ForsakingEternity Read Online Free

pointed his head forward and stared at the traffic
clogging the busy streets.
    “Would you look at me?”
    He tried. He truly did, but the act of turning his head and
meeting her eyes was more than he could handle. “Please, Maggie. Do not ask
what I cannot answer.”
    “Then tell me what you can answer. Why do you need money? Is
it part of some mission, or task, or whatever angels get sent to do?”
    “I have a date,” he blurted, unable to think of a more
dignified way to say it. His cheeks felt hot, hotter than could be blamed on
the sunshine.
    “A date?” She stared at him, her attention seeming to pierce
the side of his head as he kept his eyes firmly forward. The light changed and
the cars began to move in a sluggish procession. “You’re dating a human? I
didn’t expect that one.” She started the car and backed out of the parking
spot. “So what’s her name?”
    He kept his eyes focused on the cars moving around them
while his face grew hotter.
    “Adam.”
    She muttered a curse and the automobile lurched and slammed
to a halt as it hit a curb. “Okay. I really wasn’t expecting that. I thought
you weren’t into the boylove.”
    “I don’t know if I am.” Or if he wasn’t. He didn’t know what
this yearning was or why he suddenly saw men and wondered what it might be like
to touch them.
    A car horn honked and Maggie put the car in gear with
another curse. “You ran from Dom every time he tried to get close.”
    He wanted to deny it, but the words would not come. It was
true. He had fled. The physical arousal he’d felt in the arms of his friend
frightened him.
    “This attraction between males is frowned on in the Heavenly
Realm. The desire shamed me.”
    “You hurt him.”
    Ren’s eyes closed as an answering hurt sliced through his
own chest.
    “That shamed me even more.”
    A sad silence fell between them as she drove. Her
uncomprehending anger rolled over Ren in waves, pushing his guilt even further.
    He should not have come here. He should have visited a bank
closer to Adam. Instead he’d come to Maggie for the comfort of being with
someone familiar. The stupid, thoughtless action reopened a wound he’d thought
healed.
    Maggie didn’t utter a single word during the drive but her
anger with him was palpable. She pulled into a parking lot surrounded by trees,
giving them some respite from the heat of the sun. The excited squeals of
children playing rang from a nearby playground, but silence stretched out
painfully between the two of them.
    “When are you going to tell me about Adam?” she asked after
several minutes.
    “I do not know what to say about him.”
    “Where did you meet?”
    “I went to a coffeehouse in New Hampshire yesterday. He was
there.” Ren chose his words carefully, not wanting Maggie to know he’d
purposefully gone in search of a man. What would she think of him?
    “New Hampshire? Ren, that’s on the other side of the
country.”
    He cocked his head to one side. “Is his location a problem?”
    “No, of course not. I’d just assumed he was closer, I
guess.”
    Silence fell again, and the need to make amends grew.
    “Maggie, despite the initial misunderstandings between us, I
count you as a friend.”
    Her jaw dropped open and her eyes went wide. “Initial
misunderstandings? Ren, you were going to take me to Hell and feed me to
demons.”
    “Someone had to do it.” Dom certainly hadn’t been making any
move toward taking the woman where she belonged. He’d been too enamored with
the sweetness and purity he’d seen in her.
    She rolled her eyes at him. “Please.”
    He stared at her, baffled. “I was upholding the Law. I had
no choice. The Law is my duty, the core reason for my existence.”
    “I would have died!”
    “You were already dead.” She had fallen prey to demons, shot
and poisoned by humans under their control. Only Dominicus’ determination kept
her alive.
    Pain filled her face and she leaned back until there was as
much distance