Mag-log inThe church in Greyfen was deserted under the late afternoon light. Thin stained glass colors stretched across the stone floor.
The usual small crowd filled a few pews, old women with worn rosaries, a couple of mothers with restless kids, the regulars who came no matter the day. Marcus moved through the liturgy, his voice monotonous, his hands in constant motion. He had done this for years. He loved the routined practical nature of it. Then his eyes landed on her. Lola stood near the side aisle with the other ushers. She had lived in Greyfen her whole life. Everyone knew her. She was the introverted deaf woman who helped at Mass, collecting the bulletins and guiding people to seats when needed. Marcus had seen her for years. She was part of the background of the parish, always there, silent and efficient. He had never really looked at her before. Not like this. Then something had suddenly changed. She watched the altar with focused attention, lips slightly parted, reading the shape of the words more than anything else. When she stepped forward to help an older woman into a pew, her hands moved clean and sure with no fuss or sound. Just normal work. Marcus felt his gaze stick. He found himself noticing the way she stood, the way her dark hair pulled back, the plain blouse that sat soft against her chest, the faint color on her cheeks from the warm air in the church. He forced his eyes back to the missal and kept going. Where was he? Right, right. Consecration. Elevation. Fraction. But every time he looked up, though, his eyes found her again, tracing the line of her neck, observing the way her fingers rested on the hymnal she could not hear, the small movements of her body as she shifted her weight. Heat started low in his belly, unwanted and strong. His cock began to thicken under the cassock. He shifted his stance and gripped the altar edge so hard he was afraid he would shatter it. He told himself it was nothing. A random human physical reaction. Priests were still men. Bodies did what they did. He had dealt with it before, pushed the thoughts down, locked them away. But this… this hit him harder than he had ever experienced. By the time he gave the final blessing his hands were shaking, and the cloth against his cock was already damp. After Mass he stayed longer than usual, talking with the few people who lingered, smiling as casually as he could. Lola moved through the emptying church picking up leftover bulletins. Her steps made almost no sound. Once she glanced toward the altar. Their eyes met for a second. Something passed between them. A familiar recognition. Was it a spark of something? He could not tell. She looked away quickly and kept working. Marcus felt it settle in his chest and stay there. He did not communicate with her. He did not trust what might come out of him. When the last person left and the doors were locked, the light outside had started to fade. The sacristy was cool and dim. It smelled of wax, old wood, and polished metal. Marcus shut the door behind him and leaned against it. His heart still beat too hard. His cock was fully hard now, pressing against the fabric, the head wet enough to leave a dark mark. He should have gone to the rectory. He should have prayed. He should have forced the picture of her out of his head. He had forced unwanted thoughts away before. This shouldn’t be hard. Instead he locked the door. The bolt clicked loud in the quiet room. Marcus turned toward the vestment cabinet. His hands were already on the buttons of his cassock. He pulled it off and dropped it. The collar came next. Underneath he wore a thin shirt and black trousers that did nothing to hide the thick shape of his erection. He undid the trousers and shoved them down with his underwear until they bunched at his ankles. His cock sprang free, heavy and flushed, the tip already shiny with precum. He took hold of himself instantly. The first stroke was rough. He braced one arm against the cabinet and worked his fist in a tight rhythm, eyes half shut. The memory of Lola filled his head right away—the way her body swayed left and right when she walked the aisle, the soft pull of her blouse across her chest when she reached for a bulletin, the plumpness of her pink, glossed mouth. He pictured that mouth open. He pictured her hands instead of his. His hips pushed forward into his grip. “Lola,” he whispered against the wood. He stroked harder, twisting on the upstroke, thumb spreading the wetness down the underside. The slick sound of his fist filled the room. His breathing grew rough. He thought of her watching him lead mass, the rosy color of her cheeks, how she might look if she were on her knees in front of him right now; eyes up, lips around him. The image hit hard. His balls tightened. His free hand gripped the cabinet edge until the wood creaked. He did not slow down. The guilt sat right there sharp and familiar, the weight of every priestly vow ringing in his head. But it only made the heat worse. Every stroke felt like falling farther, and the fall only made him harder. He said her name again, louder, the word broken by the pull of his hand. “Lola… fuck…” His hips snapped forward. The head of his cock was dark and wet, the shaft slick enough that every stroke glided easy and filthy. He pictured her eyes on him the way they had been for that one second in the church — knowing. He pictured her watching him do this, while he came apart for the thought of her. That was enough. Marcus came with a low, broken sound, forehead pressed hard against the vestment cabinet as the first thick pulse of semen hit the dark wood. He kept stroking through it, pulling every spurt out, whispering her name again and again while his cock jerked and emptied in long ropes. Come ran down the cabinet door in slow white trails. His thighs shook. His breath came hard and uneven. He stayed there a long moment, still holding himself, the last weak pulses leaking over his knuckles, her name still on his lips.Jonas sat on the edge of the motel bed staring at the neatly made bed opposite him that had belonged to Ruby only moments ago.He needed to check in on her. Make sure she had gotten home safe and that Arnold had not already started in on her.He reached for his phone. As his thumb hovered over the screen, he remembered.He had never taken her number.