Broken Salvation

After some time of sitting in the room with him and just listening to the clicks of the keyboard, I excused myself and took the mugs with me as I popped down stairs to get his pie. I took a little time to wash up the cups and put them away where he would find them before I got a slice of the nice warm apple pie for Father Boss, bringing it back up to him along with a glass of lemonade for myself.

"Here you are!" I said joyfully as I sat the plate in front of him on the desk and went to sit back down. Father Boss had a little shimmer in his eyes as he looked at what I had for him. He picked up his form and dug in before saying a thing, groaning in a way that made my body heat up uncontrollably.

"Oh my. Julia, this is delicious! Have you tried it yet?" he asked, already standing from his desk as I shook my head. He came over with the plate in hand, gathering some of the pie up on the end of the fork before holding it out to my lips. I opened my mouth and accepted it, my eyes never leaving his icy blues as I chewed and swallowed down the sweet.

"Mmm, it is good," I giggled. I did know a lot about cooking and baking though. I knew I could make a perfect apple pie for him and I was proud of that fact. Instead of going back to his desk, the father took a seat beside me on the small couch, not much room able to be left between us there as he ate the rest of his pie. Once finished he put the plate on a small end table to the side and sat back as he let out a big breath.

"That hit the spot. Thank you so much for that, Julia. You're very talented," he licked his lips of crumbs as he complimented me. I looked over and noticed his eyes closed as his head was leaned against the back of the couch. He really did deserve a little rest after all the work he'd been doing. Plus, it was nice to just get to sit there with him and relax myself, needing nothing but him there with me. After a couple minutes of us sitting there in silence together, I felt his arm going around my shoulders. My eyes flickered over to the priest, quietly questioning him. "Sorry... is this too much?" he asked, catching my look.

"N-no... it's fine," I answered. Slowly I began to lean into him, feeling how warm and big his body was against my own. Soon, my head was on his shoulder and I knew we were crossing a line here. One that was clear, but neither of us wanted to see it. It seemed I was not the only one with longing in my mind. Father Boss never moved away from me, in fact it felt like he was holding me even tighter.

It didn't go any farther than that. I laid against him, enjoying the feeling of him caressing my shoulder and enjoying the smell of his cigarettes on his body. Just us cuddling on the couch for a while. I felt as if I could have stayed there for the rest of my life. But I knew it had to come to an end at some point and it did. It ended with him sliding his arm away and getting up, straightening his clothes and looking back at me. "Guess I should be getting you home before your family starts to worry." He stated, acting as if everything was normal between us. I understood why. I was very much sinning, but Father Boss... well I didn't know what to call what he was doing. He would be damned for getting so close to me and I felt like it was all my fault.

The priest drove a pretty standard sedan. It was plain, nothing much to see, but it really did beat having to walk all the way back home. I also just enjoyed getting to spend more time with him, sitting back in the comfortable seat and watching as the scenery of the small town went by us. The closer we got to home, the more I was beginning to dread it. I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to go back to my parent's world of complete control. I was starting to like freedom.

But it was a necessary evil. I had nowhere else to go. It was a bitter feeling when he dropped me off and we said our goodbyes. I would much rather stay with Father Boss forever than to go back home to my prison. Boring old place with nothing to do but chores.

The moment I was in the house, I got an earful from my dad as he exaggeratedly sniffed the air, while mom with her arms crossed over her chest stood back and looked pleased with herself. It was like he vindicated her for what had happened that morning. I ended up in my room, skipping out on the dinner my mother had prepared since I was not home to cook it myself. It was fine with me, it gave me more time to think about the man I truly wanted to be with.

I knew it was wrong, but at that point, I didn't care, I just wanted to be happy and be away from my parents. Over the next few weeks I really threw myself into my work at the church. Almost hiding from going home. I would stay there so late I began cooking dinner for Father Boss. He would then offer for me to eat with him and over time we learned more and more about one another as time went on. It seemed while that was happening, things between my parents were becoming more tense. They fought most nights by then, the screaming matches making it hard for me to even sleep. I had no idea what the big deal was, as they never clearly screamed what the issue was when I was around. But, the stress made me want to spend even more time out of the house and more time in the church with Father Boss.

