by A'zayler
“So, you’re really not going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“You are what’s wrong, Angel.” She sounded exasperated.
Angel’s brows knitted together. “What the fuck I do?”
“Nothing,” she sighed. “It’s just I’m not used to having you around. I wasn’t fumbling with the keys or my purse. I was getting ready to pull my gun out. I saw Julio running out of the club looking around. I didn’t know if he was looking for us or not, so I was going to shoot him.” Snow turned her head only long enough to make eye contact before looking back to the road. “Angel, you just . . .” Snow scratched her head again. “You make things harder for me. I’m used to working by myself. When I’m alone, I don’t have to care about anything or anybody, I can do whatever I want without any worries. But your ass”—she pointed at him dramatically—“you make shit hard.”
Angel snickered, as did she. They laughed the seriousness of their situation off for only a moment before the mood was right back solemn. Angel wasn’t sure what she wanted him to say, because he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“What can I do about that?” Angel asked.
She shrugged. “Nothing. It’ll probably just take me some time.”
“Time for what?” Angel squeezed her thigh. “You do realize I’m grown as fuck, right? I don’t need you trying to protect me, nor do I need you worrying about shit you should already know. You’re way more into this shit than I am. If you feel like there’s something that needs to be done, then handle your business. I’m good.”
Snow nodded, but the silence remained. Angel wasn’t really fond of the quiet, so he spoke again. “What is it about me that has you off your square? Because we don’t have to work together if it’s that bad for you.”
“I don’t know. It’s like when you’re there, I’m so busy trying not to step on your toes or looking too rowdy that I hold back, and that’s not good. Holding back could get one of us hurt.”
“Well, stop doing that. When you show out, my dick gets hard.” Angel’s mouth curved into a smile when Snow covered her face and blushed. “If you really want to get rowdy, sit on my dick and do it.”
“You make me so sick.” She giggled just as she pulled into the parking lot of their hotel.
Angel released her thigh long enough for her to get herself together and out of the car. By the time she was out and at the hood of the car, so was Angel. Before walking away, he grabbed her hand and led her through the doors. The hotel lobby was empty and quiet as they headed for the elevators.
With no words having been spoken until they reached their hotel room, Angel was shocked when he walked into the bathroom to Snow seated on the counter with her legs open. His eyes went from her face to the strapless bra she wore, before traveling down to the lace panties resting snugly around her bottom.
“Me not stepping on your toes or getting rowdy is me showing you how loyal I am to you. I value your position in my life, and contrary to what you may believe, it doesn’t bother me to submit to you.” Snow’s eyes batted, giving Angel a chance to admire the extra-long eyelashes she was sporting. “In fact, I find myself wanting to more and more these days, but when it comes to being Snow and Emelia,” she held her head down momentarily as she battled with what to say next, “I’m not that good at separating the two.”
Angel leaned against the frame of the door with his hands stuck deep into his pockets. Her words sat heavy at the forefront of his brain as he did his best to understand where she was coming from.
“You’re the only person on this entire planet that makes me Emelia. Everyone else but you knows Snow and that’s it.” She shook her head and smiled again before hopping from the bathroom counter.
Though he was doing his best to keep his mind on their conversation, seeing her ass bounce back as she steadied herself on her feet was too distracting. Angel’s hands were on her and pulling her panties down before he could stop himself.
His face only inches from hers, Angel pecked her nose. Snow’s mouth found his immediately. Their tongues danced to a lover’s tune, entangling them into a moment much deeper than they’d anticipated. Heavy breathing and aggressive touching quickly filled the small bathroom.
Snow’s hands had just reached his belt loop when Angel stopped her. Reluctantly, he pulled away and took a step back. He could feel his erection pressing hard though the fabric, doing its best to break free, but he needed a moment.
With Snow standing a few feet away from him bottomless and breathing hard, Angel closed his eyes momentarily.
“Emelia, you don’t have to compromise who you are just to be with me.” His eyes opened and found hers. “As a matter of fact, don’t do that. Be yourself, or don’t be with me.”
She stood staring at him with an unreadable expression.
Angel raised his eyebrows. “Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Good.” Angel rushed back to her with an unexplainable amount of urgency and picked her up.
With her legs and arms circling his body, Angel carried her to the bed and laid her down. He hovered over her while doing his best to remove her bra. It took him a moment, but once he finally got it, he was rewarded instantly. Her breasts sprang to life, stretching the erection in his pants further.
“I love having you,” Angel confessed.
