HALO: Fallen Angel Series #1

by Frank, Ella

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, as I moved aside to let him in.

  “Rehearsal.” Viper glanced around my small apartment, probably the size of his bathroom, and then set the food and drinks on the bar top separating my nonexistent kitchen from the rest of the room.

  “Rehearsal’s not until later at Killian’s.”

  “Actually, it’s gonna be you and me today,” he said, leaning against the bar top and resting his elbows behind him. With his gaze on me again, traveling from my face down the length of my body, I was all too aware of my lack of clothes—dangerous, considering we’d been fully clothed last night, and look what happened.

  “What do you mean just you and me?” I said. I moved back to my room to grab the towel I’d tossed on the bed then wiped off my chest and squeezed the water out of my hair. Then I threw on the first T-shirt I saw out of the closet and headed back out to see Viper frown.

  “You really didn’t need to do that,” he said.

  Oh yes, I did. Having Viper in my apartment was tempting fate already; I didn’t need to add any more fuel to the fire.

  Ignoring his blatant perusal, I made my way into the kitchen, the bar top between us—yes, another shield—and said, “You didn’t answer my question. Are we not rehearsing with the guys today?”

  “I told Killian you and I needed some more one-on-one practice.”

  “You did what?”

  Viper tugged at the scarf around his neck, slowly pulling it off. “My song. Your song. Writing lyrics. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

  I knew better than to think he was here simply to work on the music. If his night had been anything like mine, he’d woken up hard and frustrated and having to take care of himself in the shower. Twice.

  I fought back the image invading my brain and tried to change the subject by grabbing the bag he’d brought. “What’s this?” I opened the bag to see an assortment of bagels and spread inside. “You brought…breakfast?”

  Viper lifted his shoulder. “You get grumpy as fuck when you’re hungry. I’d prefer to keep the demon fed if we’re gonna work all day.”

  I eyed the four large travel cups. “And that?”

  “I didn’t know if you liked your coffee black or with the fancy shit in it.” He opened the lid of one filled to the brim with black coffee and took it out for himself.

  “Wow. The Viper brought me breakfast and coffee. Wait until the press gets a load of this.”

  Viper rolled his eyes, and I had to grin. He’d blown it off like it was no big deal, but Viper had indeed been paying attention, and this wasn’t in his character make-up at all. He never went out of his way for anyone. Everyone else went out of their way for him.

  I grabbed two plates from the tiny cupboard over the sink.

  “Jesus, Angel, if I’d known it was gonna make you this happy, I would’ve bought you a fuckin’ bagel last night.”

  After I put a couple of bagels on each plate and slid one over to him, I grabbed a knife from the drawer and reached for the honey walnut spread. “The steak was more than enough, thanks.”

  I could feel Viper’s eyes on me as I smeared a liberal amount of the spread across both sides of my bagel, and as I brought it to my lips, he said, “You like the sweet stuff, huh?”

  Before I thought better of it, I glanced at him and said, “Apparently not.”

  Viper’s sinful lips curved against his coffee cup. “Hmm. Me, I’m developing quite a taste for it.”

  Sweet? He thinks I’m…sweet? I wasn’t sure if I liked that, but my dick sure liked the way he was looking at me right then. A little too much. I took a bite of my bagel to distract myself, and after I swallowed, I said, “What makes you think I’m sweet?”

  Viper put his coffee cup down and leaned over. “What makes you think I was talking about you?”

  My eyes dropped to his dark stubble, and I couldn’t help but remember the rough way it’d felt against my cheek when he’d run that taunting tongue of his up to my ear. Knowing that would lead me nowhere smart fast, I brought my gaze back to his. “Aren’t you?”

  With his glinting eyes fastened to mine, Viper reached across the bar, took the other half of my bagel, and brought it to his mouth. “Maybe.”

  As he bit down on the bagel and flashed a grin, I snorted. “There’s a bagel right there for you, you know.”

