“Oh, I know I could,” she told him without an inkling of a doubt in her mind. She turned around to face him, not letting him underestimate her. “Do you really think you would be the one to sit on the throne if I weren’t born a woman?”
Lucca’s intense blue-green eyes had a question of his own. “Do you know what rules are for, Maria?”
Now it was his reply that she hadn’t anticipated.
“They are meant to keep weak men from breaking, and given for great men to break.”
One … Two … Three … Four … Angel didn’t know how long it had been since the closet door had been closed.
Five … Six … Seven … Eight … All he knew was that he was hungry, thirsty, and in pain.
Nine … Ten … Eleven … Twelve … And even though it was pitch-black in there, he felt like the already tiny space had somehow grown smaller and smaller with each passing hour.
Thirteen … Fourteen … Fifteen … It was almost like a game to see who would crack first. To see who would break first. Either his father would by unlocking the door, or Angel’s mind would break before his father even came to the door.
The best part of the game was that neither of them would know who won until the door opened. It was a sick game of outlast, and they both would be damned if they lost.
Sixteen … Seventeen … Eighteen … The counting helped to keep him sane. He didn’t know how many times he had started back at one, but it kept his mind occupied when he couldn’t sleep in the darkness.
A crack of light finally showed under the door, giving him a little glimmer of brightness. Thinking his father had come into the room, he thought he was finally free.
It wasn’t until a piece of candy was slid under the door that he realized he was far from saved.
Angel just stared at the candy with a tear streaming down his face.
“Are you holding up in there, Angel?” Dominic’s worried voice came through from the other side when he didn’t take it.
Wiping away the tear, he took the gift. “I’m okay,” he managed to get out of his dry throat.
“Suck on it for as long as you can; it’ll help.”
He unwrapped the hard piece of red, glossy candy; the cherry flavor exploded in his mouth and his dry throat started to produce saliva.
The shadow under the door showed his brother was still there.
“How’s Matthias?”
Silence grew until Dominic finally answered, “He’s better.”
That answer gave him a shiver up his spine. Not until he was set free would he know if his twin came out all right on the other side.
“You’re different than him.” Dominic’s voice was almost ominous, like it didn’t belong to a teenage boy. Then again, a boy like him had never gotten to be a kid, let alone a teenager. There were five years between them. Five long years Dominic had had to spend on this earth alone with the devil. How he had survived, no one knew. No one even knew if Dominic had the answer to that. “You have to be the strong one, Angel. You might not break if he does. But if you break, he breaks.”
His words of wisdom were all he left him with when he walked away, leaving him to the darkness.
It wasn’t until hours later, with those words swirling through his head, that he realized the severity of them.
To keep his twin meant to protect Matthias and sacrifice himself to the darkness. It was something he had done once, but now he understood he was going to have to do it every time. Matthias’s weakness would have to become his strength. His fear would have to become Angel’s friend.
Placing his little hands on the door, he felt around, tracing the walls around him. With each touch, what were once walls had slowly become his cage.
As he breathed heavily, the trapped feeling started to close in around him. If he was lucky, he would be in there until the moment right before he broke. The next time, he could only hope he could last longer, and longer, repeatedly, each time being released right before he lost it all. Then maybe one day …
… A sweaty Angel awoke from another nightmare. Knowing he’d had too many in a row, he made himself get up off the bed and grabbed his pillow.
Staring at a sliding door, he finally slid it open to reveal a closet.
Angel threw his pillow down on the closet floor before going in and lying down on the floor.
The hard surface hurt his injuries at first, but then he managed to get somewhat comfortable enough to sleep. It wasn’t until he slid the door closed again and caged himself in that he greeted his old friend.
It was funny a thing … When he pulled his hands from his cage, the darkness didn’t allow him to see it. It was only there if he decided to reach out and touch it.
Twenty-One
You Fuckers Are Ugly
Opening the door, Adalyn walked into the beautiful, dark apartment.
