by Ivy Sinclair
That was the sentiment that I toasted in my head. My lips touched the edge of the glass, and then I knocked my head back and threw the liquid into the back of my throat. It burned like a bitch as it went down, and I brought the back of my hand to my mouth as I coughed. I felt Riley’s hand knead my shoulder, and I looked up to see him grinning at me. Then he winked.
“That’s my girl,” he said. He poured another shot into my glass and his as well.
“So this is your plan while we’re waiting for the angels to get back?” I asked. “Get drunk and pass out?”
“I don’t even know if I can get drunk,” Riley said with a shrug of his shoulders. I blinked. I hadn’t even thought about that. I felt a bit of relief that he didn’t seem to be getting spun up by the fact that he didn’t know either.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “That was a stupid thing to say. With everything you’ve gone through, you’re entitled to about five thousand drinks if you wanted them.”
Riley’s expression grew serious then. “I’m a dark angel, Paige. I have no clue what that really means, but based on everyone’s reactions so far, it must be some pretty bad shit. But, so far, I just feel like me. I don’t think I’m going crazy or about to lose it and take out a continent or anything like that. So I’ll wait for them to tell me what they think it means, and then I’ll make up my mind. Until then, there’s no sense wallowing in things I can’t change. I’d much rather do something else.” I saw the corner of his mouth turn up.
“What’s that?” I asked. His eyes had settled on my lips again, and I had a feeling I was starting to get an idea of where his mind was going. I wasn’t opposed to the idea in the slightest. Through all this craziness, Riley and I hadn’t been alone like this in days.
“We’re going to have our first date,” he said as he tossed back his drink and slammed the glass down on the bar. He looked around the room with a sigh. “For the record, Slinky Pete’s isn’t where I would have taken you if I had my way, but we’re going to make do with what we’ve got.”
I laughed. “I think we’re pretty far beyond first date territory, although I appreciate the sentiment.”
Riley shook his head vigorously. “Hell, no. It’s never too late for a first date. I just said we have a second chance, and that starts right now. We aren’t the same people that met a week or whatever ago.” His face scrunched up. “Jesus Christ, it’s only been like a week. I feel like it’s been a lot longer than that.”
I laughed again. “Let’s hope you aren’t saying that like it’s a bad thing.” Although I was giving him a hard time, I understood what he meant. I felt as if we had lived a lifetime in the last week. It was hard to believe how far we’d come, and how much our lives had changed.
Riley seemed to move in a blur, and suddenly he was standing next to me. I gaped at him. “Whoa. That was crazy. I barely even saw you move.”
He took my elbow and slowly pulled me to my feet. “Angel reflexes,” he said. Then he stared down into my eyes. “Meeting you was the best thing that has ever happened to me. I never want you to question that. Ever.”
I reached up and put my arms around his neck. I pressed against him and delighted in the fact that I could be this close to him and not have to worry about prying eyes or judgments. We were alone, and Riley was being more than sweet. I hoped that the conclusion of our date included some piece of furniture that resembled a bed somewhere. I wasn’t thinking about sleeping quite yet.
I felt his hand grip the hair at the base of my neck, and he turned my mouth for better access as his lips descended on mine once again. This kiss was entirely different than the one just a few minutes ago. This was hungry and probing. I could taste the whiskey on his tongue, and as my tongue danced with his I thought that it was definitely was a taste that I would be more than happy to acquire. His arm slid around my waist and pulled me closer to him, and I didn’t bother trying to stop the small moan that escaped my throat. I dug my hands into his hair and pressed against him tightly.
He swung me around so that my back pressed against the bar. His body was so large that it seemed to engulf me, and I wondered what it would be like to be ensconced in his arms and his wings at the same time. The idea carried a kind of erotic appeal that I couldn’t wait to explore further.
Riley seemed to drag his lips away from mine. Both of us gasped with ragged breaths for air. It was satisfying to know that I had the same effect on him. I could see the passion in his eyes, and his hands drifted up and down the sides of my torso.
