Mandy patted me on the shoulder. “Sure, they do.”
“What are you doing here?” O’Connor snapped, his hands on his hips, a bit too close to his gun for my comfort. “The case is closed. Shouldn’t you be out chasing someone’s cat or summoning the spirit of someone’s granny?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’ll have you know that I don’t find pets. I have allergies. Also, summoning spirits takes a lot of work. There are passports involved, and you need a special kind of candle you can only get from India in the fall.”
“Right,” O’Connor drew out, baring his teeth to me like he might bite his own tongue off for asking.
“And I’m here to get paid and help you out on your murder case.” I reached for the file in front of him, but he jerked it away from me.
“You’re not qualified to help in this case,” O’Connor told me with a nasty grin.
I cocked my hip to the side and smiled. “Actually, I think I am. It was me who figured it out it was the manager from the beginning, and if you’d only listened to me, we would have just had a robbery and not a murder.”
“Well, I—”
“And she did find the dead body,” Mandy jumped in, pointing a finger at O’Connor. “And she managed to make him reveal so much that he was forced to sign a confession.”
O’Connor stared at Mandy like he wanted to rip her head off before scowling and shoving the file toward me. “Fine, but if you die on the job, that’s on you.”
I picked up the file a satisfied grin on my lips. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll just take this home with me to look over.”
“No, you can’t take—”
I didn’t wait for him to tell me no but darted out of the conference room and toward the payment counter. Today was just getting better and better, if you didn’t count the encounter with the asshole angel.
“Hello, Bernadette,” I greeted the lovely lady at the counter, who I knew would write me a check. Bernadette was a large blonde woman who didn’t fit her name. No one with arms that toned could possibly be called Bernadette. She should be tiny and have a small cute voice, maybe even glasses. But not Bernadette. She could probably even take on O’Connor and win.
“Jane, how are you?” Bernadette greeted me, putting her green protein shake concoction down on the counter.
“I’m good.” I beamed at her. “You’re looking quite buff as per usual.”
“Thank you!” She flexed her arms and puffed up her chest. “I have been lifting more lately. Are you here for a check?”
“Yep,” I nodded. “I helped with the Resort robberies.”
“Oh, I heard about that! You helped catch a thief and a killer. Good job.” She pulled out the packet of checks and started to scribble on one of them.
When she didn’t fill in the amount, I frowned. She turned to a file and searched for something before she started typing away on her calculator. After she was done, she filled in the check with a number way lower than I had thought it would be.
Ripping it off the pad, she handed it to me. “Here you go, Jane.”
I squinted at the check, hoping I was reading it wrong. “Are you sure this is right? It’s way less than I got last time.”
Bernadette glanced at the file she had and then back to me with a frown. “Yes, that’s what they have. Your consulting fee, minus the expenses you racked up at the resort.”
“Expenses!” I shouted and then ducked my head and lowered my voice. “What expenses? Everything should have been paid for.”
Shaking her head sadly, Bernadette showed me the file. “They covered the room and meals but all this extra stuff here, they said I’m not allowed to cover. They weren’t pertinent to the job.”
Glaring down at the file, I saw the massage I had gotten, the charges to the mini fridge from my and Mandy’s night of drinking. If I’d known they weren’t going to pay for any of it, I wouldn’t have gotten that massage. Who knew getting rubbed down cost so much?
Oh yeah, I did. That was why I wanted the police to pay for it. I pouted to myself.
I bet this was O’Connor’s doing. It sounded like something that jerk face would do. He didn’t want anyone else to have fun because he was grumpy about getting divorced. I’d like to get him in a room by himself for a few minutes. Handcuffed to the table of course. He was a big guy.
With thoughts of torture and pain in my head, I had half a mind to go back there and give O’Connor a piece of my mind. However, I’d have to stay here with the file, and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to be in my own bed without pants for the rest of the day. Preferably with a sexy angel in my bed.
Handing the file back to Bernadette, I sighed. “Thanks. Just a misunderstanding.”
“Alright.” Bernadette took the file and offered me a small smile. “At least, you caught the bad guy.”
“Yeah,” I forced a smile. “I’ll see you later.”
Leaving the counter, I shoved the check in my purse and started for the door. I caught sight of O’Connor who had a shit eating grin on his face but didn’t stop me from leaving. If he thought he could get to me, then he had another thing coming.
I walked out the door separating the Lobby from the back, my eyes immediately going to Smith. She gave me an I’m-watching-you look that made me shiver. Thankfully, Tanya was still there to cheer me up. I waved at her with a grin. I wouldn’t let O’Connor ruin my day with his penny-pinching.
Leaving the station, I headed to my car. I had a check to deposit and some pants to get rid of. Maybe I should take a shower? That usually made them show up unannounced. Before I could even get out of the parking lot my phone went off.
An unknown number showed up. “Hello, this is Jane.”
“Jane Mehr from Gotcha?” a male voice asked.
“Yes, this is she.”
“We had reports of electrical fluctuations in your area and need you to come down and let us in to take a look.” The moment he said, electrical fluctuations I had a feeling I knew what had happened.
