Distant Fires of Heaven (The Malevolent Sacrifices #1)

Keep Me Safe

"Did someone die?" Juliet mumbled. She heard only a fraction of what sounded like shouting. She was so tired, and waking up at this moment didn't sound like a great idea to her.
She heard Stephen chuckle and she felt arms around her waist, she felt lips on her cheek. "Wake up." He whispered to her.
She opened her eyes slowly and turned over to see him. His hair was really messy. It stuck out in tuffs all over his head. Juliet imagined what her own hair looked like.
"I should take a photo of you right now. You look so hot in the morning." Stephen grinned.
Juliet laughed softly. "I do not."
"Ugh! That morning voice!" He laughed and leaned down to kiss her softly.
Juliet kissed him back. His lips still felt absolutely amazing. She leaned up into him, her hands cupping his face. She'd never think she'd get tired of the way he felt.
He pulled away unwillingly, and Juliet knew by the way his lips lingered so close to hers that he could keep going, and they could lose themselves into each other.
"I have your pajamas over there." He nodded his head towards his desk.
"I'm not worried about that right now." She whispered and went back to kissing him.
Stephen laughed against her mouth before he went back to kissing her. His tongue licked her bottom lip, his hands sliding to wrap around her back.
Juliet felt his fingers run over her scars, and she shivered, still not used to the feeling of someone actually touching them.
Riley was the last person she dated, she still wasn't sure why she agreed to date him. His touch was always so rough and she used to come home with bruises. Having to explain that her father and mother that it was from patrol almost every time he left bruises only worked for the first few times. She recalled Julian threatening Riley, the way he'd get anxiety whenever she'd go out with him. Times where she'd spend the night and when she'd come home the next day Julian would be shaking.
She hated doing it to Julian, causing him so much anxiety. She understood why he was the way he was, because ever since he lost his sister Livia, he was so afraid of losing another. But Riley was cold hearted, and did not care what Julian suffered from, and Juliet wasn't sure why she had signed up to date him in the first place.
She could recall Riley crying to her, and she comforting him. Then they started hanging out as friends, and he asked Juliet out, and she wasn't sure of what she was thinking, but the word yes had spilled from her lips before she could think.
After Riley had smashed a glass vase into her back, she came home covered in blood and glass. She could barely walk at all.
She remembered her screams when Emma pulled the glass from her back, and she remembered her father's face while she screamed and begged Emma to stop. She remembered not moving from her bed for two days afterwards. Her back had felt like it was on fire.
When Julian sat with her and asked what happened she lied and told him she did it to herself, that she was demon hunting, Riley was separated from her, and a demon had thrown her into a pile of glass.
She lied to protect her sister, because Riley was scared of what Julian would do to him, as what Juliet has guessed for the past 2 years. So he threatened Livia, who was only a 3 year old. Juliet believed he'd actually hurt Livia, especially after what he did to Juliet.
She remembered Emma asking her if that's what really happened, and Juliet telling her yes, that's what happened.
Juliet had been to scared to break up with Riley, even though she desperately wanted to.
When Riley broke up with her, Juliet wasn't upset that he did, she was upset with his reason why. It was a stupid reason to her, and she could still recite what he exactly said to her.
"Juliet. I don't want you. You've exhausted your use to me, and I'm tired of you.
You are weak, and you are a shameful whore.
I don't want to be seen with someone who is as disgusting as you, especially with your beliefs." He snarled.
Juliet took a deep breath, her back still stung as if the glass had never been taken out of her back. "What do you mean my beliefs?"
Riley laughed. "You're faerie loving trash beliefs. Accepting those fowl things into your family is a disgrace to the nephilim. That is a big reason as to why I don't want you."
Julian had been relieved when she told him it was over with Riley, but she just said it was a mutual decision than going into detail.