Page 17 of Death Trap

He smiled at my spontaneous nickname for him, and if my heart had been beating, it would have stopped dead. Perfect, white teeth and eyes that sparkled. God, this man was breathtakingly gorgeous. It was a little uncomfortable being in his presence.

“Did I say something?” I asked, confused.

“You always called me that. Eli,” he said, still grinning. “At first I hated it. But after a few hundred years, it grew on me.”

I choked on something. Maybe my own words or my tongue, but the coughing fit that followed was brutal.

Had he saidhundreds of years?Had I heard that right?

“Are you all right? You’ve gone pale.”

“I-I must have misheard you,” I sputtered. “I thought you said we’ve known each other for hundreds of years.”

“I did.”

My arms dropped to my sides, and for probably about the thousandth time in my afterlife, I looked up at the sky, exasperated, and thought to myself,Who the fuck am I?

Eli’s eyes narrowed as he studied me. “Why don’t you know? What’s happened?”

“I’m a reaper,” I replied. “They wiped my memories. I don’t know anything before my death.”

His eyes widened in shock.

“What?” I asked.

“You got caught in the reaper cycle?”

“Yes…”

His face fell. “Oh no.”

“Oh no, what?”

“We need to talk. There’s a lot to explain.” Eli glanced around. “But not here. Come with me.”

I took a step forward but then stopped myself. “Woah, wait a minute. I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m supposed to be calling the shots here. You owemeanswers.”

“Still your feisty self, I see.” A sly smile lifted his lips. “I’m willing to tell you what you want to know, to the best of my abilities, but we shouldn’t be here. We need to move somewhere safer.”

I wasn’t ready to put my gun away just yet, so I put it in the waistband of my jeans for easier access.

“Two things,” I started, holding up two of my fingers. “One, can you put on some pants?” I didn’t mind ogling, but it was beginning to become distracting. “And two, where do you suppose we go? There’s the afterlife…or my apartment or Styx—”

“No,” he said sharply. “No one can be trusted on that side of the veil. But on this side, you can be traced by Azrael.”

So, he knew about my old boss, then. But why could Azrael track me here but not in the afterlife?

“The safest place I know is over in Smithfield. It’s protected by all types of magic and who knows what else.” That’s where Wyatt and Sean’s trailer was.

“Excellent. We’ll go there.” He spun around and began walking away, giving me a full view of his toned ass.

I swallowed the knot in my throat. “Um… How about those pants?”

Eli paused and glanced down at himself. “Oh, yes.” He waved his hand over his lower half, and a pair of perfectly tailored slacks appeared on him.

My mouth gaped open like a fish out of water. “You can create clothing out of midair?”

Could I do that? I debated giving it a try, but at the risk of looking like a fool with my hands waving about, I decided against it.

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