Beautiful Nightmare

by Katee Robert

Imperfect in every way, and yet someone to be valued, to be desired, to be liked.

I kiss his chest, his shoulder, his jaw. I want to stay like this forever. What would happen if we never left this room?

It’s too late. I’m already across the room and standing in front of the closet. I can’t stop myself from looking over my shoulder, from memorizing exactly how he looks right now, rumpled from spending so much time chasing pleasure with me. Gods, my heart aches. “Goodbye, Caleb.”

There’s peace in finally facing the truth you’ve been avoiding for your entire life. Peace and no small amount of mourning. Caleb isn’t the first who’s seen me truly; I wouldn’t have been so isolated if I could hide better. But Caleb saw me and embraced my truth, rather than shunning me for it. I smile up at Ralph even as my ribs feel like they’re cracking into a thousand pieces. “I can’t do it, Ralph. Even if I wanted to give him up, I hate scaring people. I hate lying. I hate manipulating.”

“Demons never explain things before they toss you lot through the portals. We give a full briefing before we send our misfits over.” They shift, drawing my attention to the clipboard in their hand. “Gemma, is it?” They glance at the board. “You fed off unsanctioned emotions from the human you were assigned.”

Angelic society is run damn near identically. The only exception is that they focus on deep relationships with humans. I suppose it makes sense now why guardian angels are focused on comfort instead of doing literally any guarding.