Page 110 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Don’t cry.“I don’t need your Biblical fucking metaphors—”
“Once upon a time, he was as innocent as Rain.” Those words are a whisper as he cuts me off.
My bottom lip trembles. I fucking hate it. I hate that.
“But this ain’t no fucking fairy tale, and Lucifer didn’t get saved.”
My nostrils flare as I try to keep breathing. Keep holding on to my stoicism, to keep myself together.
Mav tilts his head, watching me carefully. “He didn’t get saved… not until you.” He turns to Ella, pressing his lips to her cheek before he focuses back on me.
No. No, no, no.I only made his life worse. More complicated. I’m ungrateful, and sometimes I hate him, and sometimes I like the things he does like invite Nikita here with the drugs and talking down to me, because it’s proof. Proof I can keep some parts of my heart hating him. Proof I can blame him for every bad fucking thing in my life.
Proof I don’t have to let my guard down and end up shattered into pieces on the floor when he breaks my heart.
“If anyone knows what it’s like to walk in the valley of the shadow of death, if anyone knows what it’s like to see evil up close and personal, it’s you.” Maverick’s eyes are glistening, and he cups my face with his hand, his thumb on my chin. “And it’s him.” He lifts his thumb to my lip, still trembling, but with his touch, I still.
Ella sucks in a sharp breath. Maverick squeezes her closer to his side and says, “Trust him to hold your hand. You’re not in that place anymore, and neither is he.”
It’s time to fucking fly, Sid Rain.
“You might still be in the darkness, and in the darkness, I think we’ll always stay. But burn it with him, Lilith. Catch fire in hell together, okay?”
I nod once, like I couldn’t help myself. Couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.
“And we’re here because this is what family is for, Sid.” His eyes jump to Ella, and it’s her he’s looking at when he says, “Family protects.”
“You good with all that?”Ezra nudges my shoulder, tipping up his beer. The weakest thing I’ve seen him drink in a while.
It’s been twenty-four hours since we all arrived here at the Malikov mansion, Ella’s cake is entirely devoured, and I haven’t heard from Luce yet. I don’t really want to imagine what it is the two of them—him and the initiate—are fucking doing together.
As it is, I’m trying to imagine what two other people are doing on the low, and it’s making me feel a little homicidal.
But I’ve got my nephew in one arm, his head turned toward my chest as I cradle him while he sleeps, and my phone is in my other hand so I can’t exactly kill anyone right now.
I glance at my screen then send off the text.
Me: Why won’t you talk to me?
Tossing my phone down on the couch beside me, I lift my gaze and stare at Atlas and Ella sitting at a high-top table across the covered porch, cards in their hands, beer bottles on the table.
I feel someone’s eyes on me and I turn my head, meeting a coal-black gaze. Cain has a smirk on his face, his dress shirt unbuttoned a little, showing off his broad, inked and bruised chest. He’s got his hands in the pockets of his pants, taking up half the couch across from the marble table between us.
“Frequency” by Kid Cudi plays from the speaker on the table.
I jerk my chin to Cain as Rain stirs in my arms and I use both hands to rock him a little. “What?”
“You gonna answer Ez?” he counters, still smirking.
Ezra laughs beside me, then finishes off his beer. He leans over and sets the empty bottle on the table with a soft thud. “Where’s Sid?” he asks, twisting to look at me, something I don’t like in his tone. Like lust. He doesn’t seem to mind that I didn't answer his goddamn question either. If he’s looking for an orgy, he can look somewhere else.
I glare at him. “The fuck you wanna know for? We’re all out here.” I glance at the baby bottle beside the beer on the table. It looks a little obscene. But Rain is kicking his legs, stretching up his arms, and I know he’s gonna be hungry as soon as he wakes up.
Ezra leans back, licking his lips as he shrugs. “She looked like she could use some company, like Ella’s got.”
I clench my teeth, my pulse roaring in my ears. “Do you wanna get hurt?”
His hazel eyes flash. “Looks likeshedoes.” He glances at my girl.
