Graham, Jan - Finding Angel [Wylde Shore] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More)

by Graham, Jan

  What else did they say? She couldn’t join the party because she had to get a train. Someone knew her because she hadn’t given them her number. It was the next day that he saw Angel, after she had fucked Adrian. Steve remembered that Angel looked like she had slept in the nice dress she had on. Surveillance from the night showed she got home early hours of the morning.

  Would Angel go to The Dungeon? Surely not, not after all that violence with Samuel, but then again Steve had wondered if she was a submissive at one stage. He had finally decided she behaved obediently with Samuel out of fear rather than a natural submissive tendency. Still, Steve might have misjudged his assumption. Maybe she was submissive. Steve was always willing to admit when he was wrong. He just hoped he didn’t have to in this instance.

  Steve decided he needed to move on. What other contact had happened over the last few weeks? Christian had left messages on his phone that was safely locked in Trevor’s office. Trevor had said there wasn’t anything unusual in the messages, just that Christian was asking him to call.

  Trevor had confronted Christian over accessing Samuel Barnard’s file. Was that a coincidence and was the unrelated matter the fact he had started screwing Samuel’s ex and he needed to find out about her life before she hooked up with them?

  Fuck…Fuck…Fuck. Steve could feel the pulse throb in side of his neck as his heart started to pound heavily. He didn’t like all the coincidences. He packed up the book and pens and headed outside for some air. As Steve paced around the car having a cigarette and lolling the information around in his brain, he came to only one conclusion. It was possible. He knew there was only one way to be sure. He decided to drive the Shore brothers’ home. He hopped into the car and slammed the door behind him. He took the bus route out and looked at it once more. Yep, the street their house was in was on the bus route Angel had taken yesterday.

  How long do you think it will take you to get to the boys’ house, Steve? He turned the key in the ignition bringing the car to life.

  “Oh, let’s see shall we?” Steve answered himself as he exited the car park and accelerated down the main road.

  “Probably thirty fucking minutes!” he yelled.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Angel waited for Daniel and Christian to go to work before starting some housework. As she started picking up the breakfast dishes, she smiled, thinking how nice it had been to be able to tell them “I love you” as she kissed them good-bye. It would take a while to get used to saying it, but the feelings it raised within her were all positive.

  Once the kitchen was clean and dishes were done, she moved to the bedrooms. Angel changed the sheets on the beds, put out fresh towels in the bathrooms, and headed to the laundry to start the washing.

  She felt nervous. Angel knew she needed to ring Adrian but decided she needed to think about what she would say first. The housework usually took her a couple of hours if she mopped and did the washing. That should give her plenty of time to decide the best way to approach the call. Not that any amount of planning would help her if Adrian was angry. Like any man with a temper, Adrian could be unpredictable. He usually kept himself in check. At least from her experience with him he did. Then again, she hadn’t had that many dealings with him. The fact that he had initially been soliciting her in the hope of having sex again worked in her favour, or at least she hoped it would.

  Angel finished the housework by midmorning. She sat on the sofa and looked at her mobile.

  I can do this. Angel took a few deep breaths.

  Breathe…in through the nose and out through the mouth. The technique always worked to calm her before a confrontation and sometimes during one. She reminded herself to continue to breathe as she pressed call.

  “Don’t hang up. I need a minute,” Adrian snapped the order at her through the phone.

  Angel could hear him saying good-bye to someone and then heard him tell his secretary to hold all calls and don’t bother him until he told her he was free again. Angel continued to breathe. If she felt panicked after only one brisk statement from Adrian, the rest of the conversation wasn’t going to be easy. Angel heard a door close, and then Adrian was back and talking again.

  “I see no one will be bringing me your severed head to claim the bounty today. Well, not this morning at least.” Angel let out an audible gasp in response to Adrian’s words.

  “Oh, Angel, don’t be so shocked. What did you expect from me?” His voice sounded cold, and she shivered when a chill ripped up her spine at the sound of it.

