The Consequence of Secrets - Part One by Eve Cates Read Free Book Online Page B

quite interesting,” I smile.
    “Yes,” he chuckles. “I can just imagine a wall covered with iPads, Xbox consoles and cellphones.”
    Biting my lip, I suppress a laugh as I nod. “You’re probably right.”
    “Why do you do that?” he asks, stopping his painting for a moment to look at me.
    “Do what?” I ask, not understanding what he means.
    “You don’t let yourself laugh.”
    My cheeks heat. “I laugh.”
    “No,” he says. “You don’t. You bite your lip or you cover your mouth. You don’t actually laugh, or if you do, it doesn’t happen around me.”
    “Maybe you’re just not very funny. Have you ever considered that?” I comment jokingly.
    He laughs, a rich sound that automatically puts a smile on my face. “I’ll have you know that I’m very funny. You’re just denying me the pleasure of your laughter.”
    I continue painting the wall. “Oh, I’m not doing that. Have you ever considered that maybe I’m protecting you from the sound of my laughter? Maybe it’s been suggested that when I laugh, it sounds like a hyena.”
    “A hyena?”
    I shrug. “That’s what I’m told.”
    He scoffs. “Even if that’s true, it shouldn’t stop you from laughing. My sister snorts when she laughs, and all it serves to do is make the rest of us laugh even harder,” he tells me before pausing and meeting my eyes. “Seems to me that someone doesn’t want you to be happy.”
    I pause, thinking about all the times Gabe teased me for sounding like a hyena when I laugh. It made me self-conscious to the point that I try not to laugh at all. Do I really sound like a hyena when I laugh? I used to think I didn’t, but when someone you think loves you keeps telling you something, you tend to believe it’s true…
    “Was it your husband?” Father Daniels asks softly, still looking at me intently.
    “What was?” I ask, feeling a little trapped in the memories of my early relationship with Gabe, back when I felt like the luckiest girl in the world…
    “The person who told you that you sounded like that – was it your husband?”
    My eyes prick with emotion, and I blink them rapidly to keep control. Normally I’d never breathe a word about the way Gabe is toward me to anyone. He’s made it so I fear disappointing him more than anything on this earth. But, something about Father Daniels makes me feel safe, and I find myself nodding.
    “Yes,” I whisper, before abruptly turning back to my work and fixing paint to the wall much more vigorously than I was before. A sudden worry grips my heart after uttering that word, and inwardly I panic that Gabe is somehow going to find out that I just said something against him.
    A warm heat tingles across my cheek as I feel the priest’s fingertips brush against my skin. It’s an overwhelming sensation that causes me to flinch away in surprise. “What was that?” I gasp, not understanding how a simple touch can do that to me.
    He holds up his fingers, his deep blue eyes dark when they meet mine, and his voice tinged with a slight huskiness. “There was paint on your face.” He shows me, and when I blink, thick tears start pouring from my eyes and I can’t seem to stop them. I turn my face away quickly to shield my loss of control. How the hell did his touch do that ?
    “I have to go,” I force out, quickly putting down my roller and stepping away.
    “Are you all right?” he asks in concern, also putting his roller down and following me, catching me by the elbow. I try to wave him away and tell him I’m fine, but he doesn’t listen, he reaches around and catches my face with his hand, forcing me to turn and look at him. The moment my eyes meet his, a look that I don’t recognize sweeps across his face and he pulls me into his arms then he just holds me.
    For a moment, I fight him. I don’t want to let go of my emotions. I don’t want to cry. But, as his strong arms encircle my body and hold me tightly, I give in, and I let him hold me. I let him hold me