Matt had told me he was going to make her pay for hitting him. Once Josh had taken her out the exit, he started screaming all the things he was going to do to her. He got a few hits in on me as I had been looking at Holly. She was terrified as she stood there wide-eyed at Matt’s words. I yelled for her to leave and to get Angel to a safe place.
I look down and fist my hand that I had punched him with. That fucker deserved a lot more than what he got. I close my eyes taking a few deep breaths. It’s all over. I rinse off my face one more time and then dry it off. I walk out of the bathroom and crawl in next to Angel. I let my eyes wander over her body. When we were in the shower earlier, all I could do was try to tone down my anger every time I looked at a bruise or scratch. Now my body wants her. She is lying on her left side, facing me. Her left arm is stretched out under her pillow, her right arm is lying out in front of her, with her hair wild on her pillow.
She’s wearing one of my t-shirts. I let out a moan, knowing she’s naked underneath it. I scoot closer to her. As I reach out my left hand, lightly laying it on her thigh, I slowly let it wander up her smooth leg, cupping her tight firm ass. I continue upward to her hip, then let my hand wander to over her flat stomach. Fuck, I want her so bad right now. I pull my hand away because I know it’s not going to happen. Her body needs time to heal.
I lay back down on my back. My body doesn’t feel nearly as bad as I thought it would. My jaw is sore, along with my hand, but other than that I feel pretty good. Matt was drunk and his moves were sluggish, so even when he did make contact, they were not as hard as they could have been. Angel’s little body definitely got the worse part of the deal.
The ringing of my phone gets my attention. I look over at it on my nightstand to see its Josh. I unplug it, and get out of bed to head to the hallway, not wanting to wake Angel.
“Hello,” I answer once I’m in the hall.
“Hey, man. I just wanted to call and see how you and Sam were feeling.”
“I don’t feel too bad and Angel is asleep. I gave her one of my muscle relaxers that I had from last New Year’s. It will help her with her soreness once she wakes up.” We had all went on a skiing trip last year, I had ended up hurting my back on the slopes. I’m not one for medications, so I had only taken one of them.
“Is she that hurt? I’m so sorry. I was on my way to grab her when she first yelled for you to stop, but Matt’s other friend came out of the restroom. After I hit him a few times he took off, but by then she had already jumped in and hit Matt. I don’t know what the fuck she was thinking,” he growls.
“I know. I saw some of what was going on. It’s okay. It’s not your fault. Thanks for helping me with her.” I lean on the wall, placing my head against it. “I don’t know what I would have done if she’d been badly hurt.”
“How bad is it?” he asked hesitantly like he’s afraid of the answer.
“She has bruises on both arms where he grabbed her as he shoved her against the wall outside the bathroom. She also has a bruise on her side, and smaller ones with scratches on her legs from her fall. I’m going to kill him,” I say with a clenched jaw
“Fuck! I’m sorry, Slade.”
“Hey, it’s not your fault,” I try to reassure him.
“I’m still sorry. I wish I could have done more,” he says sincerely. “Well, I don’t want to keep you. I just wanted to check on you guys. Call me if you need anything.”
“Thanks. You too, Josh.” I hang up, then go back to bed to cuddle up to a still sleeping Angel. I can’t go back to sleep. I don’t even want to close my eyes. I face her, placing my hand on her face and just stare over her beautiful features, thinking how lucky I am that she is here with me.
As I open my eyes, I notice it’s very dark in the bedroom. How long have I been out? I go to stretch my body and flinch. Every part of my body hurts. Not like sharp pain kind of hurt, just extremely sore.
“Are you ok?’’
Slade is propped up on one arm, laying on his side and looking at me. He is wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. I decide he looks pretty good as I let my eyes wander his face and arms. He has a light bruise on his jaw and a small cut on his lip and left eyebrow, but other than that I can’t see much damage.
“I’m sore.” My voice sounds real scratchy and my throat is real dry. I clear my throat. “Everything feels heavy and sluggish.”
