by Angela White
“That would mean you can’t claim Charlie.”
“It’s probably for the best anyway, right? At least until you decide what you want.”
Angela was shaking her head. He had been too good to her. She wouldn’t allow Marc to make that sacrifice. “You’re a good friend.”
“Okay. Just tell me beforehand, so our stories match.”
“You make it sound like I plan to lie.”
“Don’t you?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure yet.”
Marc was always impressed with how she would choose to be honest first, and lie second. “I understand. Say what you have to. I’ll support it.”
She was warmed. “Thank you.”
“Anything for you, honey.” Marc’s attention dropped to her shoulder, to the scar showing from under her tank top. How it had got there, was really the only unanswered question he still had at this point, though, he would insist she get it all out now. It would be one less thing for her man to use against her. “Did he give you that?”
“…yes,” she answered slowly.
“As a punishment?”
“Mostly as a reminder,” she muttered. “He’s the boss.”
“Will you tell me about him?”
“Why?”
Marc grunted. “Because we’re a day out, and all I know is that he’s a Marine, an abusive bastard, and a walking dead man if there’s any justice, but that’s not enough. There has to be something I can use. I need you to tell me.”
Angela was quiet for a minute, considering how much honesty she wanted to give. You had to know your own mind when you dealt with Kenny or he would rip you apart. It was only fair that Marc be warned.
“You won’t find anything. At least I don’t think you will, but I’m only going to go so far. I can’t live it during the day too.”
Marc thought her nightmares had gotten a lot better since their night around the fire…since the morning she had woken in his arms.
“He’s strict on everyone but himself, and he’s obsessed with appearances. He can’t admit it when he’s wrong and he had a bigger shoe collection than any man should. He hates to be dirty, unshaven, or out of style in any way and demands the same of those around him. He’s manipulative and honestly believes that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
“Now, really tell me about him,” Marc instructed patiently. “Get it over with.”
Angela stared at the foggy bedroom window, not hearing anything now. “I hid what I could do. At least, I thought I had. I knew he was dangerous when we met, knew I couldn’t trust him, but I honestly thought I could hide it. I thought if I was careful and did what Kenny wanted me to, that I could have the same connection that…you and I had.”
Angela perched on the window ledge. “We only dated for a few weeks before he was inviting us to live with him. When I declined, bad things happened.”
Marc’s countenance darkened. “Like what?”
Angela couldn’t believe she was about to bare her shame to the one person she wanted to respect her more than anyone else. Finally, she answered, “My sitter’s daughter was hurt in a hit and run accident that required her to be there while her daughter went through therapy. The sitter’s mother, who was already a heavy drinker, suddenly had an endless supply and stayed too drunk to talk, let alone care for an active one-year-old. I had to call off, miss classes. Stress built up, and one night Kenny found me crying on my smoke break. When he offered again, I accepted so I could keep my son.”
She sucked in a calming breath to keep speaking. “I couldn’t apply for welfare because I was underage and didn’t know if the family had reported me as a runaway. I always assumed they didn’t care, but I wasn’t taking the chance, not after having my baby for all those months.” Angela paused, voice sad, heartbreaking. “Charlie was my only joy.”
“You moved in. Did he know then, about what you can do?”
Her tone grew cold. “He wasn’t a Marine then, but he was still sharp. I doubt he didn’t at least have a clue.”
Marc was certain her man had known exactly what he was getting into. “How did he find out?”
“He kept up the act for almost a year. I was…content. I began to doubt he was the threat I’d first sensed. It made me careless. I would reach for the phone when it rang, stare toward the door before someone knocked. Sometimes…I’d respond to things I picked up from him.”
She forced herself to continue. “I met the real Kenn in our bedroom a little after our first year anniversary. We were about to…and I picked up an image of him with one of the teenagers at Brendamores, where he was a salesman.”
“And you didn’t hide it.”
Angela gave a bitter laugh. “I went nuts. It got bad fast, and after I’d slapped him a couple times, the police showed up. I was arrested and he kept my boy!”
Her voice was rough with hurt and anger. “He left me there until the court date. Five days. When we got in front of the judge, he told them I had a violent side and that he was considering filing for custody because he loved the boy but didn’t want me. I was put on probation and 241-Kids opened a file. When I got out, he let me find my own way home and made me sit outside the door until I’d pissed on myself before he would let me in.”
“Son of a bitch!” Marc shouted, furious. “Why didn’t you kill him?”
Angela didn’t react, still in the past, and continued as if Marc hadn’t interrupted. “When he let me in, Charlie wasn’t there, and I knew immediately I was in trouble, but it was too late.” She sighed heavily. “I don’t even remember there being any neighbors home.”
“What’d he do to you, Angie?”
She turned slowly, pulling up the sleeve of her shirt. “He marked me as his.”
“Why didn’t you use your power on him?”
“I couldn’t. Between the Child Protection people, his mom’s money, and my age, I would have lost my baby. Even if the court ordered Kenn to give him up, he wouldn’t have. Kenny would have sold Charlie off on the black market first. He told me so. He said he wanted control of what I could do, and then things would return to the way they were before I fucked it all up.”
