Beneath (Heven and Hell #3.5) by Cambria Hebert Page A

together?”
     
    My eyes lifted to his. “I can’t forget, Cole.”
     
    He sighed and released me, stepping back slightly and dropping his hand. “Fine. At least tell me why you’re rejecting me.”
     
    “I’m not rejecting you.” I argued.
     
    “The reason, Gemma.” He insisted.
     
    I took a breath, ready to spill it all, hoping it would shock him into finally letting me go. I would confess to him everything, how loving me would only taint him, how it would jeopardize his status as a Supernal Being. That when he died he could be stripped of his body and possibly cast out of heaven… How his very eternal life could be ruined.
     
    Somewhere in the house, a door slammed. My head snapped up to listen.
     
     “Oh, no,” Cole said. “You’re not getting out of it that easy. I’ve been waiting for too long.”
     
    I nodded. “We can’t be together because…” Footsteps on the stairs had me looking toward his closed bedroom door.
     
    “It’s probably just my mom. She’s not going to bother us.”
     
    “When you die…” I began and Cole shifted closer to me, his eyes intent on my face.
     
    There was a loud knock on his door and I jumped away from him like I was caught trying to steal something that didn’t belong to me.
     
    Cole let out a low swear, then yelled, “What?”
     
    “I know you’re not talking to me like that!” said a disbelieving voice from the other side.
     
    “Kimber,” Cole hissed and shook his head. “I’ll be down in a minute,” he yelled impatiently.
     
    “Aww, are you changing? You know it isn’t anything I haven’t seen before.”
     
    Something hot burned through my chest and I jerked, turning away toward the window. Suddenly, the cold seemed preferable to being in here. I didn’t intend to stick around to hear every last detail of Cole’s relationship with his ex. I pushed the window up, but he caught my arm before I could toss myself out.
     
    “I said I’ll be down in a minute,” he practically growled toward the door. Then he turned back, releasing his hold on me. Before either one of us could say anything, the handle began to turn and the door slowly began to open.
     
    I was out the window so fast he didn’t have time to try and stop me. I heard him hiss my name, but by then I was already in the grass and making my way across the yard to disappear into the darkness.
     
    I turned back only once to see his dark head staring out the window while a girl with beautiful red hair came up behind him to grab his arm and slowly lead him away.
     
    * * *
     
    The bar was a dingy, dirty hole in the wall that only locals could possibly know about. It wasn’t the type of shiny contemporary place on the main street in Portland that served apple martinis alongside crystal bowls filled with roasted mixed nuts. No, this bar was three blocks from that place and the entrance was located in a narrow alleyway between two brick buildings. There was a dumpster that probably hadn’t been emptied since nineteen eighty at the end of the alley along with a vent built into the street where some kind of exhaust filtered through, giving the already filthy place the authentic quality of one of those murder TV shows.
     
    It was the perfect place for a criminal to hide.
     
    Or in this case, a breeder to hide.
     
    Before entering the bar I decided to do a little watching of the comings and goings of the place, so I melted back into the exhaust (which strangely smelled like cabbage) letting the thick fog conceal me from drunk, prying eyes. If I were being completely honest with myself, I wasn’t really back here for reconnaissance—I didn’t need to hold a stakeout. I already knew what the breeder was guilty of, just as I knew that he would likely be here tonight.
     
    And the mood I was in made it the perfect time to kick his ass.
     
    No, what I was really doing was trying to scorch from my brain the image of Cole and Kimber in the window. I should probably be happy