brother’s room is icky, even for me.
I feel myself start to drift off. Sid had woken me way too early to tell me about Hell freezing over and it’s been a trying few hours since then.
“Annabelle,” Sid says, slipping his hand into mine.
I smile up at him. “Sid, where are you? Why aren’t you with me?”
He looks away. “I feel safer where I am,” he mutters after a long pause.
“From me?” I ask lightly.
He shrugs.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Sid. I want you with me.”
“Why?” he asks shyly. “Why me?”
“Hey,” I say, reaching up to turn his face towards mine. I get up on my tiptoes to kiss his lips. “I want you.”
He sighs. “It’s been a long time since someone said that to me. She hurt me.”
I swallow. The opportunity is there, and I have to seize it or regret it. “Leviathan?” I ask gently.
He nods, keeping his eyes averted.
“What happened?”
“We were close once, but I grew to dislike her. We were quite different. I ended things with her. She grew angry and burned me with Hellfire.” He shrugs.
“Oh, Sid,” I murmur, stroking his scarred face. “I would never do that. I hope that you know that.”
“Trust is…hard for me,” he says. “I like to be safe. I was safe in prison. No one to hurt me.”
“You feel it will be too much to come out of Razor and reclaim your life. I understand, Sid, but I want to be with you. I can’t do this in my head all the time. It’s not the same.”
“I can’t,” he whispers. “Not with all of them.”
“Them?” I ask with a frown.
“They are better than me. Even the Hellhound. He is scarred but he isn’t like me.”
“Oh, Sid. Don’t ever think that you aren’t good enough. I want to love you, but you have to give me a chance.” I wrap my arms around him.
It takes a moment, but he returns my embrace tightly.
“Come to me,” I murmur.
He nods and then vanishes. I stumble as I find myself hugging air instead of him.
“Annabelle.”
I wake up and blink.
“Hi,” I say with a smile.
“Hi,” Sid says. He is lying next to me on the bed.
“Are you sticking around?” I ask, turning my body to face him.
“I’ll try,” he says, resigned. “For you. I will do anything for you.”
“Good,” I say with a beam and then lean forward to press my lips to his.
He jerks his head back, giving me a look of horror.
“What?” I ask, propping myself up on my elbow. “You don’t want to kiss me?” I add quietly.
“I do, but…”
“Sid,” I say sternly. “Stop this right now.” I figure there is only one way to push past this. I grab his shirt and drag him towards me. I climb on top of him, pressing him into the bed. I give him a slow smile and then I lean down to kiss him again. I flick my tongue against his lips until he eventually opens up.
It’s a perfect kiss.
Sweet, soft and sensual.
There is also absolutely no expectation that it will go further. He isn’t ready for that. Even though I want to show him that I don’t care about how he looks, that what I feel for him is real, he will bolt, and I will probably never see him again.
I sigh softly as our tongues twist around each other. I cup his face as I deepen it slightly, pressing my body against his.
Then, I pull away and climb off him, to lie next to him again. I take his hand and link our fingers, resting my head on his chest.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmurs.
“So are you,” I reply. I will keep telling him until he believes it.
“Have you figured out why Hell has frozen over?” he asks after a heavy pause.
“It has to do with Shax, I know it,” I say. “Do you know where he is?”
“Sort of,” he replies carefully.
“Meaning?” I ask, just as carefully.
“He isn’t in Hell, nor the Wasteland. He isn’t on Earth, nor in Heaven.”
“Then where the fuck is he?” I ask, probably harsher than I meant to. I sit up and give him an apologetic look.
“It’s a midway place,” he says, ignoring my outburst.
“Midway between where?”
“Earth and Heaven,” he says, his pale eyes searching mine.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shriek, leaping off the bed and pacing around the room like a caged tiger. “Damn you, Shax! You fucking traitor!” I sweep my hand over everything on the dresser and it goes flying off to