Defending My Mobster (BWWM Romance) (9 page)

The entire situation was perplexing, to be honest. If Aleesha didn’t need Travis for his money, maybe she needed him for his drugs. She could have some use for the things he cooked up in his labs. Either that or the network he had in the industry, he knew everyone and had connections that might be useful to her in some way. That was something else I needed to find out.

Groaning softly, my thoughts switched easily to the caramel-colored woman that was currently in the midst of my problems. Nia only knew what I told her, and despite the fact that I hadn’t lied about anything, it was still a pitiful amount of information. Not only that, but I could begrudgingly accept that Roman was right, Aleesha could easily put a contract on her if she wanted to. It was the easiest way to get to me now that I’d paraded Nia around. Of course a smarter person would not consider that because the obvious repercussions could be the removal of Aleesha and anyone she was associated with. Aleesha though had never been that smart, so she just might have put a hit out on Nia.

That thought only made me groan louder. My stupid ideas were going to get Nia in the hot seat, fast. I was not going to let anything happen to her. It would be the death of me. I would have to just leave and never come back      

Chapter 11 - Nia

Two weeks had passed since Angel brought me to that party and, safe to say, I was feeling a lot more like myself. Even though I hadn’t gone back to work yet because I had enough sick and vacation days to last me another week, I didn’t just mope around and cry all of the time. I was happy to be more myself and feeling like I could handle life again. That desperation and sadness had brought me to my knees.

It helped that Angel came to see me at least once a day, and sometimes he even slept over. His company was a wonderful thing and I treasured it. He was taking time out of his work to comfort and reassure me. I knew it was selfish of me but I couldn't help it.

“Case, I said ‘no’. Just because you ask again doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind.” The only problem with answering my phone again was the long, incredibly idiotic phone calls from my sister. She’d been bugging me for days to come see her, and my mother was totally against it. I was totally against it. Hearing Case groan over the phone only made me rub my temples as I leaned on the arm of the couch. As if I needed this right now.

“Come on! It’ll be fun, I promise!” she told me. I was not convinced. Rolling my eyes, I couldn’t help but disagree because anything that involved my mother and me in the same room never worked out. The last time we saw each other was for my college graduation, and she hit me in the face with a cup of beer. She’d been trash talking me to my professors, and that was a big ‘no no’ in my book.

“No. If you ask me again I’m not going to pick up your phone calls,” I assured her. I had just about had it with my sister.

Scowling slightly as I stared into space, the sound of my front door opening made me jump a little. As weird as it may seem, I had given Angel a key, since he was over so much. He was the first person I had ever given one to. I certainly wouldn't to my family. Watching him walk over the threshold made me smile slightly, but it was quickly replaced when my sister started talking again. She was a serious buzz kill that was for sure.

“Well then can I come see you without her? We haven’t hung out since before you went to college,” she tried. She did not seem to understand that there were reasons for it and the reasons were her and my mom.

“No, you can’t. I’m too busy to babysit you and all you do is use up all of my money. Don’t even try to deny it. The last time I went shopping with you, I didn’t even buy anything and ended up eating ramen for two weeks,” I accused her. I could practically hear Case pouting on the other side of the phone, but she didn’t deny what I had said. It was pretty clear to me that she was a shopaholic, even if she didn’t want to admit it. Once she paid the bills, and had nearly $2,000 left over, she blew it all in only a few days, if that. I had never seen anyone go through money like she did.

“Nia! That’s not fair! You’re the older one, you should know when to stop me,” she whined. Blinking slowly, I felt my lower eyelid twitch even as Angel sidled up behind me to wrap his arms around my waist. Pleasure on one side, my sister on the other. I sighed.

“Don’t you dare try to blame this on me, Case. You’re not a teenager anymore. For Christ’s sake, you know what? Goodbye. Don’t call me anymore. I don’t want to hear it anymore,” I told her, hanging up even as Case’s voice could be heard on the other end of the line telling me not to. I let out a frustrated noise and ran my hand through my hair.

“Family problems?” Angel asked, brushing his lips under my ear and I nodded dumbly. He knew I was no match for when he got all touchy. It got me every time.

“Wanna talk about it, bella?” he asked. Humming in response, I closed my eyes and opened my mouth but all that came out was a gasp when Angel grazed his teeth over the top of my neck. We’d been getting a lot more sexual lately, but usually he just kept to fondling and long, steamy make out sessions. I knew it was because he was trying to go slow, probably like he’d always planned, and while I was grateful for it, being left to simmer didn’t sit well with me with my body.

Angel’s fingers crept under my shirt and I shuddered lightly, bracing myself on the arm of my couch. I trembled at his touch and could not help myself.

“No answer, huh? You know, I can think of some creative ways to get you talking, Nia,” he told me. His accent was thicker when he talked like this, and Angel covered my belly with his palms to push us closer together. Kissing my shoulder, he pressed against my backside before I let out a soft moan.

“You like that, bella?” he asked, already knowing the answer. Nodding only made Angel’s hands move up to splay across my ribs, and I sucked in oxygen through my teeth as the cool air in my apartment flowed across my stomach. My answer, though, only made him smile against my skin.

“Angel…” I moaned softly. Angel bridged the gap between my midsection and my breasts to squeeze them gently outside of my bra and I groaned as my head fell back on his shoulder.

“I love it when you moan my name,” he admitted. This was how things always were, he wouldn’t touch me without something between us. It was discouraging and heartening at the same time for me. He was showing respect and restraint which was heartening. My body’s needs were discouraged.

“Please… pl-ease,” I asked. Kneading my breasts almost absently, Angel seemed to think about it before lowering his mouth to my earlobe. It tingled in amazing ways.

