Around the World in 80 Men Series: Boxed Set 21-30 (118 page)

Bride?

“Then, Sir-Humps-a-Lot decides he wants to take
another trip with Hagoria, and leaves my ass here to clean their
mess! I'm tellin' ya, Stick... I'm about to Nair that bitch's hair
off in her sleep!” Angel huffed, waiting for sympathy, and
nearly threw the phone in response to what he heard.

Morgan began to laugh, to the point of no longer having
air in her lungs to talk, and all Angel could hear was squeaking, and
the occasional lucky snort when she could get part of a breath.
“Ah...shit...I can't...,” she laughed until she almost
fell off the bed, and that made her laugh even more. He waited, for
far too long, for her to get herself together

“Done?”

“Angel, I love you!”

“I love you too. Bitch.”

Morgan eventually sat up in bed and brought her blanket
over her lap as she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes with the
back of her hand. “I'm sorry... but you know what?” She
was still giggling, and that finally made Angel smile.

“What?”

“You're going to be fine. You're still my
perfect, Angel, no matter what life throws at you.” Angel
laughed at the point, thinking of his behavior, and he reluctantly
agreed.

“Fine, I'm still perfect. Now tell me about your
mess?” Morgan huffed loudly into the phone, because it wasn't
her
mess that needed discussed.

“Angel. You, Michael, Hawaii? Ring a bell?”
Silence followed, and Morgan waited. Several moments passed before
Angel finally told her the truth. He didn't want to, but nothing else
at the moment came to mind. The truth would have been better after
the fact, at least, in the world of Angel.

“Okay, Collie called and asked for my help. I
called your boo in California and the rest...you know.” Morgan
nodded, then shook her head in despair. She loved Angel with all she
had, but she wished he would tell her what's going on instead of
going behind her back. Then again, sometimes the man knew her better
than herself at times, and he had been right more than once.

“Well, looks like I'm going to Hawaii tomorrow.
With Michael.”

“I know.” His tone told her that he was
most likely quite proud of himself. Morgan shook her head again.

“I'll call when I... I mean we get there. I love
you.”

“I love you too. Bitch.” They both laughed
and after a quick kiss into their phones, their issue was put to
rest, but there was still one other issue.
How am I going to deal
with Kole?

Morgan rolled to her side, tucking her hand under her
pillow and looked around the room. Her scrapbook had fallen from her
bag, and she smiled at the thought of adding Mannie to her book of
memories. There were so many amazing pictures, her hardest task would
be narrowing it down to just a couple. She rolled to her back again,
and lifted her wrist to get a look at her bracelet. Charms filled it,
but they weren't just charms, they were memories too. She was going
through the charms and each man who had given them to her, when an
important promise was remembered. “Shit!”

She had promised Julianne she would pick her client and
Morgan jumped up and grabbed her laptop, then brought it back to the
warm spot on the bed.

“Okay, let's see this...” Morgan opened the
database and scrolled to the new feature Julianne had told her about.
“Priority clients?” She clicked on the link, and it took
her to a list of men that needed company for certain events, mostly
business meetings and company fundraisers. Some only needed company
for one or two days, and while Morgan liked the thought of that, she
couldn't deal with those kinds of men. “Lame.” She'd had
the client that wanted her for business meetings, and it had gone so
well he'd sent her away. “No thanks, Julianne.” Morgan
shook her head, giggling at the thought of entertaining the idea of
going through with something like that again. Morgan clicked back to
the homepage and to the map.

Knowing she was headed to Hawaii next, Morgan looked at
the map, hoping to find something relatively close. “Costa
Rica. Done.” Morgan clicked on the map, and it took her to the
list of men in the area. There weren't as many as she expected, but
one caught her attention more than the others. “Anthony
Segura.” She clicked on his picture to enlarge it, and very
much liked what she saw. “Okay, Tony. You and I are going to be
drinking pina coladas on the beach in about two weeks.” She
confirmed her choice and closed her laptop. A few weeks in tropical
paradise...it was the closest she'd get to her vacation, and it was
good enough.

*****

The following morning, Morgan read the text from
Michael, letting her know they would be leaving at three-thirty in
the afternoon, which only gave Morgan a few hours to enjoy to
herself. “One of these times, I'll take an actual week off,”
she told herself in the mirror as she applied her lipgloss, then
laughed at the thought. She lived a life that people could only dream
of. She'd traveled to amazing places, seen things most never do, and
had enough stories to tell for days. She just spent a week camping
with a gorgeous man, and in two hours, she was getting on a plane to
Hawaii. “I never thought too much fun would wear a person out
so much.” She smiled at her reflection and shook her head. She
loved her life, and although sometimes not having a place to call
home, or not having really anything steady in her life was
overwhelming, Morgan knew she wouldn't have traded the day she met
Julianne for anything.

She closed her makeup bag and carried it to the other
room, where it found its place in her zebra print bag, then walked
over to the large window, overlooking the city.

Her mind raced, and each time the thought of Kole
passed through, she could feel her heart beat faster, and her palms
begin to sweat. Once upon a time, the man was someone she really
cared about. Angela too. She wanted to forgive them, but not until
she heard an apology in person. Even then, getting close enough to
speak to them was another problem of its own.

Morgan hoped that she could sneak in, unnoticed, visit
with the family and leave, but she knew that was an unlikely
scenario. One thing she did know, she was actually thankful to be
going with someone she knew. More importantly, someone she greatly
missed.

Her phone rang behind her and Morgan jumped at the
sound, bumping her head on the window. “Shit!” She was
already laughing by the time she reached her phone on the other side
of the bed. “What's up?”

“Hey, I'm going to be running a little late, I'm
coming from three hours away and I'm halfway there, but there is bad
traffic,” Michael told her quickly. Morgan could hear horns in
the background, and bit her lip as the first thought that came to
mind was their flight.

