Hell's Redemption- The Complete Series Boxset

by Grace McGinty

  There were a few more tears and a round of goodbyes before we got to the end of the Martin’s driveway.

  We walked back to the guys in the Explorer a half a block away and the silence in the car was tense. “Was she happy?” Tolliver asked as I slid into the seat beside him, Sam bracketing me in.

  “She was ecstatic. She said to thank you for your generosity. You did a good thing today, Tolliver. I’m proud of you.”

  “She made me want to cry,” Sam said. “And I’m not really sure, but I don’t think Ninjas cry.”

  I reached out and grabbed Sam’s hand too, as Ri pulled out onto the street. “Do you think she will tell the world, even though we kind of asked her not to?”

  “Of course she will tell. I’d be surprised if she isn't already on Facebook updating her status,” Tolliver sighed. “It’s okay. The car was a company car, and it is almost impossible to trace the company back to us.”

  It was eleven by the time we all piled back into the apartment, and I was exhausted. I kissed everyone on the cheek and stumbled back to my apartment. Lux was standing outside my door, leaning against the door jamb, looking impossibly sexy.

  “I’ve missed you.” His quiet voice, with its low gravelly growl, sent shivers down my spine. “I’m tired, but I want to hold you. Can I stay with you tonight?”

  I leaned in and kissed his lips sweetly. “You never have to ask.” I took his calloused hand, which was sporting a fresh scrape across his knuckles, and wrapped it in mine.

  There were definitely feelings that began with the letter L developing, and the thought scared the hell out of me.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Friday rolled around too fast.

  I'd spent most of the week with Oz, Tolliver and Sam, working out ways to spend Tolliver's money. Tolliver had been correct when he said Letitia Martin wouldn't be able to help telling social media about her late night visitors, and by the next morning we were trending, and two days after that we were a viral sensation and had been picked up by news stations across the country. They had dubbed Sam ‘The Ninja Robin Hood’ though I thought that was incredibly cheesy. We had researched different charities, dropping tens of thousands all over the place, spreading the wealth country wide by anonymous donation, signing it only “Ninja Robin Hood.” Cheesy or not, we had to own it.

  We hadn't done another home visit, but Oz had been researching worthy recipients whenever he wasn’t making play-throughs for Twitch, whatever that was.

  Tolliver was actually taking it rather well, and had fallen into the role of philanthropic benefactor without too much trouble. Suspiciously easily. The businesses were still turning over a steady profit, and we were having a hard time spending the money faster than he made it. We were going to have to think of a longer term option sooner rather than later.

  In fact, I'd rather be doing anything than what I had to do right now.

  Eli had booked us a conference with two of my specialists.

  I knew it was bad. It had to be. Because Eli wasn't just busy with work, like I'd thought, he'd been actively avoiding me. Subtly turning in the opposite direction if he saw me coming down the hall, leaving after a short, polite moment if I entered an apartment he was already in. I knew it wasn’t because he didn’t like me; hell when he did look at me there was such longing on his face that it was painful to see.

  This only left one scenario. He'd received the results to the tests he'd ran, and they were bad. He must have said something to the guys at some point during the week, because while they were all extremely affectionate until I had the beginnings of a permanent beard rash, they never pushed to go further than second base, not since my night with Oz.

  Speaking of Oz, he was pacing a circuit of the waiting room again. I was beginning to miss the old Oz, who laid down on any surface he could find. Pacing Oz made me nervous. Eli was already in the conference room discussing my case with the specialists, though even he had seemed reluctant to leave me. The rest of the guys had wanted to come too, but I put my foot down. My soul knew that this wasn’t going to go well, and I would spare them the sucker punch of bad news if I could. I was even making Oz stay in the waiting room.

  The phone rang on the receptionist’s desk, and she motioned to me.

  “You may go in now.”

  I kissed Oz’s head and opened the heavy glass door to the conference room. I took the seat next to Eli, across from Dr Yao and Dr Herstein.

  Dr Yao smiled. “It's good to see you again, Arcadia. How are you feeling?”

