by Kahlen Aymes
“Angel?” He’d whispered into the dark created in the daylight by the pulled blinds. “I love you. No matter what. I want you, no matter what.”
“I know,” she whispered back. Alex closed his eyes slowly, his arm tightening around her gently.
“I’ve never been so tormented. I was in so much agony; I lost my humanity for a while. I came in there prepared to kill all of them. It didn’t matter how many of them I had to face or what happened to me afterward. I’ve been in literal hell.”
Angel turned her head and kissed his chest, running her open mouth back and forth softly. It was arousing, but this wasn’t about sex, it was about love.
“I wanted to try to escape, but having Jillian with me made it more difficult. I didn’t think I’d be able to get away with her, and I would have made whatever sacrifices to keep her safe. I knew you’d come for us.”
Alex’s heart hammered beneath Angel’s ear. She could literally feel it beating, not just hear it thrumming. “Yes, Jillian’s involvement made it worse. That was part of the agony. I bet she was terrified. I know you said they didn’t hurt you, Angel, but I have to know. Did they… ”
“It didn’t come to that, Alex. They didn’t touch me like that.” Alex let out a breath, unaware he’d been holding it, when he finally heard the words he needed. “I promise, I’d tell you if they had.”
“I thought you might bury it inside of yourself to spare me. High-powered psychologist status notwithstanding.”
“It’s moot, now. I may have before, but we promised we wouldn’t have secrets.”
His chest rose beneath her cheek as he sucked in a big breath. “Thank God. When I heard that gunshot, I felt like the earth had opened up and swallowed me whole. Then, when you came down the stairs behind that fucker, as horrible as it was, you were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I was so grateful you were alive.” Alex’s voice shook with emotion, but a small laugh broke from his chest. “You leave me speechless. You’re so brave, and unlike anyone I’ve ever known. Never a dull moment.”
Angel sighed and closed her eyes, snuggling in, thankful she was back in Alex’s arms where she belonged. “I missed you.”
He pressed his lips to the damp hair on the top of her head. “Tell me about the horses.” Alex was finally relaxed, his muscles blissfully uncoiled after the prior ten days of hell. He could feel sleep drawing him in.
“I promised Bean we’d go to Will and Ben’s and ride the horses because her birthday got cancelled.”
“Okay,” Alex murmured. “We have to stay in the state anyway, so that works.” The truth was, staying in the state was playing well into Alex’s own plans to meet Angel’s father. Now, more than ever, he wanted to meet Joseph Hemming. Not only did he want his permission to ask Angel to marry him, he also needed his help to convince her that her career path was way too dangerous. It would be too much to ask that Angel would acquiesce to his wishes, but maybe with her father’s help, she would listen to reason.
“You’re going to stay with me?”
“Yes. It will be a while before I let you out of my sight.”
Angel smiled softly, love for this man overwhelming her heart. “I’ll suffer through.”
“You’re stuck with me,” Alex murmured, content.
Angel grinned wider, still with her eyes closed. “Good thing I like your peen, then.” Exhausted as she was, she couldn’t help but tease him. “Because, less than stellar peen has been a major deal-breaker for me in the past.”
Alex chuckled, reminded again why this woman owned him. She was beautiful, brave, smart as a fucking whip, and funnier than hell. He kissed the top of Angel’s head and pulled her closer. “At least, I’ve graduated from ‘man banana’”
Angel giggled against his chest, her fingers gliding over the hard muscles and smooth skin.
His small laugh came out as a sigh. “You are so goddamned perfect.”
18
The Plan
Kyle was flying back to Chicago; Alex and Angel had gone to the hospital to see Cole one last time. He was doing well, though he was feeling guilty about losing Angel and Jillian.
“You got shot, Cole. Seriously,” Angel scoffed, grabbing his hand. “Why didn’t I hear the shot?”
“I didn’t hear it either. They had a silencer.”
“Oh.”