“Do you know how to knock?” Vincent grumbled from the sofa.
“Yes, I just don’t want to.” Heading over to the sofa, she decided to be an even more pain in the ass by trying to squish herself between him and Lake.
“There’s a whole damn couch, Adalyn!” He tried to fight off his sister, but with Lake laughing instead of trying to help, he gave up and got up off the couch. “You’re fucking driving me crazy!”
Satisfied, she sunk into the couch, lying down and placing her head on Lake’s lap. “I’m just trying to hang out with my best friend.”
“Well, she’s my girlfriend!”
“That’s irrelevant. She was my BFF first.”
“Lake, aren’t you going to say anything?” Vincent looked at her for help.
“I mean …” Lake’s eyes went back and forth between them, not knowing what to say at first. “We were best friends for years before I started dating you.”
Adalyn snickered. “Yeah, ’cause you were too busy whorin—”
“I’m going upstairs before I kill you.”
“Bye!” she yelled up at him as he walked up the stairs.
Lake lightly hit Adalyn’s shoulder. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“I wasn’t wrong, was I?”
“Well …” Lake narrowed her eyes, thinking about all the girls who had thrown themselves at Vincent over the years.
“The truth hurts,” Adalyn answered for her.
Laughing, Lake started to run her fingers through Adalyn’s hair as she lay on her lap, waiting until Vincent was out of earshot. “So, how was the car ride home with Angel yesterday?”
Her face blushed a shade of pink again, remembering what he had said. “Fine.”
“Tell me!” Noticing the color of her cheeks, Lake knew something had happened.
“Nope. No more Angel fantasies for you.”
“Come on, Adalyn. I would tell you. At least give me something!”
You can’t tell her that he can ride a skateboard ’cause then you’d be a liar, and you definitely can’t tell her he can ride a motorcycle because I’m pretty sure she’d leave Vincent for him.
Settling on something, she gave her friend a wink. “He’s a great biter.”
“Oh God. You lucky bi—”
“What are y’all talking about?” Vincent asked, coming back down the stairs.
“I was just asking Lake if she wanted to go see the new Jumanji movie tonight.”
“Oh yes, I’ve been dying to see it.” Lake practically forgot they had been discussing Angel. “Will you take us, Vincent?”
“Hell no. I gotta work,” he told her, throwing on his jacket before walking to Lake to give her a kiss goodbye.
“Ew.” Adalyn had a full view of them pecking each other on the lips from where she lay.
“Why don’t you go ask Elle and Nero if they wanna go? Nero can watch you all.” He practically cackled all the way out the door at the thought of getting back at his best friend.
Adalyn practically jumped up from the couch. “Sounds good to me. Let’s go.”
Grabbing her jacket and their things, the girls went out the door a few
minutes behind Vincent. All they had to do was knock on the next door and, in just another minute, Nero answered.
Adalyn’s eyes practically lit up at seeing the gorgeous green-eyed Caruso brother.
“We were wondering if you and Elle wanted to go see Jumanji?”
Nero started to close the door. “No than—”
“Oooo … I do! Can we please go?” Elle ran to the door, begging him.
Running a hand through his hair, he seemed to quickly think on his feet. “Actually, I can’t. I have to work.”
“Maybe Amo will take us?” Adalyn asked.
Both Nero and Elle answered in unison, “He won’t.”
Okay …
Not wanting to be the last resort, Nero quickly grabbed his jacket, gave Elle a kiss, and headed to work, just like Vincent had.
“You two need new boyfriends,” Adalyn huffed, out of ideas. “What are we going to do now?”
“Let’s ask Chloe to go. Lucca might take us.” Elle closed the door behind her, crossing the hall to knock on the other door. When no one answered, she pulled out her phone and put it to her ear. She was only on the phone for a few seconds before she hung up, seeming a little confused. “They’re at Lucca’s house. She said they’re gardening?”