  I smiled. “I feel good. Alive.”

  The muscle in Eli’s jaw ticked.

  Even Dr Yao shuffled some papers in front of her uncomfortably. “We’ve reviewed your tests with Dr August, and it appears that the Hodgkin’s has returned. Unfortunately, this definitely removes you from the transplant list, and makes surgery unviable. However, if we get the lymphoma back into remission, there is an experimental procedure we can undertake that might prolong the viability of your current heart.”

  My current heart. She said it as though it was a phone service provider or something. Like it was something that wasn’t an essential part of me, even if it was failing. My hands began to shake as my heart pumped harder and I moved them to my lap.

  Eli slid his hand into mine under the table and squeezed tightly, though his face maintained an air of cool professionalism.

  Dr Yao was still speaking, and I tuned back into her words. “I suggest you start the chemotherapy again immediately. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that days could mean the difference in this kind of situation.”

  I shook my head. “No. I will start next week. I have somewhere I have to be this weekend, and it isn’t hugging my toilet bowl. I will start them on Monday. I don’t think a couple of extra days are really going to make a difference.

  And it wouldn’t. What everyone in the room knew but no one was saying, was that the chances of the lymphoma going back into remission were slim. For it to go back into remission for long enough that I could build my strength back up for open heart surgery before I died was an impossibility.

  They were handing me a death notice.

  The meeting went on, but I didn't hear much more. Just the same usual jargon of doses and the best anti-nausea drugs, so on and so forth. I trusted Eli to tell me the important things.

  He looked devastated. Determined, but he was a scientist deep down. He knew that statistics game.

  What felt like seconds and an eternity later, I was shaking hands with the specialists, and walking in a daze back to the waiting room. I hadn't registered a word Dr Herstein had said.

  Eli had one hand under my elbow, as if he was worried I would drop dead right there on the conference room floor. He handed me off to Oz, whispering something in his ear, and Oz’s face went white. But his jaw tensed, and he pulled me into his arms.

  “Let's go get some ice cream. We’ll binge watch Game of Thrones, and tomorrow we will deal with it,” he said against my hair, his words strangled.

  He drove me straight home, despite the promise of ice cream, though maybe he stopped and I just missed it. When we pulled into the garage, Lux was there. He came around to my door and opened it, gently unbelting me and pulling me into his arm, cradling me against his chest like a child. Like he had so many other times already. Big, strong Lux; my savior.

  Then I cried. Huge rolling sobs so like the ones that Letitia Martin had done only days earlier, but with a completely different feeling behind it.

  He carried me to the elevator, whispering to me promises that neither he nor the devil could keep. We arrived in Oz’s living room, and all five of the other guys were there. Even Eli had beaten us home. He must have driven as if the very hounds of hell were chasing him. Which they just might be now. If I died before they were redeemed, they would all go back to hell, except maybe Sam and Tolliver. I would have to work twice as hard to ensure that at least they were redeemed.

  “I’m sorry,” I sniffled, and Lux grunted. I assumed
it meant, “Don’t be stupid you have nothing to be sorry for,” in Lux speak.

  He laid me down on the couch, like Snow White and her seven sins, and the guys surrounded me immediately. So unlike the first time, where they all stood on the periphery, unsure of me and my intentions. Now I had developed a relationship with all of them, selfishly, and I was going to hurt every single one of them. Watching someone die was not pleasant. It was raw and brutal.

  “What if I run out of time, what if I don’t redeem you all?” I sobbed.

  Tolliver stroked the hair from my sticky face. “Hey, don’t worry about that. You need to concentrate on you. We will figure out the rest.”

  “Why aren't you starting your chemo until Monday?” Lux asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to start immediately?”

  I guess Eli had told them all the basics already. I couldn't begrudge him that. It wasn’t just my life on the line. If I died, we were all dead.

  “I want to go to your fight.”

  Lux’s jaw tensed, but he just nodded. “Okay.”