Freaking angels.
“Alright, I’ll be right there.” I hung up the phone and turned my car toward the office. I guess going pantsless would have to wait.
24
When I arrived at Gotcha!, the lights were flickering, and a crowd had begun to form around the front of the building. Unbeknownst to them, I could see the angels inside having a shouting match.
I scrambled from my car and headed for the door. Before I could get to it, I was stopped by a man wearing a polo shirt and slacks. The logo on his shirt told me he was from the local electric company.
“Miss? Are you Jane Mehr?” he asked, gesturing to the building. “The owner of this building?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Well, we’re going to need to get in there to check the breaker box. Everything out here seems fine. No broken lines. Nothing to indicate why your electricity should be freaking out like that.” He nodded toward the dancing lights.
“Of course,” I agreed and fumbled for my keys. Putting it in the lock, I turned it and allowed the electrician to go first before following after him. My eyes immediately went to the angels who hadn’t stopped arguing.
“You know we have to tell her,” Gabriel said firmly. “She needs to know.”
“No, she doesn’t.” Michael shook his head. “It will only cause unneeded panic.”
“Oh, so what are you going to do when he shows up?” Lucifer scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Miss?”
My head jerked away from the arguing angels to the electrician. “Huh?”
“I asked if you had any overfilled power strips, or if you left any appliances on?” He gestured around the office. His questions apparently were enough to make the angels realize they had an audience and quickly clammed up.
“No.” I shook my head, distracted by their conversation. “Nothing like that.”
Of course, as soon as they stopped fighting, the lighting quit going crazy. The electrician looke
d up at the ceiling and snorted. “Isn’t that always the way? The moment we get here, it stops.”
“Yeah, that is something else,” I politely agreed, my eyes on the three angels who were avoiding my gaze. The fact that they hadn’t disappeared right then surprised me, but then again, they probably knew it would only make them get in more trouble. And they were already in heaps.
The electrician stared down at a clipboard he had brought in with him and then back to the room. “Well, I’m going to check the breaker anyway. Better safe than sorry.”
“Sure, that’s fine. It’s back there.” I pointed toward the kitchenette area, more than happy to get him out of the room. Once he was gone, I moved over the front window of Gotcha! and closed the drapes. No need to have an audience for this one.
“So, who’s going to start?” I asked, standing in front of the three of them. Michael opened his mouth, and I held a hand up to stop him. “How about someone who wasn’t planning on lying to me?”
“We weren’t going to lie to you,” Lucifer said, glancing at the other two. “We were just going to omit what was going on.”
“Like that’s so much better,” Gabriel scoffed.
Shaking my head, I tapped my foot. “Really, Lucifer, I’m surprised at you. You’re the lie detector, and you were planning on lying to me?” He started to correct me, but I stopped him. “Omit, fine. Same difference.”
“We’re sorry.” Gabriel moved over to me, an apologetic look on his face. “We’ve been wanting to tell you about this for a few days now but haven’t found the right time to do it.”
“Tell me what?” I tensed, afraid of what they might say.
“There’s other—”
“Gabriel,” Michael snapped, cutting him off. “She doesn’t need to know. It’s taken care of.”
“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have the right to know.” Lucifer pointed a finger a Michael. “That way in case you haven’t taken care of it, she’s not caught unaware.”
I was really getting tired of all the cryptic talk. “Someone just tell me what’s going on?”
The answer I got wasn’t from the angels but from the electrician. “Well, it looks like everything is fine as far as your breaker goes, but you really should get someone in here to update it to the newer model. They save you so much more money.” He walked through the guys without a single notion that they were there. He tapped his clipboard and then handed it to me with his pen. “Can you just sign this saying I came by and checked it out?”
“Sure.” I took the pen from him and scribbled my name on the line he pointed to. “Anything else you need?”
“Nope.” He smiled and nodded his head. “Have a good day and let me know if you have any other troubles.”
“Will do.” I waited for the electrician to leave before going behind him and locking the door. Spinning on my heel, I marched back over to the guys. “Start talking.”
Michael sighed and held up a hand so the others would let him talk. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
“If there were nothing to worry about, then you wouldn’t have kept it a secret,” I countered, already tired of this conversation.
“Very well, you are correct.” Michael inclined his head, unease showing in his eyes. “We kept this from you because we didn’t want you to—”
“Freak out,” Gabriel supplied.
Michael frowned at him. “Yes, freak out.”
“Well, keeping it from me isn’t going to make me freak out any less. Especially if I have to find out from someone else.” I shot them a warning look.
“Hey, don’t look at me.” Lucifer held his hands up. “I’ve wanted to tell you from the beginning. It’s Mr. I’m-the-one-in-charge who didn’t want to.”
“That’s not exactly how I said it.” Michael glared at Lucifer.
Fed up with all the back and forth, I threw my hands up in the air. “Okay, enough of this whose fault it is. Just tell me what the big secret is.”
Before Michael could get another word out, Gabriel jumped in. “Other angels are looking for you!”
My face scrunched up in confusion. “Huh?”
