With a reluctant frown, I sat the trophy on the table and crossed my arms, turning my head away from it. "I always wanted a trophy, you know. I never win anything."
"That's because you always quit half way," Mandy pointed out as she took the trophy and put it into an evidence bag.
I sat up straighter and glared. "I do not quit everything."
"Oh, really?" Mandy laughed. "There was the ballet."
"The shoes hurt."
"Gymnastics."
"Nobody is that bendy." I shook my head, wincing at the thought of the fateful back bend that had ended my short career.
"What about the flute?” Mandy pointed out. “You were actually good at that, and you quit after one semester."
"Too much practice.” I shrugged. “I had to think of my social life. Really, it was a charity for me to quit, that way Rachel Wick could take first chair. She needed something to be happy for with her grandmother being such a witch."
With a slow shake of her head, Mandy turned back to her paperwork. "If you say so, but still, I'm just waiting for the moment you quit this too."
"I will not. I'm made for this." I pointed at the trophy. "I have yet to lose a case."
"That's true." Mandy gave me a smile.
"What about Chloe?" I asked and leaned forward to tap my nails on the desk top. "Why was she in all this? Did she say?"
Mandy pushed away the paperwork, seeming to give up since I wasn't going to stop bugging her any time soon. "She said that she was tired of those fake posers winning all the time. It was time for someone with real talent to win for a change." Tightening her pony tail, Mandy made a bored face. "Seems like pretty normal stuff to me."
"Uh, no.” I huffed. “Have you seen her stuff? She wasn't winning for a very specific reason and that's because her stuff sucked. Not because she wasn't like the rest of them."
"No, I haven't." Mandy turned her eyes to her computer, not interested in seeing what Chloe designed. Regardless of if she cared or not, I pulled out my phone and showed her. Squinting her eyes, Mandy stared at the phone. "Is that plaid? With pastels?"
"Yep.” I nodded firmly. “She needs to die a horribly tragic death to make up for even bringing this crap into the world."
Mandy gave me a look. "You're in a police station. Could you please refrain from talking about killing people so freely? I'd hate to have to bail you out again."
"Hey!" I held a finger up and pointed it at her. "That was one time, and that ass wipe had it coming."
"If you say so." Mandy stood from her desk and picked up the trophy before walking toward the evidence room.
I jumped up and followed after her. Gabriel and Lucifer had taken off shortly after the police had gotten the bad guys down and hadn't come back yet. I figured they had something else to do besides watch me get paid. I hadn't seen those other two angels again either, Raphael and Azrael. Not that I wanted to see them, but the longer they stayed gone, the better. Nothing good would come of either of them appearing.
"I do say so." I stopped by Mandy as she filled out the forms to hand over my meal ticket. I watched it with sad reluctance. "He tried to cop a feel."
"And that required you breaking his hand with a metal door?" Mandy didn't even glance up from the evidence form she had gotten from the room’s clerk, but the disbelief in her voice spoke volumes.
"Better than what I had planned," I muttered as I crossed my arms over my chest with a pout. "I had planned on finding the wire cutters from the shop class and taking a few inches off... from between his legs."
"Ew. Stop." Mandy's nose scrunched up at the visual. "Please, can we not talk about penises and such at my work?"
The lady clerk behind the evidence counter gave Mandy and me an amused look. I smiled prettily at her and then turned to Mandy.
"You're the one using the p word. I was being a lady."
"Pfft. Sure, you were." Mandy handed the paper back to the lady and moved away from the counter. "Now, I have real work to do, a load of papers to fill out, and I don't have time for you to talk my ear off."
"Fine. I understand when I'm not wanted." I sighed as I continued to trail after her.
"Do you?" Mandy stopped in the entry way to the main offices. "Because you haven't caught the hint yet."
I grinned and clasped my hands together in front of me, giving her my best ‘I love you’ eyes. "That's because I know you don't mean it."
"Believe me." She grabbed my shoulders and turned me toward the front door. "I mean it, now scoot. Don't you have a paycheck to collect?"