“As much fun as I think it would be to shift right past all the prerequisite bullshit that normally goes along with a first date to just get to fun stuff, I’m going to slow things down.” His voice carried a tinge of regret.
Riley slid his thumb across my lower lip. “You look absolutely delicious when you pout, and I think you could probably convince me to change my mind. But I want to show you that there’s more here than that.”
I was struck by the sincerity in his voice. I put my hands on the sides of his shoulders. “I know there’s more here than that,” I said. “I know that what we have isn’t something that you find every day. That’s why I said that I’d be yours, Riley. Forever.”
He sighed with a slow nod. “I know, but I don’t want you to doubt how I feel. Ever. It’s important. I’ve never had this before, and I have a tendency to be stupid and lose things that are important to me. I don’t want to take this for granted.”
I thought about everything that Riley had gone through in his life, and what he had sacrificed for me during our short time together. He was a good man. I never thought that I would have a good man in my life. He might be a dark angel, and I had seen the darker side of him, but with me, I didn’t have to be afraid of him. He spoke from the heart, and that’s what had caused me to fall in love with him.
I leaned against him and put my cheek against his chest. I felt his arms fold around me. In the circle of his arms, I knew I’d be safe forever. “I don’t feel like I deserve any of this, Riley. It’s not something I ever expected to have, so you can bet I’ll never take it for granted either.”
We stood like that for a long time. I listened to his heartbeat and felt his chin on the top of my head. It seemed as if we both just needed the comfort of knowing the other person was there.
When the sound of music filled the room, I jumped. Riley chuckled. “That’s the other thing I noticed when we got here. It was entirely too quiet. Slinky Pete’s was always loud, and even with the music blaring it was hard to hear it over the crowd. A little music makes it feel more like home.”
I twisted my head and saw an ancient jukebox on the other side of the room. There was a small cleared space in front of it that was obviously meant to serve as a dance floor. I felt a small surge of bravery.
“Well, if this is supposed to be a first date, then I think that means we have to dance too.”
For the first time since I remembered meeting Riley, I saw a look of petrified fear on his face. I laughed. “Don’t tell me you don’t dance.”
He released me as he stepped back and pointed at his feet. “Two left feet. I swear, I tried. I have awful memories of junior high and high school dances where I was constantly stepping on my dates’ feet. I was lucky any girl was willing to go to those things with me at all when it got out how clumsy I was.”
This was the kind of tidbit of information that I loved finding out about Riley. I imagined an awkward, gangly teenager who towered over the crowd as he tried to blend in when he was always meant to stand out. I stuck out my hand. “Well, I never got to go to any of those things because remember, juvenile delinquent.” I poked at my chest. “But I’m willing to try in the spirit of this whole new life and talk of second chances. Who knows, maybe being an angel changed all of that for you.”
I saw the perplexed look on his face, and then a longing gaze back at the bottle of whiskey. I grabbed it off the bar and then started walking backward toward the dance floor waggling the bottle at him. “S
ome liquid courage awaits you on this side of the room.”
Riley still seemed to be stuck in place. Then a song came over the speakers that I loved. It was just the kind of song that made you want to dance. I turned and made my way to the dance floor, and took a swig of the whiskey. It didn’t burn as bad this time. As I felt my limbs start to warm, my body began to move of its own accord.
I forgot about the fact that I had a goddess out there waiting for me to let my guard down so she could possess my body. I forgot about the reasons for all the worry and strain in my life. I forgot that there was anyone in the room but me. And in that moment, I was free. There was something electrifying that seemed to fill me, and my body was keyed up in response. It was as if it had been waiting for just such a release. I felt more alive than I had in what seemed like forever.
