The Consequence of Secrets - Part Two: A Priest Romance (6 page)

“Someone’s at the door!” I hiss, sitting bolt upright from where I was lying, draped across Braden’s glorious chest, the both of us completely naked after breaking both his vows to the church and my wedding vows twice more. I suppose we were being greedy, but the opportunity was here, and well, he’s completely irresistible and he makes me feel the same way.

Glancing at his watching, Braden stands and quickly pulls his pants back on while I grab my panties and slip on my bra so I’m not completely exposed. “Shit, it’s been three hours already. It’s the pool contractor,” he whispers, moving toward the open door cautiously.

“You locked the door didn’t you?” I ask in an urgent whisper, and he holds his index finger to his lips as he reaches for the office door and swings it closed. “Didn’t you?”

“He has a set of keys for maintenance,” he informs me, twisting the lock on the back of the door before moving the blind on the internal window and peeking out.

“He has keys!? Oh my god, Braden,” I hiss, freaking out because I’m standing here in my underwear, and there is no way I can explain my state of dress around a half naked priest. This looks exactly as it is.

“I know,” he whispers. “I didn’t think we’d be, you know, busy for so long.” He turns to me and skims his eyes over my body as his mouth curves up a touch causing his eyes to dance with amusement.

“It’s not funny,” I tell him, giving his shoulder a gentle push.

“It’s kind of funny,” he says with a shrug.

“Braden, our clothes are out there – your
collar
is out there.”

“Shh. Shhh!” he hushes, holding his hand up and moving away from the window as the door swings open and a man in work wear walks through it. We watch through the tiny gap between the blind, and the window as the door pushes our clothing to the side, leaving it all bunched up against the wall as the door swings shut with a loud clap.

I hide behind Braden even though there’s no way the pool guy can see me, and together, we stand frozen until the man opens the door to the basement and disappears down the stairs.

“Wait here,” he murmurs, before walking carefully to the door and opening it slowly. He looks outside to check that the coast is clear.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m getting our clothes,” he says, his body suddenly springing life as he sprints across the room to the door, skidding to a stop to scoop up the pile of clothing before rushing back to me and closing the office door.

I laugh as he drops the pile on the couch, an expression of relief on his face as I grab a hold of him and press a kiss to his lips. “That was a close one,” I say when I pull away and pick up my dust-covered clothes. “These are a mess.” I shake them out before putting them on then moving over to Braden and brushing my hands over the dust on his black clerics. “Where’s your collar?”

Touching his throat, he looks around the room. “I picked it up…” he says, moving to look out the window again.

“Oh no. You must have dropped it,” I whisper. We can see it clearly in the middle of the floor, there’s no way the pool guy can miss it on his way back out.

“I’m going to have to go and get it,” he says, running his hands through his hair as I fuss over the lingering dust on his shirt. Then he opens the door again, and just as he does, the pool guy appears at the top of the stairs. I clamp my hand over my mouth and jump out of the way, my heart beating like crazy as I worry if he saw me.

“Father! I didn’t think you were here,” he says with a smile, walking over to Braden and offering his hand in greeting.

“I was just doing some…eh…paperwork,” Braden explains, thumbing toward the office. When the man turns his head my way I again duck away from view, even though I’m sure he can’t see me then I move to see again when he starts talking.

“Paperwork, hey? That stuff is the pits, didn’t think priests would have that much to do. Speaking of which, where’s your ah…” he says, using his hand to gesture at his throat.

Braden feigns confusion and touches the space where his collar should be. “What? Oh, my collar.” He looks around the room quickly, before acting as though he just found it and scoops it up to reaffix to his shirt. “This things is always popping off lately, I don’t know what’s wrong with it,” he says, fixing it in place with a smile.

“Must be too much starch or something,” the pool guy says knowingly.

“Surely,” Braden smiles before glancing over to me nervously and entering a conversation about how the pool filling is coming along. Within five minutes he has the pool guy out and the door locked again, and I feel as though I can finally breathe.

“You can come out now,” Braden calls after a few minutes and I walk out, heading over to him with a smile.

“That was close,” I say, rising up on my toes and kissing him softly.

His hands slide around my waist and he holds me to him as I feel his need growing for me again. “Too close. I don’t think we should be risking this again until we’re both free, Emma,” he murmurs, his words betraying his body’s desires.

Placing my hands on his chest, I lean into him, resting my head on his shoulder as the smile fades from my face. “I know,” I whisper, knowing that this was probably my life’s one true moment of happiness.

The first thing I do when I get home is shower. It’s also the last thing I want to do because I feel like I’m washing Braden’s touch off my body. But, I can’t be covered in another man when Gabe gets home. I’m sure he’d smell the sex on my body and it wouldn’t matter if he thought I was pregnant or not. I’d be in for it.

As the water runs over my body, I move my hands, remembering the sensual way Braden touched me. It felt so wonderful as his fingertips set my skin alight and brought all of my senses to life. For years, my emotions have lain dormant as I just made my way through life trying to survive it day by day, trying to keep everyone safe. Then Braden came along and heartbeat-by-heartbeat, I came back to life.

