Devil's Work (Frerard / Priest!Gerard)

Thirty Seven

Thirty Seven

When I left Dewees house i was in a mild form of shock and somewhat scared shitless, still not sure quite how so much bad luck could befall one person. The worst bit was I didn't really know where to go or what to do, so i ended up just sitting on the side of the pavement. I was somewhere within the local neighbourhood, about a few streets away from my aunt and uncle's house, and yet I didn't want to commit to that final stage of the journey.

I didn't want to have to face them after everything that had just happened. Especially not with the bruises i could already feel forming across my face. That would only bring countless questions from my aunt and uncle, and even more from Ray. I'd just got back on good terms with him and the last thing i wanted was for him to find out I was hiding yet more secrets from him.

Of course I knew exactly where my heart was telling me to go, but my head insisted i thought it through first. I didn't want to involve Gerard in any of this, especially not now when Ian had my name and even my phone number. Now that I was a new pawn in his game; and it was an illegal game at that.

Part of me loved Gerard far too much to ever want to involve him in such things, but I knew that a larger, more selfish part was craving to see him, to have him convince me that we'd be okay and for him to come up with some sort of solution to this fucked up mess I had landed myself in.

It was these thoughts that lead to me dragging myself to my feet, off that dirty street corner, and walking in the opposite direction to house, if you could even call it that, and towards a place that was already a far better home to me than my relatives would ever be.

***

It was only when I arrived at Gerard's house that i remembered that it was actually a Sunday, so he would still be at church for a good hour or so yet. Of course i'd rather wait than go anywhere else, so I settled down on his front porch, leaning against my bag and stretching my legs out in front of me in an attempt to get comfortable.

I don't know wether it was the lack of sleep from the night before, the slight hangover or the shock from my ordeal beforehand, but something within those reasons, most likely a combination of all three, made me drift off to sleep. I used my bag for support as I let my eyes wander closed, my breaths slowing down.

Of course, going to sleep on a front porch wasn't really the most practical of places to catch a few winks, but i'd never been fussy about where i napped or how comfortable it was. As long as I could squeeze in some rest, I was happy.

***

"Frank?" I felt someone shaking my shoulder "Frankie, wake up."

"mmph" I tried to move away and get comfortable again, but by this point I was coming round and starting to realise a few things. One, that i was extremely uncomfortable, my neck aching from the weird position i'd fallen asleep in. Two, that i was cold as fuck. And three, that the voice trying to wake me up undoubtedly belonged to Gerard.

"Come on, you're freezing" I forced my eyes to open and found myself face to face with Gerard, who was dressed in a way that told me he'd just arrived back home from church, collar and all, his bag tossed over his shoulder. He was crouching over me, looking concerned as to what exactly i was doing napping on his doorstep.

"I'll explain" I suppressed a shiver, still leaning against the wall as I looked up at him "I must've fallen asleep waiting for you... what time is it?"

"Half past three. When did you get here?" He picked up my bag for me as I pulled myself to my feet.

"Um.. hard to say... about an hour ago I guess" I watched from behind him as he unlocked his front door and stepped inside, placing both our bags down in the hallway before turning back around to face me. Only he froze in his tracks when our eyes met, and he saw my full face.