“It’s practically winter,” Adalyn stated the obvious, knowing it had been a lie. A fucking horrible one. “Let’s just steal Nero’s keys and take ourselves.”
“You know we can’t do that anymore, Adalyn. It’s not safe,” Elle remind her.
Knowing she was right, especially with the Lucianos and Tom’s death, she still didn’t like it.
“This is bullsh—”
“I know! We can ask Maria; she comes with bodyguards,” Lake interrupted proudly.
Elle put her phone to her ear again and, not even a second later, a door all the way down on the other end of the hall opened, Maria motioning them to come to her.
The girls all walked down and entered the apartment the Caruso family stayed in from time to time.
“I have to call Lucca and ask if we can go with just my two men,” Maria told them before he picked up her phone. She, too, was only on the phone for just a few seconds. “He said we needed one more man if we’re all going to go, but since it’s Saturday and he didn’t plan for us to go out, they’re all busy.”
“Great,” Adalyn muttered, their plans all ruined because the boys would rather work than take them to a movie. “If I had a boyfriend and he didn’t take me, I would break up with him.”
“I’m not breaking up with Vincent,” Lake told her for what seemed like the thousandth time.
“Yeah, they had to go to work,” Elle added.
Rolling her eyes so hard they practically popped out of there socket, Adalyn snarked, “Sure, they did.”
“I have an idea.” Maria called Lucca again, making them listen to her plan by asking him, “What if Angel wanted to go?”
Adalyn’s jaw almost hit the ground. The mafia princess wanted a Luciano to take them?
“Are you serious?”
Lake’s eyes lit up. “Good idea.”
Of course, you’d think so.
“Yeah.” Elle’s eyes lit up as well.
No, not you, too! I’ll never have a chance with him!
When she hung up the phone, Maria smiled at Adalyn. “Lucca said, if we ask him and he wants to, then we can go.”
She was starting to get uncomfortable. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“’Cause you’re going to ask him.”
“Why me?”
“He’s your boyfriend, not mine,” Maria told her, holding the door open. “Lead the way.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she corrected as she headed out the door. I might wish, though.
All the girls and Maria’s two bodyguards headed toward Angel’s room now.
When they got off the elevator, she suddenly and strangely got a little nervous as she reached his door.
“Guys, it’s Saturday. He’s probably busy and doesn’t want to deal with us. He had to all week.”
The tall blonde forced her along. “Do you want to see the movie or not?”
Biting her lip, Adalyn stared at the door while they waited a few feet away. Unsure whether to do it or not, she eventually said, fuck it, and knocked on the door.
Only a few moments passed before the door was suddenly opened and a sinisterly smiling Angel appeared.
It was hard for her to concentrate on what she had come here for, considering he was just wearing jeans and a dark-colored T-shirt that exposed many of his tattoos.
Lake and Elle were practically breaking their necks for a better glimpse of him.
When she continued to stare, Angel tried to help her out. “Yes?”
“Sorry, um.” She cleared her throat, trying to get her thoughts under control. “We wanted to go to the movies, but we kinda need one more person to watch all of us in order to go. No one else wants to, so basically, I was wondering if you wanted to see a movie with us?”
“Sure. Give me a second,” Angel answered instantaneously.
Having expected rejection, her jaw hit the ground for the second time today when he went back inside to grab his things.
“Wait … Is he your boyfriend?” Elle began to wonder.
“No,” she whispered back, evil eyeing Maria for saying that earlier.
“Maybe we do need new boyfriends, then,” the strawberry-blonde admitted, starting to get a little mad that Angel had easily agreed, while Nero would rather work than take them.
Angel opened the door and came back out, wearing a plain, dark gray sweatshirt. “So, what are we going to see, sweetness?”
Adalyn practically melted to the floor. “Jumanji.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Oh, we definitely need new ones.” A hint of jealousy was in Lake’s voice.
