Hell's Redemption- The Complete Series Boxset

by Grace McGinty

  “Like what you see, Sweetheart?” Gus’s voice in my ear made me shiver, and I turned. I got caught on his eyes and couldn’t look away, not even to look back at the story that was playing out on stage. Fire burned in them, something wild and dangerous that I just knew in my soul was going to scorch me. But I didn’t care. What was this crazy feeling consuming me, threatening to undo everything I thought I knew about myself?

  I don’t know how long I sat there, trapped in his gaze, but the spotlights flicked to the crowd. I turned toward the lights, like a deer, and the MC strutted onto the stage. She let out a theatrical sigh as the dancers walked past her, every single one smiling.

  “That's my favorite part of the night. So fucking hot, am I right?” Cheers sounded through the audience. “Well, maybe not my favorite part. This is my favorite part. For the chance to win a cool two hundred dollars, we are opening it up to the amateurs. If you think you could get up here and give us something just as hot, now is your time to do it.”

  There were whistles, and a few couples standing. A college boy was trying to convince a drunken bride-to-be to try it with him but she laughed and shook her head.

  “Hang on now, there’s rules to ruin your fun. No nudity. Seriously, for the health of everyone's eyeballs, keep your clothes on. No filming either, people. Put away your phones or Big John will smash it for you. And yes, you can spend the money at the bar. Okay, let's go people. Up on the stage. Two hundred dollars and bragging rights are calling you.” She fanned the cash at her face.

  Gus was on his feet and pulling me behind him in a second. “Woah, no freakin’ way, Gus!” I yelled over the steady pump of music.

  “Trust me,” he yelled over his shoulder, and the crowd just parted for him, like he was some kind of biblical deity.

  I climbed the stairs behind him, and the MC appraised us both. “Oh boy, I just know you are going to be good. Honey, are you looking for a job, because, oomph,” she said to Gus, who gave her the panty-dropping smile.

  There was Gusion and I, and two other couples. “I don’t think this is a very good idea,” I hissed, but Gus pretended not to hear me. I felt every single emotion up here on stage, like I was standing in the center of a swirling abyss of feelings.

  The MC lined us up, and made a spinning motion to the DJ.

  “Gus, I don’t know how to dance,” I whisper-shouted.

  As the music changed to something slow and sensual, Gus grabbed me and pulled me into his chest. “You don’t have to know how to dance, Hope. You just have to know how to feel.”

  I laughed, though the joke would be lost on Gus. I knew feelings better than any person in this room.

  “Just let go,” he whispered, his body moving around mine.

  “Let go of what?” I mouthed back.

  He stopped, his body pressed against my back. I could feel his warm breath on my neck. “Control.” His lips brushed my ear, sending shivers of pleasure down my spine.

  His hands found my hips, gently swaying me against his body to the music. “Keep the beat,” he whispered again, backing me up against the pole, just like the dancers earlier. I undulated my body to the music, and Gus reached two hands above my head and gripped the pole. And lifted himself horizontal without so much as breaking a sweat. He slowly stepped on the air, and I stopped, staring. Twisting his wrist, he spun back around and dropped down in front of me.

  “Uh-uh, no stopping,” his hands were back on my hips as we slowly moved together, our bodies pressed as close as they can be with our clothes on. I met and held his gaze, transfixed by the pure mischievousness in his eyes, mixed with a heavy dose of lust.

  “I thought you said you didn’t pole dance?” I whispered.

  He grinned and spun, climbing the pole like a monkey, then he wrapped his feet around the pole and flipped upside down.

  The crowd was going nuts. Absolutely insane, but I couldn’t look away from him. His face was inches away from me now as he held himself perfectly still. I couldn't help it. I leaned forward and kissed him like he was Spiderman. My tongue delved into his mouth, one hand on the pole, and I realized it was me spinning around the pole, not the world tilting on its axis.

  He folded himself in half, breaking our kiss as he turned the right way up again, and deepened out kiss. He picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck as I gave over control. In that moment I no longer cared what was right or wrong, that we were making a public spectacle of ourselves. I cared about the feel of his body against mine as he pressed my back against the pole, slowly spinning us as he climbed the pole. I cared that beneath the showmanship, he was making love to me for all the world to see.

