End of Eden (Se7en Sinners Book 2)

  I gasp into his mouth, my body responding to his familiar hands. I know this part. When he touches me like this—like I am made of jagged, broken glass—I feel both delicate yet dangerous, like he’s afraid I may shatter inside his palm before slicing deep into his skin.

  When I tremble under his touch, he pulls away. “Are you sure?” he questions, silver eyes glinting in the darkness.

  I want to tell him that I’m not sure about anything anymore, that I lied—I’m not fine. I didn’t escape Hell unscathed. The scars on my psyche are so deep and grotesque that I may never be the Eden he once held firm to his chest while I thrashed and cried in my sleep. But instead, I take the coward’s way out and reply with a simple “Yes” before pushing him onto his back and straddling his thighs. We’ve been here before—me trying to bury my nightmares in his warmth, and him needing to bury himself in my body.

  His large hands palm my breasts through my t-shirt, my nipples straining against the fabric. “Take it off,” I urge in a harsh whisper.

  He doesn’t waste a single second, shredding the tee into scraps and pulling me down to take me into his mouth. The very first brush of his tongue makes me gasp, that soft, firm wetness igniting tingles in my spine. I grind against the pronounced hardness throbbing beneath me. I can feel the dampness soaking through my panties, causing yet another layer of friction. Shit, I might come from this alone. They said it’s only been hours since I’ve been gone, but honestly, I feel like I haven’t been touched in months.

  I’m floating—drifting on purple clouds of lust—when suddenly, Legion lifts me up by my hips only to deposit me on his face, my sex perfectly aligned with his mouth. I grab onto the headboard to keep my balance as he spreads me even wider, slides my panties to the side, and pushes his tongue inside me.

  Long, lazy, maddening strokes across my dripping wet folds have me throwing my head back and shouting his praises to the heavens. His hands are on my ass, his fingertips teasing my seam. Every time he delves his tongue inside me, he applies a bit of pressure from behind, just enough to make me quiver uncontrollably as I lay waste to all inhibitions and release into his mouth. He drinks me up, over and over, as if he has been in a state of perpetual famine up until this very moment. His lips vibrate against my hypersensitive flesh with every groan of approval, taking this pleasure to heights I never imagined.

  After orgasms have ripped through my body more times than I can count, L gently lifts me from his face and lays me onto my side. I feel him behind me, ripping off his own clothing before he lifts my leg and hoists it up over his forearm, exposing my still soaked sex. Hot, erratic breaths stir the mussed hair at my nape as his palm slides over my stomach, delving down to tease my clit in slow delicious circles.

  “I thought I lost you,” he groans. His cock pulses against my ass with its own wild heartbeat. He could flex his hips and easily be inside me.

  “But you found me,” I reply through a series of muffled moans. Right now, with him hot and ready against me, there’s no way I could tell him the truth.

  “And I’m not letting you go,” he rasps. “I’m never letting go, firecracker.” He dips a finger inside me, pushing in until his fingertip coaxes that spot that makes me shiver from head to toe. Wet walls contract around his long, thick digit and suck greedily, while his palm presses against my mound, still tingling from his tongue. He applies just enough pressure to make my back arch, and I push against his hardness, craving the promise of punishment.

  “More,” I gasp, feeling that tight knot in my gut ache in the worst way. I need him—all of him. I don’t care about sounding desperate or needy. My soul may have been forsaken but my body is irrevocably his.

  He spreads me even wider, preparing me for his size. And in one maddeningly slow thrust that makes us both groan, he’s inside me, deep and throbbing and alive. He’s still for a long beat then slides out to the tip before slamming back into me. His hand is still on my clit, painting circles with the remnants of my release. I squeeze my eyes closed and just focus on the feeling of being completely full of him. His body is all I want to feel for the rest of my days.

  “Tell me he can make you feel like this,” he grunts between strokes, his lips on my ear. “Tell me he can fuck you like I can.”