Snow’s smile lit up the room. “I love being had.”
Angel was sure his smile mirrored hers as they got lost in their own thoughts admiring each other. One day when he was free with nothing but time on his hands, he was going to have to seriously think about how he’d gone so many years without her. With the way he was feeling right then, he had no clue. Just the thought of being away from Emelia too long gave him a sick feeling in his gut. Hopefully that wasn’t something he’d ever have to experience again.
Chapter Seventeen
Because you broke my heart before
The noisy pots and pans clinked together as Snow made her way through the narrow aisles of her drug lab. With droopy eyes, she covered her mouth and yawned. Normally, she would have never come to work as fatigued as she was, but she had no other choice.
Although she was beyond tired, family and the cartel came first, and since they both needed her right then, she was there. It was a little after eight o’clock in the morning, and she’d been up since five with Angel driving back to Columbia. Had she known last night that she was coming right back to work the next morning, she would have taken her ass to bed, but she hadn’t.
She and Angel had just come in from a night of partying and eating when he received a call from one of their workers letting them know that another shipment of cocaine had come in. Being that their dope deliveries were scheduled, the call caught them both off guard. They’d stayed up half the night trying to figure out what had gone on, only to find out the order had come from Vinny’s home office.
Snow sighed just thinking about it. Poor Vinny. Since they’d agreed not to let anyone in on his sickness, the call had seemed completely normal, therefore bringing about a large and very unnecessary shipment of dope. She and Angel had been working tirelessly to get everything back in order, and now she was paying for it. Her lids were barely open, but she had to get through the day.
“Looks like somebody had a late night with the boss.” The young girl with the bright pink weave spoke as Snow passed her station.
Snow spun around quickly. “Say what?”
Pink weave smiled and showed the mouth full of gold. Snow frowned. “I said, it looks like you had fun last night.” She giggled again as if what she was saying was actually funny to Snow. “Who can blame you, though? Mr. DeLuca is fine as fuck.”
A few snickers and agreements sounded out around Snow. Her insides grew warm immediately as she listened to the women speak on Angel.
“If y’all worried about this dope, how y’all worried about me? We’d be done in here by now.” Snow rolled her eyes and began walking away. “And stay the fuck out of my business,” she grumbl
ed.
When she got into her office, she slammed the door behind her and flopped down into her seat. She was already tired, so the last thing she wanted to do was entertain a bunch of gossiping bitches. Normally she might not have gone off on the women so bad, but right then wasn’t the time. She was dealing with enough from Angel’s ass. She didn’t need theirs too.
Angel had been acting annoyingly moody since finding out Vinny had been the one behind the order. Though she could understand how his father’s illness was affecting him, she still didn’t see a point in reverting back to the angry butthole he’d grown to be, every time something went wrong. Why couldn’t he just be like normal people and talk about his feelings?
Snow rolled her eyes at the thought of Angel’s attitude.
She’d been doing her best to not think about how distant he’d been with her all last night and that morning, but it was hard. Now, thanks to the dummies she had working for her, he was back on the brain, and Snow hated it. To rid herself of Angel and his shenanigans, she immersed herself in her work.
The day moved in slow motion as Snow serviced one distributor after another. By the time it came time for her to take lunch, she was more than ready. A large hot coffee from the coffee shop had been on her mind for hours, and she was going to make sure she got it. Still not in the mood to talk to her mouthy workers about her personal life, she hurried and left the building.
Snow was walking out the door when her phone rang. It was Angel, so she didn’t bother to answer it. She was in no mood to talk to him. After ignoring his call, she walked down the sidewalk in search of her car. It didn’t take long for her to realize she was stranded. Angel had dropped her off that morning.
Her arms were still folded over her chest when her phone began ringing again. It was Angel. This time she answered because she needed a ride, and she wanted to make sure nothing was wrong.
“Hello,” she answered with an attitude.
“Stop all that cutting up and come get in this truck.”
Snow looked all around the parking lot until she noticed the black SUV parked in the back of the parking lot. She tried to hide the smile on her face but failed miserably. It spread from one ear to the other. Even when she was mad at him, he made her happy.
“What are you doing here?” She talked to him as she walked to the truck.
“Taking you to get some food. Come on.”
Snow hung up and made her way to the truck. When she was next to it, Angel’s driver, Hector, hopped out and helped her inside. The strong smell of Angel DeLuca wafted up her nose as soon as her butt hit the seat. As she’d done every other time she’d ever ridden with him, she breathed a little deeper and savored his scent.
