by Kahlen Aymes
“I didn’t hear it either. They had a silencer.”
“Oh.”
Alex filled Cole in about what went down. At least, he gave him the same story they’d told the police. Alex would tell him everything when they were both back in Chicago.
“Looks like I’m out of a job,” Cole smiled up at his younger brother.
“I told you, we’ll figure it out. With Bancroft gone, we’ll have some restructuring to do. You’ve done a great job.”
Becca lingered with Jillian in the waiting room until Angel and Alex left the room, then she went to say goodbye to Cole. Angel sensed something brewing there, and Alex looked pointedly at Angel when Becca breezed past them in the hospital hallway and into Cole’s room.
“Will we be waiting long, do you think?”
Alex shrugged, looking fresh and happy despite the bruise on his temple. His jaw was clean and smooth, and he smelled delicious. He was dressed in designer jeans and an expensive Ralph Lauren sweatshirt.
“We’re going to ride horses and do farm shit. Why are you dressed up?” Angel grinned, and he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to the side of his body.
Alex laughed softly. “I borrowed the sweatshirt from my dad. He doesn’t own anything without a label.”
“Ugh,” Angel let out an exaggerated groan. Angel had on jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt layered under her black hoodie with her coat over her arm. Her thick locks were pulled up into a high ponytail, and her Gucci sunglasses were propped on top of her head.
Alex flicked her sunglasses. “What’s that? Those wouldn’t be Gucci, would they?” he goaded.
“Yes, asshole. They are Gucci. A birthday gift from a patient.”
“Mmm. Figures.” She did have nice clothes; her car and apartment were the only extravagances he was aware of. The clothes were necessary for her job, and the apartment’s location was practical for the same reason. She didn’t waste money on frivolous things. They’d be disposing of the apartment soon, he hoped, and he was set on having another discussion about her job. “Speaking of birthdays; mine is coming up before Christmas. I’d like to take you out to dinner.”
She looked up at him as they walked into the main floor waiting room where they’d agreed to meet Becca when she was finished saying goodbye to Cole. “Won’t your parents want to spend the evening with you? We can all—”
Alex sat down and pulled Angel onto his lap, not giving a damn if anyone was watching. “They’ve had me for thirty-two birthdays. I want it to be you and me. Alone.”
Angel’s arm was around his shoulder, and his was clamped around the back of her hips as she sat in his lap. His eyes were serious as he looked up at her, so she didn’t tease him again. “Okay.”
He nodded and squeezed her hip and pulled on her arm until her mouth landed on his in a brief kiss. “Good.”
Alex and Angel were still together, talking intimately, two of their hands threaded together, when Becca came out of the elevators, holding Jillian’s hand, walking slowly to match her daughter’s short gait. When her eyes landed on the couple, she rolled her eyes. “Get a room, why don’t cha?” she spouted off, happiness lighting up her face. She was dressed similar to Angel, and Jillian was all decked out in jeans and a sweater.
“Get a room alld ready!” Jillian repeated her mother’s words as best she could. A sixty-ish woman sitting to Alex’s left laughed, and Angel’s brow shot up as she jumped up from Alex’s lap and bent to scoop the toddler up, both of them holding back laughter.
She put a hand to the front of her shirt. “Mommy meant let’s vrroooom already. In Alex’s fast car.” She looked pointedly at Becca. “Right, Becs?”
“Oh, yeah.” She pursed her lips and nodded wryly. “Yeah, right,” she scoffed.
Kyle was taking a cab to the airport, and they’d said their goodbyes in the lobby before coming to the hospital. When they all piled into Alex’s Audi, they took off for Joplin. Angel had promised Jillian, and she was anxious to see her dad. Alex seemed anxious to meet him as well, and it was to be expected. She’d met his entire family, so it was only natural for him to want to get to know hers. Her father was all she had, besides Will and Ben, so this would be good.
