Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
“Not from you.”
I focus on lathering her skin, letting her heavy statement sit between us. “He should have thought about that before he created me.”
“What do you mean, he created you?”
I’m annoyed at her persistence. She’s like a damn dog with a bone. She’ll keep poking at the wound until she’s satisfied I’ve bled out in front of her. Usually, this kind of inconvenience would cause me to slash her throat and watch her blood swirl down the drain. But the thought of seriously harming her irritates me.
I’m not going to sit here and tell her how scared I was when I held Iblis in my arms in the shower, praying that he’d wake up.
Or how to this day, the image of a needle is the only thing that can bring me to my knees.
She doesn’t need to know that after everything, he didn’t love Abaddon and me enough to get better. He still chose dope over us.
“Let’s just say that Iblis has been fucking me one way or another since I was eight years old. I’m just returning the favor.”
“You two have been sexually active since you were eight?”
“Not by choice. Iblis helped groom me when I was eight. He was ten at the time. We were used at parties. The church had masked parties with the clergy and other prominent church donors. Road, the man who raised us, supplied the boys.”
A sharp intake of air, followed by a sob. Her hand flies to my neck, and her fingertips slide underneath my mask.
I grip her wrist. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Let me see you,” she whispers.
“There’s nothing to see. My face won’t change that I’m a shell of a man with the heart of a monster.”
She leans forward, touching her forehead to mine. “Then show me the monster.”
I drop my hand, and she peels the drenched cotton off my skin, exposing my flesh to the warmth of the water and the heat of her touch. She says nothing, just glides her fingers over my skin as if trying to brand it into her memory. I flinch as she gently touches the three-inch gash on my right cheek, a constant reminder of what happens when you try to do good.
“What happened,” she asks, bending and placing a gentle kiss in the center of the scar.
“Iblis cut me open with a six-inch hunting knife when he was tweaking out.”
A sharp inhale of breath. “Iblis? Iblis is a junkie?”
“Started with prescription pills, then heroin, then meth. Meth was Road’s favorite. It made Iblis lethal. Once, I saw him slice through five men in fifteen minutes. It was as if he was a machine.” I touch the spot where her lips were a moment ago. “The irony is that it was the last time he ever held a knife. This happened when I was forcing him into detox. I saved his life, and he maimed my face.”
“I like it. It adds character. And as they say, chicks dig scars.”
I stare at her as she swallows, her fingers fidgeting. I sigh as I work my hands further up her body, paying extra attention to her giant tits, itching to take a nipple into my mouth and bite. “Ask your questions.”
“If you hate him so much, why continue to be with him?”
I bark out a laugh. “Hate him? What makes you think that? I love him. I’ve loved him since I was eight.”
“Then why do you keep hurting him?”
“Because I’m a sadist, and he’s a masochist. We need it. I need to create his pain to heal, and he needs me to hurt him.”
“You were worse to him than you were to me in the forest. Why isn’t he getting this Prince Charming treatment?”
“He can’t handle it. He has a hard enough time accepting it from Abaddon. No more questions, Eden.”
We remain silent as I continue to clean her body of debris before I turn off the water and bundle her in a large white towel.
“I need clothes. Mine are probably ripped to shreds in the forest.”
I place her on the bed and hand her a T-shirt. “Your shirt is long gone, but Iblis is washing your pants, and your jacket is right there.” I point to the chair in my room. “Get some sleep.”
She discards the shirt on my bed before turning to me. “Not until I get what I came here for.”
Right on cue, Iblis busts through the door. “I’ve got your pants.”
“Thanks,” she says a little too sweetly as she takes them from him.
Iblis nods before putting his head down and leaving the room, closing the door behind him.
“You know you can stay,” I tell her as I pull an envelope from the safe.
She jumps up and snatches it from my hand before holding it to her chest. “No. I’ve been looking for this information for a long time, and this is the closest I’ve been in twenty years.”