He's Strong. He's Hot. He's Foreign. (And He's in the Mafia?)

“Jane! I didn't know you’d be comin’ back here! Dinah said you went to New York for good!” I was engulfed with a mix of Chanel º5 and cornstarch as Mrs. Greevey gave me a tight squeeze after I entered the parish office.

“Um…is Father Kiernan still here?” I asked, swallowing the knot in my throat.

“Of course honey! I’ll go tell him you’ve come!” she said, giving me a bright small before disappearing down the hallway.

“This is quite a pleasant surprise, Miss Xavier, if that is still your last name?” Father Kiernan gave me a warm-hearted grin as he settled himself in his desk chair. Father Kiernan was the pastor at my church. He had a degree in psychology from the College of William and Mary and always used to help me with my problems when I was a teenager. He was like the kind old grandpa I never had. His thinning hair was combed neatly over his head and he had deep crow’s feet around his eyes and mouth.

“Only for a little longer” I smiled, sitting in one of the chairs across from his desk.

“Who’s the lucky fellow?” he asked, folding his hands on his desk.

“Peter Dombrovski, I met him in New York” I couldn’t say Peter’s name without blushing like a frivolous schoolgirl.

“Dombrovski…that’s a very Russian name” he said, mimicking a Russian accent.

I laughed, “He is very Russian. He moved to the United States like five years ago”

“So what brings you back here?” he asked, sitting back in his chair.

“Well, I wanted to have a wedding down here to make the family happy and everything…” I mumbled, but he cut across me, “’A’ wedding? Don’t you mean ‘the’ wedding?”

“Well, our plan is to have the real wedding, you know with the certificate and everything, in New York with Peter’s family” I fidgeted a bit, expecting to get a lecture along the lines of “a real marriage is a marriage performed before the eyes of God”, like something that the nuns in Sunday school would say.

Father Kiernan sat pensively for a few seconds, then proceeded to say, his voice sounding old and wise, “Jane, I know you left a bit of your heart here when you ran off for New York, I just don’t think you realized it in your haste to leave. You would have ended up here sooner or later, if only for a moment. And if you truly want to take advantage of your time here I think you need to find the people who truly kept your heart. You need to find them and acknowledge them, because if you let any more years slip away, you might feel an empty hole where Kentucky should have been. Never forget where you come from, Jane”

Oh Father Kiernan and his mysterious ways. He had a habit of pouring out beads of wisdom to people who didn't even ask for them, but actually needed them. Maybe his advice would help me in the future but now it just baffled me.

“And I’d be overjoyed to marry the two of you, just be sure to bring him in sometime next week so I can evaluate the happy couple”

“Thank you so much…it’s just…the real thing is that Jeremiah doesn't want me to get married to Peter” I mumbled, playing with my fingers nervously.

“Is Jeremiah your puppetmaster? Did he make a deal with the devil to have power over you? He’s your closest family, I understand this, Jane, but you cannot let him lead you away from the life you want”

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At least I had some approval for this mess I called a wedding. The dirt road leading from the town to my house seemed to have gotten longer. It felt as if I had been walking for miles when in fact I was less than a quarter of the way home. It was times like these when I wished I had Peter with me. In fact, I hadn’t really gone without Peter for more than a day in the past year and a half, but I couldn’t be leaning on Peter all the time. Peter needed a strong, confident wife, not some dependant crybaby.

I shivered folding my arms and hugging them to my chest, trying to create some more warmth than my cardigan could provide. I heard a car horn honk in the distance and instantly regretted wearing short shorts. I heard tires screech right beside me and slowly turned my head expecting the worst…and receiving it too.

“Hey baby, where’s your fiancé? Did he leave you out here all alone?” Gabe murmured, sticking his head out of his old red pick-up. His eyes were bloodshot and he was swaying slightly, like he always did when he was piss drunk.

“I can’t believe you still have this old thing Gabe” I muttered, walking up to him kicking the tire.

“Why you walking out here Janey? It’s freezin’” Gabe said, stumbling out of his car, making me take a few hasty steps back, “Just leave me be, Gabe…please”

“Don’t you want a ride home huh? We still got a lotta catching up to do” he smirked, still advancing on me, causing me to back up against a tree, the rough bark scratching my back. It was pitch black out, the only light in the darkness being Gabe’s headlights. My breathing grew heavy as Gabe leaned against the tree, his hands on either side of me, trapping me. I could scream but there was no one around to hear. I could fight, but I knew Gabriel would win. My best bet was that he would be knocked out by all of the alcohol in his system.

