My Broken Angel

by Heather D'Agostino

  Chapter 22

  Wes

  We spent the next three days much like the past two. Lots of driving with a few sexual escapades mixed in the middle. It seemed the closer we got to Boston, the more frantic and desperate we were for one another. I was tired of being in this car, and I knew Angel was, too, but I was no more excited about being home than she was.

  Last night, when we’d made love it was different. It was as if she knew that within the next twenty-four hours things were going to change for us. She’s clung to me like a life raft, and if I’d been paying better attention, I would have noticed the tears in her eyes before they spilled down her cheeks. I’d tried to assure her that we’d be fine, but with our history, I wasn’t so sure anymore. Things always seemed to get in the way with us, and with everything going on right now, I only hoped we’d make it.

  I hadn’t heard anything about Richard and the investigation. I’d hoped they’d found who’d killed him. I must say that he hadn’t been on my mind, and I didn’t feel like explaining about the altercation that happened between us before he died. The one person at the forefront of my mind was Cole. He was going to flip out when we told him. He’d pretty much told me when we were younger to stay away from Angela. He knew she’d crushed on me, but he made sure I was aware that she was off limits. Too bad, he hadn’t told my heart that.

  “Hey, Angel,” I nudged her sleeping form as I made the final turn into Boston. We’d been driving all day, and we were finally here. A few more miles and I’d be parking in the lot beside Cole’s apartment.

  “Mmm?” she murmured as she sat up. She’d been sleeping for a while, and I hadn’t had the heart to wake her. She’d looked so peaceful, and I didn’t want to disturb that. I wanted to remember her just like this so when it all fell apart, I’d have something to look back on.

  “We’re almost there,” I mumbled. “I’m going to drop you off and talk to Cole a little bit.”

  “No!” she gasped as she reached out and grasped my arm. “Don’t do that tonight,” I could hear the panic in her voice, and knew that she was thinking the same thing I was. This was it. Our time was up, and I was ending things.

  “I need to do this,” I muttered. “I can’t lie to him.”

  When we arrived at the apartment, I parked her car beside Cole’s Explorer. “I’ll help you in the morning,” I motioned to all the clothes piled in the back. Angel stood there, arms across her chest, lip pushed out, refusing to make eye contact. “Is this how it’s gonna be? You don’t get things your way, so you act like that?” I motioned to her as I shook my head and began walking into the building. She followed behind, stomping her feet trying to make as much noise as she could.

  “I’m not acting like anything,” she waved her arms as her voice climbed higher.

  “You’re acting like a child,” I growled as we approached the door to Cole’s apartment. It was now or never, but Angela seemed to want to lash out right at that very moment. “I don’t know what this is Angel, but you need to stop.”

  “You don’t care what I want,” she yelled. “You’ve made it quite clear over the last several days that we’re doing this your way.”

  “Would you be quiet,” I narrowed my eyes at her. “You’re going to tell the entire building about all our problems.”

  “Who cares!” her foot began tapping as she rolled her eyes at me. “You want to tell Cole anyway. What are we hiding?”

  “Tell me what?” Cole called from the doorway causing us both to jump.

  We’d been so lost in our own conversation that we’d failed to hear him open the door. Now, as I stood here in the hallway completely off kilter, Angel’s mouth hung open in surprise. “About us,” I turned to face him. “There’s an us now.”

  Cole’s face held disbelief at first, then the anger appeared. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and as much as I was prepared for this reaction, I wasn’t prepared for the way he would deliver it.

  The vein in his neck pulsed as he pointed at Angel, “Get inside, Ang!”

  Her mouth opened and closed like a fish before she squared her shoulders, and that defiant side I’d seen so many times over the last few days appeared. “No!” she barked as she stood next to me. “You can’t tell me what to do. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

  “I’m not asking,” Cole warned before turning his angry stare on me. “You!” he poked me in the chest before moving so close that we were almost touching. “I trusted you to take care of her, not get in her pants. You fucked her, didn’t you?” He sneered and his face reddened impossibly more. “Get the fuck out!” he pointed down the hall. “You stay the fuck away from her!”

