Page 24 of CHASE: Captive to the Dark

Kit

What felt like forever passed before I finally heard the door to the basement open. My mind stirred, but for the life of me, I couldn’t open my eyes. How long had Chase been gone? An hour…two?

When footsteps grew closer, I stirred, feeling the cuffs restrain me from rubbing my eyes like I wanted. The realization of my situation had my head flying up. What I was met with sobered me completely.

Chase swayed to the left, then to the right. The contents on the tray he carried slid to the far edge and my lips separated as some of the liquid in the bowl sloshed to the floor. Fuck, he was drunk. Wasted, from the looks of it.

“You’ve been drinking?”

My question had a half smile coming to his face. “I’ve been cooking,” he slurred. “Or, at least, trying to. Did you know soup stays good for a really long time? I never thought about it before. I’m afraid that’s all I have for you again. Soup.” His lip pulled back in distaste and I stayed quiet as he practically dropped the tray on the end of the bed, barely missing my restrained leg.

“Did something happen?”

Hadn’t I heard voices earlier? I thought I had, but I couldn’t be sure.

“Happened? Life happened, little one. Life. You have so much to learn about the hell we’re all meant to live before we die. And that’s the plan. We live, bad stuff happens to us, we think we see the way, when something else happens to pull us back down. Our faith is constantly put to the test. This is the real hell.”

“I believe you. I know hell. I’ve lived it. Are you going to release me?”

Chase blinked, as if only realizing I was bound to the bed. At the darkening of his features, I wish I wouldn’t have said anything at all. Lust encircled him as he stepped closer.

“Father?”

“Shh,” he said, drawing it out. His knee came down to the mattress and I couldn’t do anything but watch as he slowly lowered himself over my body. The connection of his chest against my breasts had me pulling against the cuffs, but not hard. Just enough to trigger my helplessness. It turned me on. Chase’s powerful body on mine when I couldn’t do anything about it sent my blood racing. Half asleep and in the moment, I didn’t want to think about how wrong all of this was, or what I’d told him. I wanted comfort. To feel safe and protected when I’d felt anything but for as long as I could remember.

The rich smell of liquor engulfed me and where it would have usually made me turn away in disgust, the aroma had me breathing in deeply. This wasn’t the cheap stuff like Peter, Rory’s father, used to drink. And Chase wasn’t him, waking me up in the middle of the night while my mother slept.

Green eyes studied mine while he lowered his face to hover inches above me. “What do you do when you meet the one person who awakens the demons you’ve spent your whole life trying to hide?” A finger came to my mouth, regardless that I hadn’t moved since he’d began talking. “You unleash and let those fuckers take what belongs to them. That’s what I think. That’s what I’m going to do. I don’t care that I don’t know you, or that you’re so young. Fuck all of that. I want you, Kit, so I’m going to ignore that voice that keeps telling me this is wrong. It can’t be. Not when I feel so strongly.”

He seemed to catch himself. Whatever he was thinking had him shaking his head. “You’re so young. I don’t want you to think I’m flirting with the idea of love, now or in the future. No. Don’t take it as that. It’s not even close. But you feel it, too. This lust between us. This connection. I can see it in your eyes. You’re internally begging me to fuck you.” His finger pulled back my bottom lip for only a second before he brought his gaze back up. “And I’m about to. One night of sins. That’s all I want before…” The words died off and he shifted his weight above me. “One night,” he repeated.

Relief had me softening. I knew he’d come to his senses and decide to let me go. Rory wasn’t good, but what he was doing wasn’t either. He had to have seen that.

“But we shouldn’t,” I whispered. “This won’t be good for you.”

“Some of the most amazing moments start with the word ‘shouldn’t’. Let’s find out if this is one of them.”

Lips lowered to mine, so gentle, yet electrifying. I pushed into him harder to stop the humming that shook my body. The expensive liquor ignited my taste buds at the sweep of his tongue against mine and I moaned, pulling against the cuffs at the need to put my arms around him. This wasn’t Peter. It wasn’t.

“Not yet,” he said, pulling back, only to deepen the kiss. Fingers trailed up my jawline to settle over my cheek and he held me with one hand, securing me even more. Grounded by his strength, I felt myself lose the tension. Hungrier he kissed, dueling with my tongue, claiming my mouth more than anyone ever had. If he’d decided this was his night to sin, Chase wasn’t going to go into it half-heartedly. The amount of passion he was putting into working me up only told me he was going to make our night one worth repenting. But what would he think of this tomorrow? He was drinking. He wasn’t any more in his mind than before. He wasn’t stable sober or drunk. It was enough to have me fighting against his hold as my mind broke through the haze. Just because I was dying for more of the forbidden didn’t make it okay to continue. He was right on one account. I wasn’t experienced in this sort of thing, no matter how mature I thought I was.

“You have to stop. You’re drunk.”

Chase barely put any distance between us as he let his eyes burn into mine. “I don’t have to think to know what I want. Besides, what is there to regret? One night spent with you is a transgression I can live with. Can you face yourself tomorrow knowing you spent the night with me?

“A priest?”

Silence was met with one of his eyebrows raising. I knew I’d somehow hurt him or made him angry. I just wasn’t sure which one it was.

“Would the decision be easier if I left you in chains and didn’t give you a choice? Perhaps then you’d have an excuse you can rely on to make wanting me justifiable in your mind, because I know you don’t want me to stop. Or maybe you honestly get hot teasing a priest. What is it, little girl? You can confess. I’ll listen.”

“Stop it,” I snapped. “You’re being condescending. You are a priest and I don’t take that lightly. Yes, it is hot in some twisted way, but you’re hot. The fact that you’re untouchable, or should be, makes me want you even more. I won’t deny it. But you took vows. We both can’t ignore that fact, no matter what sort of chemistry is between us. One night isn’t worth falling for. And you will, Father. Maybe not in your eyes now, but come tomorrow? How about in God’s eyes, or the church? I’m not worth that. This,” I emphasized, “isn’t worth that.”

A cold look crept in and he lifted, tracing his fingers down my calf as he moved toward the cuff at my ankle. He didn’t once turn away as he slid the buckle and released my foot.

“I fell a long time ago, Kit. Answer me this. Deep down, you want me to continue, yes?”

My hands turned into fists and lying wasn’t an option. Not one I could stomach. “If you were just any man, then yes. But—”

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