“Alright, so want to come with me to interrogate some crazies?” I popped my spoon into my mouth and grinned around it.
Michael took the spoon from my mouth before scooping it into my bowl.
“Hey!” I reached out to take my spoon back. He was too quick for me though. “That was mine.”
Michael hummed around my spoon and then handed it back to me. “I think I could learn to live with simple.” The way he said it brought heat to my cheeks, and I realized he was not talking about the frozen yogurt anymore.
Chapter 16
I DROVE TO THE ADDRESS Andre texted me for one of the dropouts, a man named Oliver Quid. He lived close to my side of town which hopefully meant he would be less of a pain in the ass than the others.
Wishful thinking, I know.
Parking the car, Michael and I walked up to the yellow house with a mini windmill in the front lawn and a flamingo giving me the evil eye. It was not a promising start.
“Let me do the talking,” I told Michael as I pushed the doorbell. “I don’t want an alpha male pissing contest. I want information, not black eyes and closed lips.”
“I believe you have me mistaken with someone else.” Michael crossed his arms over his chest and stared menacingly at the closed door.
“See? That look right there.” I pointed at his face, then lowered my voice as I heard someone moving around inside. “That’s not helping.”
Michael sighed and dropped his arms. “How would you like me to look?”
“Approachable.” I barely got the word out before the front door opened to reveal a slender guy with a buzzed haircut and blue rimmed circle glasses. His orange button up shirt could be seen beneath his royal purple sweater, a combination that made even me flinch. He held a tissue to his nose as he sniffed, pulling my attention to his red-rimmed eyes.
“What do you want?” Oliver asked as his eyes narrowed on me, but then they slid over to Michael. Flustered by the angel, Oliver brought his tissue to his nose and tried to look less of a mess. “I’m sorry for my appearance, I’ve been having a bad week. My boyfriend just broke up with me.”
Smooth. I rolled my eyes. Very smooth.
“I’m Jane.” I stepped closer, trying to draw his eyes off Michael and onto me. “Andre sent me from the contest? You’re Oliver?”
Oliver reluctantly looked at me, but it wasn’t a nice look. “What does he want? I already told him I quit, and I didn’t need the entry fee back.”
I nodded. “Yes, I know, but we’re just trying to get a list of where everyone was this weekend. We’ve had a bit of a press leak and are trying to figure out where it might have gone wrong.”
The designer’s shoulders sagged, and he backed away from the door. “Come inside, I suppose. You never know who’s listening around here.” He glanced around the doorway like paparazzi were going to jump out at any moment.
Michael and I exchanged a look before we followed the man inside. While Michael was busy looking for things that might stick out, I noticed the pictures of the Oliver with another man. He was much younger looking than Oliver who looked to be in his late thirties. The other man was of Hispanic descent with a wily look in his eyes, like he knew that he was too hot for the older designer.
“Who’s this?” I picked up the picture and showed Oliver. “The boyfriend?”
“Yes, that’s Roger. He’s my... Well, I guess he was my boyfriend.” Oliver moved to the kitchen and held up a teapot. “Tea? It’s green.”
I waved him off, not rude enough to tell him how disgusting that crap was to me. Michael wasn’t even paying us any mind. He was looking around the house, being his annoyingly observant self.
“You know, I never did used to like the stuff myself, but then Roger would have a cup every day.” He huffed a laugh. “Said it would be good for my heart.” He bowed his head and sniffed a bit.
I didn’t want to kick a good guy while he was down, but some things couldn’t wait. “So, not to be insensitive, but how did you and Oliver break up?”
Oliver lifted his head and dabbed his eyes. “Why does anyone break up?” He shrugged evasively as he went about making himself a cup of tea.
“Still, all the same. Did he happen to do it this last weekend?” I arched a brow, trying to get him to give me something to rule him out so I could get out of this house. I couldn’t stand myself crying, let alone watching a grown man do the same.
