Night In A Waste Land (Hell Theory #2) - Lauren Gilley Page 0,52

were very long, she noticed for the first time. She’d told him he looked like he beat people up for a living, but he really was beautiful, a carved Apollo come down off his marble pedestal.

She touched his face, felt the tension in his jaw. “Lance.”

A hard shudder moved through him at the sound of his name. His eyes opened, arousal and pain warring in their depths. “You don’t want me.”

“I do.”

“Right now, maybe. But you’ll regret it, after.”

“No, I won’t.” She felt her brows drawing together, knew she was frowning, and saw a fleeting smile touch his mouth.

“I’m not him, Rose. I know you want him.”

“If you’re saying you think I’m pretending right now, you’re wrong.” She traced the hard line of his cheekbone with her thumb. “There’s no mistaking you for him, not in any way.”

He blinked at her.

“I love Beck more than anything” – she swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and pressed on – “but that doesn’t mean I don’t want you, or that I wish you were him. Give me the credit that I can make my own choices.”

He sat back on his heels, though, shaking his head. “I want you to be sure.”

“I am,” she insisted.

Someone knocked on the door.

They regarded one another a long moment. There was no going back from this, she knew, and she didn’t want them to anyway. She’d been celibate for a long time, but now that she’d had a taste, she wanted more. And he was wrong: she did want him. Not sex in general. God knew Gavin would have a go at anyone offering; there were places she could go, particular houses where the right password and some cash would buy you a whole night with whatever you fancied.

But she wanted Lance.

“I want you to be sure,” he repeated, adjusted his pants, and got to his feet.

Rose sighed and sat up.

The door opened, and Gallo poked his head in. “We got word from the helo. ETA’s five minutes.”

~*~

Leaving felt wrong, with the town in an uproar, and Mayor Bixby most likely in danger. But handling the fallout wasn’t the sort of thing Rift Walkers were deployed to handle. Resource officers and foot soldiers would be sent in, Lance assured her – and all of them. As their helo lifted off, she saw the headlights of troop transport vehicles below, heading into town, and she felt a little less shitty about killing a whole town’s god and then abandoning them all.

She didn’t regret the killing itself, though.

Raphael. She turned the name over in her mind while she showered back at base. An archangel, she knew, like Gabriel. Though he’d gone about gaining power in a more subtle way.

She pictured herself in Beck’s library, the lovely-smelled stacks of old, paper books heaped around her. Remembered turning pages, and studying reprints of oil paintings. Raphael – the angel of healing. As John the conduit, he had healed. He’d also brainwashed, and ruled.

She sighed and finally shut off the water when it began to cool.

When she was dry and dressed, she left the dressing cubicle and went out into the locker room to put her soap and shampoo away.

Gallo was sitting on a bench in front of their section of lockers, pulling on socks, shirtless, the light playing down the gleaming black metal of his new arm. He was humming under his breath, smiling to himself, and she didn’t think the faint pink stain on his cheeks was solely from the heat of the shower.

“What song is that?” she asked.

“Something old. My sister used to sing it.” He continued, a few low bars; even without knowing it, Rose thought it sounded soft and romantic.

She stowed her things and turned to lean back against the locker fronts, facing him. “A love song?” she teased.

He grinned, and his blush deepened. “Maybe.” He sat back and braced his hands on the bench, meeting her gaze unselfconsciously. Blush or no, he wasn’t embarrassed; he’d always been sweeter and more honest than any of them deserved.

Rose smiled. “You look happy.”

“I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life.” He breathed a disbelieving laugh, and reached to scrub his new hand through his damp hair. “That sounds dumb, doesn’t it? With this.” He lifted his hand and regarded it. “And with everything that’s going on.”

“The world’s been shit my whole life,” she said. “You’ve got to find happiness where you can.”

“Guess so.”

“Is he good to you?” she asked, going serious. “I’m so glad you’re happy,