she’d be proud.” I smile.
He doesn’t. “You have no idea.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
H ART LEANS HIS HEAD BACK AGAINST the couch cushions. He rubs his temples like he has a headache. I have news for him; we all do.
I’m not sure what to do.
There are dead bodies in my living room, my kitchen, and who knows where else. I want to run upstairs. I want to run outside. I want to run over and hug up to Sam—who isn’t Sam.
Instead of doing any of that, my body sort of goes on autopilot. It won’t move. Truthfully, I don’t know how to make myself move. Where would I go? What would I do?
I want my mommy.
That thought snaps me out of it. It’s like a punch to the gut, and all the air is forced out of my lungs. It hurts, physically hurts, to think about my mother. I want to go home and be with her. No, we hadn’t parted on good terms the last time I’d been there, but that would be okay. Who cares about the past now? And, I suppose, she was right. Sam Asher wasn’t a good boyfriend for me.
My mother’s name is Ruby. She’s beautiful and smart. I don’t think I look much like her. Then again, I don’t think I look much like Seth, my angel father, either. She’s also very strongly opinionated and has told me how it was a time or two.
She didn’t want me to move out.
She most certainly didn’t want me to move in with Sam.
She didn’t want me to go to college at Crimson Ridge…
“Get away,” she’d said. “Do something with your life.”
I didn’t listen. I told her it was because UTCR had the best campus for my particular field of study. In reality, I had to change my initial major to go here—not that Mama knows that. Originally, I wanted to study biology or nutrition. I wasn’t sure which, but UTCR doesn’t have a program for that. So, I switched to teaching. All so I could go to college with Sam.
I’d been an idiot.
An.
Idiot.
I can’t stop loving him, though.
I want to stop loving him because he’s not really him.
I want the dead bodies out of my living room.
I want the world to go back to normal.
I want…
I want…
When had this all become about me?
Redheaded Gabriel is dead.
Lucien is in Hell.
People are dying.
It’s not all about me. None of it is about me.
Except I sort of guess it is. I’m the cornerstone, sad as it is. I can make things much, much worse.
I wonder if I can make things much, much better.
“Gracen?” Hart is staring at me like he’s afraid I’m either going to pass out or have some kind of nervous breakdown.
I have news for him… it could go either way.
“I’m fine,” I say and have to laugh. I’m fine is what I used to tell Tina when she messaged me. I’d lie and say it because I’d never truly been fine. I’d be having some sort of crisis, or I’d had a fight with Sam. Something… anything… but I wouldn’t be fine.
Funny how when the world ends, it puts things into perspective. All those things I worried about before. All those tests and anxiety I had over Sam saying something stupid or not being good enough for him—or worrying about our future. I wasted all that time. Because, truth be told, we don’t have a future.
None of us.
It’s only a matter of time before it all ends.
I can feel it inside, whispering to me. It’ll be over soon. Everything.
I know it as clearly as I know my own name. I’m Gracen. The world is ending.
Facts.
Basic. Simple facts.
My mind is swarming, and all I want is my mother. I want the mother who tucked me in when I was little and read me bedtime stories. It wasn’t like she was the most traditional mother. She’d been kind of thrown into it. Kind of nothing—she had been thrown into it. A young mother. Nineteen when I was born. In college. The University of Tennessee—Crimson Ridge. Met a man. Slept with a man. Got pregnant by a man.
Only the man wasn’t a man, was he?
He was, and still is, one of the most powerful of the Heavenly hosts.
Such is life.
“My mother used to check my
He doesn’t. “You have no idea.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
H ART LEANS HIS HEAD BACK AGAINST the couch cushions. He rubs his temples like he has a headache. I have news for him; we all do.
I’m not sure what to do.
There are dead bodies in my living room, my kitchen, and who knows where else. I want to run upstairs. I want to run outside. I want to run over and hug up to Sam—who isn’t Sam.
Instead of doing any of that, my body sort of goes on autopilot. It won’t move. Truthfully, I don’t know how to make myself move. Where would I go? What would I do?
I want my mommy.
That thought snaps me out of it. It’s like a punch to the gut, and all the air is forced out of my lungs. It hurts, physically hurts, to think about my mother. I want to go home and be with her. No, we hadn’t parted on good terms the last time I’d been there, but that would be okay. Who cares about the past now? And, I suppose, she was right. Sam Asher wasn’t a good boyfriend for me.
My mother’s name is Ruby. She’s beautiful and smart. I don’t think I look much like her. Then again, I don’t think I look much like Seth, my angel father, either. She’s also very strongly opinionated and has told me how it was a time or two.
She didn’t want me to move out.
She most certainly didn’t want me to move in with Sam.
She didn’t want me to go to college at Crimson Ridge…
“Get away,” she’d said. “Do something with your life.”
I didn’t listen. I told her it was because UTCR had the best campus for my particular field of study. In reality, I had to change my initial major to go here—not that Mama knows that. Originally, I wanted to study biology or nutrition. I wasn’t sure which, but UTCR doesn’t have a program for that. So, I switched to teaching. All so I could go to college with Sam.
I’d been an idiot.
An.
Idiot.
I can’t stop loving him, though.
I want to stop loving him because he’s not really him.
I want the dead bodies out of my living room.
I want the world to go back to normal.
I want…
I want…
When had this all become about me?
Redheaded Gabriel is dead.
Lucien is in Hell.
People are dying.
It’s not all about me. None of it is about me.
Except I sort of guess it is. I’m the cornerstone, sad as it is. I can make things much, much worse.
I wonder if I can make things much, much better.
“Gracen?” Hart is staring at me like he’s afraid I’m either going to pass out or have some kind of nervous breakdown.
I have news for him… it could go either way.
“I’m fine,” I say and have to laugh. I’m fine is what I used to tell Tina when she messaged me. I’d lie and say it because I’d never truly been fine. I’d be having some sort of crisis, or I’d had a fight with Sam. Something… anything… but I wouldn’t be fine.
Funny how when the world ends, it puts things into perspective. All those things I worried about before. All those tests and anxiety I had over Sam saying something stupid or not being good enough for him—or worrying about our future. I wasted all that time. Because, truth be told, we don’t have a future.
None of us.
It’s only a matter of time before it all ends.
I can feel it inside, whispering to me. It’ll be over soon. Everything.
I know it as clearly as I know my own name. I’m Gracen. The world is ending.
Facts.
Basic. Simple facts.
My mind is swarming, and all I want is my mother. I want the mother who tucked me in when I was little and read me bedtime stories. It wasn’t like she was the most traditional mother. She’d been kind of thrown into it. Kind of nothing—she had been thrown into it. A young mother. Nineteen when I was born. In college. The University of Tennessee—Crimson Ridge. Met a man. Slept with a man. Got pregnant by a man.
Only the man wasn’t a man, was he?
He was, and still is, one of the most powerful of the Heavenly hosts.
Such is life.
“My mother used to check my
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