  “What’s going on?” Maddie’s timid voice now sounded from behind where Cole was standing.

  “I’ll be there in a minute,” Cole called over his shoulder. “Wes was just leaving.”

  “Then I’m leaving, too,” Angela volleyed back at him.

  I knew that this standoff wasn’t going to end well, and as much as it was killing me to do this, I knew I had to. I needed to try and save whatever was left of this friendship. Angel had to know when we started all this that it couldn’t last. I released a deep breath before turning to face Angela, “No, you’re not.”

  “What?” her face was as shocked as Cole’s. “Go inside with your brother.”

  “Don’t do this,” she begged as tears began to well in her eyes. One slowly slipped out, and she swiped at it before turning an angry glare on Cole.

  “I’m not doing anything,” I muttered as I stepped around her.

  “Please?” she begged as she reached out and wrapped her fingers around my bicep.

  I glanced down at where she was touching me before reaching up to remove her hand, “Goodbye, Angel.” I let the words slip out with as little emotion as possible as the tears now streamed down her face. “We knew this wasn’t going to work.”

  I kept my back to them as I listened to her quiet sobs for a minute before murmuring to Cole, “See ya at work, tomorrow.” I didn’t stick around any longer. I couldn’t take much more. Listening to Angel beg me to stay, to let her come with me, to do anything but what I was doing… walking away… it was killing me. The farther I moved away from her, the more my heart broke. Little pieces of it were falling away and leaving a trail behind me of the wreckage we’d caused. Things were never going to be the same between any of us. I’d be lucky if Cole ever spoke to me again.

  ooooooooo

  When I arrived at my condo that night, I didn’t even turn on a light. I’d half waved to my doorman before escaping upstairs to the solitude. What had I done to us? What had I done to Angel, and would she ever be able to forgive me?

  Upon entering the condo, I tossed my keys on the kitchen counter, grabbed the half empty bottle of Jack that was sitting there, and made my way into the dark living room. I sprawled out on the couch, unscrewed the top, and tipped it to my lips taking a deep gulp. The amber liquid burned as it made its way down. I needed this. I needed to numb the ache in my chest. Every sip I took caused the look I remembered seeing on Angel’s face blur a little more. I needed to push her into the back of my mind. I needed to forget.

  I laid back, and tossed my arm over my eyes. I could smell her on me. We’d forgone showers this morning, and the scent of her skin permeated my clothes. Taking another swig of Jack, I did the one thing I hadn’t done in years: I cried. The tears leaked from my eyes as I pictured what we’d shared over the last few days. We’d had such a bumpy road when we were younger. Our timing was never right, and now, when we could have had it all, I had gone and fucked it up. “Screw you, universe!” I shouted at no one in particular as I took another gulp of Jack. At this rate, I’d be drunk in an hour, and regretting this in the morning.

  I ripped my shirt from my body trying to rid myself of her scent as I stood and paced the living room. Moonlight shown in through the giant window that led to my balcony, and I couldn’t help but stare out across the cityscape. I wondered what she was
doing right now. Was she crying over me? Did she regret what we’d done? Was she begging Cole to fix things? Trying to explain them? “Fuck!” I screamed as I threw the bottle across the room and watched it shatter as it hit the tile floor. I’d done it again. I’d let myself feel too much for another woman. The sick thing here was, this wasn’t just any woman…this was my broken angel.

  Chapter 23

  Wes

  It had been two weeks since I’d walked away. Two weeks of hiding in my office during Cole’s shifts, and two weeks of avoiding Angel. I’d yet to face Cole’s wrath, and with the way he’d been acting lately, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be up to it.

  I’d passed my morning classes off to a new hire, Jeff, for the time being. Cole worked most mornings, and then would leave in the afternoon in favor of meeting Maddie for lunch and walking Zeb. Sometimes, he’d come back for an evening class, but more times than not, he’d stay home. I couldn’t blame him. He and Maddie had been through the wringer, and him not working nights helped keep us apart.