“I know Peter ain’t here, baby, I know he left you, but everything’s gonna be alright, because you still got me, you always got me” Gabe whispered in my ear, his voice hot and heavy.

“Gabriel please, I don’t love you anymore” I whimpered, tears pouring down my face, “Just let me go home”

“It’s time for you to shut up now…” Gabriel cooed, his hands on my waist, holding me fiercely, “Now we can be like we were always meant to be, just you and me baby, no fucking communist in our way, I bet he doesn’t even know how to…”

But before he could go any further, I had smacked him across the cheek, causing him to stagger back, losing his already shaky balance, and falling to the ground.

“You…you shut up about him!” I shouted, my hands shaking and tears pouring down my face, “He’s better than you’ll ever be Gabe!”

Gabriel let out an almost evil laugh, growling as he staggered back to his feet, “So much fucking independence, you think you can actually get away from me this time, baby? You have no one to help you now, we’re all alone…”

He pushed me to the ground and although he didn't look it, he had retained all the strength he had from his baseball days, and was now using it to keep me pinned underneath him on the cold, hard ground.

“You’re so beautiful Janey” he whispered before forcing his lips on mine, his hands holding my wrists to the ground and I writhed and squirmed under his grip.

“Peter is going to fucking massacre you when he finds out about this” I whispered as soon as he broke away from the kiss only to kiss my neck.

“I frankly don’t give a shit anymore” he laughed, sitting up so he was straddling my hips, “I just want you”

His hands went to my shirt, tearing it off with one fling, then moving to my shorts, “You shouldn’t dress so provocatively Jane, you’d be givin’ guys the wrong idea” he sniggered, unzipping my shorts and pulling them off.

“I fucking hate you” I whispered, silent tears pouring down my face.

Gabriel’s grey eyes flared and he smacked me sharply across the cheek, shouting, “You fucking whore! I loved you so fucking much and this is how you fucking repay me?!”

I let out a shriek and began to cry harder, my cheek stinging. Gabriel was going to finish what he had started that night six years ago, and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

Before he could move to my underwear, we both heard a car motor in the distance. Instant joy and relief swept through me. I begged to dear God that it was Peter, but anyone else would be fine, just as long as they got me out of this mess.

“Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit!” Gabe shouted, getting off me, his hands in the air.

A familiar truck parked behind Gabriel’s and an even more familiar face stepped out. It was Jeremiah, and he had a rifle in his hand.

“Oh hey Jed, I thought you were someone else” Gabriel chuckled, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Did you?” Jeremiah said, his voice smooth. He walked up to Gabriel, totally disregarding me, and backed him up against the same tree Gabe had me pinned against ten minutes ago.

“Tell me something Gabe; you think this would kill you?” Jeremiah cocked the rifle and put it up to Gabe’s nose, “Call me crazy, but I think he would”

“What the fuck are you doing man?!” Gabriel shouted, any hint of drunkenness leaving his body.

“You wanna tell me what the fuck you were doing to my sister? I’d love to fucking hear it” he pushed the rifle against Gabe’s nose, causing him to jump up and stutter quickly, “I’m sorry man, I’m sorry!”

“You’re fucking sorry, that’s real fucking sweet…never go near my sister again or I swear to Christ I will cap your ass and it won’t be pretty” he growled, lowering his rifle and stepping back.

“Yeah, I swear, I swear…” he nodded fervently.

Jeremiah smirked and began to walk away, leaving Gabriel to breathe a sigh of relief. “Oh and Gabe…” Jeremiah turned back and punched him straight in the nose.

“I hope you have a nice trip to the emergency room” he smirked, “Good luck explaining that to people!”

Gabe shot Jeremiah and me both death looks, his hand over his bloody nose, both climbing into his car and driving away.

I opened my mouth to say something to Jeremiah as he walked by, but then he said to me, “Put your clothes on Janey, don’t act like a tramp”

Grimacing, I slipped my shorts back on and picked up what was left of my favorite shirt, following Jeremiah into the truck. I climbed in next him, leaning back against the cold leather seats and deep breathing, trying to absorb everything that had happened to me this past day.

“He tore your shirt, did he?” Jeremiah said flatly, eyeing the pieces of my top strewn on the floor, “Get my jacket from the back, I don’t want you walking around looking like a slut”

He was always so considerate. “Thanks” I muttered, grabbing his rain jacket and slipping it on, folding my arms against the cold.

“Let’s get out of here” he said, turning the key and driving away from one of the worst moments of my life.