  The vulgarity in his words only excites me more, and I push back against him, meeting his assault with one of my own. Shit, he’s so deep…so deep it hurts. But I love it. I want to feel that monster within—the one he’s fought to deny since his exit from Hell. I want that fury and fire in their most intoxicating form. Give me your lies. Give me your brutality. I want Legion to destroy me, one powerful thrust at a time.

  But even through the haze of lust currently clouding my already debatable judgment, I don’t miss the meaning in those filthy words.

  Him.

  Who does he think…why does he think there’s a him?

  “Because there is,” a voice as smooth as velvet says just inches away. My eyes pop open and I stiffen.

  “You ok?” Legion worries behind me, turning my head so he can assess my face. “Too hard?”

  Too hard? How can he not see? Why isn’t he burning this entire building to the ground?

  “Because he can’t see me. Only you can,” Lucifer grins. He folds his hands behind his head and crosses his legs at the ankles. Even in the dim lighting, I can see he is impeccably dressed, as always. As if he just strolled off a runway and into this bedroom.

  I look at Legion and back to the spot where Lucifer lay. “Yeah, um. Fine. Just don’t stop.”

  L resumes with a touch less intensity as if he’s afraid of hurting me, so I make sure to respond to every thrust with enthusiasm. Maybe the fog of ecstasy will cast him away. Anything to expel this specter from my thoughts.

  “You’re a terrible actress,” Lucifer says, shaking his head. “Do you think he’ll really believe you? Wait. Strike that. Of course, he will. Anything to keep him blinded by denial. He’d rather believe you’re really here with him than face the fact that part of you isn’t. That the Eden he fought so hard to obtain is no longer his.”

  I am here. I’m here with him. I’m not going anywhere.

  I reach back and grab a handful of Legion’s hair and draw him closer. He responds by trailing kisses from my ear to my shoulder.

  “You can tell yourself whatever you need to help you sleep at night. But when he asked you if I could make you feel like that…if I could fuck you like that.” He rolls his eyes, those glittering irises birthed by dusk sparkling with mockery. “You lied, Eden. You lied to him. Just like you’re lying to yourself.”

  I’m not. I’m not lying. I know what I am.

  “Really? So you’re being completely honest about what transpired between us?” He rolls onto his side to face me, so close that I can feel the lapels of his jacket brush against my pebbled nipples. “And those questions you asked Phenex? Just curious, right?”

  Before I can even think of a response, I swear, I feel fingers rake against my bare belly. Lucifer smirks, and narrows his gaze. “Are you being honest about this?”

  As if his phantom touch conjures every one of my nerve endings to combust with pleasure, orgasm rips through me unexpectedly, and I cry out. Head tipped back, eyes closed, sweat sliding down my chest, I release every ounce of frustration and confusion and pain. Legion holds me tight to his body and slows to shallow thrusts, letting me ride out the waves of frenzy. It goes on for what seems like forever, and every time I think it’s over, another flood rushes through me. I just want it to stop, but it feels too good. Him inside me, holding me, telling me how beautiful I am within these moments of boundless surrender. I want it to last. I don’t want to forget. I have to hold on for a little while longer.

  When I catch my breath and open my eyes, Lucifer is gone. But deep down, I know he isn’t going anywhere. He’s just getting started.

  I must wait for hours for Legion to fall asleep. He insisted on being inside me until we both passed out from exhaustion, and he d
id a damn good job of trying. The sun was peeking from behind angry, gray clouds when he finally insisted we sleep, but I knew there was no way I could shut my eyes. Not with the risk of who would appear to me in my dreams. Not when I knew what lay ahead.

  As I stealthily wash and dress myself, I try to wrap my head around what transpired the night before. Seeing Lucifer…that couldn’t have been real. But I felt his hands on me, his skilled, elegant fingers raking across my naked belly from hipbone to hipbone. I heard his voice just as clearly as I heard Legion groaning in my ear. But…how? He promised he would release me, and all other humans, from the Calling if I went with him. He gave me his word. How the hell does he still have a hold on me?

