Chapter Twenty-Seven
Running surveillance in a suburban neighborhood was difficult enough. Doing it with a rambunctious German shepherd who was still ramped up on epinephrine was a different kind of challenge. It bordered impossible.
Angel hid out, waiting for a few hours after Colton got home to make sure Dr. Westcott kept his word about not calling the cops. It would have been easy enough for him to write down the plate number as she drove away. The doctor had seemed sincere, but this was Colton’s life, and she wouldn’t take any chances. Especially not with a stranger.
Even so, she hated being suspicious of everyone and everything. This was no way to live—on the run and on her own.
Except, now she wasn’t on her own. Colton was there to help. As much as she hated putting him in danger, she couldn’t fight the urge to come back and see him again.
Maybe it was guilt over the way she’d left him without a word the last time…but she didn’t think that was it. She needed him. And not just to give her shelter from a world that was hunting her.
It was time she was honest—if only with herself—about the real reason she’d come here.
She sighed, and petted the dog who had his head hanging out the open window.
“Do you want to go see Daddy?”
Once again, the reference tightened something in Angel’s chest. She had never given a thought to having children. Her life, paired with her past, made it impossible. But every once in a while, a tiny thought would tug at her, and for a brief moment she found she wished she could have it—a normal family.
People to love her.
She had her team. Task Force Phoenix was her family. They’d taken her in and given her a life. But they weren’t hers.
“God, I think I’m in big trouble,” she told Pudge.
She didn’t see anyone watching the house, and no suspicious vehicles had driven by repeatedly. When she felt confident it was safe, she pulled into the alley and parked next to the gate.
Pudge ran like a shot to the back door as soon as she let him through the gate. She was only halfway across the yard when the back door opened and man and dog greeted each other properly.
He was watching her steadily as she approached the back porch.
“I thought you left,” he said, his voice steady, his face expressionless.
She wanted to kiss him. Kiss away the pain she could see haunting his hazel eyes. The pain she had caused.
Instead, she stayed a few feet back.
“And stole your dog?” Her brows creased.
“We both know he’s more your dog than mine.”
How great it had been the day they’d gone to pick up the puppy. For that moment, he had been theirs. Not his or hers.
“I told you I wouldn’t leave.” She expected him to throw the truth back in her face. That she’d said that same thing before, and hadn’t kept her word.
“You took all your stuff.” Even now his voice wasn’t accusatory. Just stating a fact.
“We had an emergency. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to come back.” She still wasn’t sure.
“Come tell me about it while we eat. I’m starving.”
So was she.
Damn, it was good to be home.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Colton didn’t like that Angel had put herself in danger of being caught, but given the circumstances, he knew he would have done the same thing. And he was awfully glad she’d saved his dog.
“If you think it’s not safe for me to stay, I can go. I watched the house to see if any cops went by. I didn’t see anything suspicious, but that doesn’t mean I’m in the clear. It’s your call.”
It wasn’t his call. At least it wasn’t his brain’s call. His heart had already made the decision.
“Stay. If anything happens, we’ll face it together. I think we would have seen something by now if the vet had called the police. They wouldn’t wait around giving you time to flee.”
This was true, but not the reason he wanted her to stay. Coming home to an empty house this afternoon had nearly ended him. He didn’t want to be alone. He’d face whatever happened from this decision, as long as she was there when he got home tomorrow.
When they were done discussing the attack of the bumblebee, she asked about his day.
“Seriously? You expect me to tell you about my day after that story? I can’t compete with that.” His days of having exciting stories to share were over. Now he lived a mundane, boring life. His dad would call it an anybody job—his term for a job anyone could do. Being a cop was a somebody job, meaning you had to be somebody to do it. Somebody special.
Lately, Colton had begun to feel like nobody, special or otherwise.
Angel rolled her eyes. “Is that what we’re doing? Competing? I kind of thought it was called sharing.”
His own eyes went wide. She wanted to share something with him? This was big. Bigger than big. He cleared his throat, wanting for anything to share with her, wishing there was something more exciting to tell than the bookcase collapse.
“It was just a normal day.” He couldn’t help but frown.
“I don’t know what a normal day is.” She shrugged. “I’ve never had one. So I’d like to hear about yours.”
“Okay.” He shook his head, and told her about his day.
Eight minutes later, he wrapped up the story with the part where it all collapsed. She laughed and his heart yearned for something different.
For the last year, he’d missed her. Like crazy. He wished she would have stayed in his life, but back then it had just been loneliness. Now he saw what life could actually be like with her. Sharing stories about their day. No matter how mundane those stories were.
She assisted him with dinner, and he realized how much fun it was to cook with someone else. Especially when that someone was Angel.
It wasn’t just about sex and a good time. It was all the parts that made up a life. He wanted all of them with her.
“Thank you for coming back,” he said quietly, meaning it to the tips of his toes.
She nodded, but didn’t say anything in return.