  Angel had stopped by the first few days, but I’d refused to talk to her. The first day, I’d snuck into my office when I saw her coming in the door. After that, I learned her schedule. She was still working at Carino’s, and usually served the dinner shift. Nights had become my solace. Self-defense classes were in the morning, so I’d pretty much given up everything that meant anything to me at this point. I’d started this gym to help people. To give people like Cole and Angela a place to work out their anger. To take back what some asshole had done to them. Maddie had been able to escape her past, and met Cole that way. Not me, though, my past followed me everywhere. Every time I thought I’d outrun it, there it was, slapping me in the face. Whether it was Vicki hanging on some newcomer during a press conference on TV, or Angel cracking my already battered heart wide open, I just couldn’t catch a break. Forget the fact that this entire situation was all my fault.

  In the few short days that I’d followed Angel around, I’d done the one thing that I swore I’d never do. I let her in. I let her in so far that I’d never get her out. She’d showed me what we could be, and I’d let it cloud my judgment. I destroyed a twenty-one year friendship for her and then walked away. What the fuck was wrong with me?

  “Hey, boss?” Joey, my desk manager, leaned his head in my office, bringing me out of my musings.

  “I’m coming,” I waved him off, not waiting to hear what he actually needed to tell me. If I’d been smart, I would have asked what he wanted, but the past few weeks have proven I am not that smart.

  I’d been giving a few private lessons in the evenings to some aspiring fighters, and apparently tonight’s was early. I wandered across the gym, glancing at my watch before stopping in front of the equipment box. I needed to grab some pads, and my mouth guard. Last week, one of the guys got a little sloppy, and cuffed me when I wasn’t paying attention. Paying attention was my biggest weakness at the moment, and today was no exception.

  “So I have to sign up for a class now to get you to talk to me?” Her impatient growl came from behind me, causing me to snap to a standing position, and spin around. My mouth opened as I tried to form words. Just looking at her hurt, and seeing the anger on her face made it that much worse.

  “What are you doing here?” I hissed.

  “I want to talk to you, and this seems like the only way to make that happen,” she flipped one hand in the air before crossing both arms over her chest.

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” I muttered as I tossed the pads I’d just grabbed back into the equipment box.

  “There most certainly is,” she demanded as she placed her hands on her hips, and glared at me. “I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you, but I thought we meant something to each other. I thought when you told me you loved me that you meant it.” She began moving forward, eyes shooting daggers, until she was right in front of me. Her head tipped back as she attempted to stare at my eyes. Her small frame no match for her fiery attitude. “I saw it,” she poked me in the chest. “I saw the way you looked into my eyes when you made love to me. I heard it in your voice. You can’t tell me that you didn’t mean that. Every moment, every tear shed,” she swallowed before blinking away the wetness that was now forming in her eyes. “You can’t tell me that didn’t mean something… that WE didn’t mean something.” She sucked in a shuddering breath before closing her mouth and just staring up at me… waiting. Then she slowly shook her head and turned away.

  “Angel! Wait!” I called out causing her to pause. “I just… I can’t… fuck!” I reached up and grabbed my hair tugging forcefully as I bent my knees in anguish. It did mean something, more than I could ever put into words, but my loyalty to my best friend was so powerful I couldn’t overlook it. I’d promised myself that I’d stay away. Cole had warned me to stay away, and I was going to do just that even if it killed me.

  “What?” she flung her arms out to the side. “Don’t tell me this is for Cole. He’s my brother, but he doesn’t get to pick who I love. She turned and rushed up to me, “Do you hear me?” I was still crouched down, my face level with her burgeoning belly. I shook my head as I growled before looking up at her. She was fuming, angrier than I’d ever seen her. The glow of the overhead lights around her head looked like a halo as they reflected on her hair. She was such a contradiction. My angel, who was tempting me like a devil. “If you loved me like you said you did, you wouldn’t be pushing me away right now. You’d grab onto this, and you’d hang on like hell to keep it.”