As Oliver blew the steam away off his teacup, he nodded sadly. “Yes, we went away for the weekend. St. Bart’s. I thought we were going to have a romantic weekend that would end with me proposing, but Roger had other thoughts.” He let out a shaky laugh.
“Roger left you for someone else.”
Oliver and I both turned to look at Michael who paused at the desk in the open dining room. He held up a picture of Roger with another man, a more attractive one that was probably the same age as him.
“Put those back.” Oliver sat his cup down and scurried over to the desk to hide the dozen pictures of Roger and the man in a dozen different places.
“That’s quite a collection of photos,” I commented as I moved over to them. “You know, when someone dumps me, I tend to get drunk and rock out in my underwear. Not,” I gestured to the photos, “stalk him?”
“I’m not stalking him!” Oliver’s voice screeched as he held the images to his chest. “I just wanted to check out the competition.”
It was plain to me that Oliver was hoping to woo Roger back, and it was so sad how he thought that. I mean, when someone leaves you for someone better and, by the photos, someone they were seeing behind your back, the likelihood that you were going to get back together was close to nil.
I shot a look over at Michael. The tight frown on his lips said he agreed with me. Oliver was a little nutso.
“So, you were gone all weekend?” I reiterated, trying to get back on topic.
“Yes, yes. And then Roger broke up with me, and I’ve been home all week, it’s why I dropped out,” Oliver rushed to tell me but seemed far too nervous for me to believe him.
“Really?”
Michael added on to my question with, “You are not being entirely truthful.”
Oliver’s eyes widened, and he jumped back, his eyes darting to Michael. “What? Yes, I am.”
“Tut-tut-tut.” I waved a finger at Oliver. “My guy is pretty observant. If he thinks you’re holding back on me, then I have to believe him. So, what is it, Oliver? I find it hard to believe that you quit the contest just because your boyfriend broke up with you for someone else.” I crossed my arms over my chest and locked eyes with him.
“He was the love of my life,” he stuttered as he backed away from us. “I couldn’t sleep, let alone focus on winning.”
I shook my head. “Likely story, they told me you guys prep all year for this contest. There’s no way you’d give up the chance to become an award-winning designer for this. I mean, I have some hot boyfriends, but even I wouldn’t let it ruin my life.”
Michael gave me a strange look that I wanted to ask about but couldn’t in front of Oliver.
“Fine, fine.” Oliver huffed, holding his hands up. “I didn’t quit because of Roger, though he did break up with me.” He chucked the photos on the table. “And cheating on me, which is obvious. But I didn’t back out because of him. Fucking twat.” Oliver huffed. “I got a call a few weeks ago. Someone offering me ten grand to back out of the contest.”
“Ten grand, that’s quite a bit of money,” I nodded along, explaining to Michael at the same time, “but isn’t the reward for winning a crap ton more than that?”
“Oh, yeah.” Oliver vigorously shook his head up and down. “That’s why I blew them off.”
“But not now?” I angled my head to the side. “What changed?”
Oliver moved past us to the wet bar in the dining room. Pouring himself a generous glass of what looked to be scotch, he took a large drink before answering. “They called back the day after Roger broke up with me and
offered fifty thousand for me to quit.”
“And you took it?”
Draining his glass, Oliver sucked on his teeth. “Yep. I was vulnerable and tired. I just wanted a break. That money would help me get the break I needed while I recalculated my life without Roger.”
I gestured to the photos on the ground. “You mean, pay for your private detective?”
Oliver scowled at me. “That too.”
“Did they pay you?”
My head jerked to Michael, happy he thought to ask. “Yeah. Did they?”
“Of course. After I called Andre, they texted me from an unknown number and told me the funds had been deposited. I didn’t even know how they got my account number, but the money was there, so I wasn’t going to ask questions.” Oliver poured another glass and sat down on the nearest seat, his shoulder curling forward as he slouched.
“Do you know who called you?” I tried, hoping against hope that we’d get a lead.
“No, like I said, the number was unknown or blocked, I guess.” Oliver sighed heavily.
