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“Yes, Angel, you are. In pure, unadulterated
pleasure.”

Chapter 22

After the marathon of sex, they should have
passed out but they didn’t. It actually took them forever to get to
sleep that night, and the dream she had did nothing to help with
the churning in her stomach. That night the dream was intense.

Walking slowly down the center aisle in an
old dilapidated church, she ran her hands along the pews. The
sanctuary had the most exquisite stained glass windows. Which
seemed ironic to her that each window was a different scene of
angels carrying out a job for Satan. At the altar, she rammed into
a casket covered with cobwebs. She opened the lid. The magnitude of
its weight, strained not only her arms, but also her heart. Nothing
prepared her for what she found, her mom laying there lifeless. She
stumbled backwards as the scars started appearing. A surge of
jumbled up feelings singed her as her mom’s beautiful body became
bloody and broken. She screamed out, it was suddenly her body in
the casket. She looked at herself laying there and felt at peace.
When a fire spontaneously started to slowly engulf the casket, her
body, and her mind. The church was filled with Larry’s menacing
laughter as Julie was consumed in flames.

Sitting straight up in the bed, Julie’s hands
went immediately to her neck as her mind was bombard with way too
many thoughts. Her first thought was that the dream was not a
fragment of her subconscious, but one of the vast tricks that
Trucker and his kind were capable of. The second thought
was if Larry was near. The thoughts kept coming.
Does Larry feed? Could he enter her thoughts? Would he really use
magic on her with Trucker so close? These were all questions that
she should’ve thought of before then. But somewhere deep down, she
hadn’t really wanted to know what Larry was capable of
doing.
She slipped her fingers around her neck. A bite was
nowhere to be felt. Trucker snored, signaling that he was fast
asleep. She leaped toward him and pulled at his shirt. She felt his
skin and it was cool, soothing the fire in her. His eyes fluttered
open. He shifted bringing his face within a breath of hers. Julie’s
eyes immediately shut as his scent washed over her. He kissed the
corner of her lip.

“As much as I love getting woke up by you,
my love, I’m smart enough to know something is wrong.”

“Just had a bad dream.” She tucked her hands
under her cheek and frowned.

“Care to share?” He mimicked her pose, even
down to the pout.

“Have you ever had a feeling something bad
was going to happen?”

“No, demons don’t have feelings.”

“Well, humans do. And I thought you had
feelings for me?”

“I have so much more than feelings for you.
Now back on the subject. What’s bothering you?”

“Promise me, that no matter what happens you
will never leave me. I can lose anything but you.”

“What do you think is going to happen?”

“My own personal hell, which the only thing
that can evoke that is losing you.”

“Well, lucky for you, I’m here and you can’t
get rid of me. Baby, that’s not what’s worrying you is it?”

“Sleep and hold me.” She curled up close to
him.

“Holding you is my all-time favorite, but I
won’t let this go,” he whispered and crushed her against him.

They laid there for hours. She tried to
remember what led her to that moment. The rhythm of his most recent
snoring was relaxing. Even sound asleep, his lips graced her
forehead and he mumbled, ‘I love you, Angel.’ That simple and
involuntary gestured wiped all fear and dread the dream left her
with away. Sleeping, there was not a trace of the evil inside of
him, just the sweet, kind soul that her heart couldn’t live
without. She started drifting in and out of sleep, when she heard
the phone going off. She rolled out of Trucker’s arm to grab it. It
was a text from her mom.

My car is at the shop and

Dad had to go in early

can you PLEASE carry me

to work. Sorry

to bother you.

Of course I will:)

She looked over her shoulder at Trucker who
was sleeping peacefully. She decided not to wake him. It would take
no more than an hour to run there and come back, and he had another
hour or two of sleep left in him. She wrote out a note, left it by
his pillow, and kissed his cheek.

“I love you, never forget it,” she whispered
against his ear.

After throwing on some old clothes, she went
downstairs to find her mother, waiting.

“Thank you, sweetie, I hate to ask you to do
this, but dad got called in early,” Ellen said when Julie hit the
bottom step.