The church was my sanctuary. He was my comfort.

I had lost all respect for my parents at that point and I enjoyed the freedom I had when working. I was able to watch TV with him and as he kindly offered I had even taken to more often than not sitting on the back door step and frequently sharing cigarettes when we popped outside together. I still only took a couple hits when we were sitting there together. As time passed I was getting better at enjoying his vice, as such he would leave me with the cigarette if he had to pop back in. I only took a couple of cheeky extra drags on it each time. There was a downside. I could also tell that I was now coming home smelling of our cigarettes. I was spending so much time with him. Not only could I notice it, but my dad was not shy about telling me how bad it was for me. Over and over again. Like a broken record. That he being a priest should know better. I was even being questioned on more than one occasion if I was smoking myself, which I tried my best and covered up with lies about how I would never do such a thing. He was beginning to hate the way things had been going with both me and clearly mom, but I had no sympathy. Every evening I started not to even pray for them. But for me to be with Father Boss.

I had become cold to my family, just as I felt they had been towards me for years. I guess I had overdone it though, because one day I came home from the church, extremely late, well after dinner time, and found all my things packed up and sitting in the driveway. Getting out and stunned with what I was seeing, I noticed my dad coming out of the house and walking over to stand with the palm of his hand out open to me.

"Keys."

With his eyes red in anger that was all he said! He looked at me with so much disgust it made me immediately uncomfortable. I slowly put the keys in his hands and he jerked away from me as soon as he had them. I took a step back from my dad and watched him as he turned to go back inside. "W-what am I supposed to do now?" I asked, eyes flickering from him to my bags on the ground, reaching up and grabbing for my crucifix on my neck and fighting back the tears.

"Doesn't matter to me. Call your little priest friend to come help you," he answered, not even turning around. With that, dad was back inside the house and I was left on my own out there. Soon he even shut the driveway lights off on me and I was in the dark with all my things. I quickly did as he suggested, calling Father Boss before he had the chance to turn my phone off as well.

"Hello?" Hearing his strong voice purring down the phone I felt tears jump to my eyes. I was still doing my best to hold them back as I hurriedly explained what was going on. For a moment I feared there was going to be nothing he could do for me. But, after a small silence he told me to hang tight and he would be there right away. I was not left there in the dark much longer before his headlights illuminated the driveway. He left them on as he got out and helped me get the small amount of things I owned into the trunk of his car.

Once we were both back inside and off the property, he glanced over at me with a small frown. "Are you alright?"

I shrugged, my cheeks streaked with dried tears already. "I will be," I answered. And I would be, because I had to. There was no way to go but up when at rock bottom after all. I was homeless and had to rely on the kindness of my priest to have a place to stay. Thankfully he was full of goodwill.

Chapter Six

I was lucky that there was an extra room in the small house Father Boss lived in and he told me I could use it as long as I needed. It was decorated nicely with lots of mirrors and antique pictures and furniture. The bed was made of an old metal frame and it was covered with a big, handmade quilt. Father Boss said it was made by an older woman that passed away recently. One that loved the church as much as I did. Of course, the pictures only held scenes from the bible and Mother Mary. There was a beautiful crucifix with a figure of Christ on the wall above my bed and I found it comforting the idea to sleep under the watchful eye of the lord from night one.

I slept better than I thought I would, though it had been a heavy night where my worried thoughts put me to sleep. Getting up the next morning, I dressed in a white, green leaf patterned dress with a matching baggy green sweatshirt. Doing my makeup that morning, I applied a pink lipstick that I had for special occasions, deciding it was a good time to wear it. This was a new chapter in my life, after all.

Coming down from the bedroom it was easy to hear Father Boss humming a hymn to himself in his own room getting ready for the day. I went right to the kitchen and was pleasantly pleased with the contents of the fridge. I began to prepare a simple breakfast for the two of us. Bacon, eggs, and toast. I could normally do better, but I needed to get used to my new surroundings and I knew morning mass was coming up as well.

