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“I want it,” I quickly said. “Hence the reason I’m wearing the ring. They offered Luca the other spot, but he refused. He said he doesn’t want anything to do with it.” It’s actually kind of funny; in the beginning, I thought Luca was just like his father: an immoral, disgusting, untrustworthy guy, but time and time again he’d proved me wrong.
Zander hummed. “So, who’s going to get it, then? Don’t tell me we gotta go through another one of these things…”
That got me to laugh, because my thought process had been the same when I’d first heard Luca refuse the position. “Luckily, no.”
“Then who?”
“They’re letting me pick. I have someone in mind.” When I said that, Zander looked at me strangely, and all I did was continue to smile—a real smile, something that felt foreign on my face, and I had the feeling it’d feel strange for a while yet. I wasn’t used to being happy.
Hopefully this was the start of something new, something good, and I’d know what true happiness was.
“Before we go home, I want to swing by the church,” I said as I pulled out my phone to text the man I wanted to give the ring to.
“You’re not giving it to Ezekiel, are you?”
That got me to look at Zander. “Wow. You actually used his name this time. I was starting to think you thought his name really is Father Weirdo.” As Zander scoffed, I added, “And no, not Ezekiel. I just want to see him and tell him the news.” I assumed he wouldn’t want to come to the party tonight, since parties weren’t really his scene.
Zander tried to pry it out of me, but I refused to tell him who I was going to offer the ring to. He’d find out soon enough. Patience was a virtue and all that. I’d waited my whole life to take Miguel down, so I knew more than most how difficult patience could be.
Zander dropped me off at the church, allowing me some private time with Ezekiel. It was a weekday, early afternoon, so I found the church empty as I strolled in. I was about halfway down the main aisle when Ezekiel appeared, coming out of the backroom.
My feet immediately stopped, and a silly little grin crossed my face when we met eyes. He made a beeline toward me, the normally expressionless face he wore morphing into one of warmth. He only got that way when he was looking at me; made me feel special and all that.
“Giselle,” he whispered my name once he reached me, and after a quick glance around us to make sure we were alone in the church, he bent down and kissed me. Just a quick peck, but it warmed my insides all the same. His azure stare twinkled as he gazed down at me. “What can I do for you?”
I let myself study him for a few moments. His wide shoulders, how tight that black outfit was on him, the muscles and scars I knew lay underneath. His tan skin, quite a few shades darker than mine. The way his black hair was slicked back, not a single strand out of place. A clean-shaved jaw to prove the man took great care in his appearance, no five o’clock shadow to be seen.
Priests shouldn’t be so attractive. It was wrong.
And yet, just between us, it was so damned right.
I took his hand and led him to the nearest pew, sitting down beside him. Our thighs touched, and I didn’t go to move away. The time for actions like that was long passed. He sat on my right, so it was easy for me to lift my right hand and offer it to him, to wiggle my ring finger and let him notice the new dark ring on it.
He held his hand beneath mine, his head bent to study it. “What is it?”
“Looks like you’re my priest in more than one way now, Ezekiel. I’m on the Black Hand.” The look he gave me after that made my stomach flip. “This whole time Piper was watching the heirs—me—and it was never about Miguel or the others.”
“Ah,” Ezekiel murmured, “misdirection, a way to see you and the other heirs as you truly were.” He took hold of the hand with the ring, fingers weaving into mine as he lowered our hands to his lap.
“As much as she could, I suppose.” There was no way Piper would ever have seen the real us, due to the fact that I was certain the others had been told by their parents to be on their best behavior, to try to impress Piper and Shay and everyone else.
“Is this what you want? Are you happy with this?” he asked quietly.
I didn’t have to think about it long. “I want to stay in Cypress. I’d be lying if I said I wanted on the Hand, but… but yes, I’m happy about this. It feels…” I trailed off, knowing what I wanted to say, but also knowing how stupid it might sound.
Ezekiel must’ve been on the same wavelength as me, for he finished, “Like fate?”
“Yes, like fate.” My lips tugged into a smile, and I met his blue stare and held it. “It feels like all of this was fate. I don’t think I could’ve done any of this if it wasn’t for you and the others. Before, I was bumbling around, a zombie, barely alive, and then… then I came to Cypress and everything changed.”
“Everything changed for me as well,” Ezekiel whispered as he squeezed my hand once. “I used to believe I’d found my calling, that I was meant to be here, to protect my flock in the way a shepherd protects his, but then I saw a girl wearing white in a sea of black, and everything changed.”
Everything changed. It was good to hear him say it back, made it feel more real, like I wasn’t just some silly girl getting sentimental. Everything did change. Everything was different now. I had no idea where the future would take us, but wherever it led, I knew I’d be content.
“I actually was given the go-ahead to pick someone to take Luca’s place,” I told him. “He refused the ring and the spot, said he didn’t want it.” And then I told Ezekiel who I would be offering the ring to.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t say I do not like his methods sometimes, but all things considered, he has proven himself. With you by his side, I have no doubt he will continue to do so.”
Ezekiel always did know what to say. A part of me wanted to stay here, in his church, make him lock all the doors so we could tear off our clothes like animals and do some sinning together, but I should get home so I could beat the future Black Hand member there.