“No biggie, it’ll give us some time
together,” Julie said and slipped on Trucker’s leather jacket.

As they headed out the door, a sudden dread
came over her and it sounded like Gene warning her not to go. She
thought it was strange, but figured it was left over fears from her
dream. She grabbed the keys off the hook by the front door, and
glanced back at her living room, almost scared she would never see
it again.

Julie’s old reliable truck was sturdy, but
didn’t go over fifty without getting bogged down. She caught
herself nodding off. The lack of sleep and winding roads leading
out of town did nothing to help. Ellen was busy with paperwork so
talking was pretty much out. Julie turned up the radio in an
attempt to wake up, but caught herself irritated at the lousy
reception the old truck was getting. She leaned forward to smack
the dashboard one more time in hopes of picking up a decent radio
station; when she heard the squealing, her mom screaming, and
looked up in time to see a large eighteen-wheeler coming directly
toward them. It slammed into the side of the truck causing it to
start rolling over and over. The seat belt cut into Julie’s chest
as her body was thrust forcibly around the cab. It all happened in
slow motion and for once Julie wished for Trucker’s neck-breaking
speed. Julie’s head bashed against the dashboard as Ellen’s screams
echoed in her ears. The glass shattered into tiny shards as they
danced around her body before the car came to a sudden stop. The
pain slammed her as she reached up to feel her hair coated in
blood.

She opened her eyes to find a shocking scene
around her. The glimmering shards of glass were sprinkled
throughout the truck.

"Mom?" Julie screamed, praying that she would
respond.

With all that was left in her, Julie lurched
toward Ellen and shook her. Ellen’s eyes were clamped shut and her
mouth was hanging open. A cold chill race down her spine. The
thought of her mom lying there dying,
‘my own personal hell on
earth
.' A warm stream of blood trickle down her face. Suddenly,
she was encased in a pair of arms. They lifted her from the truck
and shoved her against a ditch bank as the truck exploded in one
large fireball.

“Lay still helps on the way, beautiful.”

“Jake,” Julie whispered.

Jake was there whispering in her ear. He held
her as she laid there unable to move. She could hear the faint cry
of sirens in the distant and people crowding around the violent
scene. She glanced around for her mom then realized she was in the
ball of fire that was once her truck.

“No,” she screamed. Jake softly kissed her
cheek as everything went black.

*******

Trucker was in need of a bath and shave but
he couldn’t leave. How could he walk away when Julie needed him the
most? So there he sat in the ICU waiting room trying not to turn,
kill the family that was way too-loud and having too-much fun,
trying to gulp down a hamburger his mom had brought him, and gather
his words.

My journal, my old faithful
crutch, I’m back. It’s been weeks since I needed you. I need you
now, to make sense of my baffled feelings. My bright, beautiful sun
has set and my blue skies have faded away. I feel like I’ve fallen
into a never ending darkness. As bad as the pain is with the death
of her mother, the pain would have been horrendous if I would have
lost her. So I’m thankful Jake was watching, because I couldn’t
imagine my life without her. My life is still breathing. She is
laying in that horrible hospital bed, but she’s still here. It was
too late for her mom. There was nothing Jake could do. I don’t know
how we are going to tell her about her mom. If her grief is
anywhere near Dan’s, I don’t know if I can handle it. Dan is in
complete depression. I’ve not left once. My only trip out of this
miserable hospital after I got that godforsaken phone call was with
him. The hardest thing I ever witness was watching the only man who
has ever treated me like a true son decide
what
to do with the once beautiful body of his one true love. It was
already burnt beyond recognition, so he decided to cremate her.
That way Julie could attend the service when she was better. I
could only imagine if it had been my Julie who had perished that
day. Every time I have that thought my other side grows stronger.
If I ever see the driver who drove into Julie’s truck, I will kill
him before anyone even turns around. As much pleasure as those
thoughts bring me, I have to forget them. So I can stay human, stay
good to get Julie well. My senses are going haywire. Jake told me
he would take care of her. He is feeding her my blood. He has
already saved her life. I just want her whole again. I can handle
anything, but her hurting. Truck

Trucker put his journal away knowing he had
thirty minutes until he could see her again.

