by Ruby Wolff
“I love you too.”
***
I wake after what feels like the longest I’ve slept in weeks. Slowly opening my eyes, I see Angel watching me. “Sleep well?” I ask him.
“I think I needed it.” Angel’s eyes search mine for something. “What has you so worried?” He gently moves some hair away from my face and lifts my chin up to look at him.
“Nothing. I just miss being next to you. I miss you holding me,” I say, but he doesn’t believe me.
“I’m sorry I’ve not been with you…”
“Angel, I know you have a lot going on at the moment. If I’m honest, I feel safer knowing you’re getting rid of the ones who… No family will come near me, and that makes me feel safe,” I tell him. I don’t want him to feel as if he’s neglecting me because I know he's not. I know that he’s on a mission right now, and he's doing it all for me.
“I want you to always feel safe, Alice.” He brings our linked hands up to his lips and gives them a kiss, making me smile. “Alice, I know I must be the worst person in the world right now, but once this is—”
“Once this is all done, we're going away so you can sleep,” I say.
“This is the longest I’ve slept since I woke up in the hospital. I just need you next to me.” Angel's hand rests on my waist, just below my scar, and I look at him. I didn’t mean to, but my body tenses. I want Angel to touch me again. I want him to erase what Harvey did to me with his touch. I don’t know why, but Angel has been holding back. I’m too scared to ask.
“What are you thinking?” Angel asks as he moves closer to me.
“Truth?”
“Always.”
“You’ve not touched me, and I’m scared maybe you—”
“I’m not pulling away from you because of what happened. I hate that that’s what you’ve been thinking.” Angel kisses the top of my head. “I was giving you time and space. I thought you needed it. It was never that I didn’t want you. The last thing I want you to think is that this has affected how I feel about you or how much I love you,” he says. I look into Angel's eyes and see the hurt in them that I thought he felt different about me. My hand moves up to his cheek, then he brings his lips to mine before moving me to lie on my back. “I don’t want to push you…”
“I want this. I want you to take it all away. I want you to love me,” I whisper against his lips.
His hand slowly starts moving up my waist, his lips pushing into a deep kiss. He stops as his phone starts ringing. “Ignore it,” he says and continues to kiss me.
I’ve missed him kissing me like this. I’ve missed him touching me like this.
“Angel, we need to talk.” Pike bangs on the door, and I start laughing.
“The devil can never rest,” I say through laughter, and Angel shakes his head.
“Don’t move,” he says as he leans his forehead against mine.
One more kiss on the lips and Angel claims me. I watch him for a moment with a smile. I couldn't be happier that no matter what happens, he’ll always love me.
Chapter 17
Angel
I grab my top and make my way to the door so I can punch Pike in the fucking face for ruining my moment with Alice. I can’t believe she thought I was pulling away from her because of what that bastard did to her. I’m stupid for going this long without touching her. I was scared I was going to react too soon. I was scared I was going to hurt her by bringing up memories of what happened.
If I weren’t so fucking busy with all this, maybe I would’ve noticed she thought I was pulling away from her. From now on, I’m going to make sure she knows how much I fucking love her.
I put my T-shirt on as I open the door and step out of the room. I give Pike a look he knows well enough to figure out he’s just pissed me off.
“I’m sorry, but Craig needs you at the bar. A family came in—one on the list.”
I stand there for a moment, considering what to do, then look behind me as the door opens.
“I’m going to get some food. You have work to do.” Alice lifts up on her tiptoes and gives me a kiss. Before I can stop her, she makes her way down the stairs.
I allow a small smile to appear on my lips. Now that she knows how badly I want to fuck, and that nothing has changed between us, she seems to have changed her whole vibe. I couldn’t be more proud of her.
“I’ll meet you downstairs,” Pike says.
I turn back towards my bedroom to get dressed.
The bedroom door opens again. “Angel?”
“In the closet,” I yell to my dad. I grab a suit for the day, and I look over at my dad as he leans on the door frame. He looks like he needs to have one of those talks where he knows I’m not going to agree with whatever he has to say. “What’s happened?” I ask as he stares at me.
“Nothing, but I thought maybe you need, just for a night or maybe two, to take Alice away. You’ve not spent any time with her since… Well, you know what I’m about to say. Take her to the cabin in Scotland.” My dad stops when I turn to face him.
I stop and consider whether he’s serious about this. He knows we have way too much happening right now for me to just up and leave for a day.
“I want to say you’re joking, but the look on your face right now doesn’t say that,” I say as I button up my shirt.
My dad continues to stand there and watch me for a moment. “I’m not. You need to clear your head. I think this has been the longest you’ve slept since all this has happened. Your mind is all over the place right now, and more importantly, Alice needs you.” He stops when my face hardens.
I know Alice needs me. I’m doing this for her. But after what she said to me, I might have to say my dad’s right. She thought I didn’t love her the same because of what happened. Taking a day out to show her she’s still the most important person in my life will be good.
“And what about everything here?” I ask. I turn back to look in the mirror to make sure everything looks right.