“Back to him being in charge and you being his slave.”
“Yes, but he didn’t count on the witch inside. She decides who we use these gifts for, not me. When I would have given in, the demon locked it all up. It went away, and there was nothing he could do about it.” Her voice shook. “He was so mad…”
She closed her eyes against those days of living hell, and Marc unclenched his fists, angrier than he had ever been in his life.
“He didn’t believe me at first, tried to make me use it to defend myself. That’s how I got this.” She tilted her arm so he could see that it was, indeed, a letter K.
“After he cut me and…took me, he made me stitch myself up and then I was his.” Her voice lowered. “Every hit he ever gave me after that was because I let the witch deny him what he wanted most–my power. Deep down, he always suspected I could still access it.”
Angela took a deep breath and brought herself back to the present. “I think maybe he did give up after a while, believed I had no access to it anymore. As long as I was defenseless against him, he was content with that. In time, I learned I could have some of what I wanted–if I was willing to pay the price. His affairs continued, I was the perfect woman, and the witch stayed asleep. Until the war, I hadn’t used my gifts in over a decade.” She let the true pain bleed into her voice. “I lost who I was to keep him from getting it.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” Marc demanded, full of fury and guilt he didn’t know what to do with. He should have been there for her!
“I was ashamed. I made a bad deal. And because…Kenny was my punishment for our love.”
Awful hurt filled Marc and his rage crumbled. “That’s not true! I was the one who should have been punished!”
“Because we were wrong to give in. Our love was a sin.”
“No. Because I let t
hem keep us apart. Our love wasn’t wrong, honey, it was meant to be. They were wrong for getting in the way.”
Angie was afraid to believe. “You mean that?”
Marc opened his soul to ease her pain. “Even when we were apart, baby-cakes. I only stayed away to give you a chance at a better life. I’m sorry you paid for it…sorry I was too weak to recognize the trap. I let them keep us apart! I’m so sorry.”
Tears fell as a huge chunk of ice around her heart blew off.
“We should have run together. If I could do it over, I wouldn’t leave you twice.”
“But you will if I…choose to stay with Kenn?”
“Not until you’re safe, content.”
She stared at him sadly, already sure Kenn couldn’t give that to her.
“Think. What’s the first thing he’s gonna do or say when we pull up?”
She gaped in dismay, finally understanding. “He’s going to ask, no, order me, to tell him who you are and why we’re together.”
“He’ll force your choice right away. Tell him we’re family, and let him cool off.”
“If I do that, when it comes out that you’re Charlie’s dad, people will think he was born in incest.”
“We’ll tell the rest of it at that point, but if you say we’re just good friends, they’ll think there’s something going on between us.”
“Isn’t there?”
Marc was caught off guard and then stunned by her next words.
“I don’t want to ruin any chance we might have in the future.”
Hope and love filled him, but he controlled himself, replaying her words. Had she found a way for them to be together?
“Wow. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Yeah, well, I haven’t made a choice yet. I can’t until I get my son back. I’ll handle the rest after that.”
“But you’re thinking about it…about us?”
“Even more after last night.” Angela blushed at her own boldness.
“I won’t push. You’re in charge.”
“I know better,” she snorted, putting the last of their things into the two kits. “It’s all spinning faster now, and I’m sure these are our last hours together before the collision.”
Marc became quiet, thinking there was still so much he wanted to say.
“Now’s the time for it, Marc. Speak your mind.”
It was a good opening, and he took it.
“I still love you, Angie, so much it hurts. I want us to be together if you can forgive me for all the hell you’ve survived. I don’t blame you if you can’t, but you can count on me now.”
Marc leered, trying to lighten his somber words. “I’d also agree to be your man-toy, but I can’t wear leather. It gives me hives.”
His joke surprised a laugh out of her. “Thanks. That’s another beautiful picture in my head.”
The tension thickened as they stared at each other. When he advanced, she stayed still, wanting his kiss but still afraid of what it might lead to.
“Nothing,” he whispered against her jaw. “Just this.”
Marc pressed his mouth to the corner of her lips and Angela sent her arms around his neck with a sigh of pleasure that he responded to.
He tasted her, coaxing, and Angela felt him tense when she deepened the kiss, tongue touching his, breath mingling.
Angela pulled away, eyes wide with desire, and Marc reluctantly let her go. “It’s gonna work out somehow. You have to believe that.”
“It may take a while,” she warned, locking down on the loneliness that was already trying to overwhelm her heart.
“I understand. We’ll handle things as best we can, and maybe there’ll be a time for us later.”
There will be, Angela vowed silently. I won’t give you up twice.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Reunited
1
“Time’s about up,” Kenn muttered, pausing at the intersection. He stilled, sensing movement nearby, but didn’t react.
If Angela and Brady were close, he couldn’t change that, but he could split them up. It sucked that she had made it this far. For a brief second, he considered leaving her here but knew it was only delaying the inevitable. He had Charlie, the only reason she’d come, but more than that, he couldn’t let go. She was his.