By the time Father Boss came down from his room, all fresh and showered in his normal casual clothing, I had the meal plated for him and sitting on the table with a glass of orange juice. He looked surprised by this as he came into the small kitchen. "Wow. I thought I smelled bacon," he said as he sat down. "Thank you, Julia. You really don't need to cook for me though."

"Of course, Father. And I feel the need to do something around here to earn my keep." I said as I cleaned up the dishes I had used to make the food in the kitchen sink before I came to sit across from him. He gave in quite quickly, already knowing I would not be backing down. I can be quite stubborn when I need to be. We enjoyed breakfast together as sunlight poured in through big windows in the room. It was calming. After breakfast we popped outside for a shared smoke before it was time to get ready for morning mass. It was nice to start the day with him like that. It was fun.

Mass went nicely and felt really cleansing to me. I felt like I was starting a brand new life there. I was finally out from under the thumb of my parents and I could just live my life. At the end of the service, Father Boss announced there would be a bake sale the next week and that we needed all kinds of baked goods. All proceeds would go to the church of course.

After everyone was gone, I was left alone with the priest and was excited to go into the kitchen of the church to make up a batch of butterfly cupcakes to see what he thought of them. They were a little different with the wings made out of extra cake and the sweet, homemade icing under them and a line of strawberry jelly used for the middle. It took some time for me to make them, but there was nothing else going on and I wanted to make the father another sweet treat for allowing me to stay there.

After spending a lot of time in that church kitchen I finally emerged with a plate that held the nicest one I made. I was excited to show it off to him, but coming into the church where I could hear him talking to a voice I recognized. I was shocked to see my mom standing there with him holding a bag. She looked over to me with sad eyes and sighed a little.

"Hello, Julia. I came to drop off more of your things. We assumed you might be here." I felt weird seeing her so soon after being kicked out, but I tried to put on a polite smile as I came over with the plate in hand.

"Thanks, mom. I appreciate that," I said as I passed the plate over to Father Boss and took the bag she had in her hands. "Father, I wanted to see what your thought about my butterfly cupcakes for the bake sale you mentioned,"

"My my, they look delicious." He said as he carefully picked it up and got a closer look at my work.

"Would you like one, mom?" I asked, not wanting to be rude to her, even though I was still upset with how things went. She shook her head though, unsurprisingly. Mother was never one to have too many sweets in her diet after all.

"No thank you, dear. They do look nice though." She said as she turned her back to Father Boss to talk to me. "I am... not happy with how things went between you and your dad last night. I wish there had been something I could do. I tried to talk him out of it." As my mom was explaining this to me, I noticed Father Boss behind her, staring at me as he brought the cupcake to his mouth and dug his tongue down the middle, swiping up the jelly. It looked so lewd, but I thought it was only in my mind until he winked at me. I couldn't believe he was really teasing me like that, making my womanhood ache between my legs as it began to heat up.

I hoped mom didn't notice my blush. If she did, she didn't comment on it as in hindsight her head was elsewhere as she gave me her goodbyes, giving a light kiss on the cheek before leaving. "Oh," she stopped and turned to me on her way out of the church. "I won't be coming to Sunday mass for a while. Granny has had a fall and needs me to come stay with her while she heals." Mom explained. Of course, I questioned if my grandmother was alright and was reassured that everything was fine. Of course she was, knowing Granny she took everything in her stride. She just needed a little help around the house while getting back to one hundred percent health.

Once alone again, I looked to the Father as he finished up his cupcake, licking the sugar from his fingers. "That was amazing, Julia. You should make them for the bake sale for sure. I'm sure they will be a hit," he complemented. "I will make sure we all pray for your Granny next Sunday.' He mused and then chased another splodge of icing on his cheek

The unpleasant feelings and worry I had from seeing my mom dissipated and were replaced with warmth all through my body. I smiled, happy that he liked them so much as my head kept replying the way his tongue looked as he swiped through the middle and winked at me before. It was almost too much, but I had to control myself. At least until bedtime, that was.