“I gave you a muscle relaxer last night. It will help with the soreness. That’s what is making your limbs feel heavy. I’ll be right back.” He gets out of bed and walks out of the room, rather fast for someone who was just in a fight if you ask me.
I wish I felt that good.
I think back to our shower last night. It was the first time I had seen him completely shirtless and, well, naked. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the star tattoo on his chest. I remember my mouth had watered as I looked at his muscular body from head to toe, and it had knocked the wind out of me all over again. He wasn’t thinking of me the same way, though. He had a scowl on his face every time he looked at me.
Slade enters the room carrying a tray with toast covered in jelly and some orange juice. “Here, you need to eat something. It will help.”
“You made me breakfast?” I smile and put my hands flat on the bed as I try to sit myself up. Everything in the room starts to sway back and forth and I feel lightheaded like I may faint. I give up and let my body fall down onto the mattress.
“You okay?” He lays the tray at the end of the bed and rushes over to me.
“Yeah. I just got real dizzy.” I close my eyes.
“The muscle relaxers can do that. Here, let me help you.” He places his arms between me and the bed and lifts me up, placing my back against the headboard.
“Are you ok?” he repeats as he pushes hair off my face.
“Yeah. It feels better to sit up, actually.” He nods his head in understanding and places the tray over my lap.
“You’re not hungry?” I ask as he sits down beside me.
“No. I’ve been up for a while. I ate earlier.”
I take a bite of my toast as he reaches over and grabs something out of his nightstand. “Take this,” he says as hands me a pill.
I give him a questioning look. “Is that what I think it is?” It looks like the muscle relaxer he gave me last night.
“Yes. You need to take it. It will make you sleepy, though, and when you wake up you may feel light headed again, but it will pass. You will feel better by tomorrow.” He leans over and kisses my forehead as I take the pill from his hand.
“Okay.” I pop it in my mouth and rinse it down with a drink of juice. “You look like you feel good.” I say through a mouth full of toast. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until now.
He chuckles. “Yeah, I feel all right.”
“Have you talked to Josh or Micah this morning?” I shove another piece of toast in my mouth.
“Yes. Josh called earlier this morning. He’s good. Micah called a couple hours ago. He said he has a few bruises, and his hand hurts, but other than that he’s fine.”
“You guys were lucky,” I say to my plate.
He wraps his fingers under my chin, pulling my head up to face him. “You were lucky.” He bends down slowly as his baby blue eyes search mine. I push myself up to meet him. It was soft, just our lips touching, and I open my mouth a bit to let him know he can give me more. He doesn’t hesitate as his tongue enters my mouth softly, slowly exploring as his hand moves from my chin to cup my cheek. He continues kissing me as I feel him shift his body on the bed to get closer to me. He pulls away, and moves the tray out from in front of me, then returns to me. His lips make contact with mine, and he kisses me harder. I place my hand on his sweatpants and feel his erection.
“No.” He pulls back. “We can’t. You need your rest.” Before I can say anything, he picks up the tray at the end of the bed and walks out, turning the light off behind him.
What the hell was that about? He is confusing
the hell out of me!
I don’t get much time to think about how odd that situation was because within minutes I’m snuggling under the covers and falling asleep.
The next time I wake up, it is bright in the room. I sit up and realize that it is a lot easier. I feel a bit heavy, but not nearly as sore.
I push the covers back, and slide my legs off the bed. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to walk. They feel like jelly! As I stand up slowly, the room starts to spin, so I place my hand back on the bed to keep myself standing up. Damn. What kind of muscle relaxers are these?
I make my way slowly to the bathroom to brush my teeth. It is hard work and took a lot of effort. Once I’m done, I brush my hair, then start to search for Slade. As I’m walking down the hallway, I hear him talking on his phone. His office door is open, so I lean my body against his door frame to help hold myself up.
