23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Declan

“Why do you do this?”

The sweetest voice I’ve ever heard. Eve. I picture Angels sounding like her. Perfect.

“Run, Eve. Run before Pandora’s box gets you. You’re too sweet to be mixed up with us. We’ll ruin you. We will drag you down to hell and diminish all your light.”

Cas growls at me, a warning. “Shut up, you idiot.”

Blood spills from my palm as he pulls out the remaining nail and unties the rope binding my wrists to the cross. The first time he saw me do this, he was upset. Said how I was going to lose my hand because it couldn’t support my body weight. He’s the one who taught me to tie my wrists with the rope. Cas is not what people see. Sure, he’s insane, but when he gives a fuck about you, it’s a force. He probably cares more about me than any other human on this planet, yet he’s the one I treat the worst.

I’m in the in-between. The void that grips me and makes the pain stop. My body floats with pleasure from the unbelievable pain. At some point, a ritual I partook in to show God my dedication turned into something that helped me function in life.

“What’s on his head?” Noelle demands.

Cas scoffs. “A crown of torns. He likes to play up the whole Jesus sacrificial thing.”

Soft hands move along my head. I wince at the stinging pain of the crown slowly being removed. The sting of the thorns being plucked from my flesh makes me shiver.

“Where the heck did you get one of these?”

“He made it. Afterward, Lorne destroyed the rose garden.”

I remember that day. Lorne got so pissed he took the gasoline to the bushes and set the whole thing on fire. I was nineteen. It was after the first time I kissed him. He wouldn’t look at me for weeks. That made the pain so much worse because I didn’t know how to tell him it wasn’t because of him but me. That was the day I decided never to kiss Cas. I would not risk hurting another person I loved again, but that decision hurt him, anyway.

They’re speaking about me, but I’m not here. I’m having an out-of-body experience. I’m floating and watching a movie. It’s not me who’s beaten, battered, and bruised. I’m a vessel. My flesh means nothing.

“Do you have a medical kit?”

“Yes.”

“Well, go get it.”

Cas chuckles. “Who knew a pretty girl bossing me around could get me so hard?”

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Your friend or lover or whatever the heck you all are to each other is lying here disfigured and bleeding, and you’re thinking about your penis?”

“Do you honestly want to make him feel better?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then get on your knees and suck his cock.”