The Mercenary and the Mortician (The Silent Hollow, #1)

by Alexandra St. Pierre

“Look at us! Pimping out our siblings for personal gain. We’re so charming.”

“Rule number one: No one touches you but me. You are mine, Ryan. If you ever touch anyone again, I will fucking kill them, and then I’ll make sure you don’t sit right for a week. Is that clear?”

“Rule number two: You’re never speaking to that Joanna bitch again. If I find out you have contacted her, I will kill her and make you watch.”

“I’m not going to force you to officially come out, but when we’re in private, I’m allowed to touch you whenever I want. You will let me kiss you the way I want, fuck you the way I want, and suck you the way I want. When we’re behind closed doors, I’m in fucking charge from now on. You belong to me.”

In the words of the infamous Ariana Grande — I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it. I saw Ryan. I liked Ryan. I wanted Ryan. I got Ryan. If someone tried to take Ryan from me, I would just delete them. Murder ‘em. Wipe ‘em off the face of the fucking planet. Simple.

You try so hard to protect and help everyone around you, but who’s protecting you?”

“Ryan?” “Yeah?” “Thank you for saving me.” My eyes burned, and I did my best not to choke on my unshed tears. “Of course, angel. I’ll always be here to save you.”

“As long as I have you, I don’t need anything else.”

“I don’t want to share you with anyone else, Callum. If you need to hurt someone, I want it to be me,”

“If you ever get lost in the dark, I’ll make sure you find your way back, angel,”

“Fuck being normal, Ryan. Normal is boring. I love that you see dead people. I think it’s bad fucking ass that you live in a funeral home. On top of that, I think it’s hot that you’re a freckly red-headed man who likes gardening. Everything about you is attractive to me. You’re my lil’ spooky ginger boy, and I love the shit out of you.”

‘Just wait. I don’t think Gnomes is going to want many people to see her like this.’ Gavin said, his gaze sad.

‘Trust me. That man was dead the second he touched Naomi.’

That’s never going to happen, sweet girl. No one’s selling you. No one’s taking you from me. He’s dead. I’ll kill them all, beautiful. No one will ever fucking touch you again. You’re safe now.

“Angel, you’ve gotta stop ordering so much shit, you don’t make murder money any⁠—” The words died in my mouth as I entered the foyer. There were lilies… everywhere.

“Because your father is no longer with us, I couldn’t ask him for his blessing,” Cal said, opening the box to show me a simple gold band.

“Ryan, there are a lot of things I regret doing in my life… Before I met you, I was lost.” His chocolate eyes were swimming with tears as he looked up at me. His pained expression cut me to my core, and it took everything in me not to launch myself into his arms so I could try to kiss his pain away. “There’s one thing I’ll never regret, though, and that’s forcing my way into your life. Ryan, you make me a better man. You’ve shown me that there’s good in this world and that I have a place here that doesn’t revolve around violence. “I spent most of my life believing that I was a devil. Some sort of evil demon cursed to bring nothing but pain to this world… And maybe I am, in some ways.” He chuckled at the frantic way I began shaking my head at his words. Making a gentle ‘shhh’ sound, he stopped me from interrupting him. “But you taught me that even the devil is just an angel that fell to the ground.” Tears were streaming down both his cheeks as he fought to get his words out. “You picked me back up and reminded me how to fly, baby.” He was staring up at me with his heart on his sleeve and stars in his eyes, and I could barely see him through all the tears in mine. “I escaped that basement when I was ten years old, but I never knew the sun could shine so bright until I met you,” he whispered.

“I regret a lot of things, Ryan, but the thing I regret the most is how long it took me to get to you.” He took my hand and squeezed. “You’ve been waiting for your dark angel, and now that I’m finally here, I never want to leave your side again. I can’t imagine living another day of my life without you, baby. So Ryan Fairview… will you marry me?’