Priest (A Standalone Bad Boy Romance Love Story) (15 page)

CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE

JACE

When I got back home, I realized that my
sleep time was over. I got back in bed, but my mind was racing.

I couldn’t help but wonder what it meant
that Daphne was the only reason I’ve ever found in my life to be violent. I
would have killed that man to keep him from hurting her. That should have frightened
the hell out of me, but instead, it gave me a weird sense of peace inside
knowing that I finally found someone outside of my grandmother and my brothers
that I truly felt like I belonged with.

I’d had a really hard time with that my
entire life, feeling out of place. In school, I never fit in with any specific
groups. I was always on the fringes of everything. The only thing that gave me
any semblance of peace at all was the church and that was why I chose to be a
priest.

I thought that I felt that way because it
was my calling. Now, I was not so sure, and what terrified me most is that
changing my mind so late in life might ruin any peace I’d had in my heart all
along.

I tried to make myself stop thinking about
it. I couldn’t fix it that night…if at all. I finally dropped that train of
thought; however, Daphne was still prominently on my mind.

I wondered about her mother. Was she there
when her father was hurting her? I tell people who I counsel through the church
to “put it in God’s hands.”

Daphne is a devout Catholic. Was her
mother as well? Was that what Daphne was seeking through the church…help from
God with a life that had to be pure torture? What about her siblings? Did she
have siblings? Did her father abuse them as well?

One thing I struggled hard with before
taking my vows was giving up the chance to have children someday. I loved kids,
and I would have loved to have my own had I chosen a different path in life. I couldn't
even wrap my head around wanting to harm any child, much less your own.

It made my stomach feel sick to think
about what she must have been through. The terror in her eyes gave it away, and
although I didn't know the circumstances, all it took was a look at her face
tonight to know it was torture.

That thought made me angry again and that
anger made me remember what I did. I knew that I should pray for forgiveness, but
I didn't want to be a hypocrite.
I’m not
sorry for beating that man down
—
and
I’d do it again, in a heartbeat.

I wanted to spend more time with Daphne. I
wanted to get her to open up to me and tell me exactly what she’d been through.
I knew she didn’t believe it, but it would probably help her so much to talk
about it.

I wondered if anyone knew, or if she’s
spent her life in silence. That made me even sadder, because when that happens,
it’s like you’re completely alone in the world at it hurts that much more.

I wanted to help her and I wanted her to
know that as long as I’m nearby, she’ll never be alone.

My life and my brothers’ lives were
unbearable before we went to live with Grandma. At the time, child services
wanted to put us in counseling. Max and I wanted no part of it, so Grandma
didn’t make us go. I never talked about what had happened to us with her,
either, but she knew, so sometimes we’d just sit in silence and the two of us
would remember together. It was like talking about it with our hearts.

That night, when I looked into Daphne’s
eyes and I saw all the pain over her father, I also saw all the feelings that
she was having for me. I felt like we were talking to each other with our
hearts the way that Grandma and I used to do.

I closed my eyes and said a prayer for
her…and then I said one for me…and then I said one for us both and I asked God
to give me some kind of sign that it wasn’t wrong to feel the way I did about
her because if this feeling I had was wrong, I was not sure I ever wanted to be
right again.

CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO

DAPHNE

I stood in the line today to say hello to
Jace after church. It was the least I could do after what he did for me when my
father showed up on my doorstep, drunk and dangerous.

I hung back so that I could be last and
when it was my turn, I thought I saw a light in his eyes when he looked at me.
It made me happy…and guilty at the same time.

“Hello, Daphne,” he said, taking my hand
like he would any other parishioner. “How are you?”

“I’m good, thank you. Thank you again
for…” I looked around to make sure no one was hanging back. When I saw it was
clear, I simply said, “The other night.”

He smiled and everything inside of me
liquefied.
He’s so gorgeous, even in his
cassock and collar. I’m such a demon.
“It was no problem. I just want to
make sure you’re safe.”

“Well, thank you. I should let you go, I’m
sure you have plenty to do today.”

“Actually, I was going to have lunch with
my brothers. Would you be interested in joining me? Just as friends, of
course.” I wondered if he threw that last part in for me, or him, or us both.
Either way, he was right…that was the only way we could do things.

“I’d like that,” I heard myself say. I
wasn’t really in control of things where Jace was concerned. My evil body ruled
all of those thoughts.

“Great,” he said with another dazzling
smile. “Do you mind just waiting for me while I change?”

“No, I’ll be right outside.”

I stood outside of the beautiful old
church and asked God again to help me.
Am
I doing the wrong thing as long as we really are just friends? I cannot control
my feelings or my thoughts and I’m sure God will forgive me for those. I can,
however, control my actions, and that will have to be the key here.

When Jace came out, he was wearing jeans,
a blue t-shirt, and tennis shoes. He looked like that hot guy I met in the bar
that night; my heart swelled and pressed up against my ribcage as it pounded.
Damn it! Friends, Daphne: that’s it.

We took his car, and on the way, he seemed
to be trying to warn me about his brothers. “They’re a lot different from me,”
he tried to explain. “Max is the oldest and the more serious one, and Ryan is a
fourteen-year-old in a twenty-five-year-old man’s body. Don’t take anything he
says seriously, okay?”

I was a little nervous, but I agreed. We
went to a sandwich shop called Pot-Belly in Boston. His brothers were already
there, and I knew them as soon as I saw them because the three of them looked
so much alike. I also didn’t miss the looks on their faces when they saw me or
the glance they gave each other.

“There he is,” the dark-haired one said.
“And, he brought a friend.”

