Graham, Jan - Finding Angel [Wylde Shore] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (45 page)

Angel hadn’t been asked by Christian to discuss what had really bothered her the night they had returned home from his father’s. She wasn’t sure why he had not called her to account on the following Wednesday night, but she was relieved he hadn’t. She knew she had to discuss her predicament with Adrian, and she had to do it soon.

Angel had decided to give herself one more night. She wondered if Christian had found out about the situation already through work and was waiting for her to say something. Even though he had said he would give her until last Wednesday night to figure out how to tell them, he didn’t promise not to do any investigations on her in the meantime. It had been nearly a week since his deadline had passed so she needed to talk and talk soon. Angel couldn’t stop thinking about Andrew’s conversation and the six degrees theory.

Christian was a cop.

He already knew about the assault on her life by Samuel.

Samuel was involved in the drug world.

The drug squad was investigating Adrian, who Samuel had worked for.

The drug squad knew Adrian had visited her and wanted the ledger.

Christian had friends in the drug squad.

“Stupid fucking theory,” Angel stated out loud as she threw the covers back and got out of bed, heading for the shower.

Angel had no choice but to spill her guts about what was going on, but in order to do that, she needed to have all the information. In the first few days of her living at the Shore brothers’ home, Adrian had sent her a couple of text messages, which Angel ignored. Adrian had requested she call him and in the first few messages had even made innuendo about fucking her again. Angel had decided that since he had given her two weeks to find the ledger, he could wait two weeks for her to ring him.

When her mobile had run out of charge, Angel had put it away in her bag. She hadn’t packed her charger because she initially thought she would only be away two days and her phone charge generally lasted longer than that. She assumed Christian and Daniel would have sent her home before the two weeks was up, so she didn’t see a problem not having the phone operational. Unfortunately, she had now been away nearly three weeks. She assumed Adrian would be pissed but figured once she contacted him he would understand why she needed a holiday. After all, it wasn’t like her time away had been intentional. Still, she needed to know what mood her absence had left Adrian in. It was no point talking about a situation that was over two weeks old. That meant her plan for today was going to be a trip to the mall. She decided she would buy a new phone charger and anything else she saw that she fancied.

As Angel washed her hair, she also decided she needed to check her e-mails. Since finishing her last article, she had set her e-mails to automatically reply, with a message that went along the lines of “Lucky me I’m away on holidays. I will contact you when I get back.”

Payment for the last article would have been deposited into her bank by now, and hopefully she would have more work requests waiting to be sorted out. Angel knew that she needed to ensure her future income. She had neglected it long enough. In freelance work, a journalist was only as good as their last job, or article, in her case. If she stayed silent too long, then she may have to go back to square one and rebuild her reputation all over again. Although the brothers had explained they didn’t expect her to contribute any money to their living arrangement, Angel didn’t like feeling like a freeloader. After all, she had supported herself and looked after her own affairs since she was a child, and she needed to know that she could continue to do so.

If Angel’s world fell apart after she spoke to Daniel and Christian about her trouble with Adrian, then Angel would need to have income to ensure she was able to support herself. Not that Angel expected her heroic men to dismiss her. After all, they had both expressed their love for her. They had both been more than supportive with all the other dramas she had been through in the last couple of weeks.

Why would a marauding drug lord with a fervent panache for killing people faze them?
Angel towelled herself dry and got ready to leave the house.

They loved her so she need not worry about losing them. She couldn’t lose them. The love Angel was experiencing with Christian and Daniel was the real thing. The love-conquers-all type of thing based in fairy tales and modern-day Hollywood chick flicks. If a hooker and a millionaire could live happily ever after in
Pretty Woman
, then surely a doctor, a cop, and a hit man’s ex-woman could do the same in real life. Well, at least she hoped they could.

Angel walked to the bus stop. When she had bought her old crappy car, she had never believed she would miss it, but feeling as tired as she did today, she certainly wanted it back. Angel had no idea if it was still parked out the front of Gavin’s unit. She would have to do something about picking it up, if it was still there, of course. At least she would be less of a captive to the house if she had her own car. Until then, the local bus company would have to suffice.

Angel didn’t mind the bus trip. She got to see more of the local area, and it gave her a sense of where she was in the world. The private company that serviced the area was reliable. Well, at least the three times she had used the service it had been. The bus driver was friendly and had remembered her from the times she had used the bus before. As a city girl this fact surprised her. City folk rarely remembered a regular face. Angel really thought she could get used to living in this community. It was more personal than the city. The commute to the city was easy, given the close freeway access, and time wise it was bearable. She definitely understood the appeal living here had for Christian and Daniel.