  “I…I thought I had two weeks to get the ledger to you. I went away for a bit of a break. I forgot my phone charger, and I didn’t get the messages until yesterday when I bought a charger to have with me here.” Angel blurted the words out quickly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

  “Tell me where you and your precious new phone charger are, and I’ll come and get you.” He still sounded cold.

  “No,” Angel said with less force than she had expected.

  “No.” Adrian imitated her weak response before yelling, “Why the fuck not?”

  “I don’t want you to kill me.” Angel’s voice wavered as she fought back tears. She waited through a long silence.

  “It might not be me that does it.” She could still hear the anger in his voice. “I might enjoy watching. Samuel knew other people liked to watch things. That’s obviously why he filmed you being fucked. Maybe I could get someone to tape the murder and stream it back to me.”

  “Please, Adrian, don’t be cruel.” Angel couldn’t believe the one nice thing he had done, purchasing the tapes Samuel had made of her being beaten and raped, had just been savagely thrown in her face.

  Angel heard Adrian clear his throat.

  “So tell me, why you have called?” Adrian’s tone had lost its cold edge. He spoke less forcefully.

  “I’ve called to talk about giving you the ledger. I’m sorry I didn’t call before, but I only got the messages yesterday. I’m trying to rectify what I did to make you mad. I know that if you still decide that you have to kill me, then there is nothing I can do to change that. But I need to at least talk to you and try to make amends.”

  “Why didn’t you call as soon as you read the messages?” Adrian sounded like he was getting his calm back. At least Angel hoped he was.

  “I didn’t call yesterday or last night because I was scared.” Angel stood up from the sofa and started to pace. She was suddenly filled with a nervous energy, like her adrenaline was kicking in after the fact.

  “And you’re not scared today?”

  “Terrified, but I knew I couldn’t put off talking to you.” Angel wondered if Adrian would mind if she took a break from the conversation so she could throw up.

  Angel flicked on the jug and started to make a peppermint tea.

  “What’s that noise?” Adrian sounded suspicious.

  “I just turned on the kettle to make a peppermint tea. I am actually so scared I feel like being sick. Peppermint tea calms the stomach.” Angel didn’t know what to think when she heard Adrian laugh.

  “You are going to be my downfall. You know that, don’t you?” He continued laughing, which Angel found odd.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Okay, you tell me what’s got you confused, and then I’ll tell you why I got so angry that I put a bounty on your pretty head.” Adrian sounded almost jovial as he spoke.

  “All right then.” Angel spoke cautiously. She had no idea what had caused the change in Adrian, and it scared her more than the mention of a bounty on her head.

  “I don’t know why you would think that making a peppermint tea is funny. I mean, this is serious. I’m trying to plead for my life here. Secondly, I thought you would be more cautious about admitting to wanting to kill me over a telephone. And third, I’m concerned that you’re just trying to keep me talking on the phone so you can trace the call and send someone to come and kill me. And lastly, I have no intention of being your downfall. I have
the ledger, and I want you to have it.” Angel waited for Adrian’s reply.

  “Firstly, I’m not tracing the call. It’s beyond my humble means.” Adrian paused. “Well, actually that’s a lie. I can do it, have done it, but I’m not doing it with you. I will leave it up to you to decide if you believe me or not.

  “Secondly, no one has this phone number but you. I bought it specifically to communicate with you. And unless you have given the number to the police, then it’s just our secret. I can tell you anything, and it isn’t going to be traced. I did have to be a bit more cryptic with the text messages because you can store those and you could use them as evidence against me.

  As for the peppermint tea, God, Angel, no one would ever tell me something like that. My whole life people have always been so scared to even blink around me. Anyone else would be huddled in a corner crying and begging for forgiveness at the thought of me killing them. But not you, I know you must be terrified, I mean you told me that. You’re scared and upset in the stomach, so you make a peppermint tea. There is no one in the world that treats me like you. And that’s why you will be my downfall, not because of anything you do or don’t do in relation to the ledger, but because you weaken my defences.”

