Page 71 of Axton
I opened the door and stuck my head inside. “Do you have a minute?”
“Now?” He asked.
“We need to talk and it’s going to be a busy day tomorrow.”
“Fine.”
He followed me downstairs. As I turned on the lights I offered him a beer. “Have you ever had one?”
“Sure, my best friend is a priest, and when I’d visit him at the rectory he always offered me one.”
I had beer on tap, so I got us both one and set them on the bar as he took a seat on a bar stool. “You do have a lot of thinking to do, but how will you find any answers by sitting in your room all day and night?”
He sighed. “I’m praying for them.”
“I believe our God gives us free will. He may have plans for us, and places certain people in our lives for a reason, but he expects you to choose the path he wants for you by the choices you make.My choices have led me to your sister. No answers are going to come to you in that bedroom up there.” I took a drink of my beer.
“I feel him calling to me, but I don’t know what he’s trying to say.” He also took a swig of beer.
“What does your friend the priest say?”
He shrugged. “Pretty much the same thing as you. His calling will be clear when the time is right.”
“So, what do you feel your choices are right now?” I leaned against the bar.
“Well, there’s people who want me dead so that limits my choices. I’ve spent my whole life hoping to save my sister from a very sad existence, and now that she’s safe I don’t know what I want as a man.” He answered.
“I felt that way for many years with Kayla. She’s such an innocent and sweet girl, so leaving her for the military was very hard to do. Honestly, the first choice I ever made that was for myself was when I separated from the Army and took a chance on Creed’s ideas. It’s just been lately that I’ve thought more about the things I wanted when I was a kid. What did you want to be when you grew up?” I asked.
He looked down at the mug he had in his hand. “Free, beyond that I didn’t know much of anything.”
“Something must be on your mind. What is it you’ve been battling over in that bedroom?”
He swallowed hard. “Converting my religion and becoming a priest like Father Gallagher.”
“What holds you back from making that decision?” I really needed him to open up to me.
His eyes met mine and his face turned red. “I’ve never had a woman.” He cleared his throat. “How do I know what I’m sacrificing if I’ve never really been alone with one? I have an attraction to them, and what if I sacrifice that side of me and realize I missed out on having a wife and kids? Then I find myself wondering how I would ever support myself, let alone a family.”
I pondered a few things before I opened my mouth. “Then you’ll experience it. As a community, we have small little pieces of the world inside these gates. We have accountants, engineers, doctors, nurses, first responders, and just about every profession. Let me talk to the Originals tomorrow to see what they think. Maybe we can work out some job shadowing.” I cleared my throat. “We also have an after dark night club, and there’s women to meet there and umm…they can well, if you want you can see some things, if it’s sex you’re curious about.” I scratched my beard. “Have you spoken to Father Gallagher about this?”
He nodded. “He told me that most priests that are heterosexual had sex before they joined the priesthood. I think he said only 2% were virgins and only 50% are celibate after their vows. He was sexually active with women before he took his vows. He made it very clear that it’s a sacrifice that he struggles with on a daily basis.”
I pulled out my cell phone and called Magnus. “Hey, what are you doing right now?”
“Dude, Addie just freaked me the hell out and I rushed over here to Creeds thinking something was wrong. Nope, she just didn’t get her way when Irons wouldn’t let her spend the night, so she called me crying and saying she needed me. That little shit was fine, she just wanted to spend the night at my house because she’s mad at Morgan.”
“What did Morgan do?”
“Nothing. She’s just had it with this gentle parenting bullshit Bolton suggested. Addie is getting away with too much and she disciplined her for not getting a gold star at school today. Morgan took all her toys out of her room and told her she could sit there and think about what she did, and she won’t get her toys back until she earns a gold star, and she will be going to bed an hour earlier every night. She didn’t know Addie sneaked her phone into her room. The only reason Irons didn’t fall for it was because Wrenly called Addie out for her bullshit when she took the phone from him. Of course, Uncle Josh falls for it and Morgan got pissed when I came running into their house. I feel like a fucking idiot.”
I laughed. “Don’t feel bad, I would have done the same thing. Anyway, can you stop by on your way home? I know it’s late, but Koty and I are having a beer downstairs.”
“Yeah, I’ll need one after that fucking mess. The only thing that went right tonight was that Morgan didn’t shit on me, and I haven’t puked all day. That’s not all the Creeds have done to me today, though. I’ll be right over.”
I ended the call and looked at Koty. “Magnus is coming over for a beer. I think maybe you should plan a night out with him. I can’t leave your sister, and that’s another subject I wanted to talk to you about before he gets here.”
“You’re growing closer to her.” He said.