"Alright, alright," I called over my shoulder, waving goodbye. "I'll see myself out."
As I walked out of the police station, I whistled to myself. I'd caught the bad guy, I was about to get paid. I think that means I earned myself a big fat margarita. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
And, of course, that was where I fucked up.
The moment I stepped out of the police station, I came face to face with my newest stalkers, the aforementioned Raphael and Azrael.
"I don't have time for you guys right now,” I said with a put-upon sigh.
“I am on a mission, a mission to get paid. Not to be mistaken for getting laid because that is a whole other thing all together. Not that it isn't just as gratifying." I hummed. "Okay, maybe more. You know, it's sex." I looked at their puzzled expressions. "So, you don't know but whatever. I gotta go."
"Are you sure you are sane?" Azrael asked, not getting the hint. He and Raphael moved to either side of me so that I was sandwiched between them. In most cases, that would have been a promising position, but with two unknown angels, it was just creepy.
"Yes, well, my mom had me tested once." I pulled my keys out of my pocket as I increased my pace. I hoped I could get to my car before they caused a scene, and by scene, I mean before they made me look like a crazy person yelling at rude ass angels.
"We'll get out of your hair if you make us physical." Raphael moved in front of me to block my path to the car. Well, not really, I could walk through him, but it was annoying.
"No," I simply said as I paused before my car. I tapped my foot impatiently and waited for them to make their case and get out of my face.
"If you do not agree to help us, then we will have to change our tactics," Azrael said from me behind me. He was so close that I could feel the buzzing of his energy pressing against my back.
"Ooo, what are you going to do?" I waved my hands and made a face. "Annoy me to death?" Sucking it up, I shoved my hand through Raphael and unlocked my car. Jumping inside the car, I slammed it shut and hoped they wouldn't figure out how to get in it.
Azrael glared at me as I turned my car on and got ready to pull out of my parking spot. He moved to the hood of my car and held out his arms, his hands hovering over the top of it. I stared at him as if daring him to do something. After all, I didn't think any of them could be as scary or as powerful as Michael could be.
However, when the electrical system in my car started to sputter and then the car promptly shut off, I was proven wrong. I gritted my teeth and tried to crank the car once again. Nothing. It didn't even click. With that, I growled as I shoved my car door open and stalked over to the hood.
Continuing to ignore the two douchebag angels, I popped open the hood and stared down at the engine in the vain hope I could figure out what the asshole had done to it. Of course, I didn't know crap about cars, so me looking at it was about as useful as a clown running a kitchen.
"What'd you do?" I snapped and slammed my hood back down. "Fix it."
Azrael crossed his arms over his chest, a smug expression on his face. "No."
"Fix it now or I'll..."
"Or you'll what?" Raphael came over to stand beside Azrael, his hands in his pockets and his expression no less smug than his partner. "Call your masters to help you?"
"First of all," I held a finger up, "nobody is my master. I'm my own freaking boss. Second of all, you bet your asses I'm going to call for them, then we'll see who i
s demanding who. Michael!" I called into the sky, hoping it would work because I had never really had to call them before. They always just showed up when I needed them.
"Go ahead." Azrael waved a hand at me with a grin. "Yell all you want. They won't come."
My brows furrowed, I didn't let him stop me. "Lucifer! Michael! Gabriel! One of you better get your butts down here and take care of these jerkwads before I cut you off forever." I paused and realized what I'd just said. "Okay, maybe not forever, but for a very long time. You hear me!"
The two of them laughed harder the more I yelled at the sky, and it wasn't until Mandy came running out of the police station that I finally stopped.
"What the hell are you doing?" Mandy looked around us before stopping before me. "Someone called into the office that someone was screaming at nothing like a crazy person in the middle of the parking lot. Obviously, I figured it was you." She gestured at me with a sigh. "What's wrong? I thought you left."
"I was trying to, but things have gotten complicated." I glared at the nearby angels.
