“Or what?”
“Or a drowner will take your balls,” he whispered, and before Adam knew it, Emil’s fingers found their way to Adam’s crotch.
His toes dug into the sand under his feet, and he pressed his hand to Emil’s chest, breathless from the suddenness of this sensation. “Oh, God.”
Emil gently pulled on Adam’s sac with that smile straight from hell. “But maybe he’d suck on them first…”
Adam’s thoughts went red with heat, and within two heartbeats got so obscene he should’ve buried himself in the sand and never come out. He wasn’t stupid. It was obvious that Emil wanted more from the sexual relationship they shared. More than touching, kissing, and watching each other masturbate.
Adam had already broken his vows of celibacy and was conducting mass without a clean conscience. He wasn’t only a bad priest but a terrible human being. A liar. A hypocrite. But he so very much wanted to give in. He wanted to feel Emil’s weight on him and once again experience the overwhelming sensation of Emil’s cock entering his body. They both wanted what had happened when Adam had been the demon’s slave, but it was too much of a risk.
And Adam’s fear was greater than his need for specific sexual acts when he could have Emil in other ways.
“Praise be!”
A female screech tore through the air so unexpectedly Adam lost balance and fell back into the water when he tried to step away too fast.
The giggles that followed told Adam the greeting wasn’t sincere at all. Jessika Golonko walked toward the grassy shore with a blonde friend. They both carried matching Louis Vuitton beach bags and were clad in bikinis. And while they moved at a leisurely pace, with Adam and Emil butt-naked in the water, it felt as if the teenagers were two race horses approaching the finish line.
He’d tempted fate, and this time, fate had taken the bait.
“Now and forever,” Adam answered in a trembling voice, dipping in all the way to his neck while Emil watched him, cracking up as if this was all a big joke. “Girls, please turn around. I wasn’t expecting female company.”
“Oh, my God! Are you skinny dipping, Father?”
“No, no! But it’s indecent either way.”
Jessika snorted, but pushed on the blonde’s arm, and they both turned around. “Naughty, naughty, Father!” she teased and wouldn’t stop chuckling in a way that made Adam’s balls shrivel. Maybe it was for the better.
He was glad when Emil followed him out of the water, splashing about like a rhino charging at the beach. But when Adam darted for his towel, he spotted the blonde looking over her shoulder as if in slow motion, and he couldn’t believe her audacity when she whistled.
“Oh, shut up!” Emil yelled, wrapping a towel around his hips.
In the meantime, Adam was dying of embarrassment. There was no rock big enough for him to hide under. Only being confronted about his porn by the archbishop had been worse than this.
If any of the higher-ups found out what he was doing here, in Dybukowo, where he was supposed to mellow out his sinful needs, he’d be fucked.
The blonde turned around. “Me? I’m not the one flaunting my naked body in a public area.”
Adam could have contested that, considering her entire bikini probably consisted of less fabric than his boxer briefs, but at this point he just wanted to leave and wallow in his shame for the rest of the day, not confront anyone.
Emil wouldn’t give it a rest though. “Just admit you came to spy on us, you pervs!”
The blonde scowled. “I’ll sue you for exposing yourself to minors!”
“I’ll sue you for sexual harassment!” Emil yelled back.
Jessika turned to them as well, a sly smile stretching her lips. “You can’t afford to sue anyone for anything.”
Adam was glad to have the towel in place, even though the beginnings of his erection were a distant memory. His gaze went from Emil’s tensing shoulders to the teen’s obscenely expensive bag. “Money means nothing to our Lord. Didn’t Jesus say it would be difficult for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God?”
That would show her. Not.
Jessika unfolded her large beach towel in the grass close to the shore. “Jesus also said one shouldn’t bathe naked with another man.”
Emil frowned. “Jesus literally went bathing with John the Baptist.”
Adam ran his hand down his face. “It was a baptism, not bathing,” he mumbled.
Jessika’s friend settled down and started applying sunscreen, but young Miss Golonko was as unpleasant as her mother and wouldn’t shut up. “Either way, I don’t think the lord would have liked you to bathe naked with the devil’s favorite, Father.”
“A what?” Adam asked, shocked by her rudeness.
Jessika shrugged and pulled a large bottle of Diet Coke out of her bag. “I’m sure Emil knows what people say about his legendary bad luck. He can never leave, because who else would suffer so Dybukowo’s fortunate can thrive?” she asked with a small smile.
Jessika’s friend blinked, in full make up—false eyelashes and all—even though she was to spend the day at the lake. “I remember. Your mom said that!”
Unbelievable.
Adam’s pulse thudded until his throat felt as if there was a hand squeezing it. Two brats who had never experienced a fraction of the hardships Emil had to deal with every day, and they both thought they were better than him just because of their parents’ wealth. “You shouldn’t be saying such things. It’s unkind.”
Jessika rolled her eyes. “Well, then explain to me Father how is it that Mrs. Janina won the lottery on the very same day Emil was robbed?”
Emil picked up the rest of their stuff. “Get a life, Jess.”
“Maybe you should get one? There’s no way I’ll be stuck in this dump at thirty. I’m barely even here during the school year. Cracow’s pretty amazing, even when you have to board at school.”
“Maybe you should get a job?” Jessika’s friend suggested, and Emil seemed to have had enough, as he stormed off without a word.
Adam dragged behind him with a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach.
It was only once they reached the path, which would lead them to the parsonage that Adam managed to push words out of his mouth.
“Mrs. Janina won in the lottery? What? A hundred zloty or more? Just two days ago, Mr. Pasik came over, desperate to borrow some money until the end of the month, because he needed to have a pipe replaced, and she basically told him she barely covered her own expenses.” Which reminded Adam of her sending five grand to her grandson in the USA.
Emil shook his wet head. “No, she won a lot. Like, a lot. She’s just a greedy bitch who’d rather die on top of her pile of gold than share it.”
Adam watched his back, walking in silence while Emil stormed ahead like a battering ram. His silence struck needles into Adam’s flesh, and each carried more poison. He watched the tense set of Emil’s broad shoulders and hated the little voice inside of him which asked all the ‘what-ifs’.
What if Emil was playing some kind of double game with him and secretly dabbled in the occult? Technically, the church considered palm-reading sorcery and saw it as yet another gateway for demons to enter the world. What if there was a connection they both didn’t understand? What if Emil had been targeted by the devil and somehow passed that influence onto Adam? It couldn’t be a coincidence that the most horrifying experiences in Adam’s life coincided with his arrival in Dybukowo. With their meeting.