Alex inhaled deeply, and Angel glanced over at his strong profile. He had a nasty bruise and cut on his temple, held together by a butterfly bandage. Her own face was showing signs of abuse, her black eye beginning to turn an ugly yellowish-green, and the cheek on that same side was still swollen and bruised. They had been very lucky.
He seemed very contemplative. “What are you thinking about?”
Alex glanced at her; his eyebrows rose at her question. “Hmm?”
Clearly, she’d roused him from his thoughts. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“Just looking forward to the time off. Without the stress of worrying for while.”
He reached for her hand, and she willingly gave it to him. He brought her hand to his thigh and pressed it into his denim-covered leg. Angel nodded. “Yes, me, too.”
Becca was helping Jillian play with the headphones of her new iPod Shuffle in the backseat. Alex had soft music playing in the luxurious car, and she relaxed.
Alex wanted to talk to her about moving in with him and her job but felt that was better done when they were alone. Instead, he asked her about Joplin and her father.
“Was your dad happy we were coming down, or does he feel invaded?”
“No, he wants to meet you.” Angel was turned enough so she could look at Alex but still hold his hand, her head resting against the black leather headrest. “I’ve told him about you.”
“Uh oh.”
Angel smiled. “Yes, what a horrible picture I’ve painted of you.”
He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “Anything I should know?”
“I can’t think of anything specific. I’m the only child; the only girl with these three men, and they’re all pretty protective.”
“As they should be. I respect that. Are you good at riding horses? Did you do it a lot?”
“There was one horse I particularly loved. Uncle Will bought her when I was seven, and I used to go home from school on the bus with Ben every night to ride her when the weather was nice, and many times when it wasn’t so nice. Dad had this thing where I had to eat so many fruits and vegetables every day, and I used to pack carrots and apples in my lunch then save them. I bet it was 300 pounds of apples I didn’t eat in those ten years.”
The landscape got less wooded as the drive progressed. It was still green and hilly, but less so as they got closer to Joplin.
“So you kept going home with Ben? Into high school?”
Angel knew what he was asking and she shrugged. “I didn’t have a ton of friends. I was the janitor’s daughter, and that sort of had a stigma attached to it. Like I wasn’t worthy of anyone. Ben never treated me that way.”
Alex glanced in the rearview mirror, and both Becca and Jillian were sleeping soundly. Jillian’s little head had lolled to one side, and her headphones were still stuck in her ears.
“Were you this gorgeous in high school?”
She looked at him and paused. “No. I was hideous. I had braces until I was almost seventeen, and flat-chested almost all the way through middle school, and no curves.”
“I’m happy that changed, then.”
Angel smiled. “I’m sure.”
“I was a nerd. Total bookworm. I was after the scholarships.”
“No singing, then?”
“Sure, I was in choir. And I had piano lessons from an old lady who lived three doors down from us. I used to go into the music room during lunch period and practice.”
“Well, you’re very talented, in any case.”
“Did you and Kyle talk and plot how to get me back in the band?”
Alex glanced at her briefly, his mouth sliding up into the half-grin she loved. “No. Sorry, we were a little busy with other shit.”
“Good.”
J
oplin was a moderately small town by Missouri standards and microscopic in comparison to Chicago. The population was about fifty thousand and not much happened there. There were some trucking firms and such, and a few factories; it had undergone some new developments in recent years and the high school had been completely rebuilt after that big tornado a few years earlier. From what her dad said, it was divided in two campuses now, and he was responsible for the janitorial staff at the ninth and tenth grade buildings.
As they drove through town toward the southwest side where Angel’s father’s house was located, Alex took it all in and tried to picture Angel’s youth, so different from his own. He was privileged, his father’s business already very profitable before he was even born. She’d had no mother. Her father struggled alone, she lived in this small town, and she could have gone to a community college and married a local man. That would have been easier. But, Angel would never choose easy. She’d accomplished so much.
“Are you familiar with that famous picture of Bonnie and Clyde? The one where he’s holding her on a car? Well, there are a couple; another where she’s got a gun pointed at him?”