I came over to take the plate from him and giggled when I noticed he had a little icing on the side of his mouth. Reaching up, I gently wiped it from his skin and thoughtlessly I brought the sugary cream to my mouth, licking it away from my finger. I was a little shocked when I saw that his face was a bit red and mine turned multiple shades deeper. I wanted to say something, apologize even, but he began to laugh himself and it made me feel better about my wrongdoing.

It was the first time I made an advance on him myself instead of just accepting his.

The next few days were spent with me getting used to my new living situation. It wasn't hard as I loved the small house we were sharing. I did what I could to earn my stay there, cleaning up and making meals, even lunches for the priest while he worked. It was difficult as he was always on the move. But I did my best. Now that we were staying together, we were getting a deeper appreciation for one another. I felt so safe and secure there. There were no screaming battles and arguments over nothing. In the dead of night because I knew he was right there in the other room to protect me from evil. Though the one evil he could not chase away were my own lustful thoughts and how I touched myself most nights to the thought of Father Boss sneaking into my room kissing me on the lips and hurriedly pulling up my nighty.

Father Boss wasn't always around though. It was actually the opposite; he was gone a lot of the time, running here or there taking care of his duties to his parishioners. There were several nights where I spent hours preparing and had made him a lovely dinner and it had gotten cold well before he was home, needing to be microwaved once he was coming through the door. Compared to living at home where mom was practically always there. It could be a bit lonely having the whole house just to myself for hours on end. I missed my sewing machine. I could lose hours with that. So instead I had got used to cleaning up and straightening things around the house or church. I thought I was doing a good thing.

In my enthusiasm to clean and straighten the house I forgot about Margret, she was the woman who volunteered and would come and clean for Father Boss a couple times out of the week. She was a short, round woman who diligently came to church for every mass on Sunday. I also saw her most days in the church, but this was the first time she had noticed that the house was already pretty well cleaned. It must have been strange for her since I could hear from upstairs her shrill voice calling for Father Boss. Coming out of my room I quietly went to the top of the stairs and listened to how she was questioning the man over it all. She had been cleaning for him the entire time he was the priest and he never managed with his very busy life to keep the little house as clean as it was at that moment. Bring the man of God that he was, the Father didn't even try to lie to her. He told her the truth right off the bat and explained the situation the best he could. Even with his explanation, she seemed disappointed, almost cross with him for allowing a young woman like me to stay in the home with him. "It's just not right, Father and you know it." She had stated bluntly to him.

One morning I got up a little late and Father Boss must have already made breakfast. I could smell it coming up the stairs and into my room . I got dressed in one of my plain outfits that I normally wore. I came down the stairs, excited to see what he had made, but my heart dropped into my stomach when I could hear that he was talking to someone. It wasn't Margaret this time. His voice was booming up the stairs. I was surprised there was another woman in the kitchen. A very stunning looking one at that, she wore tight jeans and a well fitting shirt. She had long, straight red hair and she sat in my seat with Father Boss across from her as she enjoyed a cup of coffee and the view.

Both heads swung to look at me. "Good morning," He said with a grin, stopping his eating for a moment. "Julia, this is Rebecca. She is a friend from my hometown. Just dropped in for a visit while she travels through the town." He explained, picking up his coffee mug to take a careful sip. "Please, join us," the father offered.

Not hungry, I settled in with a cup of my own coffee between them, my eyes down at first. "I've heard so much about you, Julia. It seems you've been helping Evan out quite a bit lately." She commented with a sweet, dashing smile on her face. "I'm sure you have heard nothing about me. I am not just the good priest's old childhood friend. I was even his girlfriend at one time, before he ran away to god, and joined the priesthood of course," Rebecca explained. I was a little shocked, I had thought the father had not dated through his time, but I should have known, someone like him had to have a history and dated at some point in his life.