“It’ll be soon, I promise, Nia. You know how irresistible you are in your little pajama shorts,” he told me.

Huffing as he pulled his hands out from under my shirt, it was that exact reason that I delayed getting changed. Obviously, though, it hadn’t worked. Turning around to face him as he knelt at the edge of the couch cushions, I couldn’t help but stick out my bottom lip like Case did to make me spend money on her.

My reaction only made Angel’s face twist into a slight frown.

“Don’t make that face, Nia. I just have to get this sorted out and then I’ll lock you away for a week,” he promised. Angel brushed his thumb over my bottom lip and I felt a frown replace my pout. He’d never even told me what was going on, and it was irritating because I knew it had something to do with me. It seemed like since it was obviously about me I should know something about it.

Maybe he was just being cautious, and didn’t want to freak me out. I was a big girl and could handle it.

“Are you going to tell me what ‘this’ is? I have a right to know, you know,” I tried. Instead of sighing and shaking his head, Angel look a little conflicted. Up until now he’d kept tight-lipped about the entire thing, and I hated it. I felt like he wouldn’t trust me, even after everything we’ve been through.

“You remember when Travis Burton showed up at that party I took you to?” he asked me. Did I? A better question was how could I forget. That had been the night Angel pulled me on top of him in his car. Nodding slowly, I knew that whatever he had to say was probably bad.

“Well apparently Aleesha, the girl he was with, tried to get Roman to take me out of the picture by killing that senator and his wife. We’ve been interrogating her for the past week and she’s got some interesting things to say… I know you hate him, but Roman has a skewed way of looking at things and I’m pretty sure that if he did anything differently, Aleesha would’ve known he was basically a spy,” he explained.

Blinking slowly, I was more than a little skeptical about the whole Roman situation but I didn’t interrupt to express, once again, how much I hated him. Angel already knew that I would be perfectly fine with his cousin’s balls delivered on a silver platter anyway. I let Angel keep going. He was finally telling me things I needed to know.

“Anyway, Aleesha got the idea that she could take me out and take control of my empire through Roman, who would be ‘next in line’ per say. She recruited Travis Burton because he needs money, and she needs weapons that aren’t guns. The bitch is squeamish, I guess. Since Roman didn’t actually land me in jail like she’d planned, she was going to kill me,” he said calmly. Angel was completely serious and talking about his own death like it was the weather. It was honestly a little disconcerting for me, but I let the thought drop. He was probably used to this kind of thing. It probably wasn't even the first time he had been through it.

“And she told you all of this willingly?” I asked a little amazed.

“We had to electrocute her a few times but she actually caved really fast. I guess she just doesn’t handle pain well. Anyway, it doesn’t matter because once she runs out of information, I’m going to kill her. I can’t have people thinking that this is okay, Nia. Coups d’état rarely end well and if I do something stupid like exile her, other people will come after me. I got lucky this time, but things never happen the same way twice,” he finished.

Blinking a second time, I furrowed my eyebrows before offering a response.

“…Are you quoting Narnia?” I asked. Cracking a smirk, Angel nodded but his expression quickly turned serious. I had hoped it was the end of it, and Aleesha was all he needed, but apparently not.

“The reason I didn’t tell you about it is because you’re a target too. Aleesha has followers, if you can call them that, and Travis. Even if she’s dead, you’re at risk. Travis could have a drug that will kill you and you wouldn’t even know it,” he admitted. Just the thought of it was enough to make me shiver, and Angel wrapped his arms around my back to hold me to his chest. It was a feeling of safety and it reassured me in these dangerous times.

“I didn’t want you to worry,” he told me as he pressed a soft kiss to my lips before squeezing me. This was the person I knew, the man that didn’t kill people or electrocute them. It was nice. It was my Angel. Not the business Angel.

After a moment of silence I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, but that was when Angel decided to change the tune of the conversation. I was a little disappointed but reminded myself that I had wanted information.

“So your life could be in danger, I’m torturing a woman and Roman is suddenly a good guy and you only got Narnia out of that conversation?” he questioned sounding mightily amused, and I huffed before pulling away to frown at him.

“Okay, Roman will never be a good guy in my book. Also, if you’re confident about the situation then so am I. I mean, honestly, you control the entire freakin’ Mafia. A few weasels shouldn’t be hard to weed out,” I said. He seemed to appreciate my confidence in him.

Watching a grin take over Angel’s face was like watching the sun rise, and was momentarily blinding. I liked sunrises, especially his. He was handsome on a normal day, but when he smiled like that it took my breath away. Grabbing my wrist, he pulled me back into his embrace and cupped my cheek with a twinkle in his eye.

“This is why I love you, Nia,” he told me out of nowhere. Completely, utterly shocked, all I could do was stare. Sure, I knew Angel and I had a thing, but love? Good Lord Almighty. My eyes must’ve been the size of football stadiums, and my throat dried up at the declaration. When I opened my mouth to say something, anything, he thumbed my bottom lip again and caused my face to flare into a blush that would make a volcano jealous.

“Don’t. It’s okay. I just want to stop beating around the bush. You know, before I walked into your office I was seriously considering just handing the business over to Roman and disappearing. It would’ve been easy. But you, Nia, you were so passionate, and you fought so hard because you believed I was innocent. Even though you knew I’m a career criminal, you never doubted that I didn’t kill that couple. I used to be like that, and you made me want to be like that again. For Christ’s sake, I just told you that you might die and you still have this unshakable faith in me and I don’t even know why, after everything I’ve done to you,” he finished.

Angel’s little speech came to an end and I was sure there were tears in my eyes even as I buried my face in his button-down shirt. Since when had he gotten so damn sweet? Still, I felt the need to say something. I didn’t want to just leave him hanging there, it would not be fair.