  Angel didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t figure Adrian out. He terrified her and, then when she was least expecting it, said things like “you weaken my defences” with such kindness in his voice it unnerved her.

  “Do you understand now?” Adrian asked quietly.

  “I think so. You’re the grumpy, violent lion, and I’m the mouse that pulls the thorn out of your paw.”

  “Exactly,” Adrian replied before roaring with laughter.

  “You still scare me though,” Angel stated emphatically. “And you still haven’t said you’re not going to kill me.”

  “Yes, about that, let me explain why I got so mad.” Adrian’s voice took on a more professional tone.

  “I was told that you were working with the police. I also found out you allowed the police to bug your house, and unfortunately I believe they now have a recording of us discussing Samuel’s unfortunate death. I was also told you gave the police a bag of very incriminating evidence. And then you ran away and didn’t return my calls. I assumed, given the lack of evidence to the contrary, that you had given the police the ledger and that you had been taken into police protection. So in my anger, I put a bounty on your head. What else can I say, I may have reacted impulsively.”

  Adrian drew in a deep breath and then continued.

  “So would you please tell me your point of view on the aforementioned?”

  “Well, can I say to start that whoever you get your information from is only telling you half truths?” Angel heard Adrian chuckle.

  “I was hoping you would say it was all lies, but go on.” Angel thought he sounded amused.

  “Yes, the police had the house bugged. They had been listening to Samuel before he died. Apparently the surveillance had been in place for at least six months from what I can gather. I only found out that the police had been listening the day after you and I, you know, discussed Samuel being dead.

  “Steve asked me about the ledger. They knew it existed before you asked for it. I don’t know how they knew, but they did. I told them what I told you, that I didn’t know anything about it. And at the time I didn’t know where it was.

  “As for the bag of evidence, I gave Steve a bag of weapons Samuel had that I didn’t want to keep in the house. They are evidence against a dead man’s crimes, not against you.”

  Before Angel could continue, Adrian interrupted her.

  “You sound way too friendly with Detective Jax. What else is going on there? Are you sleeping with him?” Adrian virtually spat the question at her.

  “No, don’t be disgusting. That would just be wrong,” Angel replied indignantly.

  “Then why didn’t you give the weapons to me? I had been there only a few hours before Steve Jax came knocking on your door.”

  “Like you need more weapons,” Angel scoffed. “Besides, don’t you think there are families of people who are dead because of Samuel that might like to at least know the guy who did it has been punished with death?”

  Adrian didn’t comment. He simply instructed Angel to “go on.”

  “I’m not working with the police. I’m not in protective custody. Steve visited again and tried to pressure me about the ledger. I told him to go away. The police can’t protect anyone.” Angel felt tears form in her eyes as she spoke. “They listened to Samuel hurt me every day. They had their bugs in the house. They listen, Adrian. They don’t protect.”

  Adrian was quiet for a long while. Angel didn’t know if he expected her to say more or not. She chose to sit quietly and wait.

  “Why did you run away?” He sounded as sad as Angel felt.

  “I needed to get away. I was embarrassed that the police knew so much about my life and what had happened to me. I hated the thought of them listening while you and I had sex. I couldn’t stand Steve Jax just popping in. You had said I had two weeks to find the ledger, so I packed a bag and went away.”

  “I hate to tell you, but you have been away longer than two weeks Angel,” Adrian reminded her.

  “I know. And if I come home, it will be to pack the few things I want to keep and leave again. I’m not coming back to stay. I’m going to stay where I am. I’m happy to post the ledger to you or send a courier. But I won’t come back to stay there. I can’t. It’s no longer where I belong.”

  For the first time in the whole conversation, Angel heard strength return to her voice. She felt calm. She was where she belonged, where she was loved, and that, she suddenly realised was her strength.

  “If you are going to give me the ledger, then I want you to hand it to me personally.” Adrian’s statement held no compromise.

