Keira
I’m no longer in the Pit, and yet I still feel it. Horrific images plague my thoughts. I may as well still be there in the darkness. And there’s pain. So much pain. The sounds of suffering scrape at my ears.
I rock back and forth on Noah’s floor, hugging my knees to my chest, trying to erase it, or at least shove it down inside with the other retched memories I’ve tried to forget.
Noah touches me, his hair mussed and his brow creased with worry. I snatch my arm away and immediately regret it. For a moment, I forgot where I was. Who I was.
“Keira?” he asks, carefully.
I stop rocking and press my eyes closed.
“Talk to me, babe. Tell me what happened.” He scoots closer; I can feel it even though he refrains from touching me again.
I shake my head. I don’t want him to know. Not now, not ever.
“I know he hurt you. I will never forgive him for that. I promise you, I will make him pay.”
I whimper at his words. They’re poison. You can’t best the Devil. Oh, Noah. You’re heading for disaster, and I can’t save you. No one can. Not even Grace.
“Lucifer’s not listening, I can tell. Relax. At least let me hold you.”
I nod and let Noah pull me onto his lap and close his strong arms around me. I lay my head against his shoulder and inhale his scent, feel his unshaven face scratch against my head. The shaking stops. This is warm. This is safe. It may be an illusion, but it’s an illusion I can believe in for a minute. And it’s the exact opposite of the place I was.
This is Heaven. It must be.
But then how could Grace have ever left?
“Noah,” I whisper against the skin of his neck. “Please don’t fight him.”
Noah holds me tighter but turns to look into my eyes. “I won’t let this stand. I can’t. Keira, before I met you I had nothing to fight for. Nothing to live for. Just a big chip on my shoulder because I felt cheated. But now?” He smiles, and my heart both swells and sinks as he tilts my chin up. His mouth is a breath away.
“Now?” I ask.
“Now I see the truth. I don’t think you see it, though. You’ve been through too much. Grace doesn’t, either. In fact, I don’t think Lucifer even sees it.”
I’d ask what truth he’s talking about, but it doesn’t matter because no one can beat Lucifer at his own game. Especially not a mortal. “You’re…human.” I carefully omit the word ‘just’ from the sentence.
Noah’s eyes are sharp and his smile, breathtaking. He’s beautiful. He should be an Angel.
“Yeah. I am. And I think that’s exactly why I’m needed.”
I want to beat my fists into his chest until he sees how ludicrous that is. But his lips find mine, and instead I put all the passion and frustration into the kiss. I climb over him, knocking him onto the ground, kissing him back, both of us fierce and determined to make it count.
I’m wild, even for me. But he meets my enthusiasm with equal fervor as we devour each other. His skin is hot, almost feverish, and I soak in it, trying to erase the obscene cold of the Pit.
I touch and kiss every inch of him, memorizing every curve and muscle. Every beautiful and tender human bit. We roll over and over again, tangled and twisted, lit only by the moonlight shining through the slats in his blinds. I land on top of him and reach up to hang on to the throne behind his head, accidentally tearing through the leather in the heat of my passion.
Lucifer won’t like that, I think as I settle back into Noah’s arms, satisfied. Maybe I’m destined to suffer in the depths of Hell, but at least I also get to touch Heaven.