“Fuck.”The word came out loud and bitter. He opened the contacts app and stared at the empty contact list. He had only bought this phone a few weeks ago so he never even had social media to track her. The reason he had never gotten around to purchasing a phone before was because his father had always thoroughly searched his room for anything he might be hiding. Hell, the man had taken the bedroom door off its hinges years ago so nothing could stay private. If his father ever found out that Jonas owned a cell phone without his permission, he could have banned him from the house for a few days, sometimes months. Ever since he got bigger,
Jonas and Ruby reached the clinic with only minutes to spare. A nurse checked Ruby’s name against a clipboard and nodded them toward the inner doors. “Ruby?” A doctor appeared in the doorway and called her name. “Come in alone for a moment, please.” Ruby glanced at Jonas. He gave her a supportive, assuring nod. She followed the doctor into the consultation room. The doctor sat across from her. “I need to speak with you privately first. Are you certain this is your decision? No one is pressuring you?” Ruby’s hands twisted in her lap. “Yes. I’m certain.” The doctor studied her face for a long second, then nodded. “All right. I’d like your partner to hear the rest. Call him in.” Ruby felt the need to correct her that that was in fact not her partner but a friend but instead she went to the door and opened it, then gestured at Jonas to come. He stepped inside and took the chair beside her. The doctor folded her hands on the desk. “We’ll be using aspiration. It’s a short proce
He cleared his throat and nodded toward the nightstand, changing the subject. “I brought you the water.” “Thanks,” Ruby said still confused at his reaction. She uncapped the bottle and took a slow sip. Silence settled between them again. After a while she set the bottle down and looked at him. “Jonas…? “Yeah?” “Can I ask you something?” “Shoot.” “What did I ever do to you to make you hate me?” He frowned, genuinely confused. “What do you mean?” She stared at the bedspread between them. “We used to be close. Then you just… stopped...” She didn’t finish the sentence, but she didn’t need to. Jonas exhaled. “Oh.” He was silent for a long moment, choosing his words. “It wasn’t anything you did. Just… after Mom died and I went to live with Dad…” He stopped. He didn’t know how to tell her about the way his father used to wake him up with a belt and burn him with cigarettes if he didn’t do anything perfectly. Or if he did. It didn’t matter really. His dad burned him if the
They arrived in Ridgehollow in the morning. Jonas adjusted the strap of his backpack and turned to Ruby. “What now?” Ruby tugged the brim of her cap lower. “My appointment’s at noon. We can just go to the clinic and wait there.” Jonas glanced at the empty street, then at the way her shoulders still curled in on themselves. But didn’t answer right away. They walked toward the curb, scanning for a cab. A few cars passed. Ruby’s stomach growled loud enough that both of them heard it. She pressed a hand against her middle, face flushing. Jonas looked at her. “Maybe we should get something to eat first.” “No.” The word came out quick. “The doctor said not to eat before the procedure. Unless you want to go grab something first?” He studied her for a second longer, then gently took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. His voice was firm. “I think we should get motel rooms first then. It’s still five hours until the appointment. We can go there, you can rest until e
The driver glanced back and muttered something under his breath, but pulled over onto the gravel shoulder anyway. Ruby climbed down the steps with Jonas right beside her. Her body folded immediately and she puked her guts out into the wet grass. Jonas disappeared back onto the bus and returned with a bottle of water. He held it out without a word. “Thanks,” she said, still avoiding his eyes as she rinsed her mouth and spat. They climbed back on. As they moved down the aisle toward their seats, an older woman held out a small tin of peppermints. “Helps with the nausea,” she said gently. “Thanks,” Ruby answered. The woman tilted her head. “How far along are you?” The question stopped both Jonas and Ruby in their tracks. Ruby forced a polite but uncomfortable smile and kept walking. She dropped into her seat then Jonas followed. Silence sat between them for a long moment while she popped the mints in her mouth. Jonas’s voice came out cautious. “You’re pregnant?” Ruby l
Ruby hadn’t expected Jonas to be here of all people. What were the odds? On this very bus, on the same night she was leaving Greyfen, somehow the boy she used to know better than anyone else in the world had dropped down beside her. The universe had a unique sense of humor. If she wasn’t every exhausted, she would have thought it was a sign. The moment he asked if she was okay, the words rose so fast she almost choked on them. She wanted to pour her whole heart out and tell him everything. He always had that effect on her. Even after years of distance. Even now, when she had every reason to trust anyone. She’d learned the hard way that she was alone entirely. And it was all her fault. Everyone had let her down. Even herself. And God forbid if she let it happen again. The first one to let her down had been Stan with his promises of marriage after high school but instead he had run off to college and started dating her best friend Shelly. Then it has been her parents with their co







