Four Deacons Drove Out My Father, So I Brought Them to Their Knees novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: Two at Once
Abner filled the bedroom doorway in his coaching windbreaker with his hands at his sides.
Calvin stood one step behind him with his hat against his chest.
I sat on the edge of Lucius's big bed in Lucius's shirt, with my hair dripping.
There was a bite on my neck that I had not yet counted.
"Young lady," Abner said. "I'll say mine now. Calvin will wait."
"Say it," I said.
"I made the motion."
"You told the church you voted for it."
"I made it." His jaw worked. "Isaiah would not have called the question. Calvin would not."
"Lucius cried in the church office," Abner said. "I made the motion over him."
"Why?"
He looked straight at me, and he did not soften his face.
"You were seventeen, and you sat in the third pew with wine on your shoes. You did not move."
"You did not cry," he said. "You watched every one of us look at you."
"I remember."
"I taught you in the halls and watched you swim at the county meets."
He did not look away.
"I thought, that girl should not have to sit there every Wednesday while it happens again."
His voice stayed level.
"I thought if he is gone, she will not have to."
His voice stayed level.
"I took your father out of that building to take the wine off your shoes."
His voice did not change.
"I never once asked what it would cost you."
The room was quiet.
I felt myself go cold from the scalp down.
It was a fair thing he had said, and it was the worst thing anyone had said to me.
"The first Wednesday in Atlanta, I slept through the night," I said.
Abner took it in his face without moving.
"I was glad," I said. "I was seventeen and I was glad nobody was looking at me."
My voice shook.
"I have hated myself for it eleven years, and you just said it out loud."
"I know," Abner said.
"Don't you say you know."
"Then I won't," he said.
My hands had gone numb in my lap.
I wanted to be somewhere that Abner Toliver's voice did not reach.
Calvin stepped past him.
He moved slowly and set his hat on the dresser.
He knelt down in front of me on the floor and took my face in his long, careful hands.
"Naomi," he said. "Look at me."
I looked.
"You may be as cold as you like to him. You do not have to be cold to me."
His thumbs were warm on my cheekbones, and they smelled of cedar and starch.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Four Deacons Drove Out My Father, So I Brought Them to Their Knees are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 15 · All chapters · Chapter 17 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend