Page 39 of Intolerable Bishop

He wanted nudes. I’d give him nudes. Holding the phone over Blake, I took a photo of him lying with his arms over his head from the top of his boxer shorts up. Then I rolled toward Myles. Placing the blankets so that it looked like Myles had his head buried in my naked chest, I took another photo and made sure not to show anything of substance, not even my face, before sending them. I smirked when they showed read.

NASHOLE: What the fuck is this? Why would I want to see this?

I didn’t bother to answer.

NASHOLE: Princess? You better not be laying there naked, getting me all excited, and then ghost my ass?

Now, this was fun.

NASHOLE: I won’t let you sleep. I’ll keep texting you all night.

NASHOLE: Princess. Keep it up, and I’m going to print off the picture of you, come on your face, and put it under your fucking pillow one night when you get back to school.

R: Yuck! What the hell is wrong with you?

NASHOLE: Don’t you dare fucking ghost me. I will make you pay for it.

R: Blah, blah, blah. More threats from the big bad Nash. I’m not sure why I text you at all.

NASHOLE: You’re feeling pretty brave in another country. Just remember you do need to come back.

R: I think you have bigger things to worry about than tanning my ass. Like avoiding seeing your father and your ex again.

NASHOLE: I never should’ve told you that. It may be true, but paying you back will be the most entertaining thing I worry about. As far as texting me, you do it because, deep down, you want to ride me, and you just don’t want to admit it.

R: …

I started to respond when Myles jerked in his sleep, making me jump, but it was the whimpering sound he made that had me turning and locking the phone. I knew Nash would be pissed I didn’t respond, but as Myles cried out for me, he became my priority. I leaned over Blake to lay my phone down and then turned back to Myles. His brow was pulled down tight, beads of sweat forming. He kept saying no as his head rocked back and forth.

My stomach was in knots as I watched him battle his dream. It had to be of his father. He began to thrash, and I didn’t know if I should grab him or not, but I took the chance of getting hit and wrapped my arms around him.

“Hey, Myles. I’m right here. It’s okay.”

“Snowflake, no…no!” He jolted awake, and I held him tight.

“I’m okay, you’re okay, I promise,” I said, and my heart broke as he wrapped his arms around me and held me without saying anything, but I could feel him crying. “Hey, it’s okay.”

“Naw, Snowflake. It’s not, and it never will be until the day I put my da in the ground.” He smoothed back my hair, his eyes searching my face, but for what I had no clue. “I should be the one comfortin’ you, not the other way around.”

“Trust me, I think we have had enough trauma between us all to comfort one another.”

“Aye, maybe yer right. But we just dumped a bomb on ya, and look at ya, just as beautiful and calm as ever.”

I didn’t feel calm, beautiful, or put together. But I didn’t say that. This stupid world was hard enough. The last thing I wanted was for the guys to look at me like I was going to fall apart. Nash’s words kept swimming around in my mind. All this time, maybe I’d been searching for the wrong thing. It made me wonder, though, if peace in this life was even possible.

MAY 27 – SATURDAY 8:33 AM

Myles

Reaching out, I wrapped my arm around a warm body and immediately knew it wasn’t Snowflake. Opening my eyes, I stared at Blake’s sleeping face and removed my arm from his waist before getting up. A hazard, I’d learned, from having him in the bed if Ren got up earlier. At least I hadn’t attempted anything embarrassing.

I cracked my neck and grabbed clothes before heading into the bathroom to get ready for the day. Stripping down, I couldn’t help but stare at the word carved into my stomach. More of what happened that night was slowly coming back to me, and all of it was messing with my head. The nightmares should’ve gone away by now. They always did when I took a beating, but instead, they’d morphed to include Ren.

Turning on the water, I stepped into the warm spray and let it beat down on my back as I tried to wipe away the recurring dream of Ren being strung up beside me. I could hardly recognize her as Da cut her with his knife, and all I could do was scream and beg for him to stop as I pulled on the thick leather bindings.

When I woke up, and she was holding me, I was so fucking relieved. She shouldn’t have to see me crying like that. If I didn’t love her so much, I would leave until my head was right, but there was a weakness in me when it came to her. Not being near her was like my heart was coming apart at the seams.

Sucking in a deep breath, I forced the rest of the dream from my mind, but I knew they wouldn’t stop until he was dead. If he didn’t use Ren to hurt me, he would go for Lip, and I couldn’t let that happen. Luckily, Lip was staying with my granny on my ma’s side of the family for the summer. For a couple of months, I didn’t have to worry about him, but the older he got, the more chance there was that Da would hurt him. He’d do it to hurt me if nothing else. Sadistic fuck. My hands curled on the tile into fists. Naw, he needed to die. I had to do it soon.