Kenn sighed unhappily, not caring about the patches of red weeds growing along the rusty, barbed wire fencing, or the two-headed water moccasin that was slithering across the ground near his muddy, steel-toed boots. The only question that mattered was, did he still want her? There was a strong claim, and they had a deal he had told her would never be broken, but did he want a life with her?
No, Kenn answered himself, not knowing how much he would come to regret handling things based on that decision.
If Angela joined Safe Haven, Adrian would find out what he had been hiding. The rage flared to life at that thought, as it always did when someone might be a challenge for the blond man’s attention.
When the snake slithered closer, Kenn drew and threw his knife as his jealous, furious mind replaying the kiss.
His K-BAR drove into the snake’s thick, brown neck, pinning it to the dusty ground. The reptile was dead before the blade had stopped vibrating and Kenn retrieved the sharp knife.
He sheathed it and strode around the corner, now eager to get it on. Angela had forgotten who she belonged to and he couldn’t wait to remind her.
2
He’s here. Kenny’s here!
Footsteps crunched behind her, and Angela’s hand dropped to her gun as her gaze found Marc in the barn’s moldy doorway.
Marc snapped his mouth shut on the warning that would have been too late, realizing he knew the Marine now striding determinedly down the middle of the street–and not just from their time together on the base. The cold glower of ownership he threw Marc’s way said this was her man. The piper was here, and it was time to pay.
Kenn stopped a few feet away, wishing she would pull the gun so he could kill them both and claim self-defense to Adrian.
“Kenny?”
He knew the joy spreading across her expression wasn’t for him. It faded fast.
“You’re alone.”
Kenn glared. “I’ve come to get you.”
Her brow wrinkled, and he noted a flare of anger that was unexpected. She should be scared.
“Little late for that now,” Angela pointed out, able to feel him trying to control himself. Would he end it all right here? Marc was silently telling her to duck, that he would do the rest.
Angela didn’t retreat from Kenn’s thunderous visage, waiting for fate to determine who would live and who would die.
Kenn hated her new confidence, and his sarcasm hid a note of unease when she didn’t blink, didn’t take her hand from the gun on her hip. “You have no welcome for me?”
“Of course, I do,” she hesitated, and then added, “We’ve been apart a long time.”
The breeze gusted, sending her hair flying wildly, and Kenn was glad to detect her wary glance as he noted it. She wasn’t allowed to have it down in public. It was another transgression to be held accountable for.
“Show me you are glad to see me,” he ordered.
Angela stepped into his waiting arms with a heavy heart. Could she tolerate, endure a little (six years!) longer, so no one else would get hurt? Could she give in?
Hand resting on his holster, Marc watched from the lonely doorway, unable to believe he hadn’t been able to put her clues together and come up with loudmouth, sometimes obnoxious, always snotty, Lance Corporal Kenn Harrison.
Marc’s stomach was full of hot anger, and he felt himself preparing for battle even while the pain of her being in someone else’s arms flooded him. Angie had her man back, and he wasn’t at all surprised. Had Kenn been spying?
Their moment in the bedroom, right after they’d woken, came to mind, and Marc’s gut tightened. What all had Kenn witnessed?
Them in bed together, the kiss… Too much. It impl
ied a lot more than there was, and as their eyes locked over Angie’s tense shoulder, the message was clear.
She’s mine. Go away, or I’ll kill you!
Dog’s thick fur bristled, filling with dislike. When he gave a low growl, Marc put a hand on the distraught animal’s shoulder.
“Me too, boy. Me too.”
Angela regretted the hug the second Kenny crushed her close. She tried to pull away when his mouth lowered to hers, but he had a hand tangled tightly in her thick curls, and he held her still as his tongue invaded, conquered, revolted.
Kenn ground his mouth against her as that distinctive, addictive scent of vanilla filled his nose. He wondered how much more Brady would allow before stepping in to get himself killed.
Ah! Not much at all, Kenn gloated to himself, rotating them to be in the right position as he shoved his tongue deeper. Her tag-along was already moving from his place in the doorway.
Angela picked up the thought and understood Kenny was trying to provoke Marc, catch him unprepared. She slammed her boot against Kenn’s ankle, leaning her weight into it as she elbowed his flat stomach.
Not expecting her to fight, Kenn grunted, letting go.
Angela stayed between the two men and tried to remember everything she’d learned. Kenny would start understanding right now that things had changed.
“What was that for?” Kenn snarled, closing the distance between them.
The witch said to provoke him now so they could either kill him or be killed, but be done with it. Angela couldn’t help but consider it.
“You wouldn’t let go.”
Kenn’s voice was savage as he leaned toward her, itching to break her crooked nose again. “And I never will!”
He scanned the Marine now standing alertly by her bumper, then big black-and-gray dog bristling at his side. “You have one minute to tell me what you’re doing with him! Who is Brady to you?”
“He… You know Marc?”
“Yeah, I know him!” Kenn mocked her surprise. “Answer me!”
He was trying to intimidate her, but Angela surprised them all by shoving him with both hands, moving him out of her personal space as she’d learned.