Alex filled Cole in about what went down. At least, he gave him the same story they’d told the police. Alex would tell him everything when they were both back in Chicago.
“Looks like I’m out of a job,” Cole smiled up at his younger brother.
“I told you, we’ll figure it out. With Bancroft gone, we’ll have some restructuring to do. You’ve done a great job.”
Becca lingered with Jillian in the waiting room until Angel and Alex left the room, then she went to say goodbye to Cole. Angel sensed something brewing there, and Alex looked pointedly at Angel when Becca breezed past them in the hospital hallway and into Cole’s room.
“Will we be waiting long, do you think?”
Alex shrugged, looking fresh and happy despite the bruise on his temple. His jaw was clean and smooth, and he smelled delicious. He was dressed in designer jeans and an expensive Ralph Lauren sweatshirt.
“We’re going to ride horses and do farm shit. Why are you dressed up?” Angel grinned, and he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to the side of his body.
Alex laughed softly. “I borrowed the sweatshirt from my dad. He doesn’t own anything without a label.”
“Ugh,” Angel let out an exaggerated groan. Angel had on jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt layered under her black hoodie with her coat over her arm. Her thick locks were pulled up into a high ponytail, and her Gucci sunglasses were propped on top of her head.
Alex flicked her sunglasses. “What’s that? Those wouldn’t be Gucci, would they?” he goaded.
“Yes, asshole. They are Gucci. A birthday gift from a patient.”
“Mmm. Figures.” She did have nice clothes; her car and apartment were the only extravagances he was aware of. The clothes were necessary for her job, and the apartment’s location was practical for the same reason. She didn’t waste money on frivolous things. They’d be disposing of the apartment soon, he hoped, and he was set on having another discussion about her job. “Speaking of birthdays; mine is coming up before Christmas. I’d like to take you out to dinner.”
She looked up at him as they walked into the main floor waiting room where they’d agreed to meet Becca when she was finished saying goodbye to Cole. “Won’t your parents want to spend the evening with you? We can all—”
Alex sat down and pulled Angel onto his lap, not giving a damn if anyone was watching. “They’ve had me for thirty-two birthdays. I want it to be you and me. Alone.”
Angel’s arm was around his shoulder, and his was clamped around the back of her hips as she sat in his lap. His eyes were serious as he looked up at her, so she didn’t tease him again. “Okay.”
He nodded and squeezed her hip and pulled on her arm until her mouth landed on his in a brief kiss. “Good.”
Alex and Angel were still together, talking intimately, two of their hands threaded together, when Becca came out of the elevators, holding Jillian’s hand, walking slowly to match her daughter’s short gait. When her eyes landed on the couple, she rolled her eyes. “Get a room, why don’t cha?” she spouted off, happiness lighting up her face. She was dressed similar to Angel, and Jillian was all decked out in jeans and a sweater.
“Get a room ald ready!” Jillian repeated her mother’s words as best she could. A sixty-ish woman sitting to Alex’s left laughed, and Angel’s brow shot up as she jumped up from Alex’s lap and bent to scoop the toddler up, both of them holding back laughter.
She put a hand to the front of her shirt. “Mommy meant let’s vrroooom, already. In Alex’s fast car.” She looked pointedly at Becca. “Right, Becs?”
“Oh, yeah.” She pursed her lips and nodded wryly. “Yeah
, right,” she scoffed.
Kyle was taking a cab to the airport, and they’d said their goodbyes in the lobby before coming to the hospital. When they all piled into Alex’s Audi, they took off for Joplin. Angel had promised Jillian, and she was anxious to see her dad. Alex seemed anxious to meet him as well, and it was to be expected. She’d met his entire family, so it was only natural for him to want to get to know hers. Her father was all she had, besides Will and Ben, so this would be good.
Alex inhaled deeply, and Angel glanced over at his strong profile. He had a nasty bruise and cut on his temple, held together by a butterfly bandage. Her own face was showing signs of abuse, her black eye beginning to turn an ugly yellowish-green, and the cheek on that same side was still swollen and bruised. They had been very lucky.