“You almost didn’t?” he guessed. He was certain that had been the plan.
“I shouldn’t have come back. The longer I stay here, the more I’m putting you at risk.”
“Shouldn’t that be my decision to make?”
She shrugged, but it was clear she didn’t agree. Pudge had rested his chin on her leg at the sad sound of her voice.
“Did you train him to do that?” she asked.
“What? The puppy dog eyes? No. He came with those. Standard equipment.”
They laughed, and the tense moment was over. She was here for now. Colton would enjoy the time he had with her. Even if he didn’t know how much time he had.
“Before Pudge munched down a helping of bumblebee cordon bleu, did you find anything on the internet?”
“Actually, I had a lead, but lost it.”
“I wouldn’t be upset if it takes at least two more days. The school year is almost over.”
“No problem, Colton. We can put off our secret agent mission long enough for you to hand out report cards.”
“Thank you for being so accommodating.” He winked, and the smile she gave him in return hinted at more than just friendship. Lust gripped him by the throat as well as the balls.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Despite being squeezed on the sofa with a giant dog crushing her feet, Angel felt pretty happy. It had been a good day.
She’d saved Pudge. She’d had her faith in humanity restored, and she was having the best time with Colton. They’d been flirting during dinner, and she’d hoped he might make a move, but when he didn’t, she realized that was for the best.
They didn’t have a future together. Even if she wasn’t being hunted by the law, she had a job that was far from normal. What husband would appreciate his wife pretending to be the girlfriend of a technology mogul?
One who used to
live that life and would understand, her brain supplied unhelpfully.
Some might say she was playing house again. And she knew it was true, but playing house was as close as she would ever get to the real thing, so why not enjoy it while it lasted?
Once the inconvenience of being wanted for murder was over, she would be going back to Task Force Phoenix, and Colton could go back to helping the neighbor kids repay their debts to society.
She smiled at the story he’d told. While he complained about being bored, she knew he was a good teacher. The kind that touched kids’ lives and made a difference, even if he didn’t realize it.
It was just as noble a cause as defending world leaders from terrorists, or technology moguls from espionage.
She pushed that last thought aside, knowing it only brought heartache and guilt. She couldn’t think of anything she could have done differently to save Heath Zeller. She didn’t know where she’d gone wrong, but she had failed.
She got up, feeling restless and in need of something else to think about. She wasn’t strong enough to hold the bad things at bay on her own.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise to find herself standing by Colton’s bed. It wasn’t the first time she’d come into his room to watch him sleep. Surely, it would be considered some kind of disorder, but she felt at peace in his room.
In sleep he looked younger. The hard lines that made him look so sexy when he was awake were softened.
Even when he was at rest, she noticed the definition in his arms in the light from the window. He was a large man, but in sleep he didn’t seem so daunting.
He looked…vulnerable.
Vulnerability was one of the things that kept her from getting a full night’s rest. She’d never been a heavy sleeper. Her psycho brother had liked to surprise her in the middle of the night. Once she’d woken to a pillow covering her face. He’d held her like that until she passed out.
When she’d awoken later, she wasn’t sure it had really happened. Except there were new bruises on her arms where he’d sat on her.
She wasn’t kidding about the psycho part. That part of her life was over. But it had left its scars on her ability to sleep soundly.
Sleep was for people who felt safe enough from reality, and from the dreams that came for them. Her dreams all too often offered nothing but torment, even now. She was better off avoiding them whenever possible.
She smiled down at the man who had starred in the rare but delicious sex dreams she’d had. She wished she could crawl into his bed and touch his bare chest. She knew under the sheet she would find boxer briefs. He preferred to sleep naked, but hadn’t in years, in favor of being ready to run at any minute.
It was sad they had to live this way. Always on watch, always ready to run.
God, she was tired of running.
She paced like a ghost in his home until the dawn came.
When he came out to leave for work, she played the part of the dutiful wife wishing her husband a good day at work. When his car was gone, she let out a sigh, and completed the recurring task of removing her fingerprints from his home.
Just in case.
Chapter Thirty
It only took an hour for Kenny and Braden to correct the mistake on the bookshelf and put it together correctly. Colton was glad, because seriously, he couldn’t spend another whole day in their company.
Using the phone in the school office, he called his cell phone, which he’d left at home for Angel.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Good. The only thing Pudge ate today was part of a Pringles can.”
While that didn’t sound great, at least it didn’t have a stinger, nor would he have to replace his shoes.
“He’s eaten those before,” Colton said wryly. “It should be okay.”
She laughed, and he wished he could go home and be with her.
“I’ll finish up and be home by three.”
“Okay. See you then.”
They sounded like any other married couple making plans for the evening. Except, they weren’t married. Hell, they weren’t even a couple.
He shook off the disappointment and walked back into the classroom. The bookcases were against the wall holding books.
