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“Aiden,” I say hesitantly. He looks at me, happiness glowing in his eyes. I tuck my chin in sadness. My eyes well up with involuntary tears. He stops what he is doing, washes his hands and dries them. He walks over to where I am butchering the onions and gently grabs the knife from my hand, placing it on the counter. He turns me around and places his hands on either side of me on the counter, placing a finger under my chin and lifting my head up.
He leans down and looks into my eyes, his face lined with worry. “What’s wrong, baby?”
I pull my bottom lip between my teeth. “I finished your case,” I say, looking away as I say the next part, “So, our contract is done. I’ll be leaving tomorrow for Heaven.”
Aiden turns my head until our eyes meet again. His eyes are filled with so much love and patience.
He taps my nose as if I’m being silly. “Do you think Heaven can keep us apart?”
I tilt my head in thought, then nod. “Actually, I do.”
He chuckles. “I can’t come with you because reapers are required to do fifty years, but I’ll visit. I’m not sure it is allowed, but I’ll switch to the Heaven department if I have to.”
I blink in surprise. “You’ll switch departments? But you love working with the Collection department.” He finds such fulfillment in the job he does, and his relationship with Taevian.
“Not as much as I love you.”
I gently shove his shoulder. “Aww, who knew you were such a romantic?”
“Nah. I just like doing you. Can’t do that if I can’t get to Heaven. There’s magic in your pus—"
I cover his mouth and give him a look of exasperation. “I miss when you barely talked.”
He chuckles and removes my hand from his mouth. He gives my hand a quick kiss, then leans into me and gives me a peck on the lips.
“I love you,” he says.
I lean away from him and bite my lip in worry. “Is now the time to tell you that I just want to be friends?”
He narrows his eyes and gently slaps my ass. I let out a laugh. “I love you too.”
“I’ll never get tired of hearing that,” Aiden replies. He hugs me close, nestling his face in my neck. I close my eyes and smile.
When I open my eyes, I notice a reaper in regular clothes. Now, how the hell did he get into my apartment? I look at his hand to see him holding what looks to be a gun pointed at—
I shove Aiden out the way as the reaper pulls the trigger. I feel a sharp pain in my chest, and I look down. There’s a red dart sticking out. Aiden looks at the dart with wide eyes. His face twists in anger as he turns toward the reaper. As he moves, five more appear. I try to move, but my body does not listen to me.
The dart must have been laced with something. Darkness creeps in from the corner of my eyes. Before I can even think of saying something, I collapse.
25
WILL WE EVER KNOW PEACE?
I try to open my eyes, but I’m finding it hard to do so. When I finally pry my eyes open, I realize I am not familiar with my surroundings. I’m in a hotel room, not my apartment. Slowly I sit up, letting the cover fall down my chest. I’m naked, and by myself. What the hell happened? I remember being in the kitchen and arguing with Aiden. He confessed to me, then we had amazing sex. We started cooking, but then when I looked up, I saw—
Shit!
Where the hell is Aiden? I scramble off the bed and grab the robe on the chair beside the bed. I quickly tie it and am about to search for my phone, when the door opens. Aiden strolls in.
I exhale a deep breath. “Oh, thank God. You’re okay. What happened? Where are we?”
I take a closer look at him, and notice he’s covered in bruises and cuts. I gasp and run towards him, lifting his shirt and looking closely at his injuries. “Are you okay? Why are you hurt?”
He looks like he got into a brutal fight and barely won. Some of the cuts look slightly healed, which means he was probably in way worse shape.
“Baby, lay back in bed. I have some food for you.” He gently pushes me towards the bed with one hand, holding a large bag of food in the other. I sit in bed and pat the area next to me as a gesture for him to sit beside me, which he does.
He leans in for a kiss as I lean away, putting my hand over my mouth. I have not brushed my teeth and would hate to kill him this early in the relationship.
