The Divine Temptation (18+) (Forbidden Priest Romance)

10. The Kardashians

Content Warning: This chapter discusses sexual assault and abuse; if you do not feel comfortable around the topic, it is suggested to err on the side of caution. 

'There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.'

1 John 4:18 (NIV)

♱

Evangeline

♱

"Gabriel?" I whisper.

He turns to me, his face red and eyes glossed over with a wet sheen.

He's upset. Actually, scrap that, he's angry.

He pulls his hand away from the broken shards of wood, his knuckles covered in slightly bleeding grazes. He looks down at the floor as his anger begins to morph into sadness.

Taking the initiative, I walk out of the room towards the bathroom and take out the first aid kit from the cabinet, remembering its location from this morning. I return to find Gabriel pacing the room, his hand covering his face, only stopping when he realises I've returned.

"Come sit," I say. His hand drops, and his eyes slightly widen. He doesn't argue, though, as he sits down next to me on the sunken couch. I don't bother trying to have a conversation at this exact moment. Instead, I pull his hand towards me and rest it on my knee as I shuffle around in the bag, pulling out an alcohol wipe and a bandage.

"I thought you'd left," he says. My eyes don't meet his as I rip open the wipe and start dabbing the cuts, cleaning up the blood.

"I wouldn't be much of a friend if I did, now would I?" I simply reply. He lifts one side of his mouth into a small smile.

Silence envelops us as I gently rip open the wipe packaging and start cleaning his grazes. He clenches his fist slightly as it stings his cut.

"I'm here to listen if you want to speak about it," I tell him as I blow lightly onto his hand, drying it before I place a large bandage, enough to cover his wound.

He stills slightly, as if he's fighting an inner battle on whether to talk about it with me.

"Was it Bethany?" I don't mean to probe, but it unsettles me that she was one of the last people waiting around when the service ended. Without thinking, I rest my hand over his hand, which still lay resting on my knee, before giving him a gentle squeeze.

"You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to. If you just want to carry on, I could go get lunch or som—"

"Uh, no, um. I'm sorry, this isn't something I've really spoken much about." My heart thumps harder in my chest as I get the sense that what he's about to say is a lot darker than I can anticipate.

"Well, I'm sure you know my mother passed around four years ago. Well, after her death, I came here to spend some time with my father before leaving to come back again this summer. During that time, he introduced me to Bethany. I wasn't really much of an extroverted person, so my father pushed me to get to know her, take her out on dates, and such."

He pauses for a brief moment, swallowing deeply before he continues.

"One night, she invited me to her house. Her parents were away, and I guess we started kissing, and one thing led to another. We started having sex. She was on top of me, as she told me it would have been better given it was my first time."