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I pleaded with Death because her soul isn’t his. Hell, it’s not even hers–it’s mine.
I will not live if she doesn’t. I’ll cut my own heart out of my fucking chest to join her in the afterlife.
“He can’t hurt you anymore. They can’t hurt you anymore. As long as I’m around, no one will hurt you again, I promise you.”
“The day we crossed paths was the day my world became worth living in.”
“If I kiss you, Ari, there’s no stopping me. I won’t be able to control my need to completely consume you…and we both know what that exactly means, my little angel.”
“I won’t be able to control myself with you.”
“I don’t deserve you, but I’m keeping you anyway,”
“I know it’s been a while, but don’t forget who you’ve missed, Ari. Do I need to remind you of the way I like to fuck? Who exactly owns this cunt?” My eyes circle when I feel his lips on mine again, moving ferociously, and then he pulls my hair tight, and I gasp against his lips. “Let me see you cry for me, baby.”
“My little angel cries so pretty.”
“My handprints will be carved into your body by the time I’m done with you,”
“It hurts.” “Good. You’ve always been able to take it. I’m not going to stop until I’ve claimed what’s mine.”
“God can’t hear you, little angel. My name is the only one you will ever cry out for.”
Who the fuck just splattered his brains all over me? Creature steps into my view. His gray eyes squint at me with pity and I can tell he holds a bored expression underneath his mask. “He talked too much.” He shrugs with his pistol, which has a silencer on it. He tucks it back into his belt as we look down at the hitman. “Now the messenger is the message—how poetic.” Creature tells me, followed by a roar of laughter.
I lie on a bed on base after getting checked out by our medic assigned to the team. Creature apparently was watching me. He noticed I was being tailed outside headquarters as we both left. So instead of him going straight home, he followed and let me get hit by the fucking car. He said it was because he wanted to make sure it was a hitman. And that he thought it was funny to see me get scared. Asshole.
“Ah, so this is my son’s girlfriend. The one who has made a severe impact on his life.” His tone is welcoming, yet something behind his grin says otherwise. “You’re Danny’s dad?”
“Your son is more than just a special operator, Mr. Rider. He’s giving. He’s strong. He loves to paint, build things, and help others. He’s the strongest man I’ve ever known. He’s intelligent, and he knows how to take care of me. He would’ve made an amazing father.”
“I suggest you stop talking to her before you lose the ability to do so.” My eyes pop open when I realize who it is. “Tread your next words carefully when you speak to the mother of my child.” Danny’s tone deepens harshly behind me. I turn around, pivoting my feet in the middle of the hostile relationship between the two.
“She doesn’t need anything from you. You’ve never cared about my personal life, and she is my life now.”
“You’ve missed this? Choking on me, didn’t you?” “Yes,” she rasps.
“No one has made me feel so out of control, like you. What you do to me is brutal,”
“You bleed so fucking sweet.”
If I thought Danny was cold-hearted…his father won by a landslide. I never want to be around that man again. Danny intervened just in time. Who knows how badly that could have escalated?
“But it’s okay, Ari, don’t worry. We will stop these guys before they can lay a finger on you or us. They won’t even get a chance to get within walking distance of you. We won’t allow it.”
“People are after Grim. The same people that killed your brother.”
“Grim has a fucking bounty on his head. We’re all at risk. They won’t stop at anything to have us dead, the whole team, specifically Grim. They’ll even hurt you if it means they can capture him. If it means they can hit him where he’ll hurt the most, and that’s you, Ari.”
Fully aware he might not come back home to me. When Kane almost kissed me, promising me things like a family and about the possibility of leaving the military, it did something to me. It made me realize that I want those things. I want all of those things and more. But not with Kane. I want it all with Danny Rider.
That’s when I catch Danny on my porch, sitting with his head hanging down on a bench he built for us. He carries a bouquet of flowers in his hands, dressed in all black. Tulips. Pink tulips dangle from his big hands. As I drive to park next to his truck, I swallow the rock in my throat. His betrayal weighs heavily on my spirit, and I don’t know what will pour out of my mouth when I walk out of this car.
“I didn’t tell you to protect you. You don’t need to worry about the bullshit that my job holds. Nothing has happened so far. My team and I are taking care of it, and if that means you can focus on rebuilding yourself without having to worry about things you shouldn’t, then I’ll be the fucking bad guy in your story.”
“I won’t let you leave me, Ari. Grant me mercy by putting a bullet in my head, then. Because I’d rather die than live in a world where someone else has your soul and not me.”
“You’re really blaming me for everything? Don’t you dare act like I’m not a man at the end of the day. I’ve been grieving, too, but I handle my shit differently, Ari. I do my best to save who I can when I’m out there with my team. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You have no idea what it’s like to watch a body get burned alive.” Each word hits me like a bolt powered by resentment.
“Fucking tell me! I saw the way your eyes turned black. I dream of your tattoo every night. That’s what I dream of. A freaking Grim Reaper haunts me every night since the day I almost died. So tell me, what the fuck are you?”
“You saved me, Ari, don’t you get it?” He grabs my hand gently, holding it with his calloused hand. “I call you my little angel for a reason.”
“Kane might leave the military for you, but... I would die for you,”
Danny hand-drew the picture, bringing back the memory of my favorite photo in pencil. It’s incredibly detailed.
“You’re right, Kane. I did always know you cared about her. What I didn’t know was how eager you are to die.”
“Don’t talk about my girl like you know her.”
He grabs me like a doll and picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder before I can get away from them. His hands immediately protect my dress from going all the way up, and he pins me with his forearm, cupping my ass.
“If I were Grim, I would have pulled out your teeth one by one so you could never bite again,” he tells me, his devilish grin on display,
He’s grim like the Reaper. The dark side of him creeps back in. He’s always been able to keep me in a chokehold with his unpredictable needs.
“Ari Natalia. You will always be mine.”
“I’m going to punish you for thinking you could ever leave me. You drive me so fucking insane. Do you know what these past few days have been like? They’ve been worse than hell, baby.”
“For having so much faith, you sure do love to sin.”
“I see your mouth is still as filthy as ever...” He grips my jaw, forcing my mouth to gape open. “Open wide, baby, because I’m about to cleanse it for you.”
“Take your punishment, or I’ll force it down your throat.”
“Hate me because the love I have for you is enough to withstand all the pain we’ve endured together and the pain that we’ll continue to go through.”
“Death can be killed, after all.”
“Say hello to Death for us!” he snarls. “Tell him yourself,” a voice echoes through the barn.
Grim is stable. Motherfucker is immortal, and I’m starting to question how the fuck he got on God’s good side to escape death so many times. The man is anything but religious or holy.
Danny is gone, and the Reaper takes over. He flips the hospital bed to the side, and it crashes loudly to the floor as the realization of Ari’s absence settles in.
“You were never lost...” he breathes. “I told you, there’s nowhere you could go where I couldn’t find you.”