*******

Julie came too with bright lights glaring in
her face, almost blinding her. She heard an agonizing beeping sound
close by. Her arms were all twisted up with clear tubes, tape
pulled at her skin, her head was propped on a hard, lumpy, pillow.
Jake crossed her mind and she wondered if she had died. The
horrendous pain in her head told her different. If she was dead;
she was in hell, but this was an earthly pain not an eternal one.
She heard voices around her, but none she knew. It hurt to move but
she managed to get one word out, “Jake.”

“Hey, sweetie.”

She worked to get her swollen eyes open
enough to see and there stood Jake, smiling down at her.

“Don’t talk because they’ll think you’re
crazy. See only you can see and hear me.” He lightly squeezed her
hand. “Lucky thing.”

She tried to smile but all the bandages on
her face prevented it.

“You’re in the ICU after a nasty wreck. It’s
almost visiting hours, but Truck hasn’t let me leave your side.” He
stroked her hair. “I’m going to make it better, sweetie.”

She heard footsteps and turn to see a nurse
come in the room.

“Hallelujah, someone finally woke up. I’m
Teddy. I need to get your vitals,” the nurse said in a
compassionate voice.

“What . . . day?” Julie worked to get out.
She hated feeling so disoriented.

“It’s Thursday, you’ve been out for eight
days now. I know two people who are going to be thrilled to finally
see those beautiful eyes. I’ll get your vitals and then call them
on up.” Teddy was a breath of fresh air. She was a plump little
lady that sung show tunes the whole time she was working on
Julie.

Julie felt the blood pressure cup get tight
on her arm. The nurse worked over her, checking the many bandages
on her body. Julie peered off in the corner and watched as Jake
mimicked the nurse. If the pain wasn’t so severe she would have
laughed.

“I’ll go call up your family,” Teddy said as
she left the room.

Jake was at Julie’s side, holding her hand.
The words of the nurse came back to her,
‘I’ll go call up your
family. I know two people who are going to be thrilled to finally
see those beautiful eyes.’
Just two people, her mom and dad.
Julie felt the tears wail up in her eyes, no Trucker. She figured
it was all too much for him. He still cared, he had Jake there. But
she didn’t want Jake, she wanted Trucker. She squeezed her eyes
tightly together, wishing the blackness would take her over again.
She prayed that this was all a bad dream.

“Angel,” Trucker whispered in her ear, and
graced his warm lips over her chin. Maybe it was a bad dream. She
was going to open her eyes and be in her room, snuggling in his
arms. Her eyes flung open. Trucker was there, but he was not in her
room. He was standing there in that hideous hospital room looking
every bit the angel. How could anyone fall for his human facade was
beyond her? A true angel with wings spread would seem less obvious
then he did at that moment. Seeing him standing over her, looking
down with such worry and concern made the pain almost fade
away.

Someone nudged her foot. “Hey, baby
girl.”

She moved her eyes to see her dad at the foot
of the bed. He appeared to have aged twenty years; his eyes were
almost swollen shut from crying.

“Hey,” she uttered not much over a
whisper.

Julie felt Trucker’s finger slide down her
cheek. She pulled at her face trying to tear off the bandages so
she could smile at them. Trucker’s hands restrained her.

“Be careful before you tear your stitches
out, love,” Trucker said.

“I . . . love,” was all she could say.

“We love you too, baby,” Trucker said and sat
down on the bed beside her while Dan leaned against the rail of the
bed, on the other side.

She glanced around for her mom, who wasn’t
there. She closed her eyes as her vision was consumed in flames.
Ellen was in the truck. She had burned alive. Julie started
thrashing in pain, the pain from her wounds and the pain from her
memories. She heard Dan call for the nurse and felt Trucker reach
for her with his hot hands. The feeling of hands pulling her from
the truck popped in her mind. She opened her eyes and they met
Trucker’s. “Jake.”