Mandy glanced around her hands on her hips. "I figured with all the yelling. Why were you yelling for them? Aren't they here?"
I hesitated to tell her and then figured I might as well. "Not exactly. It seems word has gotten around, and now the groupies won't leave me alone."
"Groupies?” Raphael scoffed. “You wish. We simply want what you offered the others so freely."
"Not gonna happen. I don't know you, and I wouldn't give you anything just on principle of you being an asshat." I slashed my arm through the air in finality.
Mandy glanced worriedly between me and where I glared at. "So, why don't you just leave? They can't hurt you, right?"
Eyes still on the angels, I answered, "Not technically, I guess, but they can make my life a living hell. Ergo my car won't start now."
Mandy’s frown deepened. "Let me look."
She opened the hood and glanced around, then she pulled out the oil thingy and putted it back before closing the hood. "I have no idea. Just call a ride."
"We’ll just stop that vehicle too." Azrael said with a cruel grin.
"Yeah, I got that," I snapped at him and then said to Mandy, "They'll just mess up that one too. So, for the moment, I'm stranded."
"And what about the others? Why aren't they answering?" Mandy turned her cop gaze on the angels though she couldn't see them. They could see her though, and I wondered if it would work on them.
"Ask them.” I shook my head and gestured to where they stood. “These jerks are all confident my guys won't come, and based on my yelling the last ten minutes, I'm worried something has happened." Turning my eyes from Mandy to them, I poured all my vengeance into my words. "If anything has happened to them, if you hurt them or even harmed one hair on their gorgeous heads, then I will make sure you never become solid. Never. You got me?"
"Then we won't leave you alone until you do. We are not as busy as the others." Raphael smirked and moved closer to me as if to run his fingers along my arm. I smacked at him, scowling when my hand went through the air. "We have time. You'll give in eventually... or go mad."
Stepping so close that our noses would have touched, I snarled, "I'd rather die."
"Now, that won't be necessary." Michael's voice boomed through the parking lot which made the two Angels before me cringe.
I spun on my heels, crossed my arms over my chest, and scowled. "Where were you? Didn’t you hear me calling?"
“Darling, the dead heard you calling for us.” Lucifer appeared beside me, and that made Raphael jump even further back from me.
“Agreed.” Gabriel appeared, wiggling a finger in his ear. “Not so loud next time. If I were solid when you did that, you’d have broken my ear drums.”
“Then maybe, next time, you should come when I call the first time and not an hour later.” I huffed and glared daggers at the three of them. “Where were you?”
“We were otherwise detained.” Michael crossed his arms over his impressive chest and returned my glare with an ice stare. However, the true target of that stare wasn’t me but the angels behind me.
“Michael, you have to understand we just want the chance you three had.” Azrael walked through the car to stand between Michael and me. “You are being selfish keeping the human to yourself.”
“The fact that you don’t even call her by her name proves we shouldn’t share her.” Lucifer unbuttoned his suit jacket and tucked his hands into his pockets. “You wouldn’t appreciate her.”
Mandy’s eyes jerked back and forth trying to figure out what’s going on. “What are they saying? Do I need to shoot someone?”
“No, not yet.” I laughed and waved her off. “The guys showed up, and now, my stalkers are getting an ass handing.”
Gabriel snickered as he took the few steps over to me. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I angled my head back to look up at him, “but my car has seen better days. They did something to it.” I shot Azrael an accusing look.
“Fix it.” Michael’s words to the two douche nozzles were hard and unyielding. They promised pain and lots of it if they refused.
“But Michael—” Azrael started but stuttered to a stop as Michael’s blue eyes began to glow like lightning. That’s a new trick I hadn’t seen before. “As you wish, my liege.” Azrael placed a fist to his chest and bowed slightly.
All of a sudden, my car came roaring back to life which caused Mandy and me to jump in place. Happy my car was alright, I hurried over to it and hugged its hood.
“Is my baby okay? Did that bad angel hurt you?”