  Even with my heart in my throat, I allow myself a few quiet moments to gaze at Legion, in all his blinding beauty. God, he’s everything I’ve ever wanted, and everything I didn’t realize I needed. And even with all the distrust and danger that comes with him, I am undeniably infatuated with him. I think even my broken, human heart knew that from the first time I saw him in my store in the middle of the night, buying iced tea and mints. I was always meant to fall victim to his starlit eyes and rare, dazzling smiles. Even when I hated him, a part of me was always reaching out, begging for him to notice me…to want me.

  That seems like so long ago.

  Now, as I look down at his peaceful, sleeping frame, I can physically feel myself being torn in two. And neither one of us deserves it. We can’t go on like this. I can’t keep telling myself that the guilt and shame will just go away. Now that I know the truth, I can’t look at him and not wonder if it’s Adriel he sees, if it’s Adriel he’s making love to, if it’s Adriel he risked his life to pull out of Hell.

  I’ve been so stupid for so long. Even with the uncertainty churning in my gut, I still opened myself to him. I still spread my legs and let him take me—over and over and over—without protection. Why wasn’t he worried? When he knew…he knew what could happen. I may have been beyond reckless in my quest to lose myself in him, but what was his excuse? His motivation?

  “Nephilim and Cambion are highly coveted.”

  Shit.

  What if…what if Lucifer isn’t the only one with a horse in this race?

  I was so desperate to disprove him—so eager to show that Legion’s intentions with me were sincere—that I hadn’t even considered it. But what would he gain? What good could possibly come out of being so irresponsible?

  I don’t give myself another second to ponder it before I sling my bag over my shoulder, and turn for the bedroom door. I won’t look back. I’d rather die than attempt to tear myself away one more time.

  “Going somewhere?” a gruff voice sounds from the living room. I had been so wrapped up in trying to escape the bedroom covertly that I didn’t even notice him.

  Cain rises from the couch and strides over to the where I stand just yards from the front door. I was so close…so close from making a clean break. I wanted to rip the Band-Aid off. Now I’m forced to watch as it’s peeled away slowly from the gaping, festering wound on my heart.

  “I…I…” I stammer. It’s frightening enough to be alone with the scarred demon of murder. But having to explain myself…

  “You were just going to cut and run?” he guesses. “Not even leave the money on the nightstand? Wow. I have to say, I’m surprised by you, Eden. Maybe even a little impressed. Never thought you had the balls.”

  “What do you want, Cain?” I deadpan, desperate to escape his beady-eyed stare. However, he doesn’t even respond. Instead, he casually begins to empty his pockets onto the table. A set of keys, a cellphone, a wad of cash, and a small handgun. Shit. Is he preparing for a fight? The blood in my veins runs cold.

  “You know, I never thought it’d be a human to bring Legion to his knees,” he comments, focusing on arranging the items in a neat line. “He’s been unshakable for years—centuries. He is by far the strongest demon I’ve ever had the pleasure to call my brother. And you…you’re deadset on destroying him.”

  “I’m not destroying him,” I insist. “I’m saving him.”

  “How’s that? By leaving him in the wee hours of the morning, knowing he will stop at nothing to get you back? Even at the expense of the Se7en—at the expense of his life?” There’s fierceness in his voice that I’ve never heard before. Not his usual gravely growl. But something else. Something that closely resembles despair.

  “I’m leaving because of that,” I plead, hoping he can understand just how much this hurts me. “I know he’ll do anything it takes to keep me safe, and I can’t let him. I can’t allow one more person to be affected by me. He’s trusting a traitor—someone that nearly got him killed—in his radical quest to protect me. I can’t stop him, Cain—no one can. You know that. So the only thing I can do is take myself out of the equation.”

  “And you think that’ll work.” It’s not a question. He sees right through me.

  “It has to be better than putting a target on all your backs.”

  He heaves out a heavy sigh and nods. Not in agreement, but in resignation. I’ve already made up my mind, and he knows there’s nothing he can do to stop me. At least that’s better than nothing. If he physically tried to make me stay, there would be nothing I could do to fight him off.

  “Ok, then. Well…take care of yourself, Eden.” He spares a glance at the row of items he left on the table before turning for the hallway towards his room.