“Did you bring me one?” the light-haired
one with the tattoos asked with a lewd chuckle. My guess was that he was Ryan.
I was right.

“Daphne, this is Max,” Jace said of the
older one. Then with a hard look at the younger one, he said, “The mouthy one
is Ryan. Remember what I told you.”

Max shook my hand. Ryan looked offended
and said, “What did he tell you?” I didn’t know what to say and I could feel
myself blushing. He looked at Jace then and said, “What on earth could you
possibly have to judge me for…Father.”

“Ryan, cool it.” That was Max. He had a
deep, controlled voice and as soon as he spoke, Ryan shut up and took his seat.
He looked up at me and said, “I’m pleased to meet you, Daphne and whatever he
told you is probably true.”

I smiled at him and he winked at me. Jace
rolled his eyes. Jace and I sat down and the brothers started talking about
people they knew. There was something about their grandmother’s house selling
and having a meeting with the attorney.

We ordered our meals before Max looked at
me and said, “So, what do you do, Daphne?”

“I’m a waitress,” I told him. He was very
well dressed and just the way he held himself I could tell that he was the
successful one. I was a little ashamed to tell him I was just a waitress.

“How do you know Jace?” Ryan asked. He had
a mischievous glint in his eye.

“We met at…”

“Church,” Jace said, taking it out of my
hands. Ryan smiled again and looked like he knew it was bullshit somehow.

“I ran into Lily the other day,” Max said.
My thigh was barely touching Jace’s under the table, but I felt him tense at
the mention of her name. I wondered why.
Is it because of me?

“Oh, where did you see her?” The waitress
brought our sandwiches and the conversation was put on hold while Ryan flirted
with her and everyone got settled with their food.

Once she was gone, Max said, “She was at
McDougal’s Friday night. I was surprised to see her since I’d heard she moved
out of town. She told me she went on a church trip with you last weekend.”

“Yeah, we had a kayaking trip. Lily is
part of my congregation.” Jace took a bite of his sandwich. He looked
uncomfortable, like he was trying to think of a way to change the subject.

“Yeah, that’s what she said. She also told
me something else really interesting.”

Jace now looked like he was about to take
off running from the restaurant. I could actually watch him visibly relax from
head to toe as Max said, “She said that the house she lived in with her husband
sold for fifty-thousand more than Grandma’s did.”

Ryan looked amused, Jace looked relieved,
and Max looked completely in control. These three were something.

“Oh…I wonder why? I never saw her house.
Was it bigger or in a better neighborhood?”

“No, it was on the South End, too, and if
I’m not mistaken, it was smaller than Grandma’s. I’m going to find out when I
speak with the attorney.”

“God! You guys are so boring,” Ryan
whined. Jace was right; he was definitely like a fourteen year old.

Jace rolled his eyes again and said, “What
would you like to talk about Ryan?” Then he looked at me and back at his
brother and said, “Keep it clean.”

“You’re such an old fuddy-dud lately,”
Ryan told him with his lip curled. “Being a priest is making you old before
your time.”

He looked at me and grinned. “It’s good to
know some people can still bring you out of your shell. Daphne, I never thought
I’d see the day when someone could talk my brother into having sex.” Jace
looked like he was going to choke as Ryan raised his glass to me. “Good job.”

He drank his beer as if he hadn’t just
said something out loud that he shouldn’t know and should have never been
brought up. I felt my face go hot again and gulped the ice water in front of
me.
Damn! Did Jace really tell them? He
must have. What the hell?

I survived the rest of lunch, listening to
the brothers razz each other over everything from baseball team choices to
women. After Ryan’s comment, Max had shut him down with a look and he backed
off of whatever he thought he knew about me and Jace.

I thought I was going to ask Jace about
it, but when we got in the car, I lost my nerve. I was having a nice day being
his “friend.” I didn’t want to bring all of that up again.

“I’m going to watch the All-Star game this
afternoon. If you don’t have any plans, we can get some snacks and watch it at
my place.”

God help me, I knew that was a bad idea, but
I told myself that in order to prove I could handle being alone with him, I
should do it. “Sure,” I heard myself say, “That sounds like fun.”

He stopped at a little market close to his
apartment. As we walked in, I heard a couple of people greet him as Father, so
I kept as low of a profile as I could while we were there. We picked out some
chips and dip, and he bought sodas and a vegetable tray.

It was only after he paid and we were
outside that I feel like I could breathe. He smiled gently at me. “It’s not a
sin for us to be friends, Daphne.”

I think I blushed again. “I know. I guess
I worry too much about what people think.”

He loaded the groceries and then looked at
me. “We all do. But, as long as we’re okay with God and we know we’re not doing
anything wrong…that’s what matters.”

He had a good point. He also meant what he
said about hanging out just as friends. We sat on his couch and ate and watched
baseball. I wasn’t a fan and he was a hard-core Red Sox fan, so he filled me in
on the All-Star league and who he was rooting for and why. He got really into
the game and it was cute to watch him be so animated about something.

Every once in a while, he would clamp down
on my leg with his hand when he was frustrated, or give me a high five when he
was happy…but otherwise, he didn’t touch me and we maintained our
appropriateness until early evening when I announced it was time for me to go.

Jace drove me back to the church to get my
car and before I got out, he said, “Hey, Daphne?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. Today was the first time in a
long time that I’ve felt truly happy and comfortable. I had a great, normal
day.”

I smiled. “I had a great, normal day, too.
Thank you.” He waited for me to get in my car and drive away before he left. I
was still smiling when I got home. It really had been a good day.