It barely registered in my mind when the song turned sultry and smooth, and I felt Riley’s hands on my hips. He was behind me, and he pulled me against him. I didn’t stop moving, and I found that his body responded to the music like mine did. I slid a hand up behind me and let my hand encircle his neck as I pulled his head down into the crook of my neck.
I shimmied against him and heard his throaty groan against my ear. It sent ripples of desire down my spine, but I wasn’t thinking much about anything at all other than the music and his hard, lean body that pressed against me in a way that was driving me crazy. My heart beat faster as Riley’s hands began a not-so-subtle exploration of every curve of my body.
Every nerve was electrified by his touch. I had no idea if it was the hunger I felt for him or the magic that coursed through both of us that spun my emotions up higher and higher. Riley caught my wrist and whirled me around. My body bumped against his hardness, and then he slid his leg in between mine. As I stared up into his eyes, I felt lost. His hips thrust against mine, and I locked my arms around his neck so that I didn’t fall. But as I felt his hands grip my hips, I knew that he’d never let me go.
He was my saving angel. He’d never let me fall again.
CHAPTER THREE – RILEY
Time seemed to stand still as Paige and I danced. I wasn’t sure what possessed me or where it came from, but seeing her wild abandon on the dance floor ignited something inside of me that I never felt before. I wasn’t feeling trepidation any longer. I just wanted to feel like that too, and I wanted to experience that feeling of letting go with her.
I knew from the moment I spun her around to stare into her eyes that I could have pulled off her clothes and taken her right there on the dance floor. She would have willingly let me, and I would gladly have obliged. The passion and desire were openly there on her face. But that wasn’t what this was about at the moment, even if she didn’t quite realize it yet.
There was a transparency and vulnerability that came from being this close. She and I were bonded together now, and I felt the heat of her emotions in a way that I had never experienced them before. It made me wonder if she could feel mine too. By the way that her eyelids drooped as her mouth formed a perfect “o” as I continued to touch and caress her body, I thought that it did.
I wanted her; there was no doubt about that. But it wasn’t just about the physical joining of our bodies any longer. It was about the mingling of our emotions and our very souls. It was the intensity of those emotions that held me tight in their grip and made me never want to let them go. My thoughts were fuzzy and spun upwards somewhere in the heights of what had always felt like an elusive dream. I was deliriously happy by the fact that everything I was co-mingled with everything that Paige was, and it made perfect sense. We were joined in a way that completely blew my mind.
So when the jukebox suddenly turned off, Paige’s eyes widened, and she stumbled against me. I caught her before she slid down more than a few inches and pulled her back to her feet.
“What happened?” she whispered. Her lips looked puffy as if she had been thoroughly kissed.
“Someone’s coming,” I said. I didn’t let her go. Instead, I twined my fingertips through her long hair and pulled her into a tight embrace. “The archangels aren’t the only ones who were taking safety precautions.”
“No.” She pulled away from me with a slightly bemused expression on her face. “What happened just now? I am pretty sure not even once piece of clothing was removed here, but I feel…”
“Satisfied?” I couldn’t help but wink at her. “I think that’s just a preview of what it’s like to be an angel’s mate.”
She smiled and ran a fingertip down the side of my cheek. “Let’s hope my poor human body can handle what happens next then. Because I think you just about gave me a heart attack.” I frowned, and she chuckled before adding, “In a good way.”
Reluctantly, I released her. “To be continued. Unfortunately, our date is going to be interrupted.”
She slipped her hand into mine. “I’m a patient woman.”
I caressed her cheek. I wanted nothing more than to find a quiet place and sink into Paige’s soul and softness forever, but we had work to do. It seemed to be becoming a common thing between us now. “I am far less patient, but I don’t have a choice in the matter at the moment.”
“I know,” she said. “We have to go find out what’s going on so that we can save the world.” She rolled her eyes with a theatrical sigh. “Again.”
