“Help me find that way.”
Nora took a deep breath.
“This might help you love him a little,” she said as she took her jewelry bag back to the bathroom. She grabbed her hairbrush and retuned to the bedroom. “So I got arrested for stealing cars for my dad, right? And Søren promised to help me out of my little legal trouble. He knew he’d need Kingsley to call in some favors. Even back then Kingsley had a few prosecutors and judges in his pocket. But when Søren went to him and asked for help, that was the first time he and Kingsley had spoken to each other in over ten years. Still, Kingsley helped him and helped me, too. He didn’t ask for anything in return except that Søren stay and be his friend.”
“It’s good he helped you. You’re here now with me and not in prison.”
“I’d do okay in prison. Helps that I love having sex with women.”
“This isn’t helping my erection,” Nico said.
“I’d say I’m sorry, but you’re too pretty to lie to.”
Nora sat on the edge of the bed and pulled a pin from her now mussed mane of hair. Nico stopped her hand and with a spin of his finger indicated she should turn around. She raised an eyebrow and turned her back to him. One by one, Nico extracted the hairpins and unwound the low knot at the nape of her neck. Then he threaded his fingers through the waves, breaking them apart.
“You said getting arrested brought you and Kingsley and your priest together?” Nico asked as he took the hairbrush from her hand. Nora stiffened. The only man who had ever brushed her hair for her had been Søren. It seemed almost traitorous to let Nico do it. And yet, she couldn’t stop him. She needed the comfort and the contact far too much. Nothing felt more exquisite than the gentle pull of the brush through her hair. If only untangling the knots in her stomach were this easy.
“Yes, it was Kingsley who helped keep me out of juvenile detention. I was sentenced to twelve hundred hours of community service, which I had to complete before I turned eighteen. And here’s the fun part—Kingsley made sure the judge assigned Søren to monitor my community service. Soon I was feeding the hungry and hanging out with the homeless and scrubbing toilets and teaching poor kids how to make tassel bookmarks at summer camp.”
“Better than prison?”
“It was. Until I fucked it up. But that was Kingsley’s fault. He was getting me into trouble before we even met.”
“He’s talented.”
“Tell me about it.”
“What happened?”
Nora turned her head to the side so Nico could reach all her tangles.
“It was June. I was sixteen. And my lawyer had put me under house arrest. She told me I could go to school but nowhere else. Not even church. So the day my community service started was the first time I’d seen Søren in months. Things got weird. Fast.”
Nico gave a low, warm laugh and kissed that sensitive spot on her back between her shoulder blades.
“How weird?”
“The story starts with a stick in the ground and ends with an orgy.”
“As every story should.”
10
Eleanor
AT 9:00 A.M. SHARP THE DAY AFTER SCHOOL ENDED for summer break, Eleanor walked into Sacred Heart Catholic Church for the first time since March. She knew she’d be working that day so she’d put on an old white T-shirt and cutoff denim shorts and pulled her hair back in a ponytail.
She went to Søren’s office. Not Søren, she corrected herself. Father Stearns. She said it a few more times in her head. Father. Stearns. Other parishioners hung around the church, and the last thing she wanted to do was slip up and call him by his real first name. People were already going to be suspicious of a teenage girl at the beck and call of a handsome young priest. No reason to make things worse. Father. Stearns. Not. Søren. She could do this.
She knocked on his office door and took a step back. He opened the door.
“Hi, Søren,” she said.
He arched an eyebrow at her.
“I mean, Father Stearns.”
“This is going to be an issue for us, isn’t it?”
“Probably.”
He paused a moment before speaking again.
“Come with me. We need to talk.”
She followed him out to the back of the church and onto the shaded lawn. She had to stretch her legs to keep up with his long stride. He led her to a path, which bordered a small public park.
“First, how are you, Eleanor? I haven’t seen you in months.”
“Sorry about that. House arrest. But I’m okay. I’m grounded for life.”
“I can’t blame your mother for that decision. But you will start attending church again.”