“Wow. You did it.” He blinked in surprise. That hadn’t taken long, at all.
“We kind of cheated,” Kenny confessed.
“Cheated? How so?” Colton had only been gone for ten minutes at the most. It wasn’t like they’d had time to bring in professionals to finish the task.
“I told you it didn’t count as cheating.” Braden shoved his partner in the shoulder.
“We looked up the instructions online and watched a YouTube video.”
“Oh.” Colton didn’t know how to respond to this. Still, it wasn’t as if they wouldn’t have access to instructional videos out in the real world. “That was resourceful. And now you’re finished, so it worked out for all of us.”
“Don’t forget you said you’d take us shooting, right?” Kenny asked for the second time today.
“I haven’t forgotten, but as I said, it will be a few weeks. I have other plans for now.”
He just wanted the day to be over. He almost wished he would have let them egg his house and move on. He only had to make it through a half day of classes tomorrow and he would be free.
It was odd how eager he was for something he’d originally been dreading. What a difference a woman could make.
Speaking of women, Danielle walked in with that smile he’d been ignoring for months. The kind that promised there were other things available. All he needed to do was ask.
“Some of us are heading over to Benny’s after work. Do you want to come?” That last sentence might have sounded like a hint, except he didn’t think Danielle even realized what she’d said. Christ, he’d been hanging around high school boys for too long. Everything was a silly innuendo.
“Uh, I’m going to have to pass. I have plans tonight.”
“Oh.” She seemed surprised by this, and rightfully so. Normally, he was the one who coordinated a trip to Benny’s just so he could spend his evening with other humans.
As it was, he was counting down the seconds until he could run by the grocery store and get home to Angel. He was making her chicken cacciatore. And he needed to get a bottle of—
“Are we still on for Chris and Leslie’s wedding?” Danielle asked.
It took him a few seconds to remember what she was talking about. “Oh. Uh, sure. I’m meeting you there, right?” He felt like a complete asshole, making a date with another woman—that wasn’t really even a date—when the woman he wanted but also wasn’t dating was waiting for him at home.
However, the wedding was a month away, and Angel planned to have her mystery solved by then. Where would that leave him? She would be gone, and he would still be here, trying to make a life out of what he’d been given.
Danielle tried for more. “I could pick you up, if you don’t know where it is.”
But he didn’t have more to give. Even if there was no Angel, he wouldn’t have agreed to make this a real date.
He couldn’t risk it. Not when dates could potentially lead to something else he couldn’t do—fall in love with someone who would never truly know him.
“That’s okay. I’ll drive myself. In case I need to leave early to let my dog out.”
“Oh. Okay.” There was a flash of disappointment, but she recovered quickly.
That was why he had taken her up on the offer in the first place. Danielle wasn’t needy or desperate. She was a friendly woman with a nice smile. And that was all he would be able to handle, especially after Angel was gone and his heart was left in shreds.
“I’ll see you later.” He nodded and hurried to his vehicle before he agreed to more things he wasn’t capable of.
He raced through the grocery store like a contestant on one of those shopping spree game shows. He knew it wasn’t normal to live every day racing against the clock. Kn
owing every second counted. But for all he knew, she could already be gone by the time he got home. He could already be too late.
He slowed as he approached his house, his heart pounding at the sight of a black sedan parked in the driveway.
What the hell?
He felt the same adrenaline rush that took over when he was in deep cover and needed to act the part. As his heart pumped erratically on the inside, he forced himself to remain cool and collected on the outside.
Since the garage door was blocked, he pulled in next to the other car and got out.
A man stepped out of the driver’s side of the sedan. Definitely government agent. He had the look. Dark gray suit and sunglasses.
Colton glanced at the house where his dog was barking from inside, but he knew instinctively Pudge was the only one inside.
Angel was gone.
Chapter Thirty-One
The visitor was thin, and shorter than Colton. Not a threat, unless he had backup nearby, or a gun. Colton swallowed at that last thought. Getting shot was a bitch. It had been a difficult recovery, especially with the added agony of knowing his old life was over.
“Hi, there,” Colton greeted the man with a smile that matched the neighborhood in which they stood. He opened the back door of his truck and unloaded the bags.
“Do you need some help?” the man offered with a return smile.
“Nah. I got it. The lazy man’s load.” Colton would much rather struggle to carry everything at once than make another trip. Second trips were for pussies. “What can I do for you?”
“Do you have a moment? I have some questions.”
“Okay. Is your child one of my students?” he asked, knowing that wasn’t the case. “Because I already turned in the grades.”
“No. I’m Special Agent Markel. I’m looking for someone.” Markel held out his ID and Colton shifted the bags to hold the wallet closer for inspection. FBI, as expected.
“All right. Come inside, let me put these down.” He walked into his home with complete confidence that there wouldn’t be any trace of Angel. There wouldn’t even be so much as a fingerprint. She was that good.
Wanted for Life Page 7
