Chapter 60 Chapter 60
She stopped and swallowed, hugging herself as tears welled up in her eyes. “He broke my rib. It hurt so much, I couldn’t breathe properly for a long time. Whenever I tried to run or defend myself, he would only retaliate harder and hold me down while he beat me. I get very anxious when I’m in a position like that. Being trapped and unable to move always triggers my fear.”
She stopped and took a deep breath. Talking about it made her feel like a dam within her had been broken. Everything that she had kept to herself for so long came spilling out at once. It was overwhelming but also liberating to get it off her chest. Maxwell didn’t say anything for a while, and the silence in her bedroom became tense.
When she finally gathered the courage to lift her head, she flinched. Terrifying red eyes glared at her; an aggressive scowl had appeared on his face. She felt a strange, otherworldly power radiating from his body. “Maxwell?” she whispered, unsurely.
“When I get my hands on him, he’ll wish he had never been born,” he snarled furiously. “Despicable piece of shit. Hell would be too good for him.”
She sighed and had to admit that she agreed with him, but his violent approach to things didn’t sit right with her. It made her uncomfortable. “Now you know,” she mumbled and wiped a tear from her eye. He took her chin in a gentle grip and tilted it up slightly, locking his red eyes with her brown ones.
“Don’t cry over him. He isn’t worth it, and he isn’t worth the pain in your heart either.”
“I know that, but it’s hard to turn off,” she said reluctantly. “If only all of this had never happened, but I guess there was no way to avoid it. My guardian angel must have done a shitty job at protecting me.”
He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Not every human is graced with a guardian angel, and it seems like you went empty-handed,” he said coldly, not liking to speak about angels. “But since we’re bonded now, you would have lost yours anyway. Sinners don’t get divine protection.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” she said, and looked even more defeated than before. How much bad luck could someone have?
“Even so, angels are boring; you wouldn’t want them around you. They always play by the rules, never having any fun. We demons are superior at literally everything,” he said haughtily. “And besides, don’t you think I’m so much better at this protection stuff than an angel? I think I’m doing great work here. It’s been over a month, and you haven’t kicked the bucket yet.”
He looked extremely proud of himself, and she couldn’t help but smile seeing his arrogant grin. This demon was too full of himself, and yet she found his behavior oddly amusing, sometimes even endearing.
He wasn’t the perfect gentleman, actually; he was far from it, but she was fond of him and had grown used to his shenanigans and snarky comments. She could hardly imagine living without him. Not all demons were entirely bad, she had learned that much so far.
He observed her for another moment, trying to read her. He was aware that she was in an unstable state right now; he could feel it. Cautiously and very slowly, he put his arms around her and embraced her loosely so she wouldn’t panic.
“Try to calm down now,” he whispered in her ear with his velvety voice. She leaned into him and curled her body up against his chest with his arms around her.
“Can we stay like this?” she mumbled in his shirt, her voice muffled, but he heard her regardless.
“I don’t mind,” he answered, leaning back to get comfortable. Since she had already closed her eyes, she never noticed the victorious smirk on his lips, and she didn’t see the red in his iris vanish either.
They remained like this for a long while until Valerie started to feel sleepy again. She kept her eyes closed and listened to his steady heartbeat, felt the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought him to be human just like herself. It surprised her that demons had hearts, that they needed to breathe.
Maybe she had more in common with him than she thought.
—
The distant ringing of the doorbell roused her from her slumber. At first, she was puzzled, but then she realized that she hadn’t moved an inch since sleep had overwhelmed her. And Maxwell hadn’t moved either. At the annoying and relentless ringing sound, he groaned and cursed under his breath, carefully moving her from his chest to the mattress without noticing that she was awake anyway.
He moved to the door and walked away. Only seconds later, she heard him talk to someone, recognizing the voice as Thorne’s. She already knew why he was here.
This wasn’t something she wanted to deal with right now, but she had to. Both demons were in the kitchen now, speaking quietly among themselves, and she used the opportunity to go to the bathroom and take a quick shower. It made her feel more awake and chased the sleepiness away once and for all.
Putting on a shirt and jeans, she trudged into the kitchen, and when her eyes fell on the clock, she was shocked to see it was already past 1 pm. She had stayed in bed all morning. Thorne sat at the table with Maxwell, but when he saw her, he jumped up to pull her in for a hug.
“There you are, Valerie. I was worried about you,” he said, looking her over to check if she was alright. When he found nothing wrong, he nodded and sat back down.
“Hello, Thorne. I’m fine, don’t worry,” she answered, pointedly ignoring Maxwell’s stern gaze resting on her. He was well aware of the fact that she still hadn’t told him why she had fainted, and it irked him. Ignoring him for now, she turned on the coffee machine, readying three cups for them.