Angel arrived home about three hours later. She had treated herself to lunch at the coffee shop, had bought the mobile charger, a lead for her iPod, a couple of new novels from the local bookstore, and a pair of Crocs to wear to the shed the next time she ventured down there. Angel unpacked her purchases. She put her phone on to charge, and busied herself making beds and tidying up before firing up her laptop to sit down the check her e-mails. She had changed most of her bills over to being sent electronically instead of via regular mail and paid the bills that were due and paid another two weeks’ rent on the house. Angel knew that she need to talk to Christian and Daniel about whether she would stay with them permanently, but for the next month or so, she would keep the rent paid up just in case.

Angel had a few requests for articles from some magazines she regularly wrote for, most of which she answered, along with a few messages from Miss D wanting the gossip on where she was and if she had hooked up with Christian and Daniel. There was also an invite to Miss D’s birthday that Angel sent an RSVP to.

Angel was starting to feel that, for once in her life, everything was going right and that happiness was within her reach. She just had to ensure that the residual mess from her time with Samuel and the situation with Adrian didn’t see it all come crashing down around her. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Angel knew better than most that life could take a turn for the worst in the blink of an eye. As she turned on her now fully charged mobile phone, she wondered whether that blink was about to happen and held her breath as the message tone began to sound on the phone.

Very few people had her mobile number. After all, who was she going to give it to? She didn’t have many friends, and most of her magazine work requests were limited to e-mail contact. Samuel had always been suspicious of her involvement with the outside world, and Angel had to account for anyone who rang her, especially after her attempted escape. Angel slowly stopped using the mobile. It was still good to have, though. If she was out and needed to call a taxi or make other menial calls, then it was handy. Apart from that, her phone was just another item that she carried with her but generally neglected. She had given the number out more in the last few months than she had in the entire time she had the phone. The police had it, and of course Adrian acquired it after she had used it to call him. That had obviously been a mistake, given the number of messages that were beeping to life as she stared at the phone’s display. By the time the phone quieted, Angel had eight messages and five missed calls from Adrian, two messages from an unknown number, and one missed call from the same unknown number.

Angel decided to put off looking at the messages and made herself a cup of herbal tea. After locating the notepad with Christian and Daniel’s mobile numbers written on it, Andrew Shore’s business card, making a note of Miss De’s number from the bottom of her last e-mail, and digging the serviette out of her bag that she had written Jig’s mobile number on, Angel sat on the lounge. She entered the numbers into her phone. Angel couldn’t help but smile at the phonebook entries filling the mobile’s display, feeling happy that her mobile now looked a little more like a regular person’s.

Still avoiding Adrian, Angel checked the messages from the unknown number. The first text was from two weeks ago.

“
I need you to contact me ASAP. Steve”

“Not likely,” Angel stated as she flicked to the next message.

“Please let me know you are safe and alive. I can help if you call me.”

The second message was sent more recently at : a.m. in the morning. Angel wondered if Steve had a wife, and if he did, how she put up with him texting strange women at three in the morning. The man had no manners sending a text at that time.

He needs someone to teach him about etiquette.
Angel saved the number into her contact list. She might need to ring him one day…or not.

Angel wasn’t sure what to do about Steve. She wasn’t even sure why she had saved the number but figured it was best to know who was calling or texting should he ever try to contact her again. For some strange reason, Steve drove her nuts. She wanted to ignore him but at the same time had the desire to get to know him. It wasn’t an attraction. God, she could think of nothing worse than having sex with Steve. He wasn’t her cup of tea at all. Still, there was a sense of familiarity about him, and Angel almost wanted to believe she could trust him. It was just too bizarre to understand. Angel assumed they must have known each other in a past life and they had unfinished business to deal with. Angel shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. She had more pressing issues to think about, and the business she needed to deal with in real life definitely outweighed getting to the bottom of any past-life connection she may have with a cop that she wasn’t sure whether she liked or not.

For one brief moment, Angel contemplated letting Steve have the ledger and seeing if maybe he could actually protect her from the repercussions. Of course, she knew it was out of the question. He had been part of the surveillance on her home and had done nothing to stop her nightmare of a life with Samuel. How could she trust Steve to protect her from Adrian if he didn’t lift a finger to protect her from Samuel? Angel finally dismissed the mysterious Steve and looked at the mobile once again.

No time like the present
. Angel pressed the button to look at Adrian’s first message.

“Where have you gone? My cock needs you.”

Next message:

“I’m lying in bed with the hard-on from hell. I want to be inside you again. WTF have you done to me, you filthy little whore? I can’t stop thinking about making you come again and again and again.”

God, what the fuck had she done? Angel hoped he had given up thinking about sex with her. After all, that message had been sent two weeks ago. That now made four “I need to fuck you again” messages if she included the two she got before the phone discharged. So much for the bullshit line he had fed her about only wanting to fuck once to get her out of his system. Angel desperately wanted to change the choice she had made back then. If only she had taken up Daniel and Christian’s offer to join their party, none of this shit would be happening with Adrian. Angel flicked open the next message and couldn’t decide if she was happy it didn’t contain any reference to sex or not.

“I really think we need to talk. Ring me. I may be able to solve a problem that endangers both of us.”