Page 25 of The Redeemable 4

Chapter Seven

“Well, duh. She’s been dying most of her life. You are meant to be fixing her,” I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, but failed. It was weird not having Arcadia there, in my head, chastising me for my harsh words, or trying to get me to soothe Eli’s obviously wounded heart.

“I can’t find her a heart. Oz insisted that she would hate getting one from the black market, and no matter who we bribe, we can’t get her to the top of the list. She has an uncommon blood type which is making it hard to match her. The cancer is responding too slowly to the chemo and it's going to come down to taking the risk on her whether her body can take it if we operate too early or with a make-up heart. A gamble. The life of my love rests on a gamble. Too soon and she dies. Too late and she dies. I just can’t.”

Dude was spiraling. I didn’t know what to do. WWAD? What would Arcadia do? I was probably going to hell for that one.

Whoops, too late.

“You will do it. You have to. I will help. Clary will help. The guys will help. You aren’t in this alone.” Ergh. Probably not quite as empathetic as I should be. “You need to go home. Take a break. Have a shower, because you smell like old feet. Then we’ll make a plan. I’ll stay here with her so she isn’t alone.”

I didn't want to tell him that I was feeling a little weird without her. We’d been two halves of a whole for so long. He nodded and left, and I moved his chair back towards the bed. I touched her head, now devoid of hair, and ran my thumb over her temple. I wanted to rely on modern medicine, on Eli’s medical knowledge and Tolliver’s money. I wanted to have faith. But I didn’t. I closed my eyes and laid my head on the edge of her bed.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled against her shoulder. “This is all my fault. If it hadn’t been for me and my big mouth, my inability to follow any rules, you wouldn’t be in this position. Sure, you might have been a bank teller with a drinking problem, but your life and death would have been of your own making.”

I sighed and let my thoughts roll around and around in my head until I fell asleep. That was how Memphis found me. Sleeping alone for the first time in twenty years.

I woke up in heaven. Well, it was actually hell, but I was surrounded by the naked bodies of three extremely attractive fallen angels, and if that wasn’t heaven, what was?

We were in Luc’s bed, and the man himself was acting as my pillow. Somehow Gusion was asleep on my thigh, my other leg thrown over his ribs. He was literally five inches from giving me a very good morning.

Memphis was next to me, his hand on my hip. When I looked up into his face, I realized he was awake too.

“Hey,” I whispered, and it came out rougher, sexier, than I’d intended.

“Good morning, Acerezeal.” With his eyes hooded like that, his hair all tousled, he looked delicious.

“Did you bring me home?”

He nodded. I moved my head off of Luc’s and scooted closer to Memphis. I pressed myself closer to him, my chest against his. “Thank you.”

He shrugged, then kissed me. It was so unlike him that I was momentarily shocked. I mean, we’d had sex numerous times before, but I always initiated. Always made the first move. It made me wonder what had changed.

“I’ll always bring you home, Acerezeal.” His deep voice was fervent, and I pulled back a little to take in his face.

“What’s going on right now? Have you been body snatched or something?” Seriously, I was confused.

A small smile curved his lips.

Yep, it was official. He was possessed. I leaned back and jabbed Luc in the ribs.

“Wake up, there’s something wrong with Memphis.”

Luc opened one eye. He looked between us both and closed it again.

“He looks fine to me, my love. Call me if he starts bleeding from the ears.”

Memphis’s body began to shake as he held in a laugh. A fucking laugh.

“Seriously, Luc. He’s laughing now. And smiling. Gus wake up, there’s something wrong with Memphis.”

I jiggled my leg and Gus sat up. His abs flexed and light blonde hair pointed its way down to his morning wood. I almost swallowed my tongue, but then Memphis laughed out loud again and brought me back to my point.

I pointed at him. “See!”

Luc opened both eyes and stared at Memphis. Then he closed them again and sighed. “He’s just happy, Ace. Go back to sleep.”

My mouth swung open. “When is Memphis anything but dark and brooding? Have I missed something?”

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