CHAPTER 34

CHAPTER 34

DORIAN

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”

The words rasped out of me though I wasn’t in the booth. Just pacing my damn living room like a caged animal.

I dropped hard onto my knees, palms pressed together, head bent.

“Lord… I shouldn’t have touched him. I shouldn’t have kissed him. I shouldn’t have wanted him.”

My chest heaved. My throat burned.

And yet.

I could still taste Ezra on my lips. Sweet. Innocent. Desperate.

I pressed my forehead to the edge of the couch and muttered faster, like maybe if I rushed the prayer, it would wash away what I’d done.

“Hail Mary, full of grace—”

But the memory intruded. Ezra straddling my thigh. His little gasp. The way he whispered my name like he couldn’t hold it in.

My jaw clenched. My body betrayed me, hard all over again just from the thought.

“Damn it,” I hissed, slamming my fist into the couch cushion. “Not again. Not with him.”

I got up, pacing. Back and forth. Fast.

I prayed louder, my voice rough. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I shall not want—”

But I wanted. God, I wanted him.

His laugh. His blush. His mouth. His whole trembling body against mine.

“Enough,” I growled, dragging my hands down my face.

I yanked open the piano bench and sat, hammering at the keys like I could drown it out. Loud. Discordant. Nothing soft or holy about it. Just noise, punishing noise, to block out the memory of Ezra grinding down on me like a sinner begging to be ruined.

“Focus,” I muttered. “Focus.”

By the time my fingers stilled, sweat trickled down my temple, chest heaving. The house was too quiet. My thoughts too loud.

I forced myself into the shower. Cold. Brutal. Each drop biting down my back.

It helped. Barely.

By the time I dragged myself out, towel low on my hips, my phone buzzed on the counter.

Email notification.

I ignored it at first, pouring a glass of water, gulping like a man dying of thirst.

The buzz came again.

With a curse, I unlocked my phone.

My stomach dropped.

The subject line: Vale.

From: Senator Adrian Cross.

The most corrupt bastard in the city.

I hesitated, teeth grinding, then tapped it open.

And read.

Father Dorian,

Your little church boy seems… distracted lately. Dangerous, isn’t it, when young men wander too close to temptation?

You’d better keep your house in order, Father. Because I don’t forgive sins. I punish them.

— Adrian Cross

My vision went red.

I slammed the phone onto the table, chest heaving. “That son of a—”

The wood groaned beneath my fist as I slammed it again. Harder.

“Threatening me?” My teeth ached from how hard I clenched them. “Threatening him?”

I shoved a hand through my wet hair, pacing again, faster this time. Rage curled in my gut, black and heavy.

He knew. That bastard knew something. Maybe not everything—but enough.

“Ezra…” I muttered. My throat burned saying his name.

If Cross so much as touched him—

No.

I wouldn’t let it happen.

My reflection in the dark window stared back at me, jaw tight, eyes too wild for a man of the cloth.

“This isn’t over,” I whispered to myself.

Because if Senator Adrian Cross wanted a war—

I’d give him one.