Page 75 of Savior

I sit there, in my office, torn to pieces in a house I’ve always felt at peace within because of the turmoil in my soul and my heart.

I don’t know Sloane, and I know that.

But the ease I’d had with her and how right she felt in my arms…

No.

Thinking that way isn’t good for me.

She isn’t good for me.

She’s fucking twenty, for fuck’s sake.

I was there the day she was born. I held her right after Ray. I was so happy for my friend. I thought she’d turn him around, make him see he had someone to live for.

It had been a foolish way to think.

He was too far gone.

I look down at the calendar on my desk, and realization cracks me over the head. It’s the fifteenth of November.

Today is Sloane’s birthday.

I look at the clock. It reads eight p.m. Jack and I worked well into the night on the budget and coming plans for the church repairs.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I head back to the rectory to change my clothes into something more suitable for going out.

I tried her apartment first, which was a dead end. Which means she’s working.

Though I look foolish, I walk intoHappy Endingswith an armful of flowers and chocolates, knowing that even though I left my clerical collar at home, they’ll know who I am.

“Father,” the bouncer says with a smirk playing on his lips. “You can go right on in. She’s on stage now.”

Half of me wants to beg him to stop looking at me like that. Like I’m the very picture of the stereotypical priest fallen from grace. But I keep my mouth shut and find a table toward the door, where the room’s darkness should shroud me from her. I lay the flowers and chocolates down on the tabletop.

She’s twirling her body around before she leaps onto the pole, hanging upside down, her dusky nipples taunting me as she turns in circles, a playful look on her face that doesn’t light her eyes.

She doesn’t look as happy as when she was teasing me in that private suite last night.

I promised myself I would let Dante and Ardesia handle her and that I would stay away from her.

But it seems I’ve become a weak man for her, and I’m out of control.

She gets done, collects her money, and heads backstage.

A tap on my shoulder startles me, and I turn to find the bouncer beside me. He inclines his head toward the side of the stage. “Come with me. I’ll show you back to her dressing room.”

I nod and scramble for her gifts as I follow him out of the main club area and down a hall to the left of the stage.

The lights in the hall flicker above, and I try not to judge how run-down the place looks back here. Likely, the entire club looks that way with the lights on.

Darkness has that effect. It’s an illusion.

However, Sloane only gets prettier when the light splays against her sinful flesh.

I shake away from the thought, as it’s not helping me keep my nerves under control.

She told me not to return, yet here I am, flowers and chocolates in hand, no excuse readily available.

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