  After he’d finished chewing, Viper nodded. “I know. But I like eating what belongs to you.”

  Shit. As innocent as that sounded, the look in Viper’s eyes let me know nothing he was thinking was innocent. I wasn’t sure how he’d managed to do it, but in the space of ten minutes, Viper had turned the chilly air in my run-down apartment to blistering hot. The air between us all but crackled.

  I put my bagel on the plate and crossed my arms over my chest, resting up against the bar that sat between us. “So you’re here to work on lyrics. And that’s all?”

  Viper took another bite of his—my—food and said, “Why else would I be here, Angel?”

  “You’re so full of shit.”

  Viper popped the last piece of the bagel in his mouth. “Is that any way to talk to someone who brought you breakfast? Maybe I was just being nice.”

  I highly doubted that. Nice and Viper were two words that did not go hand in hand. “Says the man who told me last night that dinner dates aren’t his thing.”

  “They’re not.”

  “And yet this is the second time you’ve bought me food.”

  “Third if we’re getting technical,” Viper said, and turned to look at the tiny living space behind him. “And from what I remember in high school, on the third date, the date usually puts out.”

  My cock jerked in response to that, and when I didn’t immediately respond, Viper looked back at me over his shoulder. “So, what do you say, Angel?”

  I picked up one of the coffees and walked around the bar, heading for the seen better days couch that sat across the room.

  “Ah, a man of action,” Viper said, following my lead. “I can work with a couch.”

  “You”—I pointed at the mismatched recliner in the room—“can sit there.”

  Viper shrugged out of his coat and then fell into the recliner, kicking out his long legs in front of him. “That’s right, you like to watch. Can see me better if I sit over here, right?”

  Should’ve known that would come back to bite me in the ass. “Are you done?”

  Viper’s gaze swept around the room, landing on the guitar case by my couch, the keyboard I had set up in front of the one window in this space, and, finally, the camcorder I had on the tripod aimed at the couch so I could record any music sessions.

  God only knows what he’s going to say about that.

  But, surprisingly, Viper didn’t say a word, merely brought his eyes back to mine and grinned as though he’d just stumbled on something particularly amusing. “Ready and willing whenever you are, Angel.”

  Somehow, I didn’t think he was referring to writing songs.

  Twenty-Eight

  Viper

  THERE WAS SOMETHING about seeing Halo in his own place, freshly showered, barefoot, not rockin’ a thing under those sweatpants—yeah, I could tell. It had my dick taking notice, but I’d meant what I said before. I had come here to work on music, though that wasn’t the only reason. It was just the excuse I’d given Killian when I’d called him on the way over here to tell him we made progress last night and to give us another day or two to work out the kinks. We’d be meeting with Brian and one of the MGA guys on Friday, so we needed to finish working on the lyrics to Halo’s song, but once we nailed that down…

  I glanced back over at the video camera in the corner. That supposed angel was into some kinky shit, huh? I could definitely work with that.

  Halo took a seat on the far end of the couch, unlatched his guitar case, and set the instrument beside him. “So what did you wanna work on first?”

  “You finish writing your song?”

  He shook his head
.

  “Then that’s where we start.”

  Halo opened the drawer of the side table next to him and pulled out a worn notebook and a pen.

  “You’ll need to come a little closer if you want me to read that,” I said.

  He gave me a look. “Seriously?”

  “Or you could work on it by yourself while I watch you.” I stretched my arms behind my head and linked my fingers as I watched the indecision play out on Halo’s face. When he lost the battle against himself, he cursed and moved to the opposite end beside the recliner. I stretched my legs out, hooking one of them behind his ankle, tangling us together, and his head shot up.

  “Viper.”

  “Angel.” I gave him a salacious grin. “You didn’t mind working so close last night.”

  “Pretty sure we stopped working once you got that close.” He moved his legs out of my reach and uncapped the pen between his teeth. “I got as far as ‘I want to take you there’ at the end of the chorus.”