He brought me back to life…

I bring my hands up to my face as my feelings overwhelm me, and I release a sob mixed with a laugh – sorrow and joy – I’m torn between the two. When Gabe married me, he vowed ‘til death do us part’ and he meant it. Braden can’t save me. He wants to, but he can’t. He can’t.

Slowly, my joy gives way to sorrow, and all I’m left with are helpless tears as I wrap my arms around my body and slide to the shower floor, crying for a life I’ll never have.

“Are you sick?”

I wake with a start when Gabe places a hand on my forehead, and I panic, I thought I’d set an alarm.

“I’m sorry,” I bumble, trying to come up with a credible excuse as to why I’m in bed instead of greeting him with dinner. I begin to shake in fear. “I was tired and…”

He shushes me and presses a kiss to my forehead, surprising me with his tenderness. “It’s OK,” he whispers. “You’re pregnant, you need your strength.”

Blinking back my tears, I nod my head and thank him for understanding as he heads our walk in closet and returns with a fresh outfit for me. “It’s actually good that you’ve rested. Your father wants us over for dinner. Something about a family announcement.”

“An announcement?” I ask carefully, sliding out of bed and holding my arm out when he begins to dress me.

“He didn’t say any more than that. But, he seemed pretty happy so it appears to be good news.”

“You didn’t tell him about?” I ask, my eyes shifting downward to indicate my stomach.

He places his hand on my abdomen and meets my eyes. “I wanted to, but no. We’ll wait until we know what it is.”

Nodding, I let out my breath slowly as he holds out my skirt and I step into it. Then he zips me up and presses a kiss to my forehead. “Now, go and do your hair and put some makeup on, you look awful.”

I take my dinner in my room, needing time to reflect on everything that happened today. Being with Emma was amazing, and the love I feel for her is…above all else. The bible teaches that out of faith, hope and love, love is the greatest of all three. When I entered into the priesthood, I didn’t believe that I was deserving of love, and I had spent a great many years avoiding it, feeling that my faith and my hope would be enough. I thought that being a priest was my path, and that my love belonged to the church, but now I think that all of this – everything I’ve gone through – was a path leading to Emma. I was put on this earth to save her. I was put on this earth to love her. I believe that my actions are between myself, God, and Emma, and I believe that they are true. But, the fact that we were almost caught twice today serves me as a gentle reminder that I need to be patient. Both of us need to be free of our commitments so we can give ourselves to each other openly without the need to hide.

I close my eyes and inhale deeply, feeling as though I can smell her even though she isn’t here. She has the most wonderful scent, perfectly made to tantalize my senses and let me know when she’s near and that she’s my other half.

But first, I have to get her free. Pulling out my cell phone, I put in a call to an old friend of mine from my school days. He used to get in almost as much trouble as I did, although he straightened out and is now a police officer in New York.

“Braden,” he says when he answers the phone. “Or should I call you ‘Father’ now? It’s been a long time my friend.”

“Braden is fine, I’m still the same person. How are you?”

“Same old, same old, man. The Mrs is riding me, the kids seem to need new everything, and the streets are as dangerous as ever. How about you – to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“I’m calling for a favor – well, some advice really.”

I hear a muffled sound as I think he covers the mouthpiece with his hand and says something to someone else. Then he’s back on. “Sorry about that, I’ve just arrived at work. What kind of advice are you after?”

“Well, I have a parishioner – a friend – who is in a bit of trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Husband trouble.”

“He been beating her?”

“Yeah, it’s been going on for a while but they’re hiding it.”

“And what? You want to know how to get her out of there, and what’s going to happen to the husband?”

“Basically, yeah.”

“OK. Well, has she reported him before? Has she been injured enough to require medical attention?”

“She hasn’t reported him, and yes she’s been injured – he cracked her ribs not long ago.”

“So there should be a paper trail that could establish a pattern – that’s what you need to get him charged. But, she needs to be willing to say it was him that did it all to her.”

“What’s likely to happen to him if I can convince her to talk to police?”

He lets out a sigh, like he’s dealt with this far too many times before, and I just know that the law isn’t going to be on our side. “Unless it’s really serious, then he’s likely to get put on probation and have to take one of those anger management courses. The law is really shitty in this department though my friend, and a lot of it hinges on the victim being brave enough to accuse her attacker and most of the time, they’re just too fucking scared.”

“So what you’re saying, is that the bruises and the bite marks on her body aren’t enough to put him away? You’re saying that he’d have to beat her to the point where she’s fighting for her life in hospital to get put behind bars?”

“And even then, depending on the judge, the jury, the guy’s history, he could still get off with a slap on the wrists. We see it all the time.”

I shake my head, feeling despondent by his words. “It sounds hopeless. Why are you even a cop?”

“Because sometimes, the fuckers pull a gun, and I get to shoot them.”