  I pulled back to breathe, and realized we were at the top of the pole.

  “Time for the climax, Sweetheart. Hold tight,” he whispered.

  I didn’t think he was kidding, so I did what he asked even as I said, “What?”

  Then he let go of the pole with his hands, just the pole between his thighs and his impressive core strength stopping us from hitting the ground hard as he laid us out horizontally in the air.

  Slipping slowly to the floor, we laid there, his body between my thighs, hardly breaking a sweat as I panted like I’d run a marathon. But it wasn’t from physical exertion. The want I felt pulsed in my body. And he felt it too.

  “Gus.” It was a plea. I wanted him. Needed what he could give me.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  The wave of rage shocked me, the roar of the crowd suddenly deafening. I knew the taste of that rage. I looked to the side, and I saw Memphis. The look of betrayal made my heart hurt.

  “Uh oh,” Gus said, his eyes glued to Memphis.

  Yeah. Uh oh.

  Chapter Ten

  Gus humbly declined our winnings, and we hightailed it off the stage. Memphis’ eyes never left me, and I felt guilty. I just didn’t know why I felt guilty. Memphis and I weren’t a couple. We’d kissed once, that was all.

  Repeating that to myself, I stiffened my spine and held my head high. I had done nothing wrong. We stopped in front of him, and I found I couldn't meet his piercing eyes for too long.

  With supernatural speed, his fist shot out, hitting Gusion in the face with a sickening crunch. And then he was just gone.

  Gus gushed blood into his cupped hand. “I deserved that. Time to go before the humans notice how well I heal.” We walked down a darkened hall, and stepped into an unlocked storage cupboard. I made sure not to touch anything. I can’t imagine any dark space in a co-ed strip club was going to be particularly sanitary.

  Gus sifted us back to the apartment, and I realized we’d been walking like Average Joes all day. I was thankful, because angel porting around was disorientating as all hell.

  “Is your nose okay?” I went to the freezer to get out peas or something. I was staring into its icy depths before I remembered that we didn't cook, so we weren't going to have peas. We did have a bag of frozen vodka slushies though. I pulled it out, and Gus just raised his eyebrows at the silver bag. I shrugged.

  “It’s fine, but I’ll take some of that in a glass if you’re offering.” I grabbed a tumbler from the cupboard and poured him a healthy dose of the fluro pink frozen cocktail. Gross.

  “Do you want to explain what the hell that was about?”

  Gus sighed, and spread his wings wide, stretching them before folding them delicately against his back. He took a gulp of his drink and winced. Apparently it didn't taste any better than it looked.

  “That's really something you should ask Memphis.” He flopped down on the couch, suddenly looking exhausted, less luminous. Like his millennia of life was crushing him. I hated it. I hated the loneliness and despair that sat in a fog around him.

  I reached out, touching his cheek with the back of my fingers. “What happened to you?”

  His brows furrowed, as he pulled back. “What?”

  I took a deep breath. Rella was going to kill me. I’d kept this secret for two decades, and now
I’d blurted it out three times in a week. “I can sense your emotions. I feel your wounded heart, your hopelessness. It’s tearing me up inside.”

  I waited for the Blue style meltdown. But all I felt was surprise. “I guess Acerezeal’s children were a little more angelic than everyone let on. Any other secrets I should know about?” He raised his eyebrows high, seeming more bemused than angry. Though, I guess he wasn’t a societal reject with a career in murder, like Blue. He also wasn’t human. His secrets ran so deep, they were basically part of his physical makeup, like he was comprised of blood and bones, sinew and secrets.

  I can mindspeak. We are a blindspot to most angels, even Luc.

  “Even Michael?” He sounded almost awed. I shrugged. I’d never met the Archangel Michael, and if I was lucky, I never would.

  He downed the rest of his fluro pink cocktail, and stood. “I should go and smooth things over with Mephistopheles. He can seriously hold a grudge.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “So can I. You really aren’t going to tell me what that was about?”