“Did you recognize the voice? Was it male or female?” I rushed through the questions, trying to get something out of this whole ordeal.
“Male, I think.” Oliver pressed a hand to his forehead as if trying to force something out. “No one I recognized in any case. They didn’t say who they were, just that they wanted me out. I guess I should be flattered they thought I was a big enough threat to them that they had to pay me off.”
“Yeah, I guess. That’s a good way to look at it.” I gave Michael a look and jerked my head toward the door. We were done here. This guy couldn’t tell us anything else, and unless I could track the account the money came from, doubtful, then I was no closer to who took the trophy. Apparently, though, someone wanted to win and badly.
“Well, Oliver,” I smacked my lips, “thank you for your time. I’ll be sure to keep this hush-hush.” I zipped my lips and nodded. “Mum’s the word.”
“I appreciate it.” Oliver inclined his head, not getting up to walk us out.
I led Michael back through the house and out the front door, where I stopped in my tracks. There, standing in the middle of Oliver’s front yard, was Uriel.
Great, just what my day needed.
Chapter 17
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING here?" Michael's voice boomed through the neighborhood while I quickly checked to see if he had shut the front door. The last thing we needed was for some drama queen designer coming out here to be cannon fodder.
Thankfully, the door was shut and probably locked for good measure. So, the only thing I had to worry about was pedestrians going by. So far, none of them thought anything was out of the ordinary, but Michael and Uriel were just getting started.
"I'm here to make you come back, brother." Uriel's arms crossed over each other, a tight frown on his lips. He wore the same outdated Biblical rope dress thing, really, I don't know what it's called nor wanted to, and left his black hair down hanging around his face. It would be a nice face too if he smiled instead of glared at everyone.
"You are not the commander of me." Michael took the few steps down from Oliver's front porch to approach the domineering angel. "I am the leader of God's armies, his right hand. No one but our father tells me what to do."
I cleared my throat and gave him a side eye. Michael didn't bother acknowledging my hint. Freaking men.
"That was then, Michael, before you got involved with her." Uriel pointed a finger at me, like I was something he had stepped on and had to scrape off his shoe. "Until you let go of your human pet, no one will take orders from you."
I scoffed. "Excuse me." I waved a hand in the air which drew Uriel's gaze to me. "I am no one's pet. I make my own decisions and can take care of myself. If anyone has pets, it's me. Three large ones that have been nothing but pains in my ass since day one."
I shot a look to Michael who was staring at me like he wanted me to shut up. Too damn bad.
As I moved away from Michael, I locked my eyes on Uriel, hoping that my face said bad ass bitch, but with my luck, I probably just looked constipated. "In fact, you're becoming one of those pains with the way you keep popping up everywhere unannounced. You have been worse for my love life than that perm I had back in high school." I so wasn't going into detail on that, it was not one of my better years.
"You are but a bug in the grand—" Uriel tried to scoff.
"Yeah, yeah," I cut him off, holding my hands out to my sides. "So you've said, but what are you really bitching about, huh?" I cocked my head to the side as I studied Uriel's face. "Are you jealous? Is that it? Because if you're wanting a piece of this, then you're out of luck. I am over my quota on incorporeal boyfriends. I have enough to handle with the ones I have."
"I would not lower myself to lie with filth such as you," Uriel spit out, dropping his hands to his side as his fingers curled into fists.
"Ouch," I said with mock pain, pretending he had hit me in the chest. "You really know how to kill a girl's self-esteem."
Michael snorted. "Like you don't have plenty."
I glanced back at the archangel and arched a brow. "Are we helping or hurting? Ask that when you open your mouth."
"You're one to talk," Michael retorted with a smirk. "You couldn't keep yourself out of trouble for five minutes, even without angels on your trail."
