32. Father Alexander
Father Alexander
Spending time with my mom these past few days had put everything into perspective. Not only about Celine, but my life in general.
If I weren’t in the priesthood, I could visit her more, and after the time we spent together, I want nothing more. Our days were full of was full of laughter, love, and good food. Leaving her to go back to the convent was hard because my life felt normal for the first time in awhile.
I wasn’t Father Alexander here. I was just Alex.
And as good as that felt, I needed to get back to the convent because there were things that needed to be taken care of.
Traveling from New York to Cali was exhausting, especially with the two delayed flights and the three hour layover. My eyelids feel heavy the entire ride back from the airport, and sleep threatens to drag me under, but that feeling dissipates as soon as I step inside the convent.
Because the need to find Celine is stronger than my exhaustion.
It’s overwhelming and the sensation almost becomes too much. My skin is on fire, the air around me is thrumming with electricity, knowing we are under the same roof again. As much as I’d like to race to her room, I want to put my bags away first.
The halls are dark, which isn’t a surprise given it is almost midnight. But, as I quickly walk down the corridor, I notice Father Keaton’s office light is off. I’ve only seen it this late on that one night I learned about him and Joanna. Seeing that it is off tonight, gives me some sort of relief.
When I turn the corner, the chapel comes into view.
The right door is wide open and as I go to turn to head towards my bedroom, something inside catches my eye.
Near the altar, a woman sits in the middle of the aisle with her back to the door.
The moon is full tonight; its beams shining through the stained-glass window, coloring the woman in reds, yellows, and blues.
Slowly entering the chapel, I stand at the end of the aisle and immediately know it’s Celine.
My heart begins to race as I stand here observing her.
She sits on the floor, her legs criss-cross as she leans back on her hands.
I quietly set the bag down next to the last pew, and make my way to her.
I keep my footsteps light as I approach her and she remains oblivious as she stares at the wall behind the altar, adorned with a large golden cross.
Stopping directly behind her, I crouch down and whisper, “What are you doing, little sin?”
Her entire body flinches at my voice, and she whips around with rosy cheeks and panic etched on her face.
“Jesus, Alex! You scared me! I thought you were Father Keaton.”
“Afraid he would catch you out of bed past curfew?” I chuckle, bringing my hand up to pinch a strand of her hair between my fingers.
“Something like that,” she says, the fear in her voice disappears as her eyes roaming to the clothes I’m wearing. She lifts a hand, and pinches the fabric of my sweatshirt. “Well, this is different.”
“If you’d like me to go change—”
“No,” she cuts me off abruptly, eyes meeting mine. “I like it. The hat is a nice touch.”
Another smirk tugs at my lips and I lower my hand. Raising her finger, she traces the curved bill.
“What are you doing in here?”
She sighs and I can hear the exhaustion flow through her breath. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Did your methods not work?”
“In case you forgot,” she gives me a playful stare, “I’m not allowed to use my methods.”
“We both know you didn’t listen.” My thumb finds her bottom lip and tugs it down slightly. “Touching yourself didn’t get you to fall asleep. Why?”
“There is a lot on my mind.” She hesitates for a moment, the playfulness leaving her body. “We need to talk.”
The words cause a slight nervousness to flow through me. “About?”
Please don’t say us.
“Some shit happened between Joanna and me when you were gone.”
“You told me you’d behave.” I give her a stern look.
“I did… sort of.” Her arms fold over her chest. “She slapped me.”
I stare down at her in shock. “She slapped you?”
She nods. “After breakfast one morning, Father Keaton followed me out into the hall. He said he wanted to check on me since I had left abruptly. Well, the conversation went… south. He was saying these things and looking at me in a way he shouldn’t—”
“What?” I begin to see red.
“He was talking about how it would be nice for me to have a friend here. He suggested it be Joanna, and he wasn’t happy that I’d brought up being friends with Esther.
But then he said he would tell you to back off from watching me, unless I like spending time with you.
” Her eyes drop to her lap. “I swear, Alex, the way he said it, and the way he looked at me, it was insinuating he knew about us.”
I shake my head. “There is no way he knows.”
“That’s what I was hoping, but then I got confirmation the other night.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll get to that in a second,” she reassures me.
