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“You know what? Let’s do it.”
Chase steps back, grabbing my hands and pulling me from the chair. “Let’s go, angel. I can’t wait to hear about the stories of you and your brother in the treehouse.”
“I fully intend to make some new ones with you.”
He presses his lips to mine. “Absolutely, angel. Time for new memories.”
I’m sitting cross-legged in the treehouse, Chase directly across from me. My limbs tremble as the noises around me make me jumpy. Every bark of a dog, every slam of a car door, and every laugh from the neighbors across the street twists my insides into knots.
Even though I know he’s dead, I keep waiting for Orpheus to appear, grabbing Chase and me and dragging us back to hell.
“Kenz.” Chase’s voice is a gentle whisper of the wind, wrapping around my trembling body and holding me tightly. “He’snot here. He can’t hurt you. I made sure of it.”
My heart melts as I stare into those conflicted whiskey irises.
He killed the devil.
For me.
Forus.
Now, he has to live with it. No matter how justified it was.
I reach over, entwining my fingers with his. “Thank you.”
He nods. “I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. And again. To save you.”
To save me.
Something else in his haunted eyes. It’s his own trauma, the violation he endured, though he doesn’t say it. But it’s there, lurking in the shadows of his face, sliding into the depths of his eyes like a veil, reminding me of what he endured before he grabbed that knife and plunged it into Orpheus’s body.
He was raped.
Even though Rosario slid the knife across Orpheus’s throat, it was Chase who ensured Orpheus had no life left in his body. It was overkill as I watched him howl and sob, repeatedly stabbing the knife into the beast. I know part of his bloodthirst was the vengeance he desired on my behalf. The honor he was trying to restore because my virtue had been savagely taken away without my consent.
But it was also for the humiliation and agony he endured. The grievous bodily harm done to him.
It was Chase who lit the house on fire, burning every terrible memory and turning it into piles of ashes. For me and for himself. Although he’d never admit it was for him.
“I’d do the same for you.” I wiggle closer to him, my knees touching him. I shiver as the temperature drops, the November days growing shorter. “I hope you know that what happened to you… It doesn’t change the way I look at you, and it sure as hell doesn’t change the way I feel for you. Just like what happened to me didn’t change the way you view me.”
My fingers trace over the stubble on his face, realizing that somewhere along the way, Chase lost his boyish features. He’s all man as he sits across from me in the treehouse, the trauma destroying his innocence and replacing it with a maturity beyond his eighteen years. “You’re damaged but not broken.”
Our gaze locks and holds before he cups my face. I lean into his touch, inhaling his scent deeply inside my lungs. “Nothing could ever change the way I see you, Kenz. Every time you smile, I see that big, pure heart of gold that beats inside. Every time I look into your eyes, I see the purest of all souls. The rarest of all creatures on this planet. An angel in human form.”
My emotions rise, his words meaning so much more than I could ever express. “You’re amazing, Chase Landon. The best person I’ve ever met in my entire life.”
He grins, tugging me so I’m straddling his lap. “So are you, Mackenzie Collins. But the best thing about you is that you’remine.”
“And you’remine.”
He rocks me in his arms, and my world centers on its axis again. All my anxiety has dissipated as I sit with him in the treehouse, enjoying the sounds of nature and humans as they go about their lives.
“What’s this?” His voice pulls me from my thoughts. Glancing down, I smile at the dusty boom box with a CD player.
“Gavin and I found it when we helped Mom and Dad clean out the attic. We brought it out here, along with a bunch of CDs that they used to listen to. I wonder if it still plays?” I press the power button, surprised when the little light glows. Then I press the play button, wondering what CD is inside the player.
As the opening notes play, a smile spreads over my face. “Oh my gosh. It’s ‘Eternal Flame’ by the Bangles. I love this song.”
