The Survivor (Book 2)

Chapter 15

I was screaming, and Zack was clutching my shoulders and shaking me. I scrambled out from under him, eyes adjusting to the darkness surrounding me. “Am I dead?”

“What?! No!” Zack blinked at me as if I had three heads. “You had a nightmare, and you wouldn’t wake up. I thought I was going to have to claw you or something!”

I gulped. “It was a nightmare?” Zack nodded. “Thank God,” I breathed, throwing my arms around him. “Please don’t ever let that become reality, Zack. Please, please, please, don’t leave me alone ever.”

“You’re okay, sweetheart,” he kissed my hair. “Come here, baby,” he lied back down and I curled up next to him, sighing in relief. “Tell me about it.”

“Saint,” was all I said. Zack frowned. “He raped me.”

“Treble-”

“And then he killed all of you.”

“Oh my God, Treble,” he held me close to him. “Holy shit, baby, I won’t ever let that become reality. You’re safe.”

I nodded into his chest. “We had Gen.”

“That should’ve been a red flag,” he said quietly. “We don’t have him yet.”

“No, but we got him back from Hell. I saw it. Saw him come back.”

Zack kissed me tenderly. “I swear on my life he will never touch you, Treble. Never ever.”

I nodded, kissing his neck. “He was mimicking you at first.”

“Shit,” he sighed. “God, does it get worse than this? Please say no.”

I shook my head. “You–well, he–called me a disgusting whore and a filthy slut…so it got worse.”

Zack was quiet for a while. “You know I’d never say those things about you, right? Even in my darkest hour, I wouldn’t say that to you.”

I nodded.

“Do you want to see something cool?” he asked quietly. I nodded, needing the distraction. “I ask that because my other option is showing you what I’m the god of, and I don’t particularly think you’re quite up for that right now.”

“It’s tempting.”

“C’mere,” he pulled me out of the warm bed, keeping his arms around me. Through the kitchen was a set of double doors, and we stepped out onto a balcony. My breath caught in my throat, and Zack kissed down my neck as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

Being on the top floor, we had a perfect view of Heaven, and I could see dark clouds in the distance. “What’s that?” I pointed at them.

“That’s the soul-part of Heaven. Where all the souls go to be for eternity,” he shrugged. “One of the things I’m the god of is neck-kissing, by the way.”

“Hell yeah you are,” I leaned back into his touch. “Why do nightmares disorient me? Is it still only our first day in Heaven?”

“Technically, now it’s the second, but yes,” he kissed across my shoulder, pushing away the sleeve of my shirt. “Let’s go back to bed so I can show you what else I’m the god of.”

“I thought I was on snuggle-lockdown.”

“You are,” he kissed my cheek. “I can do all of that without breaking the snuggle-violation.”

“Are you sure?” I laughed in disbelief. “You being the god of anything does not make it seem likely that you could do any of it without breaking that violation.”