Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
“I mean… you might need my help. I better come,” Gabriel said with a tense expression as he opened the other door. To see him so frightened of breaking false rules broke Abaddon’s heart. But the boy would mend. Piece by piece, Abaddon would put him back together until the cracks were barely noticeable.
“Of course. I definitely need local knowledge,” Abaddon said before settling in the leather seat. His legs were longer than Rogers’, so he adjusted his position, but as soon as that was done, there was no point in stalling.
The world outside greeted them with the gray veil of rain, and while Abaddon was initially annoyed that the visibility wouldn’t be the greatest, it soon put a smile on his face because it meant they’d be harder to spot.
“There’s a guard at the gate, but he never really stopped any of the people who took us to town. They all have…” Gabriel opened the glove compartment and fumbled in it until he found a little plastic remote. “When you press this button close to the gate, it’ll just open.”
So not all technology was banned in this place.
A small smile spread Abaddon’s lips as he drove away from the grand building, past fields where the orphanage grew its own fruit and vegetables, and toward a narrow road through the woods that would lead them out of this insular place.
The heavy rain drummed on the car as if it longed to find fulfillment as a professional musician, and while its rhythm blurred the windshield, the wipers worked fast enough to give Abaddon a sense of where he was going.
Past the woodland dividing the orphanage from the outside world was a tall wall with a single gate. It opened at the command of the pilot in Gabriel’s hand, and the guard seated out of the rain, in a brightly lit room, didn’t even bother to look up from his book as they passed.
Gabriel released a sigh and squeezed Abaddon’s thigh just above the knee as soon as they were out of the man’s sight..
“Where to now?”
Abaddon wanted to say that he’d needed to consider it, but the perfect place to dump the body bounced into his mind the moment he thought about it. After all, God was on their side.
“I know a place,” he said and relaxed into the seat. He’d only feel more accomplished if Gabriel’s hand went higher up his thigh, but the boy would get all the time in the world to do that at his own pace.
6
GABRIEL
Gabriel had a sense of déjà vu as they watched Rogers’ car sink in the water reservoir. Just this morning, they’d witnessed Watson consumed by flames, and now the doctor would disappear underwater.
He tried to argue that any person who approached the reservoir would notice the presence of a large, pale car at the bottom, but as the bubbles of air escaped the sinking vehicle, it became clear that the algae growing in the artificial lake would keep it hidden with its misty green color.
Within one day, Gabriel’s life had been turned upside down by a man who claimed to be an angel. Every time Gabriel glanced at Abaddon, he believed it, and every time he averted his gaze, he had doubts. It was now late in the afternoon, and darkness was slowly settling around them, making it easier to imagine that the man next to him was in fact a celestial being sent to earth to protect him and punish his tormentors. His harmonious, muscular form was, without a doubt, heavenly despite the tattoos of strange eyes covering so much of the smooth skin. Gabriel felt he ought to be ashamed of his attraction to this otherworldly being who now wore human skin but then looked at Abaddon dressed in his clothes and bit back a smile. What was a baggy top on him, accentuated and hugged every muscle of Abaddon’s chest and biceps.
“You look good in my T-shirt.”
The angel pulled his shoe out of the muddy ground and glanced Gabriel’s way with his knee lifted high. “Is what you really want to say ‘you look good’?” he asked with a small smirk as the final air bubble popped on the surface of the reservoir, leaving it smooth as if the car nor the corpse had never been near it.
Gabriel had no idea how to navigate this strange new entanglement, or how to communicate with a man who seemed to like him back. They’d barely met, but didn’t disposing of bodies together shorten the span of time needed to form a close bond? Not to mention the dreamy things they’d shared under the shower.
He cleared his throat. “Suppose so. I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“Do I look uncomfortable?” Abaddon asked and reached into his pocket to pull out Rogers’ wallet.