“Ugh, don’t talk to your car like it’s alive, Jane,” Mandy told me as she shook her head. “At least, try to pretend you’re normal at my place of work.”
“Sorry.” I shrugged. “You knew I wasn’t normal when you became friends with me, a little late to be complaining about it now.”
Lucifer snorted. “Got that right, love.”
“Are you good here?” Mandy asked, shooting a look around. “I’ve got work to do, and if you’re not going to blow the place up, I need to get back.”
I looked to Michael. “Are we okay?”
Michael ripped his eyes away from Azrael to meet mine. “Yes, we will take care of them. Go home, Jane. Gabriel, escort her.”
Gabriel inclined his head and climbed into the car with me. Mandy headed back inside after I told her it was safe leaving only the four angels in the parking lot.
I watched Lucifer and Michael surround Azrael and Raphael as we backed out of the parking lot. “Are they going to be okay?”
“Yes,” Gabriel murmured, his eyes unfocused and glazed over. “Everything will be fine.”
For some reason, the way he said it made me not entirely believe him.
Chapter 21
GABRIEL HUNG OUT WITH me for a few days with no sign of the other two. I was finally able to get Andre his trophy back. He'd been so happy to get it back that he invited me and my boyfriends to a party on his yacht.
Which was where I was now. Off the coast of Blessed Falls with a couple dozen or so of Andre's friends and miles of water between us and land.
"This is great," I told Andre with a smile. "If this is what you do in your free time, then I think I would love to be rich."
Andre laughed and handed me a flute of champagne. "It does grow on you." He wore a completely white suit with a black t-shirt beneath. Andre was the very definition of cool among the fashionable people on his yacht. For the first few minutes, I'd felt very out of place in my yellow sun dress, but soon, I was three glasses into the alcohol and didn't give a flip what any of them thought of me.
"So, I haven't seen any of your boyfriends today. Did you break up? Get tired of juggling so many?" Andre not so subtly had been trying to hit on me the entire time. He started with a hand on my lower back as he took me on a tour of his boat and introduced me to all the fancy people he knew. It seemed like the billionaire was pulling out all the stops to
impress me, and I felt guilty.
I should be thrilled while I was living it up, but all I could think about was the short note Gabriel left me this morning before I headed out.
Something came up.
That was it. Nothing else. No ‘I'll see you later.’ or ‘I love you.’ Just ‘something came up.’ Like I was a casual girl he'd been seeing on the side. All this lack of attention was starting to give me a complex which in turn made it so I couldn't enjoy the fabulous party happening around me, or the attention of the attractive man trying his damnedest to get me to notice him.
"Uh, no." I tucked a dark lock behind my ear and avoided his gaze. "They're working. I'm sure they'll show up eventually."
"Well, we're not making dock for the rest of the day so they might have to set this one out." Andre picked up my hand and rubbed the top of my knuckles. "Which means... I get you all to myself."
I let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, seems like."
For more than once since I'd gotten there, I wish I hadn't come, at least not without one of the guys at my side. With them there, at least Andre was a bit less touchy feely with me. I didn't hate it or anything, but once you've been with an angel, it was kind of hard to enjoy spending time with regular old humans, and it showed.
"Would you like something to eat?" He steered me toward the buffet table they had set up in the middle of the first floor. The boat was idling off the coast, and the wind was just low enough to be nice and not hair destroying. Overall, it would be a perfect day for a party... if three people weren't missing.
"No, thank you." I waved a hand at the table. "I'm not hungry."
Andre let out a startled laugh. "You? Not hungry? Are you feeling alright?" I stared at him curiously. "I don't mean to laugh, but you took me as the kind of woman who was always eating. Or thinking about eating. I thought for sure I would have a win just for having food readily available."
I gave him a weak smile. "No, you had me pegged right. Food is my second love."
"And your first?"
Opening my mouth to answer him, I changed my mind and clamped it shut. I moved toward the table as I have him a polite nod. "I think I could probably eat just a little."
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