Page 112 of Sinners Reunion

I grab his hand and give it a squeeze. “Just go. He can’t help her if she’s hurt, remember?”

He runs one way, and I bolt the other. I wish I could help them too, but no one else needs to be exposed to the evil lurking inside me. If I want to cast out these demons, I need to make it to the restrooms.

With gritted teeth and a constant clench of my ass cheeks, I burst into the bathroom. What happens next isn’t pretty, dignified, or anything I ever wish to relive. For my mental health, my consciousness dissociates halfway through. Whether to save me from the pain or the horrendous odor, I do not know, nor do I care. I just know that when it finally stops, I am simply glad to be alive.

I wash my hands five times, then slink out of the restroom. For something that literally everyone does, taking a shit is the most embarrassing human experience I’ve ever had. I hurry away from the scene of the crime before anyone can witness my presence. If anyone asks, I’ll tell them King did it.

Chapter Thirty-Five

King

Let this be a lesson to us all. For all activities without clothing, protection is a must. If Rosie hadn’t been wearing the helmet, she’d have cracked her skull open like an egg, as is evidenced by the deep divot the rocky ground punched into the protective gear. She’s quite lucky to be alive, though she has scratches and bruises enough.

“This could have been your brain. You must be more careful.” I hand the helmet back to her.

She pokes her arm out of the blanket Aven brought down from the camp and takes it from me. Grim sits beside her on the back of a UTV driven by Gary. Ice Pick sits up front beside him.

“Are y’all holding on tight?” Ice Pick asks them. “Don’t want either of you taking another tumble. If you break a leg, we’ll have to shoot you.”

“I think that’s horses,” Gary whispers.

Grim wraps his arm around Rose’s shoulder. “Please carry us back to our sleeping quarters. We are quite tired now.”

Leave it to Grim to break the frame on an expensive piece of equipment and then demand he be ferried back to bed. I can’t be bothered to deal with that ATV either. I have much more pressing matters to attend to.

While I still have the courage, I’m going to come clean to Josie before another second can pass me by. Once she knows the truth, she can help me come up with a way to help my children understand.

Granted, I must make Josie understand first, but I have to believe she will. It’s been at least an hour since we parted ways, so she’s surely finished shitting her brains out and showering off the stink.

My nose hairs recoil when I recall that acrid aroma. For such a delicate flower, she sure can clear a room.

And yet, even knowing that choosing Josie is choosing a lifetime of stepping into the bathroom after that, I still find myself eager to get to the next step after telling her the truth about who I am. I’m eager to tell her that I love her.

It will have to wait a little longer, though.

Aven starts toward me. The look in his eyes is one I know well. He’s been dwelling on something solo long enough, and he’s in need of a sounding board.

I push my hands into my pockets and match his stride as he reaches me. We continue up the hill together.

“What’s troubling you? And don’t pretend you’re okay. You’ve been stood off to the side the entire time Gary and Ice Pick were loading them onto the cart, and you’ve hardly said two words.”

“I rarely do.” He turns his head and spits. “I’m not what you’d call a Chatty Kathy.”

“It isn’t weak to talk about your troubles, if that’s what you fear.”

“Not afraid.”

“So you are troubled, then?” I’ve snared him.

Aven stops walking. I halt and turn, facing him but keeping space between us. Men like him need space in times like these.

“I had a vasectomy shortly after Quinn and I were married. I figured since I never had a role model, it was best. I wouldn’t know how to be a da because no one ever knew how to be one for me.”

“I’m sorry.”

He scoffs and shoves his hands into his pockets. He takes a deep breath and looks into the night sky. “No need for apologies from you. It wasn’t you who destroyed a family by sleeping with another man’s wife and leaving him to raise the psychotic little bastard.”

“You know that’s not the whole of it.”