The Prodigal Son (The Goode Brothers, #4)

by Sara Cate

I open my eyes and stare into the eyes of a young woman in the pit as she screams my own words back to me, and there’s a connection so visceral between us that she starts crying immediately. Damn, girl, who hurt you?

“This song is about being really fucking lonely. You know that feeling when you just get in your car and you just start driving, not knowing where you’re going?”

But it doesn’t change the fact that they rewired things inside my brain I can’t fix. They buried themselves in my subconscious. Their lies and mantras play on repeat, whether or not I want them to. I can’t escape them, and I probably never will.

I’m a runner through and through. When things get tough, I get out as fast as I can. Never one to stick around to talk about feelings or, God forbid, feel them.

If only he knew the reason his being a pastor in Austin is slightly strange for me, the fact that it reminds me of my father. But Jensen is nothing like him. It’s like he’s rewriting history.

“Good. I want you to always tell me when you don’t like something. And tell other people the same. Don’t let anyone walk all over you.”

I’m convinced that if I hold him tight enough and love him hard enough, I can scare all that darkness away.

This was the sensation I chased every Sunday when I went to church growing up. This song is my new hymn. Isaac, my god.

I think all along, what he really needed was someone who could prove to him that not all preachers are bad. Not all men of faith are cruel.

feelings need to be felt.

And now…the church belongs to you. His son’s boyfriend.” “I call that irony,” I say with a smile. “I call it providence.”

Then, right there in the church his father built, that I now lead, in front of our friends and family, we vow our lives to each other.