Page 64 of The Devil Takes

I just didn’t want him to stop petting me. As angry as I was, I was relieved, too. At my lowest, he was here, just as I’d hoped he would be. I didn’t know what the future held for us. I was too tired to care. But I was glad he was here, even if he was a purple-demon-fuck-boy who’d ghosted me.

“Fine.” Haden’s tone was final, his rumbling voice echoing through the rapidly closing space between us as he bent down, and in one swift move had me pulled up into his arms. I took a moment to be impressed, considering the fact we were nearly the same size. Him, tall and lean; me, shorter and thicker.

His steps didn’t stumble, his breath didn’t stutter.

So I let the smug asshole carry me, too weak to hold myself up, as I watched the shadows beneath the bridge creep toward us. His chest heaved, and I pressed my nose against the hollow of his throat, inhaling his scent clearly for the first time.

It was earthy.

Like a damp cave.

Like soil in the spring or wet pavement. Inhaling greedily, I relaxed when his arms tightened incrementally around me in response, his chest rumbling his approval. As the shadows slid closer, it occurred to me that this was it. I knew I could ask him to take me back, that it might be my last chance to do so. My last chance to chase the sunlight rising slowly behind me.

But…I didn’t.

Instead, I looked forward, falling into the slippery grasp of the shadows as Haden’s nose brushed my sweaty temple, and the ache that had made a home inside my chest began to slowly ease. I’d thought I didn’t have much to give, but as we disappeared inside the darkness one last, final time, I realized I’d been wrong.

I just wished if I was going to Hell, I’d had the forethought to bring a six pack of Mountain Dew.

until next time…

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