He seemed very contemplative. “What are you thinking about?”
Alex glanced at her; his eyebrows rose at her question. “Hmm?”
Clearly, she’d roused him from his thoughts. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“Just looking forward to the time off. Without the stress of worrying for while.”
He reached for her hand, and she willingly gave it to him. He brought her hand to his thigh and pressed it into his denim-covered leg. Angel nodded. “Yes, me, too.”
Becca was helping Jillian play with the headphones of her new iPod Shuffle in the backseat. Alex had soft music playing in the luxurious car, and she relaxed.
Alex wanted to talk to her about moving in with him and her job but felt that was better done when they were alone. Instead, he asked her about Joplin and her father.
“Was your dad happy we were coming down, or does he feel invaded?”
“No, he wants to meet you.” Angel was turned enough so she could look at Alex but still hold his hand, her head resting against the black leather headrest. “I’ve told him about you.”
“Uh oh.”
Angel smiled. “Yes, what a horrible picture I’ve painted of you.”
He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “Anything I should know?”
“I can’t think of anything specific. I’m the only child; the only girl with these three men, and they’re all pretty protective.”
“As they should be. I respect that. Are you good at riding horses? Did you do it a lot?”
“There was one horse I particularly loved. Uncle Will bought her when I was seven, and I used to go home from school on the bus with Ben every night to ride her when the weather was nice, and many times when it wasn’t so nice. Dad had this thing where I had to eat so many fruits and vegetables every day, and I used to pack carrots and apples in my lunch then save them. I bet it was 300 pounds of apples I didn’t eat in those ten years.”
The landscape got less wooded as the drive progressed. It was still green and hilly, but less so as they got closer to Joplin.
“So you kept going home with Ben? Into high school?”
Angel knew what he was asking and she shrugged. “I didn’t have a ton of friends. I was the janitor’s daughter, and that sort of had a stigma attached to it. Like I wasn’t worthy of anyone. Ben never treated me that way.”
Alex glanced in the rearview mirror, and both Becca and Jillian were sleeping soundly. Jillian’s little head had lolled to one side, and her headphones were still stuck in her ears.
“Were you this gorgeous in high school?”
She looked at him and paused. “No. I was hideous. I had braces until I was almost seventeen, and flat-chested almost all the way through middle school, and no curves.”
“I’m happy that changed, then.”
Angel smiled. “I’m sure.”
“I was a nerd. Total bookworm. I was after the scholarships.”
“No singing, then?”
“Sure, I was in choir. And I had piano lessons from an old lady who lived three doors down from us. I used to go into the music room during lunch period and practice.”
“Well, you’re very talented, in any case.”
“Did you and Kyle talk about the band and plot how to get me back in the band?”
Alex glanced at her briefly, his mouth sliding up into the half-grin she loved. “No. Sorry, we were a little busy with other shit.”
“Good.”
Joplin was a moderately small town by Missouri standards and microscopic in comparison to Chicago. The population was about fifty thousand and not much happened there. There were some trucking firms and such, and a few factories; it had undergone some new developments in recent years and the high school had been completely rebuilt after that big tornado a few years earlier. From what her dad said, it was divided in two campuses now, and he was responsible for the janitorial staff at the ninth and tenth grade buildings.
As they drove through town toward the southwest side where Angel’s father’s house was located, Alex took it all in and tried to picture Angel’s youth, so different from his own. He was privileged, his father’s business already very profitable before he was even born. She’d had no mother. Her father struggled alone, she lived in this small town, and she could have gone to a community college and married a local man. That would have been easier. But, Angel would never choose easy. She’d accomplished so much.
“Are you familiar with that famous picture of Bonnie and Clyde? The one where he’s holding her on a car? Well, there are a couple; another where she’s got a gun pointed at him?”