“Yes, I think I saw it once in middle school,” Alex replied. She’d called them Bonnie and Clyde when Swanson was lying dead at their feet. Was that what she was thinking about?
“There is a story about them killing two cops in Joplin in 1933. Afterward, when they left in a hurry, they left some of their stuff, which included a camera, and the Joplin Globe developed the film.”
“Really? That’s really interesting.”
“My dad is really into history, so I’ve heard that story a hundred times. He’ll probably tell you, too. It’s about the only nefarious thing that ever happened here, and not nearly as dangerous as all of the shit that happens in Chicago. Turn left at the next light, then the third right.”
Alex followed Angel’s directions and made his way into a neighborhood of small houses that were probably built in the 1950s. A lot of wooden two stories with brick chimneys and huge trees lining the street. It was nice but modest.
“Should we stop at the store for groceries or anything? I don’t want to feel like we’re barging in.”
“He knows we’re coming. The house isn’t what you’re used to.”
“Angel, stop. I’m sure it’s great.”
Her mind told her Alex wouldn’t judge anyone based on money, but still, he came from money, and it was a little intimidating for him to see how humble the house was. Not that she was ashamed. She loved her father, and he had always provided for her, even if he’d had to go without himself.
“It’s the white house second from the corner. My dad did the best he could with what he had.”
“Honey, you don’t have to defend anything.” He parked the car and squeezed her hand. “Wake up, sleepy heads. We’re here,” Alex called into the backseat.
“What’d you do drive 200 miles per hour?” Becca asked. “It seems like we just left.”
Alex pulled the radar detector down and put it in the glove compartment. His guns and Kyle’s were safely stowed in the trunk. He’d have to get Kyle’s back to him when they were back in Chicago.
“Not quite,” Alex laughed.
Angel was getting out of the car quickly because her father came out onto the porch and down the stairs to meet them.
“Hi, Daddy!”
Alex watched her rush into the arms of a man in his late fifties. He was thin but with a small beer belly. He was dressed in his work uniform of light gray shirt atop dark grey pants.
“Hey, there’s my baby girl!” Joseph Hemming said happily as he enfolded Angel in a big bear hug and lifted her off the ground.
By now, Alex, Becca, and Jillian had alighted from the car.
“Where’d are da horsies?” Jillian asked excitedly.
“Wait, sweetheart,” Becca murmured.
When Joe released Angel, she threaded her arm through his and turned with him toward the others. “Daddy, I’d like you to meet Alexander Avery.”
Alex walked forward and extended his hand.
“Hello, sir. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hello. I’m Joe Hemming.”
Angel was surprised by how fast her heart was beating. These were the two most important men in her life, and she desperately wanted them to adore each other.
“Angel’s told me a lot about you.”
“Well, if it’s bad, she’s lying,” Joe said with a smile, his eyes narrowed on the injuries on Alex’s and Angel’s faces. He looked at his daughter. “What happened to your faces?” His voice was laced with concern. “Were you in a car accident?”
“I’ll tell you about it tonight after we’re settled in. Okay?”
He eyed Angel for a minute, gauging her response. He looked at Alex. “Was it something to do with those shady bastards she prosecutes?”
Alex met Angel’s eyes, and he knew she wanted him to brush her father’s question off but would not begin his relationship with Angel’s father with a lie. Here was an ally in his argument. “Uh, yeah.”
Joseph Hemming frowned and shook his head. “Angel, we need to talk about this.”
“Later, Dad, please? Becca and Jillian are here.”
He didn’t look satisfied with his daughter’s answer, but manners overruled and he stepped around his daughter to hug Becca. “Hi, Beckie Boo.”
“Hi, Joe,” Becca answered and hugged him back.
“And who is this beautiful princess?” He bent toward Jillian and got down on his haunches. He’d met Becca before and Jillian, too, but when Jillian was only 20 months old, and she wouldn’t remember.
Jillian looked up at Becca. “This is Angel’s daddy, baby. It’s okay. Say hello.”
“Iz Jeian,” she said, her ‘L’s missing.
