36. Father Alexander
Father Alexander
With my eyes on Celine, I watch the color drain from her face after hearing Father Keaton say her name. Her throat bobs as she swallows and looks at me for some sort of direction on what to do.
“Get dressed,” I whisper to her.
She quietly, but quickly, moves across the room to grab her nightgown. She slips it on as I am stepping back into my pajama pants. By the time I throw on a sweatshirt, Celine is dressed and has finished fixing her hair the best she could without a mirror.
She glances at me and mouths, “What do we do?”
I walk over to her, pressing my palms to her cheeks, and ask, “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” she responds without hesitation.
There is no time to tell her that we are going to face him head-on. What is the point of hiding when he clearly knows what is happening? Not only because of him announcing that he knows Celine is in my bedroom, but also from the dickhead comments he made to her while I was away.
With a subtle nod, I kiss her forehead and move to open the door.
The tension in the room thickens while fear and anticipation clog the air.
My chest is tight, and I attempt to inhale a deep breath, but my lungs only expand slightly, not allowing me to gather enough air to breathe.
My entire body feels like it’s been lit on fire, and the way the heat is consuming me is unbearable. As if I am burning alive.
I try my best to ignore the burning sensation and twist the door handle. It swings open, Father Keaton standing there in black pajama pants with a matching long-sleeved shirt. His hands are clasped together behind him, and his eyes leave mine to look over my shoulder.
For a moment, I feel like a teenager getting caught by his parents with a girl in his room. But instead of getting grounded for breaking the rules, there is much more at stake.
“Father Keaton,” I say his name to get his attention away from Celine. “What are you doing up at this hour?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” His eyes slowly find mine. “But I already know the answer to that.”
The way he is staring at me is as if he is waiting for me to tell him it’s not what it looks like, but he isn’t going to get that response from me.
I don’t address his comment; instead, I ask, “What were you and Sister Alice speaking about?”
A small smirk tugs at the corner of his mouth at my deflection. “We were just discussing the plans we have for the event in a week.”
“At two in the morning?” Celine asks from behind me.
Father Keaton’s eyes find hers. “Sister Alice is a night owl, like me, and I couldn’t sleep. I figured it would be a good time to review the plans we have.”
“What plans?” Celine pushes.
“Well, it’s a surprise, Celine,” Father Keaton tells her. “And I’d hate to ruin it. Just know that it will be mandatory, and I believe you’ll benefit from it. I’m not sure if Father Alexander got the chance to tell you between your… extracurricular activities.”
“The tone of your voice sounds awfully judgmental for someone who also has extracurricular activities.” Celine holds a bite to her tone.
I glance over my shoulder at her, and in a sharp tone, I say, “Enough.”
Her mouth clamps shut, and her arms fold over her chest. We hold eye contact for a moment, and I silently try to tell her to keep her words to herself. Now is not the time to fight back. Not when she is trying to get out of the convent.
Turning back to Father Keaton, I ask, “Is there a reason you came to my bedroom at this hour?”
He shrugs nonchalantly. “I saw your light on, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“You wanted to see if I was okay?” A hollow laugh leaves me.
I know I shouldn’t bring it up given the extent of the threats he’s made, but at this point?
Fuck it. If he follows through with his threat of planting drugs in my room, I’ll figure out how to deal with it.
I’m tired of walking on eggshells around him.
Plus, my mom should still have the lawyer’s contact information from the last time I was in that predicament.
“That’s rich coming from someone who threatened me.” A slight gasp comes from behind me, and I know that Celine wasn’t expecting me to bring this up.
“Threaten you?” Father Keaton’s eyes grow dark as he looks from me to Celine. “Is that what she told you?”
My jaw tenses, and I place my hand on the door frame, positioning my body directly in front of him so he can’t see her anymore.
He meets my eyes, and his gaze has slightly softened. “Alexander, that’s absurd. I would never threaten you.”
“Just like you’d never sleep with the women here?” I question.
I don’t miss the way his mouth twitches before his lips flatten. “She is trouble, and she is filling your head with lies.”
“The only one lying here is you.” My fingers tighten around the door frame. If I didn’t know what I already knew, I would have believed him.
“You’re accusing me of lying?” He dares to look appalled.
“It’s not accusing when I’ve heard you in your office.”
It’s small, but Father Keaton’s eye twitches at my words. He swallows hard, calmly nodding. What is going through his mind right now? Is he thinking of a way to spin this to make it seem like I didn’t hear what I did?
As I stand in the doorway watching his expression closely, my heart continues to pound in my chest.
After a beat of silence, Father Keaton finally says, “We can save this discussion for tomorrow when there aren’t unwanted ears.”
“Why?” Celine speaks up again, causing me to sigh. I’m fine with confronting him, but I begged her to remain quiet for her safety. “It’s not like you, and I haven’t had this conversation before.”
Peering over my shoulder again, I give her a look of warning, to which she rolls her eyes and looks down at her feet.
I glance back at Father Keaton and agree to do this another time. “Tomorrow.”
He gestures towards Celine. “Get her back to her room.”
I bite my tongue because I want to tell him not to tell me what to do with her, but I hold back.
I want him gone, and if I open my mouth again, it will only keep the conversation going.
So, without a word, I shut the door in his face.
A heavy breath leaves me as I rest my forehead on the door for a moment before turning to Celine.
Her foot is tapping rapidly on the floor, and her arms are still crossed over her chest.
“Celine…”
“I know, I know,” she huffs, letting her arms fall to her side. “I should have kept my mouth shut.”
“Yes, you should have.” I rest my back against the door. “I was going to handle it.”
“He just pisses me off so much,” she says.
“I know, but you are trying to prove that you are ready to get out of here. What happened between you and him tonight probably set you back.”
“Isn’t it up to my parents if I get out of here?” She looks at me in confusion.
My head teeters. “Yes and no. If your parents see a change, they can request that you leave.”
“But?”
“But it is ultimately up to Father Keaton,” I tell her. “He can easily say that even though you are showing improvement, you need to stay a bit longer.”
“And my parents would listen to him,” her hand lifts to wipe away a tear. “I’m almost thirty years old, and my parents are still dictating my life. I need it to end, Alex.”
The desperation in her voice has me pushing off the door to go to her. My hand skates along the side of her neck until it wraps around the back and pull her into me.
“It will end, Celine. I promised you I’d get you out of here, and I’m not going to give up on that.” More tears brim in her eyes, and I pull back, staring down at her as I say, “Let’s get you back to your room.”
“If we must.”
Taking her hand in mine, I lead the way back to her bedroom. As we pass by Father Keaton’s room, we notice his light is still on. We make our way quietly down the halls, and when we get outside of her bedroom, I press a soft kiss to her lips and tell her goodnight.
I’m not sure how I’ll get any sleep tonight, knowing the conversation that will be taking place tomorrow with Father Keaton. I know I’ll stay up preparing myself for the lies he is going to throw my way. I won’t cave into his deceitfulness, that I know, but I need to try to remain calm.
As I enter the hall to my bedroom, my eyes slide to the bottom of Father Keaton’s door, which now has no light shining through. It makes me wonder if he had been waiting to go to sleep until he heard me take Celine back to her room.
With an annoyed shake of my head, I move towards my room and get ready for a sleepless night.