“Yes, I think I saw it once in middle school,” Alex replied. She’d called them Bonnie and Clyde when Swanson was lying dead at their feet. Was that what she was thinking about?
“There is a story about them killing two cops in Joplin in 1933. Afterward, when they left in a hurry, they left some of their stuff, which included a camera, and the Joplin Globe developed the film.”
“Really? That’s really interesting.”
“My dad is really into history, so I’ve heard that story a hundred times. He’ll probably tell you, too. It’s about the only nefarious thing that ever happened here, and not nearly as dangerous as all of the shit that happens in Chicago. Turn left at the next light, then the third right.”
Alex followed Angel’s directions and made his way into a neighborhood of small houses that were probably built in the 1950s. A lot of wooden two stories with brick chimneys and huge trees lining the street. It was nice but modest.
“Should we stop at the store for groceries or anything? I don’t want to feel like we’re barging in.”
“He knows we’re coming. The house isn’t what you’re used to.”
“Angel, stop. I’m sure it’s great.”
Her mind told her Alex wouldn’t judge anyone based on money, but still, he came from money, and it was a little intimidating for him to see how humble the house was. Not that she was ashamed. She loved her father, and he had always provided for her, even if he’d had to go without himself.
“It’s the white house second from the corner. My dad did the best he could with what he had.”
“Honey, you don’t have to defend anything.” He parked the car and squeezed her hand. “Wake up, sleepy heads. We’re here,” Alex called into the backseat.
“What’d you do drive 200 miles per hour?” Becca asked. “It seems like we just left.”
Alex pulled the radar detector down and put it in the glove compartment. His guns and Kyle’s were safely stowed in the trunk. He’d have to get Kyle’s back to him when they were back in Chicago.
“Not quite,” Alex laughed.
Angel was getting out of the car quickly because her father came out onto the porch and down the stairs to meet them.
“Hi, Daddy!”
Alex watched her rush into the arms of a man in his late fifties. He was thin but with a small beer belly. He was dressed in his work uniform of light gray shirt atop dark grey pants.
“Hey, there’s my baby girl!” Joseph Hemming said happily as he enfolded Angel in a big bear hug and lifted her off the ground.
By now, Alex, Becca, and Jillian had alighted from
the car.
“Where’d are da horsies?” Jillian asked excitedly.
“Wait, sweetheart,” Becca murmured.
When Joe released Angel, she threaded her arm through his and turned with him toward the others. “Daddy, I’d like you to meet Alexander Avery.”
Alex walked forward and extended his hand.
“Hello, sir. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hello. I’m Joe Hemming.”
Angel was surprised by how fast her heart was beating. These were the two most important men in her life, and she desperately wanted them to adore each other.
“Angel’s told me a lot about you.”
“Well, if it’s bad, she’s lying,” Joe said with a smile, his eyes narrowed on the injuries on Alex’s and Angel’s faces. He looked at his daughter. “What happened to your faces?” His voice was laced with concern. “Were you in a car accident?”
“I’ll tell you about it tonight after we’re settled in. Okay?”
He eyed Angel for a minute, gauging her response. He looked at Alex. “Was it something to do with those shady bastards she prosecutes?”
Alex met Angel’s eyes, and he knew she wanted him to brush her father’s question off but would not begin his relationship with Angel’s father with a lie. Here was an ally in his argument. “Uh, yeah.”
Joseph Hemming frowned and shook his head. “Angel, we need to talk about this.”
“Later, Dad, please? Becca and Jillian are here.”
He didn’t look satisfied with his daughter’s answer, but manners overruled and he stepped around his daughter to hug Becca. “Hi, Beckie Boo.”
“Hi, Joe,” Becca answered and hugged him back.
“And who is this beautiful princess?” He bent toward Jillian and got down on his haunches. He’d met Becca before and Jillian, too, but when Jillian was only 20 months old, and she wouldn’t remember.
Jillian looked up at Becca. “This is Angel’s daddy, baby. It’s okay. Say hello.”