  Oz clapped his hands together loudly. “Okay lady and gentlemen. It isn't a pity party unless there's cake and ice cream. Fortunately for you all, I have ice cream cake in my icebox. Val, could you get it out to thaw a little, maybe grab some plates? Ri, can you please grab the fluffy afghan from the end of the bed for Cady. I am putting on Game of Thrones. Season one, episode one, so no spoilers, okay?” He sat down beside me and grabbed the remote of one of his consoles, hitting play.

  Eli sat beside me and Tolliver beside him until four of us were jammed on Oz’s couch. Oz grabbed a throw pillow from the floor and placed it on his lap, swinging me around so I was lying across the three of them.

  Lux sat in front of the couch, so he could rest his head back against my hip. Ri sat beside him, as did Sam. They were all close enough that if they wanted to, they could reach back a few inches and touch me. I could sense their need for reassurance.

  Valery returned with bowls and ice cream. “You need a bigger couch, Oz.” He grabbed a bean bag and pulled it closer. Close enough that when I reached out my fingers, they brushed his cheek.

  I felt instantly better surrounded by them. I hadn’t lied to Dr Yeo. I was feeling healthier since I met them, despite actually getting sicker apparently. Something about them energized me, made me feel as if life was trying to burst from my chest. They healed me, spiritually. I would have to thank them for that. Not now though. That would sound too much like giving up.

  Somewhere in the first few episodes, after Sean Bean got his head chopped off, while Oz stroked my hair and Tolliver rubbed my feet, I fell asleep.

  I awoke to the sound of Tolliver and Eli arguing.

  “There has to be something, Eli. Anything. I don’t care what it costs, or how illegal it is, find a way to save her. Is your medical license really worth more than her life?”

  Eli growled. Actually, physically growled. I felt the rumble of it against my body. “Don’t be an asshole. It's not that and you know it. I would give up my license in a minute if it would save her. A heartbeat. But her specialists are the best in their fields. If she died because we rushed her into some back alley surgery that her body wasn’t prepared for, could you live with her death? Her blood would literally be on my hands.”

  “She’s going to die anyway. You said as much yourself. She knows it too, if that desperately sad look in her eyes is anything to go by. That look fucking kills me. Tell me what we have to do to fix this?”

  “Pray.”

  I closed my eyes and forced myself to go back to sleep.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I woke the next morning with a renewed sense of purpose. It was time to double my efforts.

  I was in Oz's bed, pressed between him and Valery. I was pressed hard into Valery’s back, my cheek smooshed up against his warm muscles. Oz was spooned around me, his hand on my boob.

  God, I could get used to this.

  I waited for Ace’s inevitable smart ass comment about being the meat in a man sandwich, but nothing came.

  Ace?

  No answer. I began to panic.

  Ace? Are you there?

  I’m here, Arcadia.

  I let out a relieved sigh. She sounded… wrong. Not snarky, or petulant, or perverted, which were her usual defaults. She sounded subdued. It was wrong on a fundamental level.

  Then it hit me. If I died, she would die with me. No getting her body back, no being with Luc ever again. Would her soul just cease to exist? If I died, would Ace no longer be present in the fabric of the world. The panic set in all over again.

  I’m going to try and hold on, Ace. For you. I will redeem the guys, because I have feelings for them that are confusing, and I think it might be what love feels like. But I know I love you. You are with me always. A part of my soul. I will carry a little piece of you always.

  A small sigh echoed around my head. It sounded defeated despite her next words. And I you. I am not worried, Arcadia. I have faith in very few things in this world. But I have faith that you will do everything possible to save those you love, even to the detriment to yourself. There was a long pause. Now I think you should wake these guys up and have a crazy threesome, because life is short. Actually, get the others in here and make it an orgy. A girl hasn’t lived until she's had at least one orgy. Take it from me.

  My face flamed red at the thought. Other parts of me flamed as well. I willed my vagina to calm itself. I had a busy day that didn’t start with me having sex with two guys.

  Maybe.

  I kissed Valery’s spine, sighing at the way the muscles flexed under my lips as he shifted around to look at me with hooded, sleepy eyes.

  “Good morning, Beautiful.”