He has his back to me as he shuffles through some papers. He has a light gray shirt on that fits him like a glove, pulling along his broad shoulders and muscular arms, and a pair of black shorts. His hair is damp and messy and he looks mouthwatering good. I just want to take him back to bed!
He turns around and our eyes lock. He doesn’t look surprised to see me, and as he talks on the phone, his eyes look me up and down. The heat that comes off of them makes me squirm.
“Okay, email me the documents and I’ll look it over.” He pauses. “Absolutely. Have a great day.” He hangs up and sits his phone on his desk. He comes to stand in front of me, never taking those beautiful blue eyes off of mine.
He bends down and gives me a sweet long kiss. “Good morning.”
“Good morning. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.”
“No, you’re fine.” He looks down at me. “How do you feel? You look like you feel better.” His eyes roam my face and my arms as I nod. “What’s wrong, Angel?”
“Nothing. I feel fine,” I lie. I don’t feel fine, and I’m having a hard time staying upright.
He continues to stare at my arms as an awkward silence fills the room.
“Well, I’m going to get out of your way.” I turn slowly, hoping I don’t fall over from dizziness. I would hate to fall flat on my face in front of him, especially since I’m only wearing his t-shirt. I walk out of his office, heading back to his bathroom to start packing up my stuff.
How the hell am I going to get home?
“Why are you packing your stuff?” He leans up against the countertop and crosses his arms over that glorious chest, as I start packing my stuff into my purse.
I have to take a deep breath, when I look up at his face. The messy hair and baby blue eyes do funny things to my body. “Because I figured you would take me home sometime today.” I look down and place my hair brush in my bag.
“You want to go home?” He tilts his head at me while his baby blue eyes looks down at my things.
“Uh, well I figured you’d want me to go home.” Am I missing something?
He pushes off the sink and comes up to me, placing his hands on my hips and looking deep into my eyes. “I want you to stay. Stay with me.” God, those blue eyes make me go weak at the knees.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I shake my head. “Plus, my car isn’t here.”
“Look...I want to tell you something.” He lifts me gently from the hips, careful not to touch my side, and places me on top of the counter. Putting both hands on either side of my body, he bends over to look in my eyes.
“I want you to stay,” he repeats. “I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know how all this works. I just know I want you here with me. I want you to stay here as often as you want to, even if that’s every night.” He softly pushes some hair behind my ears. “I know you’re probably worried and want to be cautious, but I’m being honest. I would never lie to you, Angel. Never! I only want you.”
I shake my head. “You’ve already lied to me, Slade. How do I know you won’t do it again?” I whisper, looking down at the floor. He had lied to me about Jax and Bridgette, but can I really hold that against him? What would I have done if I had been in that situation? Would I have told someone I didn’t know that their boyfriend was cheating on them over the phone?
He places a hand under my chin, and pulls my face to look up at him. “I’m sorry for that, Angel. I never meant to hurt you, or for you to get hurt. I will never lie to you again.” He straightens himself up and takes both of my hands gently in his. “I know I don’t have a clue of what I’m doing here, and you deserve someone who does, but I want to be that person. I want to try for you. You make me want to be someone better. I want to have a relationship with you, Angel. Please give me that chance, and tell me you want that too.”
Are we ready for a relationship? I mean, Jax and I took our time becoming friends first before we took the step for a relationship. Yeah, but look at how that turned out. Would this relationship end differently? Yes. It would. I already know I would be much more heart broken when it ends with Slade. The way he looks at me, as if I’m something special. The way he is always having to touch my face or tangle his hands in my hair. The way he speaks to me, rather it’s soft and sweet or vulgar and demanding. The man holds the power to bring me to my knees as I beg for more, and that’s just what he offered me. More. I would be dumb not to take it, even if I know the outcome is a broken heart.
“Okay,” I whisper.
He smiles that breathtaking smile that reaches his eyes, brings my hands to his mouth, and kisses them as he still holds them in his hands, then he releases them, bringing his hands to my face as he kisses me softly. So softly that my heart melts. I place my hands on both his forearms while his hands are still on my face.