“Nothing will be done unless we talk to you, but we’ll continue to work on the list. There aren’t many families left.” Dad walks out of the closest with me, and there’s a question I need to ask him.
“Seth… What are we doing about him?” I ask.
I wanted to kill him, but my dad really fought for him. As much as we all stick together, it says something that he knew how I felt about all this, yet he still fought for Seth. I said I’d think about it. I still want to kill him, but Dad doesn’t, so I’ve left it to him for now.
“He doesn’t want his father’s life. He wants to travel. I thought maybe we could—”
“Let him leave the country? How could you make sure he doesn’t tell his family we let him walk away? If anyone finds out, our name will be hit.” Grabbing my gun and putting into my holster, I wait for my dad to say something.
“If he does, I’ll put a bullet in him myself,” my dad promises.
That gets my attention. Dad doesn’t normally say things like that, but he seems to mean it. I've never had to think when it comes to him.
“If that's what you want to do, then I’m behind you,” I say as we leave my room. “I’ll take Alice today. Let me see what this family wants at the bar, and then I’ll come back. I’ll let the guys know what they’re doing, and when I get back, I want answers on Harvey.” I hate that we don't know where he is. I swear, it feels as if he’s listening to everything we say, still one step ahead of me.
I look over at Alice talking to Vinny, and tell Pike I’ll be right there. I need to have a word with Alice. Vinny turns to face me, and I tell him he needs to go out to Pike. I need a quick meeting before I go to the bar.
“So, I thought that we could get away for the night, maybe two, if things here don’t fall apart,” I say with a small smile. I want to take her away, but I also need to stay here. The moment her beautiful lips curl up into a smile, I know this is the right thing to do for her. My dad’s right. I do need to give Alice something. I need to show her I’m
here for her.
“Oh my God, really? I know how busy you are at the moment.” Alice jumps off the counter and walks over to me. “I don’t want to get in the… Way.” She whispers the last part, and as much as I was trying to hide my frustration with the situation, my eyes must have given it away. She looks worried now.
“Never, and I mean never, think you’ll ever get in the way of anything. You, Alice, are the most important person in my life, and everything else will have to wait, or Pike will do it. Do you understand?” I ask, making sure she knows that, for her, I’ll always find a way to make her number one in my life.
“Yes. What do I need to pack?” she asks with a smile.
“Nothing. I thought naked would be a good dress code for us.” I give her a wink, and she bursts out laughing, making everyone look over at us. I can't help but smile at her. “I would love to take you for longer, but two nights is the most I can give you right now.”
“That’s all I need.” Wrapping her hands around my neck, she leans close to whisper in my ear. “Night naked is fine, but in the day time I’ll need something that—”
“I can take off easily. I agree.” I love when she starts laughing again. “It’s going to be cold, so pack warm clothes. Are you going to pack mine, too?”
“I’m excited. This is going to be so nice. I’m going to go pack. How long are you going to be?” She moves to the side a little to see the guys behind me, then looks back to me.
“I’m not sure yet. I don’t know what this family wants to talk to me about yet, but tonight, we’ll be in Scotland. Dad will get the private jet ready.”
“You have a private jet?” Alice asks in shock.
I have to shake my head at her. Maybe I need to tell her some of the things this family does. We have the money to have anything and everything. We pay our taxes, and the money we show goes through all the right paperwork so no one can ask many questions about our money. It also helps that we have two men sitting in the top seats, to make a few things work our way when we need it.
“Only when we really need it,” I say.
It’s not like we use the jet every week. Fuck, we don’t even use it every month. I think the last time we used it was over a year ago when we had to go to Italy to sort out a few things. Since then, we’ve never needed it.
“This just seems to get better. I’m going to pack.” She gives me a quick kiss and heads to the bedroom.
I know my dad will have everything sorted, so no one will know we’ve left London. Since no one knows about the home in Scotland, we should have two days completely to ourselves. I’ll tell my dad to use the office phone when he makes the arrangements. I know that it’s not been hacked, and no one will be able to listen in on the call. Plus, my office is also a mobile-free-zone unless it’s my phone.
I make my way over to the guys, and my dad tells me he has explained everything to them, and that Pike and Warren are in charge.
“The only rule I have, is no one leaves this house alone. You take one of the others with you at all times, is that clear?” I ask. They all nod. “One of you is to stay in the house when two of you are out. I need the outside world to think Alice is in this house, and someone is with her while I’m away.”
“If a family wants to talk to you, like now, then what?” Pike asks.
I look over at Warren. “Then Warren goes. If he can handle it, good. If not, he’s to call me and we’ll talk about it,” I say, and he looks at me thoughtfully. If Elijah were here, I would’ve said the same thing to him, but he’s not. I have to let my baby brother do things when I’m not here.
“Angel, I don’t—”
“Warren, you’re ready,” I interrupt, already knowing he thinks it’s too soon to step into Elijah's shoes. There’s a part of me that agrees, but maybe I have to start small. This is the smallest I can start. Being the family we are, I need him to step into the shoes fast.