I shrugged. "What can I say danger just loves me." I beamed back at him and then turned back to Uriel who was simply staring daggers at the both of us. "Now, where was I? Oh yeah. I'm a bug, huh? Well, I think this is a case of the angel protesth too much. Why don't you try out what the others are so hard core on getting, instead of making your snap judgments?" I pulled the pin from my shirt and pricked my finger before holding it out to him. "Here it is, I'm offering it freely to you."
For a second, I thought Uriel might actually go for it, but then his nose scrunched up and a blast of disgust covered his face. "I would never put any part of you in my body."
I shrugged and popped the finger into my mouth, cleaning off the blood before turning to Michael. "Can't say I didn't try?"
Michael let out an exasperated sigh before reaching out to grab my elbow and pull me back to his side. I let out a yelp but went with him. Because I wanted to, not because he made me, let's get that clear.
"Michael, while you dally with this human, your soldiers are becoming restless,” Uriel proclaimed like, well, an angel from on high. “They question why their commander isn't in Heaven. What are we to tell them? Would they think you still an all-powerful archangel if they knew that you spend your hours with this ape?" His eyes flashed with anger and condescension towards me.
I glanced between Michael and Uriel, wondering what Michael would do. A part of me hoped he would put the little bugger in his place, that he'd say I love Jane and I'm staying her with her so you can just fuck right off.
But that was not what he said.
Michael's jaw tightened, and then, after a moment, he released all tension from his body and turned to me. Cupping my cheek with his hand, he lowered his face down to mine. "I do need to go. Not because of what he said, but because there are others who are looking for you. If they find Uriel here, then they will find you. I cannot have that happen."
I held onto his hand, not wanting him to go but not able to voice that desire. Instead, I pushed up on my toes and pressed my mouth to his, not caring that Uriel was watching with utter disgust. Michael kissed me back like his life depended on it.
For all I knew it might have. It certainly felt like it to me.
When he released me, I felt warm all over and desperately didn't want him to leave.
"Gabriel will take my place in a few moments." Michael brushed his lips against mine once more before moving away. His eyes locked with Uriel's, and then, with a quick jerk of his head, he disappeared. Uriel thankfully went along with him.
Staring longingly at the spot he had been standing, I wondered if that was the last time that I would see him. Would he come back?
Or would Uriel keep him away?
All the way in my car on my way back to my apartment, my mind whirled. It kept going down that path of no return, to the day that they would inevitably leave me. I wasn't naive. I knew what we were doing wasn't going to last, not in the long term. In many ways, Uriel was right. Not that I'd tell him that, but still it made my heart hurt.
As I pounded up the stairs of my apartment building, I had only one thing on my mind, drowning out the voice in my head with alcohol. Without worry or precaution, I threw open my apartment door and headed straight for the cabinet where I knew I had a bottle of vodka hiding behind the olive oil.
"Someone isn't having a good day."
I glanced over my shoulder, my hand up in the cabinet to see Gabriel dressed in a tight, dark blue t-shirt and low hanging jeans leaning against the edge of the couch.
"Hey, want to be my drinking buddy?" I lifted the bottle from the cabinet and brought it to my chest. "I'm having a lousy day and could use someone to day drink with." I paused for a moment. "Can angels even get drunk?"
Gabriel arched a brow. "I wouldn't know. I've never drank."
"Well," I grinned and spun the lid of the bottle, "today is as good of day as any to find out!"
I pricked my finger and offered it to him. With an amused grin, Gabriel walked over and took my finger into his mouth. The sucking sensation pulled my mind away from getting drunk to doing other naughty things, but I didn't let it dissuade me. There was no reason I couldn't do both.
"Alcohol first." I took a long drink from the bottle and coughed as it burned on the way down. "Your turn." I held the bottle out to Gabriel, and he took it gingerly, reading the words on the label before bringing it to his lips.
He took a long drink, much longer than I had, enough that I had to reach out and grab the bottle before he downed it all.
"Hey, now. Don't drink it all. You'll kill yourself. Or well, maybe not but still, you need to share." I furrowed my brows at him, already feeling the effects of the alcohol. "Maybe we should just use cups."
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