  He gave me a sheepish look, leaning forward to kiss me gently on the lips. “See you soon, Sweetheart.” Then he just disappeared. So rude.

  The next two days were almost blissfully Angel free. No Memphis, no Gusion and surprisingly, no Azriel.

  I also didn’t leave the house. I didn’t open the front door when anyone knocked, or order in unless Adnan was here too. I didn’t open the blinds. I knew I was slipping down a hole that was going to be difficult to claw my way out of, but I couldn’t seem to catch myself.

  Rella didn’t help. I could feel her turmoil from hundreds of miles away, her heart pounding anxiety, worry and fear all compounded with my own. I was a wreck.

  Then she’d come to visit, and I finally understood the weird emotions she’d been sending. She had changed. She was no longer my twin in every way. We were different now in a way that seceded my silly little tattoo. She was immortal and I was...me. She was a Gargoyle Queen, and I was scared of standing in front of windows.

  Now, I listened to her and Adnan fight in the other room, sitting beside Charlie, who held my hand, and under the watchful eyes of her new Gargoyle consorts? Conquests? Boy-toys? Whatever.

  Charlie’s hold on my hand was both comforting and excruciating. So much turmoil. He loved Rella, he hated them, he liked them and hated Rella. Well, her choices anyway. I knew there was no way he could ever hate Rella. She was a part of his soul, much like he was a part of hers. They were just too dumb to work out what that meant yet. They’d get there.

  So much hurt and rage flowed from the hall, where Adnan was acting like a child. But that was just Adnan. Blue Halloran hadn’t been wrong when he’d called Adnan the Mulligans Little Prince.

  Rella strode out of the hall, and I was surprised to see Naz right behind her.

  Well, maybe not so surprised. Naz had changed, more than just being turned into some weird Gargoyle/Human hybrid. He was no longer the swirling vortex of despair and depression I’d sensed long ago. He had purpose, and it glowed around the edges of his depression like dawn break.

  Rella kissed me on the cheek, and I resisted the urge to pull her to me and never let her go, like a security blanket. I pushed the thought right down so she wouldn’t be able to skim it from my mind.

  “Be safe,” I murmured, and she left, her men flanking her like the Queen she was now.

  I kissed Charlie’s cheek. “Her heart is big enough, and so is yours, Charles Mulligan. Don’t throw away something amazing because it doesn’t fit with your boyhood dreams.”

  With that, I pushed him off the couch. He threw me the Charlie grin, to which I was impervious, and followed the rest of his pack. His family, if he’d just let them be.

  I laid my head on the back of the couch and closed my eyes. The steady hum of Adnan’s rage and disbelief echoed through the house like a discordant noise. I knew he wouldn’t just go and brood in his room, that wasn’t Adnan’s style. I was waiting for the inevitable confrontation in five, four, three, two…

  “I know she’s your twin, Hope, but she’s gone too far this time.” I didn’t bother to open my eyes.

  “What was her alternative, let him die?” I repeated the words that Rella had used.

  Unfortunately, that only made Adnan madder. “How about you leave him out of your freaky fucking world altogether. I should have said no when you asked me to talk to him. I should have known it could end nowhere but bad with your family.”

  Oh. Oh no, he did not. My eyes snapped open and I leapt to my feet. “My freaky fucking family is the only reason you are here in this lavish apartment, and not scrabbling in the dirt in a war-torn country. My freaky world is the only reason you didn’t bleed to death when you were five. I know you’re hurting, so I’m going to let it slide, but show some damn respect.”

  He got right up in my face then, his finger pointed at my nose. “You guys think you are better than the rest of us because, why? You have the ability to sense my feelings? Well, what am I feeling now?”

  He sent a huge pulse of disgust and it cut me like a knife, just as he knew it would. Adnan was my best friend, and he knew all the best ways to hurt me.

  Adnan was wrenched away and held against the wall by a blacker than midnight hand. “You would do best to watch your tongue, child, before I remove it.”

  Adnan turned his head to look at me, his eyes burning with righteous anger. His look said, “This is what I mean” but his emotions told me that he was scared under all the bravado.

