Bulletproof Vestments by Jane Lebak

Author:Jane Lebak [Lebak, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: free inspirational suspense story, free suspense, suspense short story, inspirational suspense, free short story
ISBN: 9781771276597
Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing
Published: 2014-12-10T10:11:44.866508+00:00

* * * *

An ambulance came. An ambulance left with Jay inside. Jay spent time in an emergency room triage bed, and eventually Kevin arrived. The silence was raw, uncomfortable. Jay told him about Eric, about Toby, and Kevin only muttered, “Animals. I'm lucky they didn't kill me to get back at you, you know,” and after that Jay asked about the weather.

It was a parade of X-rays, of observation, of endless waits punctuated by doctors coming in to check on the nurses who had been coming in to check the machines that were checking his vitals. In came the police to take a report and half the time it was Kevin bantering with fellows he knew, and Jay wishing Kevin were still that comfortable with him. It was eleven o'clock before he got the all-clear to go home, and Kevin offered to drive him.

“Do you want to come in?” said Jay, since they hadn't seen each other for six months, but Kevin said no. He had to go to work.

So Jay just got out at the curb, and Kevin took off.

Jay made his way to the rectory door, unsteady and more than a little spooked. None of the Archangel boys were around, so he kept it slow and made sure not to fall. Ten minutes and he could be in bed. Eleven minutes and he could be asleep. That sounded good.

As he reached for his keys, he heard movement, breathing, a presence. His eyes wouldn't work well enough to pick a shadow out of the darkness, so he froze in place. “Who's there?”

The Archangel boys would have announced themselves by now, one of their typical “Farrell! You're back!” greetings. Whoever this was said nothing, but Jay heard him move closer. He wasn't trying to be quiet. Whoever it was, he had confidence of walking away from this one.

Jay had no such confidence. He kept walking anyhow.

The person intercepted him as he climbed the first step. “I'm back.”

Eric's voice. So after all that, it was over. Jay couldn't run. Not in the dark and not with all these bruises and not with his legs shaking. On the steps, if he turned too fast he'd fall. He couldn't fight. God, have mercy on me.

Jay gripped the railing. “Talk.”

But Eric said nothing, and Jay waited, heart pounding, hand aching as he gripped the railing.

Finally Eric said, “I'm the one who called the cops.”

Jay tensed. “Why?”

Eric sounded irritated. “Why do you think, you idiot?”

Thinking in and of itself was not something Jay found himself doing too easily at the moment. But Eric just went on. “There's no point in killing you now. You're right. You got what you deserved. You're a useless fuck-up and there's nothing left of you. So big deal, you turned tail and became some kind of fake holy man, and now no one's going to kill you because they're too scared to do it.”

Jay swallowed hard. “Then why'd you return?”

Silence. More silence. And then, “I want to go to Confession.

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