“You make me so happy, Angel. So happy.” He kisses me again, showing me just how happy I make him. He pulls away, eyeing me carefully. “I’m working from home today because I want to take care of you. I need to be here. With you.”
“What?” I look up at him. “You didn’t have to do that. You could have just taken me home.”
“What kind of boyfriend would I be if I took you home when you needed me?” He smiles a slow sexy smile. My heart rate picked up when he mentioned boyfriend. Wow! This infamous playboy is all mine!
Well, for right now anyway.
“I do have to get some work done today.” He leaves the bathroom for a second and returns, reaching out his hand with a pill in it. “Take this.”
“I don’t need that. I feel much better already.”
“That’s why you need to take it. You may feel better, but you’re not completely healed. You’ll start doing too much too soon.”
“I don’t like the way it makes me feel,” I whine.
“Take it.” His eyes get hard and his jaw clenches. It’s pointless to argue with him. I just take it from his hand and swallow it. “Good girl.” He kisses me on the forehead before he heads back to his office.
The rest of the day goes by in a blur. I lay on the couch in his media room watching T.V. and falling in and out of sleep while Slade works in his office. I wake feeling groggy and disoriented as Slade carries me to the bedroom. I snuggle closer to him. “What time is it?” I whisper.
“A little past nine.” He lays me down on his bed. “I’m going to work from home tomorrow and Wednesday. I don’t have to be in the office until Thursday. Okay?” He cups my cheek in his hand as I lay down looking up at him through heavy eyes.
“Okay.” I’m so tired, I’m not going to argue. I roll over and fall asleep as I hear Slade go to his bathroom.
The next morning, I wake up to Slade lying in bed with me. As I open my eyes, I drink in the sight of him. He’s wearing a white wife beater tank with gray sweatpants. He’s lying down with two pillows propped up under his head. He’s got his fingers laced together behind his head, causing the muscles in his arm to bulge out. His legs are crossed at the ankle and he’s barefoot. I follow where he is looking to see that he has the TV on ESPN, but the volume is muted.
�
�You can turn the volume up,” I rasp out.
He turns his head to look at me as a smile forms on his face. “I didn’t want to wake you,” He says softly.
“You’re fine.”
“Here” He reaches over to his nightstand, producing a bottle of water for me. I greedily take a drink and hand it back to him.
“Thanks.”
He takes a drink himself then places the drink on the nightstand, then lays back down. He pulls me over to him. I lay in the crook of his arm, placing my head and hand on his chest. I listen to his slow and steady heartbeat.
“I thought you had to work today?” I look up at him.
“I worked most of last night while you slept.” I nod my head, then lay it back down on his chest. “I got a phone call today from Officer Kent. He said that they found Matt had some priors in Louisiana for an assault against an officer, so he’s going away for quite a while.”
“That’s good.” Stupid bastard. If I see him hitting Slade again, I’ll kick him in the balls.
“I thought so.” His right arm pulls me in tighter as his fingers rub little circles on my arm. I lay there with him, watching ESPN as the silence fills the room. It’s not uncomfortable, though. I could lay like this forever. I sigh and close my eyes.
“Angel?”
“Yes?” I keep my eyes closed.
“Can I ask you a question?” He asks cautiously.
“Sure,” I say slowly.
I feel his hand sweep the hair off the back of my neck, and his fingers lightly brush over my tattoo. I swallow, knowing what the question is going to be.
“Will you tell me about your tattoo for your dad?” he asks quietly.
I take in a deep breath and slowly release it before I speak. “I got it the week after he passed. I was so heartbroken. Everyone kept saying it would get better with time that the hurt would go away, but I didn’t want it to. I didn’t want to forget about him. I guess in my own little twisted way, I felt I needed to brand myself with ink to remind myself of what I had lost. I wanted something to visualize what I was going through, so I got half of a hollow heart because a piece of me had died.”
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