Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

Chapter Five
Hallie
I will get out of bed.
I will get out of bed.
I will get out of bed.
Instead, I burrow deeper into my protective blanket cocoon and squeeze my eyes shut. They’re
puffy and tired from not getting enough sleep last night. I suppose the crying didn’t help much, either.
If it were any other day, I would be kinder to myself. I would be gentle and practice selfcompassion.
I would remain curled up in this bed for the rest of the day if I needed to.
But it isn’t any other day. It’s Charity’s wedding day, and I have to get my shit together and show
up for her regardless of what happened last night.
As soon as last night begins to flit across my memory, I swat it away. There’s no time for that.
Running from my own memories gives me the shove I needed to get out of bed.
My bedroom is dark, just the way I like it. On a normal day, I would open the curtains now that
I’m awake and let the sun shine in. I would change into workout clothes, put my yoga mat down at the
foot of my bed, and get the day started right.
Today I head straight for the shower.
My hair is still damp from the one I took last night.
When I made my empty threats in Hell, I told him I wouldn’t, but I couldn’t climb into my own
bed and feel safe there if I still smelled him on my skin, felt the evidence of him inside me.
It was bad enough that his pushy bodyguard insisted on escorting me inside my apartment. I
didn’t want a strange man in my home, especially after being trapped in that dungeon with his boss,
but Hollis said those were his orders. When I told him I didn’t care about his orders and tried to shut
the door in his face, he stopped the door with one hand and followed me in anyway.
I didn’t have the energy to fight him any more than that.
Luckily, he didn’t prove as twisted as his employer. He escorted me inside, checking each room
as we walked in as if I were a princess under constant threat of danger and he the man tasked with
keeping me safe. It didn’t make much sense, but I was too exhausted and depleted to expend much
energy on it. I didn’t even wait for him to leave my apartment before shutting myself in my bathroom
to undress and scrub the remnants of Calvin Cutler off my body.
I dreaded leaving the bathroom, afraid the bodyguard might still be out there. But when I scraped