  “Memphis, please put him down.”

  Memphis did something that I could only assume gave him his stellar reputation. He pulsed his wings wide, sucking the light and some of the oxygen from the room. His face was the scariest thing I’d ever seen, and when it was mixed with his spiked brand of rage, he became the scariest being I had ever seen. Scarier than Ace in a rage, and even scarier than Luc.

  “Leave.” That single word made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. He dropped Adnan to the ground, and my best friend disappeared into his bedroom. I stood there, silently contemplating the huge angel in front of me. What did he look like before he fell? Were his wings the snowy white of Azriel’s?

  Adnan strode back through the room, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He grabbed his wallet and his phone and slammed out of the front door.

  As the sound echoed around the room, only to be replaced by silence, I crumbled.

  Chapter Eleven

  Falling to my knees, I put my face in my hands and tried to suck in a single breath that was large enough to fill my lungs. But it felt like there was no air left in the room, like there was a hand around my throat threatening to choke the life right out of me.

  I pulled at the collar of my sweater, trying to give myself more space to breathe. But nothing helped.

  Memphis scooped me up into his arms, holding me against his chest. “I can’t breathe,” I gasped, sobbing at the same time. “I can’t breathe.” Panic raced through my veins like wildfire.

  He sat down with me still clutched against his torso, and grabbed my chin, forcing me to meet his brilliant, bright blue eyes.

  “Look at me. Now breathe.” It was a command. “You are okay.”

  His eyes held me. Waves of strength and reassurance pulsed between us, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his throat and did what he said. I just breathed. I breathed in the scent of Memphis, a scent I couldn’t describe. It wasn’t anything as basic as human cologne. No, he smelled like something earthy, but not of the earth. Ugh. Whatever it was, it was delicious. Maybe even addictive.

  Sucking in gulps of air, eventually my breathing slowed, my sobs calming.

  I wanted to pull away, but I wasn’t ready to return to life just yet. Instead, I brushed my lips against the steady, slow thud of his pulse. I sucked gently, tasting his skin on my tongue, feeling his pulse quicken.

  I shifted against his body, straddling his lap. He groaned, and I felt the
vibration against my lips.

  “Hope…” it was a question, or a lament, I couldn’t tell. But I didn’t want someone to tell me no. I wanted to take what I needed, and I wanted Memphis to ignore right and wrong for a moment. I kissed up his jaw, until my lips hovered over his.

  “Memphis. Be quiet.”

  I felt his lips curl against mine, but he didn’t speak. I kissed him, tracing the soft curves with my tongue, devouring his moans. His hands roamed up my back, the gentle pressure of his fingers massaging the stiff muscles on either side of my spine.

  I moaned against his lips, and felt the hard press of his body between my thighs. I moved, grinding our bodies together, making him let out an involuntary moan. There was something thrilling about dragging pleasure from this giant of a man, so I did it again. His hands stilled, spanning the width of my back.

  I kissed him harder, exploring his mouth with mine, tempting him, teasing him into kissing me back.

  I knew I was out of control, I knew that if I let him take a breath, Memphis would tell me so. But I didn’t want to be in control, I just wanted to feel. Not other people’s emotions, my own. I spent so much of my time digging my way through everyone else’s feelings, my own got buried beneath the weight of the world.

  I grabbed the bottom of my sweater, pulling everything off in one swift movement. My nipples pebbled as they hit the cold air.

  His eyes went black as he watched my breasts. His wings spread wide and he ran his hands up my back, and over my ribs.

  I hissed as he hit my tattoo. I’d forgotten about it.

  Moving my body back, he stared down at the dual coloured wings, rubbing the skin beneath the tattoo with his thumb.

  Deciding there was time to stare at my new ink later, I dived back into our kiss. Grabbing his silk shirt, I gripped the lapels and pulled. Tiny black buttons scattered across the room as I stared down at the hard expanse of his body. He was like a statue made of some kind of precious stone. Hard ridges of his midnight black skin shone under the apartments downlighting. I ran my hands down his torso, and hissed in a breath. So perfect.