  I stood, raked my hands down my face, and was just getting ready to say ‘fuck it’ when he came walking in the door. My shoulders sagged when our eyes connected, and I knew right then that I was in for the fight of my life. One of us wasn’t going to be walking out of here tonight, and I had a feeling it was going to be me.

  “Go home, Ang,” he growled at he stormed over. She looked at me one last time begging me to ask her to stay, but the slight shake of my head sent her scurrying for the door.

  “You wanna hit me?” I lifted my arms in invitation. “Hit me!” I slipped the mouth guard in that I’d set on my bag near my feet.

  Cole’s shoulders were rising and falling rapidly as I watched him rein in his temper. “You couldn’t stay away, could you?” He shook his head at me. “All those years she followed us around. You wanted her then, didn’t you? Didn’t you?” he bellowed.

  “I’m not going to talk to you about this. You obviously came here looking for a fight, so hit me and get it over with,” I backed up, and climbed into the ring behind us. “Get whatever you need over with so we can move on.”

  “I don’t think I can move on from this, Bro. You fucked my sister. My little sister,” he pounded on his chest. “You know what she’s been through, what we’ve been through, yet the one thing I told you not to do, you did. And now, you’ve left her. She not good enough?” He began rummaging through his bag, grabbing his gloves and mouth guard. “I know you, and I know you don’t stick around. You fuck ‘em and then toss them aside. She’s not one of your one night stands.”

  I stood there, refusing to engage with him. He was being irrational, and I hoped that years down the line, he’d be able to look back and see that. I knew he didn’t want answers. All he wanted was to beat my ass. He would feel better then, and we’d move past this. I knew how it went. Anytime we had a disagreement as kids, we’d fight it out. Usually both of us would walk away before any serious injuries occurred, but I wasn’t sure he’d tap out tonight.

  “Put your damn gloves on,” he tossed them in the ring at me before climbing in, slipping his mouth guard in place, and taking a fighting stance.

  ooooooooo

  Angela

  I knew after leaving the gym that I needed to do something to stop this. I’d seen them go at over pretty stupid crap when they younger. One would lay claim to a girl, or one would steal the other’s baseball cards. The older they got, the less frequent the fighting was. I’d only seen them do real damag
e on one other occasion. Cole had asked out a girl that Wes had been eyeing for weeks. He’d been flirting with her, and called dibs. She began taking notice, and then Cole stepped in and took her right from under Wes’ nose. They fought over her for days before it led to blows. Wes walked away with a broken arm and Cole a busted nose. After that day, they had sworn off ever fighting over a girl. Now, I was the girl between them.

  When I reached Cole’s apartment, I flung open the door and began calling for Maddie. Her car was in the parking lot so I knew she was home. She peered around the corner still dressed in her scrubs from earlier that day with Zeb hot on her heels.

  “What’s wrong?” her brows crinkled as she stared at me.

  “Come with me,” I motioned in a panicked voice. “I’ll tell you in the car.”

  “Angela, what is it? Is Cole ok?” she grabbed her purse, slipped on a pair of Crocs, and rushed out the door.

  “They’re gonna fight… over me,” I shook my head. “I know they are, and I’m afraid Cole’s gonna kill him.”

  “Calm down,” she soothed as we climbed into her car. She’d insisted that she drive since I was so worked up. “He’s his best friend. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.”

  “You’ve never seen them get mad at each other. Hurry,” I jiggled my legs as Maddie drove to the gym.

  When we arrived, I could hear them yelling in the back. Joey was shaking his head as he stood behind the front desk. “Maddie,” he sighed. “Go talk some sense into your boyfriend. We’ve all tried, and he won’t listen to us.”

  Maddie rolled her eyes before rushing to the back. I followed right behind her and gasped when I saw them. Sweat was covering both their bodies. Cole had Wes pinned to the mat in some hold that looked painful. He was bleeding from his lip, and Wes had a cut along his brow.