  I reached for the notebook and read over the lyrics, and then I gestured for the pen. When he gave it to me, I made four lines underneath the last bit he wrote. “We need a bit more here. It’s too short.”

  Halo chewed on his lip as he stared off into space, and I tapped the pen against the notebook to the beat, getting back into the work mindset.

  “What about something like… ‘With you, I lose my brain…something something insane.’”

  “Is this a love song or are you writing about zombies?” I said.

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Anytime someone sings about brains, it freaks me the fuck out. Next.”

  Halo sighed. “Why don’t you help think of something, then?”

  “What if you changed the words around, like: ‘With you, I lose my mind…’” When Halo nodded at my suggestion, I wrote it down. “What else would you lose?”

  With a pointed stare, Halo looked at me and said, “Control.”

  Control, huh? Fuck, my cock liked that, and I shifted in the recliner as I wrote it down.

  “Which is it?” I asked. “You want to lose control or you can’t help but lose control?”

  A line formed between Halo’s brows. “This isn’t about me.”

  So defensive…again. “With songwriting, if you wanna make it good, you’ve gotta make it personal.”

  I could practically see the way he was thinking back to last night, back to the song I’d written for him. The one that told him exactly how I wanted to destroy his body in the best way.

  Fuuuck. Drops fell down his neck from his still-wet hair, and I had to hold on to the arms of the recliner to stop myself from going over there and following them with my tongue. I’d gotten a taste of him last night, but it hadn’t been enough. Not nearly enough.

  Halo followed my gaze, reaching up to his neck in a self-conscious move, and when his fingers came away wet, my resolve crumbled.

  I leaned forward, wrapping my hand around his wrist, and then I sucked two of his fingers inside my mouth. Halo drew in a sharp breath as I swirled my tongue around his fingers, making sure I got a thorough taste of him. A protest was forming on his lips, so though I hadn’t nearly had my fill, I slowly withdrew my mouth and sat back, picking up the pen again like I hadn’t just tongue-fucked his fingers.

  “So after this line,” I said, “maybe since you’ve mentioned what you’ve lost, you could have the last two talk about why or how or what you’ve gained instead.”

  Halo stared at me, probably wondering how I could be so nonchalant and back to business, especially when the heated look he was giving me told me he had lost his focus completely.

  My lips twisted as I tried to hide my amusement. “Is that good for you?” He could take that any way he wanted to.

  Swallowing, Halo dropped his gaze and then pushed off the couch, heading over to the tripod. Something about the way his hands shook slightly satisfied the craving in me, the one that wanted to see the angel desperate for what I wanted to give.

  “This okay?” Halo asked, his finger pausing against a button. “I want to make sure we don’t forget anything we work on.”

  “I’m into it if you are,” I said, as the red dot flipped on, indicating it was recording. If it was anyone else, I never would’ve believed the camera setup was anything other than an exhibitionist fetish—which I had no problem with whatsoever—but with Halo, it was hard to tell.

  As he sat back down, he pulled the guitar into his lap and began to play, singing along until he hit the last line we’d worked on. It didn’t escape my notice how well he played, or what an intricate riff he’d come up with. And it wasn’t just the guitar, either—he’d been the same way with every instrument the other day.

  “Tell me, Angel. How’d you get to be such a little prodigy? Too much time watching music videos? Go to a fancy-ass school?”

  Halo’s mouth crooked, but his fingers never stopped moving. “Both. It helps that my parents are musicians. My sister and I never stood a chance.”

  “Musicians, huh?” Okay, that explained a lot.

  Halo looked my way and nodded. “Yeah, my father’s a professor at the New York Conservatory of Music, and my mother is a classically trained pianist. Cheryl Olsen.” As he lowered his gaze back to his fingers to play around with a new bit he’d just added, he said, “She plays at Carnegie Hall a lot.”

  Well, I’ll be damned. Halo was just full of surprises, wasn’t he? “You fucking with me right now, Angel?”

  Halo’s fingers stopped, and he shook his head. “No. Why would I lie about that?”