  He pressed against my front, and he leaned forward to kiss me softly. It was a testament to my raging lust that I didn't even worry about having morning breath. I kissed him back.

  I could feel Oz’s morning wood pressed against my ass, his hand squeezing my breast as he slowly woke.

  Valery kissed the corner of my mouth. “The Doc has ordered that you do nothing more strenuous than lift a book until you start your chemo. However, I know a very relaxing way to wake up in the morning.” He kissed down my jaw, down to my collarbone, then slid is tongue along the hollow of my throat.

  “Just what is going on here?” Oz purred in my ear.

  “I hear they call this the French Alarm Clock.” I laughed, even as Valery sucked a nipple into his mouth.

  Oz stroked down under my breasts, to my navel.

  “Get to it dude. I’ll handle the top half,” Oz said, rolling me onto my back, pulling my tank top over my head. “Remember, go easy though. No undue strain on her heart.” Then he kissed me. A slow, languid, delicious kiss that promised pleasure so good my toes would curl.

  Valery had reached my hipbones, nipping one with his teeth and then tracing his tongue down the line of my leg. He shifted between my thighs, pushing them gently apart. He peeled my sensible cotton underwear down my legs and threw them over his shoulder. They landed on Oz's lightsaber lamp. Score one for the Sith.

  Then he placed his head between my thighs and his breath tickled its way across my core.

  Cosmo lied to me. It told me men didn't like giving head. My guys had practically made it the national sport, and damn they were good at it.

  He ran his hands down my thighs, placing one leg over his shoulder and putting a large hand under my butt to angle me to his mouth.

  Oz broke our kiss and looked down, and so did I. Valery's intense eyes never broke contact with mine as he lowered his mouth to my pussy and swirled his tongue around my clit with expert ease. I sucked in air as my pussy clenched.

  Oz chuckled. “Bon appetit, man.”

  I felt Valery smile, then he sucked my clit into his mouth. “Oh god.”

  “Not today. That's the sin of Gluttony for you, he really knows how to eat,” Oz laughed at his own joke, and then his eyes fell to my breasts. “You have the greatest boobs I’
ve ever held.” He slid his hands up to cup my breasts, his thumb coming out to rub over my nipple until it peaked at his attention.

  Then he lowered his mouth and bit it, hard. I bucked against him, and he spread one large hand against my hip to hold me still as he lapped at the hurt.

  Valery flicked his tongue against my clit again before sliding his mouth down my slit and thrusting his long clever tongue into my aching hole.

  He swirled and stroked while Oz did the same on my nipples, and I was a mewling, panting mess of need. Valery moved back to my clit and slid a finger into my pussy, then another, filling me slowly, stroking as if he already knew each and every one of my hot buttons.

  “Oh, oh.”

  I moaned over and over again. Valery slid out his finger, moving it down the crease to my ass, using my own juices to moisten the ring. I tensed, but Valery looked up, meeting my eyes.

  “You will like this, Ma Cherie. I promise.” Then he went back to worshipping my pussy with his tongue, until I was nothing but a throbbing ball of pleasure.

  “I'm going to come,” I moaned. They double their efforts, Oz pinching and suckling my nipples as I ground my slit into Valery's face, wanting, needing release.

  Then Oz sucked my nipple hard into his mouth, pinching the other one, and Valery pressed hard into my clit with his tongue as he forced his finger into my ass. I thought my body was going to fly apart.

  Valery moved his finger slightly, the odd new pleasure tipping me over the edge.

  I screamed as the waves of pleasure hit me, slamming my thighs on either side of Valery’s head, my hand wrapped tightly in Oz’s hair.

  I didn't loosen my hold on either of them until the final pulses of pleasure left me, and I flopped back against the bed.

  “Fuck,” I panted. Oz was looking down at me, a massive grin on his face. God, he was cute. “High five?” I half-heartedly held up my hand for a slap.

  Oz laughed and kissed me. “You are the most beautiful, adorable woman I have ever met, Arcadia Jones.” But he still gave me a high five.