Wow. Robbie had learned more about Priest in the last hour than he had the entire time he’d known him, and what he was discovering was unbelievable and extraordinary.
Julien had been right. It was incredible to see the kind of man Priest had become, considering where he’d started.
“Is she…?” Robbie paused, but when he looked into Priest’s eyes, he knew there was no need to filter himself. Priest was open as a book right now. “Is she the one who helped you change your name?”
Priest pushed off the desk, walked to the bed, and finally took up a seat beside Julien and Robbie again. He reached for the hand Robbie had shoved under his leg and held it between his.
“No. She passed away when I was seventeen. I was the only one named in her will, and when I turned eighteen, Father Daniels took me to get that done and helped me enroll in college. The two of them set the course of my life after that.”
Robbie nodded as he digested that piece of information. “That’s why you picked that name—Priestley?”
“It is. He was the first man I ever truly respected,” Priest said, and then looked past Robbie’s shoulder to Julien. “Until someone tried to steal my car.”
Robbie sat there stunned, still unable to fathom the horrors Priest had endured, because he knew there was more than that final incident.
“Is there anything else you want to know?” Priest asked.
Only about a million things, Robbie thought. But those had been the main ones and, for right now, about as much as he could handle. He shook his head, and Priest squeezed his fingers around Robbie’s. “If you two don’t mind, then, I think I’d like to get out for a bit and go for a drive to clear my head. I’ll pick up some lunch on the way back.”
“Of course, mon amour. But please,” Julien said, “be safe.”
Priest got to his feet, and his eyes shifted between both men. “Always. I have too much to live for to be anything but.”
Robbie’s eyes welled, as Priest headed toward the bedroom door, and as he went to turn the handle, Robbie called out to him.
Priest stopped and looked over his shoulder, and Robbie took in the striking figure he made standing there. In dark jeans and a black Henley, Priest was simply beautiful, and after today, Robbie had no doubt that he was one hundred percent in with these two men. He loved them both, baggage and all, with every fiber of his being. And even though he knew it was going to take some time for them to find their footing again, he was glad Priest had trusted him with this.
“Everything you told me here, I’ll keep it locked away forever. You don’t ever have to worry. I just wanted you to know that.”
“Thank you, sweetheart, but I already knew.”
A flush of pleasure washed over Robbie at those simple words, and he realized how important it was to him that Priest understood that his life, his secret, was safe with Robbie.
“I’ll see you two in a little bit,” Priest said, and then he disappeared out the door.
Chapter Eleven
CONFESSION
When I fall in love, I’m ridiculously stupid about it.
Bet you didn’t see that coming.
JULIEN HEADED IN through the back door of his restaurant Monday morning and was greeted with the familiar sounds of pots and pans and exuberant chatter, as the staff moved about in the kitchen prepping for their run-through today. With every major critic, magazine, and food blogger invited to the opening this week, all of the final touches had to be made in the next few days.
As Julien stepped out into the lounge area, he spotted Lise in one of the booths and made his way toward her. She had her phone on the table, a notepad open beside her, and her laptop fired up as she sipped on what Julien knew would be an espresso.
When he came to a stop by the table, he slipped into the seat opposite her, and she glanced up and flashed a smile his way.
“Bonjour, Julien.”
“Bonjour,” he replied, returning her smile.
But apparently it didn’t quite reach his eyes, because Lise reached across the table to touch her fingers to his. “Are you okay, boss?”
“Oui. Oui, I am. I promise. I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all.”
She nodded—assuming, of course, he meant the opening, which he did. But Priest and Robbie were also at the top of his list of distractions right now.
Things had slipped back into a more normal state for them all since Saturday, but he knew he wasn’t the only one who still felt things were a little off. There was no space needed anymore from anyone, but they’d all been treading very carefully around one another yesterday and last night.