, huh? I thought priests always found joy in their work.” I knew better of course. He’d given last rites to men who were going to both heaven and hell, comforting wives and children of loved ones dying of illness and disease as well as mortal sin. I’d seen his heart get broken more than once, requiring my comfort and words of wisdom, even though they were usually accompanied with bottles of liquor.
Somehow, I had a feeling tonight would be no different. I moved behind the bar, grabbing another glass. After refilling mine, and making his, I slid the dense tumbler across the bar.
He took a full two minutes unbuttoning his long sleeves, rolling them past his elbows. “Yeah, that bad.” When he pounded back the entire drink, I snorted, grabbing the bottle and refilling. “Bad enough I’m questioning my faith. Can you believe it? After all these years and a single confession and I feel clueless. And don’t you dare chastise me, brother.” He pointed his finger, trying to offer amusement in his eyes.
But I knew differently.
“You want to talk about it?” I asked with as much reverence as a man like me could offer. What advice would matter to someone of such virtue?
“You know I can’t.” Dominick grabbed his glass, moving toward the pool table. I hadn’t seen him look so haggard in years. “It’s just… something I need to think through. I prayed last night for guidance too. There was none.”
I moved toward the cue sticks, selecting one for him and tossing it in his direction. He caught it with one hand, eyeing me carefully.
“I know how you are, Dom. You need to get whatever you’re struggling with off your chest. Just tell me the basics, my friend.” When he clenched his jaw, I decided to guess. “Okay. Let me see if I can figure it out, which means you’re not breaking a single oath of yours.”
“Of God. They aren’t my rules.”
“And you know your God won’t want your spirit crushed either. So let me think. Is this about some rich guy’s kid who stole his father’s car then wrecked it? Or maybe a prom queen who gave up her virginity?” I laughed but I sensed he was truly struggling.
“Nothing so easy in this poor girl’s life. There are some truly evil men in this world.”
Snorting, I narrowed my eyes. “Are you forgetting who you’re talking to?” He’d given me absolution more times than I could count, although I rarely mentioned my line of work any more than he did his.
“You’re a dangerous man, Fran, but you’d set the world on fire to protect members of your family.”
I burst into laughter. “Now you’re telling me that’s a positive virtue?”
He laughed and rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Maybe my only saving grace.” Perhaps one that would lead to my untimely death as well. By the standards of most men who held similar positions, the increasing love of my family was my greatest weakness. “You have me curious. What could be any worse than my daily activities?” I hadn’t seen him scowl as much as he had tonight.
“Try an adult woman who is being forced into an arranged marriage, someone beating her to ensure she accepts the contract with a person she doesn’t even know. Try knowing that her father killed her mother, something she learned only recently. And I know she’s harboring a terrible secret. I could feel it in my bones. I wanted to console her, contacting the police for her but what good would that have done?”
“Maybe nothing.” The story was horrific.
“I know. This poor girl was so angry but also horrified that her own father would do that to her, especially after her mother had been murdered. I felt her need for retaliation as well as her strong resolve. She needed guidance and I had nothing that would matter in the end.” His words were full of anger, something else that surprised me.
“Ouch. That’s a hell of a lot of baggage.”
“Tell me about it.”
I narrowed my eyes, watching as he continued to fight with his emotions. “Dom. You came from a family where arranged marriages were a generational tradition. You know it continues to exist in my world and others from the old countries. That’s a way of life, alliances strengthening families.” Although Maxwell had laughed at the thought after one of his men suggested we form an alliance based on my eligibility status, marrying the daughter of the Irish clan.
Dom’s mother and father’s relationship had been arranged, although from what he’d told me they truly seemed to love each other. It was possible but rare.
