When we part, he kisses my forehead once and then leans in to my ear. “My name,” he whispers. “It’s Christopher.”
Epilogue
Allie
Christopher. The name tumbles through my brain as he helps me up the stairs, his arm gently resting over my shoulders. He reached for my hand at first, but my wrists are raw and sore, the scar tissue knitting together. Every muscle aches as I climb, but we’re alive, the three of us. I clutch my bruised ribs.
“You gonna make it?” Ploy asks. Not Ploy, I think. Christopher. For some reason knowing his real name feels like flipping to a new page in a book.
A fresh start. “I’m good,” I tell him, managing a weak smile before I let myself lean against his shoulder. His lips press against the top of my head. I won’t pretend everything’s magically perfect between us. There’s trust to be gained and earned on both sides. But we’re going to try.
On the way out, we stop for Talia’s medical bag. He lets me go to snag it from where it leans against the couch in the living room and hands it to Talia, but is at my side a second later. My head throbs. The bodies will need to be dealt with and while I know Sarah would have had a source to call, I don’t. I’ll have to ask the others in the notebook. Learn to trust them. Lean on them. The thought doesn’t scare me the way it would have even yesterday.
Talia scoots around us as we head to the door, holds it open as we make our way through. It’s not until we cross the porch that she speaks. “We’re alive,” she whispers.
When I turn, her eyes are on the dark sky, the stars. Christopher’s arm tightens around me and for the first time in days I feel safe again.
I know this isn’t the end.
But for right now, this moment, it’s enough.
Check out The Siders Series by Leah Clifford, starting with book one - A Touch Mortal
Getting involved with an angel, especially a half-Fallen one, might not have been Eden’s best idea. Still, she never thought a summer fling with Az would end up costing her mortality.
Now, there's no way of telling what will happen when Eden's fingertips graze human skin. The power that builds inside her, Touch, strips away morals and logic. Some people only feel a high; others are overcome by their darkest thoughts.
Worse, word's gotten around that her Touch can kill her own kind, a skill Luke and the Fallen are desperate to harness. The last thing Eden needs is the rumor to spread. Especially since it's true.
With the Fallen closing in, and loyalties in doubt, Eden must rely on the guy who broke her heart to keep it beating. Working with the Upstairs, Az is determined to defeat Luke and win back more than just Eden's loyalty. But Eden will be damned, literally, before she lets him off the hook that easily.
Get your copy today: books2read.com/u/banaPa
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About the Author
Leah Clifford was born and raised outside of Cleveland Ohio. She has an affinity for all things weird and creepy as made evident by her oddity shop Petite Grotesque and her previous young adult novels, A Touch Mortal, A Touch Morbid and A Touch Menacing.
You can find her on Twitter and Facebook.
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