I look up at Pike, and he nods as part of our silent conversation. He’ll keep an eye on Warren and make sure he doesn’t fuck anything up.
***
I stand face to face with Fin. I never thought I’d see the Kline family in my bar. They’re the family who screwed over my grandad when the family first started up. We were selling drugs, and they were a family we did business with. Let's just say, things got very ugly. It was one of the reasons we stopped. The other was because I didn’t like the idea of selling something so toxic.
“How can I help you, Fin?” I ask him as his men move to stand behind me.
“I’ve come here to ask for forgiveness for my son. He acted out of jealousy, and—” Fin stops the moment I start laughing. He thinks I’m going to let him walk away? Has my reputation slipped so far people think I’m going to do that? “If you can—”
“Craig said something about a fight?” I interrupt. There’s no way I’m wasting my time with him over this. His son will die. I just choose when he dies now.
“Yes, I thought we could put something on the table—a fight for my son's life.” His gaze moves between Pike and me, and I’m not sure if I should laugh or just shoot him in the head myself.
I’m in the mood for some fun, so why not play a game with him? “How about this? I’ll give you the fight. If you win, I let your son walk away—nothing will happen to him. But if I win, I kill him.” I take a step closer to Fin and make sure it’s only me he can see. I don’t want him looking behind me at Pike or Craig, just me. “And when I win, I’m not even going to tell you when I’m going to shoot him. It might be today, it might be in a week, or a year. You and your son will look over your shoulders until that day comes. And one more thing… If he leaves the country, a different member of your family will pay the price. Again, I won’t tell you who.”
The look of fear runs through his eyes, and the joy of causing that is one of the best feelings I can think of right now. He thought he’d come here and think I’d let him walk away? The arsehole must be joking.
“Deal,” he replies with a shaky voice.
“Show me your man.” I look over at him, already knowing Craig will be fighting. I’m going to tell him to fuck the guy up so badly they won’t even recognise him anymore.
“He’ll be here tonight, just tell me the time,” he says.
I have to smile because I thought they were coming here ready for a fight. I suppose they know we don’t take fights in the day time.
“Midnight,” I tell him, walking away from them.
Pike follows me while Craig shows them the door. Lighting up a cigarette, I wait for Craig to join us.
“You staying?” Pike asks me.
“No. I told Alice about Scotland, and she was excited. You and Warren will be here tonight,” I say when Craig moves to stand in front of us. “You good to fight?”
“Sure am,” he replies.
I tell him what I want him to do tonight. Pike is to call me soon as the fight is over. I want to know when I can play my games with them.
I’m not worried about Craig losing. He has only lost one fight since he joined the family, and that was when he first came to us. Since then, he’s a killing machine when he needs to be, and I love the man for it.
Chapter 18
Alice
I’ve never sat in a private plane before, but it was amazing. It wasn’t a long flight, but I still loved it. I told Angel we need to go on more trips. He started laughing, and it was nice to see him a little less tense.
Sitting in the car, I look out at the breathtaking view of a cliff looking out at sea.
“How long have you had this house?” I ask Angel as he drives us there.
“My grandparents bought it. It was a way for them to get away from life in London. It’s under a different name and has no links with the Frost family. So far, it’s been a safe place for us,” he replies. He takes my hand in his. “Nothing but us tonight.”
I smile. “It’ll be nice.”
I wasn’t sure how long we’d stay here, so I packed two day’s worth of cloth
es. I’m really hoping most of that is spent with Angel showing me how much he loves me.
Angel told me we’re going to Badan Mhugaidh. I had no idea where that was, so I spent time Googling the area. It sounded beautiful. What I read said it looks out at the Torridon Mountains. It sounded like it would be the most peaceful place I’ve ever been to.
Angel drives along a road that leads to only one home. It looks like a cottage from where we are now. As we get closer, I can see why they bought this place; it’s like a hidden gem.
The car comes to a stop, and I step out. I walk towards the edge so I can get a good look at the most beautiful view I’ve seen. I look over my shoulder at Angel, watching me.
My gaze stays on him as he walks over to me. I only turn my attention back to the view when he reaches me. His arms circle around me at we stare out at sea.
“This place is beautiful.” I lean back into him. “I can’t wait to see the inside of the house.”
Angel kisses my neck. “Let’s have a look inside. This view is even better in the evening.” He takes my hand and leads me into the house.
I take a look around when we enter. I hear him talking to someone from another room, but I don’t think much of it. It’s likely Pike on the phone. I take a step forward, but hear a woman’s voice and turn around. I watch Angel talking to her, and I slowly walk over.
He hears my approach and turns to look at me. “June, this is Alice. Alice, this is June,” he introduces us.
“Nice to meet you,” I say as I move closer to Angel. He didn’t tell me anyone else was going to be here.
“June lives here. When we bought the house, we put it under her name, so there’s no link to the family,” Angel explains, making me relax a little more.
“Angel, I’ve put dinner in the fridge—just warm it in the oven. I also bought enough things for breakfast and lunch. If you’re here for another night, call and I’ll bring more food if you’d like,” June says as I peek around her and look into the huge kitchen.