“Are we going to make it to the airport?”
Morgan sat down on the bed, crossing one leg over the other.
It
wouldn't exactly be a bad thing. No, stop it. I have to see 'Ele. I'm
doing it for her.

“We're going to cut it close, so be ready. I've
already called a tax...”

“Is my hotel closer to you, or the airport?”
Morgan blurted, cutting him off.

“The airport, but...”

“Okay, you just head to the airport then, and
I'll take a taxi there myself and meet you there,” Morgan
replied.

“That would make more sense,” Michael
laughed and agreed, hoping the traffic wasn't backed up all the way
there. “I'll send you the itinerary and you can check in, I'll
meet you in the terminal.”

The last thing she did, upon receiving their itinerary,
was text the information to Kala. She wasn't sure if she wanted him
to pick them up or not, it might even be better to just take a taxi
to the hotel until she figured things out, but at least the man would
know that she was on her way.

*****

“Come on, come on...” Morgan looked at her
watch. Three-ten. “Shit. Where are you?” She had tried
calling Michael several times, but no answer. “Shit, they're
boarding! Shit.”

Morgan had no choice, she had to catch her flight with
or without Michael. Sadly for her, it would be without.

*****

Kala arrived at the airport more than thirty minutes
before Morgan's flight would arrive. He wasn't sure, after receiving
the text, if she meant for him to pick her up, but it didn't take
long for him to decide that it didn't matter. Morgan didn't need to
find a ride anywhere, he would at least drive her to her hotel. He
was about to take a seat and wait for her arrival when a familiar
voice sounded from the other side of the lobby.

“Kole? What the hell are you doing here? I told
you that I would pick her up!” Kala didn't want drama, all he
wanted was to smooth things over with Morgan and hope that she would
feel comfortable. “Man, I never would have told you that I was
coming if I'd known you'd follow me. Shit!” Kole shook his head
and laughed.

“Dude, she's my friend too. In fact, if I
remember correctly, she was my friend first.” It was immature,
Kole knew it, but he intended to get his own way. It has been months
since the incident with Morgan, and he was anxious to try to make
things right. “Look, don't make that face... I just want to
apologize and maybe take her out for a meal. That's all.” Kala
was beyond stressed, and it already wasn't going anything like he had
hoped.

Kala also knew that he wasn't going to talk his brother
out of anything, so he let out a long sigh of defeat and motioned
towards the empty chair to his side. “Well,” Kala began,
“if she turns around and gets right back on a plane, you can't
say that I didn't try.” Kole slapped his brother's back and
laughed loudly to the point of bringing attention to both of them.
They knew one another far too well.

Ten minutes later, after some expert people watching,
Kala's phone rang out with Angela's picture on the screen. He smiled
as he stood, and left his brother as he took the call. In what seemed
like only seconds, Kala returned in a panic.

“She's been in an accident! They're taking her to
the hospital right now. I have to go. I'm sorry..I..,”

“Who? What?” Kole got his brother to slow
down long enough to explain that Angela and a friend were on their
way home from shopping and were hit broadside. The friend called Kala
with Angela's phone to let him know what had happened. It didn't
appear to be too serious, possibly a broken arm, but enough to send
Kala into a panic.

“Go! I'll take care of Morgan.” Kala took
a deep breath to reply, but Kole didn't allow him to say a word.
“I'll be nice, I promise. Just go. Call me later and let me
know how she is.” Kala stood for a few seconds, debating his
choices, then nodded before running towards the front doors.

Kole watched Kala disappear around the corner and let
out a long breath of his own. He wished he could be there for his
brother and Angela, but he also hoped things would go well with
Morgan. For twenty minutes, he sat in the old, faded green chair,
waiting for what seemed like an hour, until finally, he heard a
familiar voice.

“What happened?” He turned toward the
voice. It was Morgan. Her back was toward him, and she was scanning
all of the incoming luggage, looking for her own. “Well, when
is the next flight?” She was on the phone. He stood and felt
his legs begin to shake as he walked toward her. “One-fifteen!
Like, tonight? Wait..my time or your time?” Morgan spotted one
of her pieces coming onto the belt and walked further away from Kole
to retrieve it. “Okay, just text me when you're going to be
here and I'll make sure to meet you.” She nodded and said
goodbye to the person, and stuck her phone in her pocket before
reaching to grab her largest bag off of the conveyor. Kole didn't
pay attention to her conversation, all he could focus on was making
sure he could repair the damage between them.

“You need some help with that?” Morgan
froze, mid-bend, and swallowed hard. For a few seconds, she couldn't
move, as the realization settled in. She even watched her bag
disappear into the hole again, and knew she would have to wait
another full rotation.

Shit. Okay, don't look. Maybe it's not him. Don't
make eye contact, don't answ...

“Morgan?”

This isn't how this is supposed to go. I can take my
own damn taxi. That's what I'll do. I'll grab my bags, and
just...leave.

She kept her back toward the voice, and waited
for her last bag to come through rotation again. As she saw it, she
felt a hand on her shoulder, and heard the voice again. “Morgan,
please.” Her eyes shut hard and she inhaled slowly through her
nose, then turned toward Kole.

She forgot how beautiful he was, and it took her breath
away. His skin glowed like summer, his hair had gotten long and
another deep black tribal tattoo covered his shoulder, to his elbow.
For a split second, she almost forgot to be mad at the man.
Almost.

“You're not supposed to be here.”
Morgan spoke quickly, and turned back around to grab her bag, but a
large arm reached across her and pulled it off the belt. “Thanks,
but I've got it.” She took the handle from his hand, their skin
meeting for a brief moment. Their eyes met, but Morgan was quick to
break contact.