  Odd.

  “Hey, you left your stuff on the table,” I shout-whisper before he disappears out of my line of vision.

  “What stuff?” he replies over his shoulder. “I didn’t leave anything.”

  My face is pinched in confusion and I open my mouth to argue when it hits me.

  I scoop up the wad of cash, keys and cell, and stuff them in my jacket pocket. The handgun is a different beast altogether. With the very tips of my fingers, I pick it up and carefully place it in my bag.

  Fucking Cain.

  Well…I’ve been wrong about him before.

  When I reach the underground parking garage, I hit the remote control unlock to see which car he’s left for me. To my surprise—and relief—it’s a smaller Jag than the one that was smashed into pieces on Michigan Ave. Damn, that car was sexy. But this one is just as luxurious, and of course, it’s black on black, complete with tinted windows. The seats are like butter and it still has that new car smell. I briefly wonder whose baby I could be borrowing before pulling out the cell phone. It’s clean—new. As if he was always expecting me to run.

  “Hello?” a groggy voice sounds over the receiver.

  “Sister?”

  “Eden? Is that you? Oh my God, honey, where have you been? I tried to call you but…”

  “Yeah, I, uh, lost my phone. Listen, I want to come see you. I need your new address.” I only know that L moved her to a safe building in a nice part of town. I didn’t even bother with details because I never expected to see her again.

  “Sure. Come now. I’ll call down so the doorman knows to let you up. I can’t wait to see you.”

  I mentally jot down the info and crank up the car. It purrs for me, inviting me to grasp the steering wheel and give a little pressure on the gas. I’m not sure how the hell I’m going to get out of here, but as I approach the first steel door, it slides open. It must be equipped with some type of sensor that disarms the alarms. That’s a plus. With all the swiftness of a 90-year-old great granny, I drive into the first of many tunnels encased in what looks like steel. Now that I’m traveling much slower than before, I notice that they’re all marked with symbols drawn with black paint, or maybe soot. Runes of protection and deflection, I wonder. Niko originally constructed the wards into the Se7en’s secret lair, but these look fresh. Maybe Dorian, or even Gabriella, strengthened them in my absence.

  After several minutes of carefully driving through the tunnels and doors at a snail’s pace, careful not put a single scratch on my borrowed car, I finally make it to a side-street and int
o the early morning sunlight streaming through heavy, dark clouds. I don’t know how the rest of the Se7en race through the passageway like it’s nothing. I swear, I don’t even breathe until I hit the priority road.

  The entire way to Sister’s new place, I nearly chew a hole through my lip as I worry about how to explain my absence. But when she opens the door to her new, incredibly spacious apartment, she acts as if no time has passed at all. As if I didn’t just drop off the face of the Earth. As if Lucifer hadn’t held her hostage, naked and dirty, in a successful attempt to blackmail me.

  “It’s so good to see you, little sister.” She wraps her arms around me and squeezes. Of course, I go completely stiff. Sister has always been the affectionate one, while I tend to shy away from most physical contact. That never stopped her though. She wanted me to know I was loved, even when it made me excruciatingly uncomfortable.

  “Nice digs,” I remark when she finally releases me. I take in the vast, open living area with wide picture windows. Creams and whites with hints of industrial grays. It’s bright and open, allowing natural light to add warmth to the space. It’s her. I always imagined her in a place like this. She was much too good for our little ramshackle apartment.

  “Right? Apparently the guy who bought our old building is some old, rich dude who wants to tear it down and turn it into a strip mall. I think he only paid us all off because he was afraid of a lawsuit. Toxic mold, asbestos, and a ton of other hazards. No surprise there.”

  “I have to agree with you on that,” I reply stifling a pained grin. Rich, old dude. Well, Legion is pretty old. And judging by the cars and the Se7en’s headquarters, I’d have to say rich too.

  “Come, come,” she says, ushering me towards the bright white couches. It’s all fully furnished. If not for the few cardboard boxes stashed in the corner, I wouldn’t be able to tell that she moved in just days ago.