“Did they try to get you to take them to the movies, too?” Vincent busted out laughing as he saw Nero enter the security room to watch the cameras.
“You fucking asshole. I know you told them to ask me.” Nero threw himself down on the chair. “It was my fucking day off, too.”
Vincent laughed even harder. “Don’t bitch at me. You could have still had your day off if you had taken them.”
“I can’t handle them all by myself, you dick! Especially not with your crazy-ass sister. She rubs off on them too much. I can’t even control Elle with her around.”
“Sorry, unlike you, I actually had to work today.” Hitting him on the shoulder, he told him his real plan. “And now I have you to keep me company.”
Nero rubbed a hand through his black hair to keep from punching him in the face. “I swear to God, Vincent, one day, I’ll fucking kill you if Lucca doesn’t beat me to it first.”
Vincent was unbothered. “You guys are just jealous because I’m smarter and better-looking than you.”
Laughter came from the other side of the room, where Sal was on a high-tech computer, surrounded by monitors.
“The fact that you think that only makes me fucking want to kill you more.” Nero had to get up and put distance between them so he wouldn’t be tempted.
It’s true. Vincent decided to admit it in his head instead of out loud this time.
Almost thirty minutes had passed when Sal spoke up while continuing to violently tap on his keyboard. “Nero, the coast is clear to go home, if you want.”
“What do you mean?” Nero asked, turning around.
“The girls went to the movies, and Elle went with them.”
Wasting no time, he stood up. “I’m out, then.”
“Dammit!” Vincent felt defeated that his plan had failed. “Who took them?”
“Maria decided to join, so she has her men.”
Nero stopped, worry etched on his face. “That’s all they took? Two men isn’t enough for all of them.”
“Oh no, don’t worry; Lucca told them that wasn’t enough, so they got someone else.”
�
��Okay, cool.” Nero turned to leave again.
It wasn’t adding up for Vincent. Who would have been left to take them? Everyone else was working. And those who weren’t, were at home with their families.
“Who?” he asked.
“Angel,” Sal answered while tapping away.
Nero stopped in his tracks. “Angel?”
“Angel?” Vincent stood up from his chair.
Sal finally turned around. “Yeah, that a problem?”
“Fuck yeah, it is,” Vincent told him straight up. “I can’t have him taking my girls to the movies. Lucca might trust him, but I sure as fuck don’t.”
Nero kept quiet, but by the look on his face, he didn’t seem to like it either.
“He’s making us look like assholes right now. Plus, you really trust him with Elle?” Vincent looked at Nero, already knowing the answer.
“Fuck,” Nero cursed. “Did they leave already?”
“Yeah, about five minutes ag—”
“I’m going.” His green eyes lit up fiercely.
“Fuck it, me, too.” Vincent started to follow him, regardless if he was about to get denied. “Sal, can you cover for me? I’ll owe you.”
“You leaving is doing me a favor,” Sal muttered.
“Jealousy…” He was starting to get really tired of everyone’s shit. It’s not my fault I was blessed with this face. “That’s why you fuckers are ugly.”
Twenty-Two
A One-Way Ticket to Hell
The girls just stood there, watching Angel in awe as he went to get their movie tickets. Well, all of them except Maria.
Flipping her blonde locks behind her shoulder, she tried to reel them in. “If you three stare at him much longer, you’re going to creep him the hell out.”
“Yeah, you two already have men; quit staring at him like a piece of meat,” Adalyn told them.
Elle finally turned her eyes away from him to look at her. “You stare at Nero like he is, and you don’t hear me complain.”
“Yeah, but you’re nice, and Nero wouldn’t ever leave you. See him?” Pointing at the sexy, tatted bad boy, she continued, “I would like to have him. It doesn’t mean I’ll get him, but I’d like to. And if by some freaking miracle God lets me have him, I’m definitely not going to be able to keep him if you two don’t quit it!”
Angel (Made Men Book 5) Page 9