56 | Devil's Dilemma

**SIENNA**

How could a kiss like that *NOT* feel good?
Maybe I knew the answer all too well. It was more passionate and dark than affectionate, and this was the side of Gabriel that honestly scared the crap out of me.
He was not the easiest guy I knew, but as I have learned, his darkness was all-consuming at times.
His fingers clutched around my arm, the fingernails digging painfully into my skin to the point I knew it would leave behind some scars. I tried to wriggle out of his hold, but somehow, he simply tightened them.
“Gabriel…what’s going on?” I asked, trying to speak some sense into him.
His towering frame cast a dark shadow over me while his burning gaze scorched into me. For a second, I thought he was about to blast, but all of a sudden, he’d just let me go. It happened so fast that I almost stumbled a few steps back before he snagged my hand and began to drag me with him.
“What’s gotten to you today?” I asked in a hushed tone, afraid that somebody might hear us. “You were in a fine mood in the morning.”
Not a single word came out of him as he hauled me towards his rectory in long, hurried steps. I almost had to jog to match up with his pace and ended up panting when he pushed me into the room and slammed the door shut.
When he turned to me, I could feel the rage coming off him in waves.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Gabriel?” I almost shouted back, my own temper spiking. “Anybody could have seen us.”
“I don’t give a damn,” he gritted, fists balling by his sides.
I crossed my arms in front, taking my stance. “Yeah, well, I do.”
His eyes narrowed into slits for a moment. “Is that why you hid the pictures?”
The words hit the living daylights out of me.
For a long moment, I could not believe my ears and hoped against hope that I had not heard it right. Please, God, anything but this.
There was no way this information could reach Gabriel. It was like dropping a burning match into gasoline. I knew it would transform into something dangerous.
“What…I…what do you mean?” I stammered.
Gabriel pierced me with his intensified gaze, sauntering closer with long, menacing steps. “Don’t pretend, Sienna. Just don’t. You are a terrible liar,” he said, his voice low and heavy. However, the underlying threat in his tone was absolutely unmistakable.
I was still in denial. Taking a step back, I tried to cover up once again. “I…don’t understand.”
“Harper told me.”
My world came to a halt. I closed my eyes and shook my head, almost in disbelief. Of all the people in the world who could betray me, Harper was the last person I had expected. How the hell could she back-stab me like that?
I wanted to cry, scream and shout. Yet all I did was shake my head and mumble, “She did not.”
I did not realize that I was shaking until two strong pairs of hands gripped my shoulders and steadied me. “It’s not her fault,” Gabriel clarified with a surprisingly soft voice. “I pressurized her.”
I let out a husky laugh. “Of course you did.” Of all his talents, I knew that he was very convincing and very scary when he wanted to be. But still, Harper’s betrayal pinched me harder.
“I need to see the pictures,” he demanded.
I gathered the courage the look him in the eyes and speak my mind. “No.”
“No?”
I shook my head to further my point across. “The pictures are my problem, not yours.”
“Wrong, it’s our problem,” he corrected. “You can either give them to me or….” His threat hung in the air, making every inch of my skin crowd with goosebumps. Crossing him was a dangerous thing to do, but right now, I did not mind throwing caution to the wind.
To hell with him and his anger.
“Or what?” I dared. “You are going to threaten me with some more punishments, right? I don’t care. I don’t give a fuck, Gabriel. I don’t…I…”
“Sienna, calm down!” He did not need to shout to get his point across, but the low baritone of his voice was effective enough.
One of his hands reached out and yanked at my hair, loosening my messy bun while his fingers tightened around the strands. He made it clear that I was in his thrall with one move.
“How calm was you a minute ago?” I countered. “So, don’t tell me to calm down when I am fucking one dealing with all this shit, and on top of that, you are threatening me.”
“I am not threatening you. I just want to see the pictures.”
God, how do I make him back out?
“Gabriel, please,” I half-begged and half-growled.
But he was relentless. “What are you afraid of?” He took my face between his palms and compelled my gaze on him. “Tell me, my sweet girl. Talk to me.” He hushed and murmured a few words of comfort that instantly calmed me down. And when he pressed a kiss to my forehead and then another to each cheek, I felt like I was simply too tired to fight this battle.
For a long second, I reveled in his warmth. “I am afraid they will hurt you,” I whispered into the silence of the room.
When I looked up at him, he smiled. “I am not as fragile as you think. Rest assured, I can take care of myself.”
“They know about us,” I stressed.
“Who?”
“I don’t know. The pictures were meant to be a threat, though.”
Gabriel nodded affirmatively. “Has anyone contacted you since?”
I shook my head. “Weirdly, nothing has come up ever since.”
“Hmm.” He scratched his chin, descending into a thoughtful trans as I waited.
But there was this look on his face I could not decipher. “What? What are you thinking?” I asked, unable to understand.
“I will tell you once you get me the pictures. Okay?” For some reason, I was still hesitant. But the words he uttered next kind of soothed me. “Sienna, you don’t have to deal with shit like these. I am here for that. Now go and get me the thing.”
I left his rectory, tiptoeing back to my room to discreetly get the envelope out of the hidden place, and sneaked back. In between those few moments, Gabriel managed to change out of his running clothes and slipped into his black v-neck tee and tracks. When I had handed him the envelope, all it took was a second to unwrap and peruse the contents.
Although he did not utter a single word, the nerve at the side of his forehead ticked and throbbed with the passing of every second.
And once he was done screening the pictures at least ten times, he looked up and locked eyes with mine. “Is that why you were avoiding me and behaving weirdly?”
I shrugged a shoulder unapologetically. “I did not want to make it obvious. God knows who’s spying on us.”
Gabriel merely nodded and concentrated back on the pictures once again. “You are in deep thought again,” I interjected.
“These pictures were a trap,” he concluded. “They wanted you to make a mistake, and they would use the opportunity against us.”
“They? Do you think it’s a student?” I asked.
“Maybe, or not.” He sighed long and deep. “But I will take care of it now. You don’t have to worry about this.”
“Okay.”
When I was about to get up from the bed, he snagged my arm and pulled me into him. One of his hands fisted my messy bun while the other snaked tightly around my waist. “And don’t you dare hide anything from me from now on.” His voice was just short of a growl. “I swear, Sienna, I try and be the patient man I should be, but the Lord knows what you do to me. Please don’t ever test me like that because you don’t want to see the worst of me.”
I brought my lips closer to his and smiled. “I have seen the worst of a man, and trust me, Father Gabriel, you are a saint.”
“The devil would disagree,” he returned with a smirk.
And just like that, his saintly veneer crushed under the heel of his savage self as he claimed my mouth as his. We groaned long and low into each other, kissing until we forgot the world around us.
Gabriel was not gentle, though.
He took me as devotedly as fiercely, making my skin hum and heart pound against the confines of my ribs. And I had never felt more alive in the past few days. All along, I chanted God’s name while this forbidden man made love to me.

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***That's for today, folks and I hope you have enjoyed reading the story. A few crazy surprises are coming, so stay tuned!***