“Jillian! What a beautiful name. Can I have a hug?”
She nodded and went into his arms.
Alex’s hand came to rest on the top of Angel’s shoulder, and when he squeezed the muscle at the base of her neck, her arm snaked around his waist.
“Thank you for that nice hug.”
“Can we see da horsies?”
“Sure! We’re going to have a barbeque on the farm with the horses. Let’s get your stuff inside the house, then we’ll go.”
Alex left Angel and went to the trunk. He wasn’t sure what Angel had told her father about the past week, so he quickly took out his duffel, her gym bag, and Becca’s one suitcase. The trunk closed before Angel’s father came and lifted the suitcase.
“This way, Alex.” He nodded toward the house. It was a nice, older home that had been maintained well. The hardwood floors were a bit worn, but it was clean and the paint was fresh.
It was a three-bedroom house, and he wondered about the sleeping arrangements. Though they were adults, he wasn’t going to disrespect Angel’s father by assuming they’d be sharing a room.
“Angel’s old room is upstairs, as is the spare room. You can put all of the things in there.”
Alex’s eyes met Angel’s. “Will you lead the way?”
She picked up her bag, preceding him up the stairs while Joe did some catching up with Becca. The spare room was decorated with an old white chenille bedspread, the bedroom set equally dated, though again, it was spotless. He set his duffel on the bed in the spare room.
Angel’s eyebrow shot up. “Planning on bunking with Becca and Bean?”
He shook his head. “No, but, uh, I’m not sure where I’m bunking, but it’s not with you. Is that your room?” He nodded in the direction of an open door that led into a room decorated in dark plum and white. It wasn’t frilly like some of his high school girlfriend’s rooms had been. Instead, it was understated and functional. Aside from a few posters, a bookshelf filled with young adult books, and a few picture frames, the room consisted of a dark wood bedframe, dresser, and matching desk. It was clear these were much newer and of good quality; evidence where Joseph Hemming’s priorities lay. Alex’s respect for the man was alre
ady solid because of the woman he had raised, but to see it with his own eyes added another dimension.
“Why?” she asked.
“Come on. Just…” Alex paused. He felt embarrassed having to explain himself, and certainly, this was the first time in his life it would even occur to him to sleep apart from his lover, regardless of where they were. “I don’t want to be disrespectful. And I don’t want him to think I disrespect his little girl.”
Angel smiled softly, as she set her bag in the corner of her room. “He isn’t ignorant, Alex. He doesn’t think I’m a virgin; I promise. But, if what you do to me is disrespect me, then disrespect me some more.” She nudged him playfully.
“Don’t make it hard.”
Angel giggled. “That’s not what you usually say.”
He laughed. “Stop. Please, don’t argue.” He bent to kiss her mouth. “I’ll be suffering enough as is, but it’s worth it.”
She kissed him back. “You know how I hate to see you suffer,” she whispered against his mouth.
“I’ll find a way for you to make it up to me.”
She giggled softly. “Promise?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think my bed will hold Becca, Jillian, and me. I might have to get a sleeping bag.”
“Is there a couch? I can sleep on that.”
“Wow. Pinch me.” Angel’s tone was sardonic, but inside she was soaring. Alex really wanted her father to like him, and that meant the world to her.
Alex’s hand curled around hers, and his forehead rested against hers. “I don’t want to screw this up.”
“I love you a whole lot.”
“I know. I’m counting on that.” He kissed her again, letting his tongue push inside her mouth and rub against hers in a sensually slow caress. When he pulled back, Alex sighed and nodded toward the stairs. “Let’s go. I’m starving.”
She cocked her head, one eyebrow shooting up as a devilish smile danced on her lips. Despite her bruises, she was so beautiful; it took his breath away. He was still holding her waist, and her hands wrapped around his forearms, careful not to hurt his wrists, though she had to touch him. “And?”
His white teeth flashed in a brilliant smile, and he looked down into her face. “And… barbeque sounds really good.”