“What Gabriel so eloquently said.” Michael stared at the other angel, who stared right back at him. “It has come to our attention that other angels have found out about you and your particular … abilities.”
“What he means to say is that Gabriel went around bragging about all the sex he’s been having to all the other angels.” Lucifer smirked, completely at ease about throwing Gabriel under the bus.
I gaped at Gabriel. “Really, Gabe? I’d expect it from Lucifer, but you?” I tut-tutted and shook my head. “I’m so disappointed.”
Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck, a shameless grin on his lips. “What can I say? I was excited. Besides, it wasn’t just the sex. I told them about bowling and the hot sauce. All of it.”
“Yeah, so now that big mouth let the Jane out of the bag,” - Lucifer pursed his lips in irritation - “they are looking for you, because they want to have a chance to be human as well.”
“Well, that’s not so bad.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I mean, I’m not saying I’d do it all the time, but I don’t know why you wouldn’t want them to try it out too. Unless they are expecting me to have sex with them.” I cocked a brow at them. “They aren’t, are they?”
“No,” Gabriel shook his head. “Not at all. We made it very clear that you were not available to any of them.”
“I hear a ‘but’ coming on.” I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.
“But they might ask anyway,” Lucifer said.
Michael glowered at Lucifer. “No, they won’t. This is just a warning to be careful.”
Suddenly, I remembered the asshole angel in the parking lot. With a small voice, I asked, “One of those angels wouldn’t happen to dress in dark robes with shoulder-length black hair and have a stick up his ass, would he?”
“Uriel,” Michael immediately answered. “And yes, he’s one of those who knows about you. Have you seen him?”
“Obviously.” Lucifer snorted. “She wouldn’t know what he looked like if she hadn’t.”
“What’d he say?” Gabriel asked, worry in his voice.
I shrugged and moved over to my desk to sit down. “Nothing much, just some crap about how he didn’t see what you guys saw in me. That he thought Michael was above all that. Also, he doesn’t like humans, like at all.”
Michael sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I was afraid of that.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” I leaned forward in my seat, anxiety starting to fill me.
Shaking his head, Michael approached the desk. “I don’t know, but I’m not sure how I feel about other angels wanting you. Not that I can blame you. This is a temptation I’m not sure any of them will be able to resist.”
I swallowed thickly. “And by the temptation, you mean me, right?”
Lucifer chuckled, his eyes darting up and down my form. “Oh, yes. You are quite the temptation, love.”
“Oh.”
“Oh is right.” Michael’s eyes narrowed at me, a serious tone filling his voice. “I want you to promise me that if you see him again, you will call for us. Right away. Don’t chit chat or do your usual pain in the ass routine. Right away.”
I scoffed and shifted in my seat. “What pain in the ass routine? I’ll have you know, I am a hundred percent natural. I don’t practice any of my quips.”
Gabriel and Lucifer chuckled behind Michael.
When Michael didn’t laugh, I sighed. “Fine. I promise. No assholery from me. I’ll call for you right away.”
“Good.” He started to turn away, but I wasn’t having any of that disappearing crap. I had reparations to be paid.
“Hold up a second,” I snapped. “I promised to call for you, but that doesn’t fix the fact that you lied to me. I demand payment for your misdeeds.”
“Misdeeds?” Michael arched a brow. “For wanting to ensure your safety?”
> I snorted. “Trust a man to think he’s keeping a woman safe by keeping her out of the loop. No, sir. Not this girl. If I’m in this mess because of you guys, then I get to know everything. Which means, I get to ask something of you.” I grinned wickedly at all three of the angels who had a mixture of expressions ranging from intrigue to horror.
“What would you like, love? Just name it.” Lucifer purred, coming closer to me. I knew where his mind was going, and for once, mine was lining up with the Devil’s.
“Did I ever tell you guys about this dream I had where all four of us were going at it?” I grinned as Lucifer and Michael paled. “It was really great except that my mom showed up in the middle trying to force feed me pizza. But I think we should put that on the table. The group sex, not the pizza part. Though, I really think I could go for some right now.”
Laughing to myself, I grabbed my phone and dialed the pizza place. The guys started to argue with each other about my suggestion. I kicked back in my chair and grinned happily. I had solved the case, established my agency as a liaison to the police, gotten myself a line of work for the future, and got to do it all with three drop-dead-gorgeous men at my side and in my bed. In a world where angels existed, it really did pay to be the only one who saw them.
Thank You for reading!
Curious about what happens to Jane, Michael, Lucifer, and Gabriel next?
* * *
Find out soon!
Author’s Note
Dear reader, if you REALLY want to read the next Her Angels novel- I’ve got a bit of bad news for you.
Unfortunately, Amazon will not tell you when the next comes out.
You’ll probably never know about my next books, and you’ll be left wondering what happened to Jane and the gang. That’s rather terrible.
There is good news though! There are three ways you can find out when the next book is published:
1) You join our mailing list by clicking here.
2) You follow J.A. on his Facebook page or join J.A.’s Facebook Group. You can also follow Erin on her Facebook Page. We always announce new books in those places as well as interact with fans.
Heaven's a Beach Page 17