  Cheryl Olsen was one of the most brilliant musicians I’d ever heard in my life. She’d received numerous accolades over the years and was renowned as one of the most accomplished pianists of our time, and here Halo was telling me she was his…mother?

  “Because your mom’s super fuckin’ talented, that’s why.”

  Halo grinned and then started laughing, and the way that smile made his face transform from serious to stunning made something other than my cock ache.

  “What?” I said, as he tried to get a handle on himself.

  “I’m just trying to imagine her reaction to what you just said.” That seemed to amuse him all over again. “Actually, I’m trying to imagine her reaction over the fact that a badass like Viper from TBD even knows who she is, period.”

  “Why? Do I seem that uncultured?”

  Halo’s mouth parted as though he were about to say something, but then he snapped it shut.

  I shrugged. “My mom used to take me to Carnegie Hall whenever she was able to save up enough money for a ticket. It was kind of a thing with us.”

  Halo’s eyes softened slightly. He was looking at me in a way I couldn’t quite decipher, and wasn’t sure I liked, so I refocused on the words we’d been playing around with earlier.

  “Okay, then. Now that I know who you’re related to, you better give me something fucking kickass.”

  “No pressure,” Halo said.

  “Take it away, Angel.”

  Halo’s fingers moved over the strings again as he began to sing the chorus, and when he reached the point where we had stopped, he shut his eyes and finished, “You’ve gotten inside of me. To the darkest parts of my soul…” His eyes flew open and landed on me. “That’s it. ‘With you, I lose my mind. With you, I lose control. You’ve gotten inside of me. To the darkest parts of my soul.’”

  And fuck if I didn’t feel like he was talking about me, with the way his eyes were all but glowing with his excitement. I nodded, because really, it was all I could do. Halo was back to humming the chorus again as though testing out the words.

  “Do you like that?” he asked when I still hadn’t said jack shit.

  “Yeah. It’s good.”

  “Good?” Halo scoffed. “It’s awesome. Don’t play.”

  That confident attitude was all kinds of hot. “Like I said. It’s good.”

  Halo tucked his hair behind his ear. “So glad you’re impressed
.”

  “Oh, I’m impressed, Angel. Really fucking impressed.”

  Halo’s eyes zeroed in on mine and stayed there a little longer than necessary. The song we’d been writing took a quick detour out the window then, and so did any desire I had to continue working on it, as I lowered my gaze to the lips Halo was now worrying with his teeth.

  Fuck. I wanted to be the one biting him there, sucking that lip into my mouth, but to do that, I’d need him closer—much, much closer.

  Twenty-Nine

  Halo

  VIPER WAS STARING at my mouth again. I’d caught him several times already since he’d been here, but this time his gaze lingered, and I couldn’t say I wasn’t affected. I still didn’t understand how I could be so attracted to someone the complete opposite of anyone I’d ever been interested in before.

  Where all of my past girlfriends had been smooth all over, from their lips to every inch of their skin, Viper was all muscle, every inch of him hard, including, frequently, the appendage between his thighs. I’d felt him against me at his apartment, his dick firm and unyielding, and I hadn’t been able to get the feel of him out of my mind. Never before had I been interested in exploring another man’s body, nor had I imagined them touching me, but with Viper? My curiosity was starting to get the better of me, especially right now, with his gaze still on my lips.

  “Angel?” Viper’s eyes didn’t waver, and it suddenly occurred to me how used to the nickname I’d become that I answered to it now. More shocking, I actually kinda liked it. But the way Viper’s voice dropped low told me something was about to go down, something less to do with working on music and more to do with the lust in his eyes.

  Yeah, I needed to move, because Viper was about to strike.

  I was on my feet before he could say another word, but he didn’t let me get far. He reached for my hand, halting my steps and turning me back to face him.

  “Running away again?” he asked. He didn’t let go of my hand, instead tugging me toward him to stand between his spread thighs. “Do I scare you, Angel?”