“But Joanna had followed Father Keaton when he left the dining hall. And when she saw us together, and how close he was standing in front of me, she thought something was going on between us. So she confronted me about it right after our lesson that day, and we got into it. Then I led on that I knew about the two of them, and she slapped me. Then, a couple of days later, she apologized at dinner, and I lied and accepted it. After that, Father Keaton wanted to see me in his office.”
I clench my teeth together. “What did he say?”
“Let’s see,” she hums. “I called him a piece of shit for brainwashing Joanna, and he called me a whore for spreading my legs for you. Said that if I told anyone about him and Joanna, he’d make it so I’d stay here forever.”
“He what?” I snap again, standing up and turning around to head down the aisle. “Where does he get the nerve to say that to you?”
“Alex.” She rushes after me, grabbing my arm to stop me.
I spin around to face her. “Celine, he doesn’t get to threaten you like that and get away with it. Calling you a whore? I swear to God I’ll fucking kill him.”
I go to back away, but her grip tightens on my wrist. “Alex, stop! You can’t barge into his bedroom and freak out on him.”
“Why not?” I yank myself free of her grasp, causing her to stumble back. “He fucking deserves it!”
“Because he threatened you, too!” she says with pain in her voice.
“What?” My body freezes at her words.
She runs her fingers through her hair as she begins to pace. “He knows that we both know of his relationship with Joanna. And he basically confirmed she wasn’t the only one. He said that if either of us tells anyone, we would regret it.”
“What did he say to threaten me?” Celine finds my gaze, her eyes glossing over, and she shakes her head. I’m so furious, but the sadness in her eyes has me dialing down on the anger. With a sigh, I go to her, cup her face in my hands. “Tell me.”
“He said it would be easy to plant drugs in your room.”
My heart skips a beat, the world tilting for a moment. Father Keaton is aware of the darkest part of my past. I even told him that if I ever went back to that lifestyle, I’d end up in prison.
A guy that I had been hanging around with was a dealer and one night, when we were all at his place, getting high, the police barged in through the front door. With drugs scattered across the coffee table, they arrested us all.
My mom, who was pissed and disappointed, had to dip into her savings to get me out. Because the police assumed I was a dealer along with my friend, no matter how many times I tried to tell them otherwise, they told me that if I got caught again, I’d be sent to prison.
I got lucky when she bailed me out, and found a lawyer to clean everything up. The other guys had to spend a few years behind bars. I stopped doing drugs after that incident. It scared me straight.
There is no way I can end up in prison.
“That son of a bitch,” I mutter under my breath, rubbing my hand over my mouth. Feeling the anger build, I rip the hat off my head and chuck it across the chapel.
Celine reaches me in a second, and her hands find my face, forcing me to look at her.
“You need to calm down, Alex. I get it, okay? He shouldn’t have threatened either of us, and as angry as I am about all of this, we need to stay calm. Being angry won’t get us anywhere.”
“So, what? We just let him continue going about his life? Taking advantage of the women here?”
Her thumb strokes my cheek. “We will figure something out. Something that won’t drag us down with him.”
“Celine, I swear if he threatens you again—”
“He won’t.” She shakes her head in reassurance. “I’ll back down. I’ll drop my attitude and play nice for now and stay out of trouble.”
My jaw tenses under her touch, and she offers a soft smile as I repeat her words. “We need to stay calm.”
“Yes.”
Nodding, my hand wraps around her wrist while the other finds the back of her head. In one swift move, I pull her into me.
Our mouths crash together, and I can sense the shock in her body by the abruptness, but once her body and mind catch up with each other, Celine melts under my touch.
The way she moans in my mouth makes a flip switch in me.
The anger I feel toward Father Keaton slowly dissolves every time Celine swipes her tongue against mine.
Fuck, I missed her.
I drop my hand from her head and slide them under her ass, lifting her to walk us towards the stage. Carefully going up the three steps, I set her down by the altar.
Tugging at her nightgown, I breathlessly demand, “Take this off.”
“What if someone walks by and sees us?” Her eyes dart toward the open doors.
“It’s almost midnight.”
“So? We know now that Father Keaton stays up late sometimes.”
I’d like to think that since I didn’t see his office light on, that he is sound asleep, but she has a point. Just because he isn’t in his office, doesn’t mean he isn’t roaming the halls.