I threw back my head and laughed. It was something I had done a lot more of since meeting Paige, and I found that I had missed having that emotion in my life. Somehow, she always made me feel better about things, no matter how dark the situation was. I felt more balanced and even keel despite the fact that somehow I had become a goddamn angel.
“We’re getting pretty good at doing that. We’re a good team,” I said just as the door to the bar opened. Samuel walked through with a man that I had never seen before following behind him. It was habit as I slowly pulled Paige to stand behind me.
I could tell that Samuel saw what I was doing, and his expression darkened. I didn’t trust him, and that bothered him. But I didn’t trust most people, and archangels even less. The guy was going to have to get used to it. I liked him for the most part, but I sure as shit didn’t trust him any further than I could throw him. That made me wonder how far I realistically could throw him now. I was itching to find out more about my current angel state and the extent of my abilities.
“I see that you two have been getting comfortable,” Samuel said. He had a pointed look on his face that made me wonder if he knew what we had been up to. It wasn’t like we’d just had an existential make out session on the dance floor without even taking off our clothes or anything. He pointed at a large table that sat near the middle of the room. “How about we sit and have a talk? We need to bring you up to speed. Things are going to be beyond our control soon, and we need to do something quickly.”
Josiah and Tobias brought up the rear but stood on either side of the door instead of making their way to the table with Samuel and the mystery man. Despite Samuel’s earlier assurances that this was a safe place for now, I sensed that sentiment had changed. I glanced over my shoulder at Paige. I caught the shake of her head that told me she didn’t know who the new guy was either. I sighed. More secrets.
I strode over to the table. The man was openly staring at me. As I got closer, I noticed more details about him. He had to be in his late forties or early fifties. His hair was gray and on the longish side. He was tall, but still not as tall as me, and his shoulders seemed stooped, not with age, but weariness. He looked tired and worn down, but he straightened as I approached. It was his eyes that got me though. They looked just like the eyes that stared at me in the mirror every day. That’s when I felt my stomach flop. It couldn’t be…
“Riley, I’d like you to meet someone,” Samuel said. He turned to the man, and I saw him cock his head toward me. The man seemed hesitant, and I knew why. How did you introduce yourself to the son you abandoned twenty-eight years ago?
The man raised his hand toward me, but I felt a violent
rush of emotion as I took a step backward. I heard Paige’s gasp of surprise and then a short cry as my wings emerged of their own volition.
“I don’t know what the fuck you are doing here, but I’m not playing any more games,” I hissed.
The man took his hand back, but he didn’t shirk away from my stare. “So you know who I am.”
“I’m not stupid,” I said. “I don’t know why I’m even surprised. First, I find out that the woman who was supposed to be my mother isn’t my mother, and now I find out that the father who was supposed to be dead is apparently very much alive. I’m starting to think I have the most fucked up family on the planet.”
“That is probably reserved for the archangels,” Samuel said in a mocking tone. “I can see that you haven’t managed to control your emotions yet. Once you do that,” he pointed at my extended wings, “that won’t happen to you anymore.”
I expelled the breath from deep in my lungs. I glanced to my side and saw Paige getting up off the floor. I realized that when my wings had extended, they must have pushed her aside. I ignored the men before me for a moment and moved to help her up. I gave her my hand and searched her face as she rose to her feet.
“I’m sorry,” I said in a low voice.
“Watch what you’re doing with those things, will ya?” she said in reply. She brushed the dirt off her jeans but didn’t appear the worse for wear. “Next time, I’m going to knock you back on your butt too. That was a freebie.”
Her words had the appropriate effect, which I wasn’t sure if that was her intention or not. I had calmed, and the buzzing sound in my ears was gone. As I took another deep breath, the wings disappeared. I wasn’t sure of the mechanics of how they did that, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to understand it yet. But it was clear that my emotions definitely played a part in when they appeared.
“Please, Riley, Paige, sit,” Samuel said, waving his hand toward the chairs on the other side of the table. I saw him point at the chair next to him for my father to sit down.