Page 122 of Bones

“Fucking hell, baby.” His words were muffled as he held me tighter and repeated, “Fucking hell.”

“That’s exactly what it was. I was positive Pastor Gideon would be back to finish me off, and it wouldn’t have taken much. I was weak, in pain, and had given up all hope. Ryan snuck in later that night and took me away. I thought he was rescuing me. He told me it was more than that. He was saving meandmy soul. We bounced around for a while to different churches, each growing progressively bigger. I fed him info about the congregation from my visions, and he worked it into his sermons. Helping to build people’s faith was my penance for my curse. And I didn’t talk to anyone else until I met you.” I let out a forced, self-deprecating laugh. “I feel so stupid now.”

“You were young. And lonely. I get that last one. Really fucking get it.”

I did something I rarely did. I gave myself the benefit of the doubt. “I was drugged, too.”

He went alert. “What?”

“I’ve never been a good sleeper, so Ryan got me sleeping pills. According to Lennon and then the vision I had earlier, they were strong meds to keep me in a stupor. An obedient stupor.”

I wasn’t sure how my defiance was able to break through such heavy dosages, but I had a feeling it had something to do with fate, the balance of the universe, and the powers-that-be.

And a certain sexy lumberjack I needed to find.

I moved on, telling him the truth about that night. How I’d been in Maine after my brain wouldn’t shut up about the state and how I needed to run in the woods. How Ryan had hit me because I’d fought him when he’d wanted to give me to someone who I was certain was an Absolve member. How I’d jumped out of the car to get away from him.

And to Deke.

“His death was sure as hell not enough,” he said, low and even. “Are the Gideons dead?”

I shrugged. “No idea.”

“They’ll wish they were. And then once they get to Levi, he’ll make them wish their souls no longer existed.”

It wasn’t an empty threat.

I was surprisingly okay with that.

“Tell me about Heaven,” I said, ready to move off the past.

“It’s wet.”

Huh?

“And tight.”

What’s that even mean?

“And I’m ready for it again,” he finished before grasping my wrist to lower it down his body. His hand covered mine as he wrapped it around his hard-on.

I gave it a tentative squeeze, and he groaned, his hips rising from the mattress.

That heady high shot to my head.

He just had me, and he already wants me again.

It was evil, but I wanted to ride that rush. After all, I’d waited five days. He could wait a little longer—while I teased him.

I kept my hold on him. “I actually want to hear about it.”

And get off on tempting you.

“Was it beautiful?” I asked.

He ran his palm down his face to his beard. “It was beige and boring. Couldn’t swear. Couldn’t get back to you. Couldn’t getinsideyou.”

“What about an archangel? Do you have one?”

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