Free Grim Love - A Novella by Grae Lily Page A

like
this one took the whole brunt of the car.”
    Evangeline glared at the driver. “The brakes
are bad.” Tears streamed down his cheeks. “I couldn’t do anything.
I only passed my test last week and didn’t know what to do. I'm so
sorry. Is he going to be okay? Oh, man. I just panicked and… I’m so
sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”
    “Get out of the way. Sit down over there.”
Calling out to bystanders, “We need help over here. We have to get
this car off of him. Somebody help us lift!”
    Lucius sat with Gabriel, watching Evangeline
as she watched over Jasper. His spirit fought for two weeks after
the crash. Lucius lost all hope that Jasper would survive. Gabriel
kept telling him to wait and see. Considering the circumstances,
waiting wasn't going to be easy for anyone. They couldn't go to the
hospital and force Jasper to wake up no matter how tempting the
thought may have been. With Evangeline's focus on Jasper, that
meant Lucius had to send Kane and Brick to jobs meant for her.
Lucius sighed. “I want it to be over.”
    “So does she, and I think it will be soon.”
Gabriel smiled. “I'm beginning to think the same thing you were –
that he wasn’t going to make it, but today’s the day. He’ll wake up
in about an hour.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “You have powers that I don’t and I have
powers that you don’t. One of those is knowing when someone like
him is going to wake up. He’s another special one, Lucius. I might
just have to give him a contract when he dies, although that isn’t
going to happen any time soon. Send Evangeline to my office when
she comes back. She needs to sign my contract and, then, she’ll be
in charge of making sure he survives whatever it is that tries to
kill him next.” Gabriel stood, shaking his head. “That boy hasn’t
had much luck, but that should all change now that he has her there
to look out for him.”
    As Lucius continued to watch, he came to
realize how long an hour could be when you were waiting for
something to happen. He brushed a hand through his hair, keeping
his eye on the clock in Jasper’s room, telling the hour to hurry up
and finish. It did, but not soon enough. It felt like forever, and
Lucius should know since he’d been in the afterlife forever.
Jasper’s eyes opened and he found himself staring at the girl he
loved.
    “Evie?”
    “Two weeks, I’ve been waiting for you to wake
up.” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she took hold of his hand.
She didn't dare to do anything more in case she dislodged one of
the many tubes that were attached to him. “Do you have any idea how
long two weeks is?”
    “You’re not supposed to be here.”
    “Jasper, I’m your guardian.” She bit her lip.
“Well, I'll be when I’ve signed a contract with Gabriel because you
survived. Your spirit's strong enough to pull you through and now
I’m going to be looking out for you for the rest of your life.”
    “Okay, love, do me a favor and start at the
beginning. Last time I saw you, Lucius told me I'd die if you
didn't leave, and now you’re here sitting next to my hospital bed,
telling me that you’re my guardian. I’m a mess. I'm tired. I hurt
like hell, so you’re going to have to go slow for me, please. As
wonderful as seeing you is right now, I’d come to terms with it
never happening again until I died. I'm confused an...” His voice
trailed off as he fell back asleep.

Chapter 8
    Being a guardian turned out to be very
different from being a reaper and Evangeline found herself much
happier than she thought she could be as she balanced the two jobs
along with her relationship with Jasper. Lucius sent her to simple
reapings as a reaper while working with Gabriel on some of the more
difficult ones to see whether anyone might pull through. If they
did, they'd find themselves with a guardian. Evangeline would be
the only guardian in a relationship with the person she protected,
but seeing her made the others wonder if it