  “I don’t trust that you won’t kill me. I’m sorry to say it, but I have no guarantees. As you reminded me in one of those texts, I do know who I’m dealing with.” Angel waited for his reply, dreading what it would be.

  “The fucking downfall of me, woman,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll remove the bounty today. Don’t go getting all crazy and party it up wherever you are. It will take a while for the information to seep down through the ranks. I’ll let you think about the meeting. I won’t pressure you. I’ll give you another five days’ grace to enjoy your time away. We’ll talk again.”

  “Thank you, Adrian. I’ll talk to you in a week,” Angel said with a sigh of relief.

  “Five days, and I didn’t say I wouldn’t ring before that for a chat.” Adrian laughed.

  “You can call all you like, but don’t get pissed of if I choose to ignore the call,” Angel quipped.

  “Bloody hell, woman, you drive me nuts.”

  With that last comment, Adrian was gone. Angel collapsed onto the sofa. He was lifting the bounty. Angel didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Now she just needed to explain what was happening to Christian and Daniel tonight. She would tell them everything. Or, would everything need to be told?

  I might have to think this out a bit.

  Thirty-five minutes after leaving the library, Steve Jax pulled into the street the Shore brothers lived in. He couldn’t remember how many times he had said or thought the word fuck since leaving the car park, but he assumed it would constitute a world record. He’d finally come to the conclusion that the saying “shit happens” was a befitting quote to describe the situation he was about to face. If Angel was indeed staying with his best friends, then so be it. It might even be a blessing.

  He had slowly calmed down throughout the drive, despite his cursing, and come to the conclusion that the benefits outweighed the disadvantages of this particular dilemma. Angel was alive, she was safe, and knowing Christian and Daniel as Steve did, she would have been well cared for during the time she had been away. Apart from the occasional caning, flogging, or spanking, she would be relatively unharmed. Any intimacy that had occurred would make it ea
sier for Christian to convince Angel to accept the police offer, and as Angel had remained undiscovered living with them so far, then maybe the safe house they were looking for was exactly where she had been the whole time she had been away.

  The primary disadvantage, Steve contemplated, was how accepting Christian and Daniel would be of Angel’s plight. Steve assumed they had some idea about the circumstances surrounding Angel’s life with Samuel. It had to be the reason for Christian’s looking up the creep’s file. Steve doubted they had any idea about the current situation with Adrian. If they had known, Christian would have gone to Trevor and demanded protection for her. Hell, he’d probably be knee-deep in the case rather than just a backup bit player. Steve didn’t know how attached these three would have become over the last few weeks. His two friends had been through so much emotional shit over the last few years since the break up with “that woman,” as Steve liked to refer to her. And now they had found a woman they had describe as perfect for them, Steve was about to walk into their home and more than likely stomp all over it.

  What about Angel? She had been through so much. She was still in danger, whether she realised it or not, and Steve was going to walk in and possibly destroy the best chance she could ever have at love and future happiness. Angel deserved love and happiness, more than anyone he had met in a long while. Angel deserved a good life, that is, if she could be kept alive. He realised that he would never win her favour if things went pear-shaped with Christian and Daniel, but Steve had to do his job. And at the moment, his job involved finding her and keeping her safe. As for the rest, he’d cross his fingers and hope for the best.

  Steve stared at the house. He had parked the car behind a clump of trees up the road. To get inside, he needed to get down to the boys’ shed at the back of the house and get the spare key. He would knock on the door, of course. He didn’t want to scare Angel by just walking in. He needed the key to guarantee entry after she slammed the door in his face. Steve couldn’t see any movement inside the house and neither of the boys’ cars were in the drive. Angel’s old wreck, that she’d bought to replace the car Steve had now found, wasn’t there either, which surprised him a bit. Maybe he had gone off on a hysterical tangent based on lack of sleep and was imaging the whole thing. Steve made his way quietly down the side of the house. He was beginning to think that the best-case scenario was about to come true. He’d imagined it, the house would be empty, and the three men would have a great laugh about Steve’s moment of insanity over a couple of cold beers tonight.