Unsure if she wanted to still be angry with him or not, Snow sat straight in her seat without looking at him. She was going to wait for him to speak first. When he didn’t, she glanced in his direction quickly. The tailored gray suit, red vest, and slim-cut tie looked magnificent on him.
Snow had always known the importance of a man having his suits tailored, thanks to Juan. But Angel was killing it. Juan had long ago made her appreciate the beauty of a man in a suit, and Angel’s long, toned body was taking her up a notch.
The way the material lay closely against his chest, arms, and thighs made him appear delectable and rich. Like her favorite chocolate. Only Angel wasn’t chocolate, more of a coffee brown with a teaspoon of milk and sugar.
With one of his hands resting on his thigh as he looked out the window, he sat relaxed. The curl of his long lashes took her breath away every time he blinked. His full lips pouted out just as they had since they were kids, only now they were different. Now, they held a trickle of her on them. The puckered red kiss that had hung from them so many years was now gone, having been placed between her thighs during the weekend’s sexual explorations. Snow’s mouth dropped open when he stretched one of his legs and the print of his manhood strained through the fabric of his pants. Though she could tell it wasn’t hard, it was so thick and full, the way it was stuffed down in his pants made her want reach out and touch it, but she wouldn’t because she was mad. She must remember that.
“How are you feeling today, Emelia?” Angel grabbed her hand and held it in his.
“Fine, now that you’re back to normal. How are you?”
He smiled and held the back of her hand up to his mouth and kissed it. “Back to normal?”
“Yes. You are killing me with this back and forth. One minute you’re a spawn from Satan, the next you’re the sweetest thing I’ve ever known. I just don’t understand. Your ass is giving me whiplash with all these damn mood swings.”
The driver’s laughter gathered both their attention. He was trying his hardest not to laugh but had completely failed. His light brown cheeks were turning red as he focused on the road. When he noticed they were both looking at him, he covered his mouth.
“My apologies, Mr. DeLuca.”
“Call him Angel,” Snow spoke up.
Angel looked over at her with a raised brow.
“Mr. DeLuca sounds so formal. I like Angel better,” she tried to reason.
“Well, Angel it is then, Hector,” Angel told him.
Hector shook his head casually. “Mr. DeLuca is fine. Thank you, Snow.” He smiled at her.
“So, I’m Snow and he’s Mr. DeLuca. I must not be as important as him?” Snow crossed her arms over her chest, playing like she had an attitude.
Angel rubbed her hand and kissed it again. “What would you prefer?”
Snow tapped her chin playfully as if she was thinking. “Mrs. DeLuca.” She was smiling at Angel as his cheeks turned red.
Snow didn’t think she would ever grow tired of the way she made him blush. It was the cutest thing. To have a grown man blushing on her account made her feel warm on the inside. Especially one as sexy and powerful as Angel.
“You’d have to marry me first.”
“You think I’d make you a good wife? Hard-core, rowdy, drug dealer, mean, I could go on.” She smiled playfully as she rattled off some of her most unfavorable characteristics.
Angel gave her the once-over before rubbing his chin. “As long as you make me cheese grits every morning, then hell yeah, you would. I don’t care about all the rest of that shit.”
Angel and Snow both fell over laughing. Her a little louder than him.
“Speaking of cheese grits, you should make me some tonight,” Angel said.
The both of them held on to their serious faces for as long as they could before they were laughing again. Snow was so thankful that he’d lost his attitude and was back to being the Angel that she loved.
The truck pulled to a stop. “I hope you don’t mind me picking lunch, but I wanted some ribs bad as hell.” Angel rubbed his stomach for emphasis.
Snow looked out the window and noticed they were at a place called Sticky Fingers. It was a popular rib shack that had some of the best burgers and ribs in town. She had eaten there on a few occasions with Empress since being in town, and they were pretty good. She’d tried many different dishes, and they’d all been delicious. She was sure today would be no different.
“I love it here.” She clapped her hands softly as she thought about the ribs.
“Me too.” Angel handed Vinny’s driver some money, and he hopped out of the truck. “I hope you didn’t want anything in particular, because I already ordered. I didn’t know how long you were going to take for lunch, and I didn’t want you to get back to the spot too late. You know them hos in there don’t know how to act.”
“You ain’t lying! I had to check one of them smart-mouth bitches today. Talking about the boss got me tired and shit.” Snow rolled her eyes. “That ho had me fucked up thinking my personal life was open for discussion.”
Angel’s beautiful smile had her smiling right back at him. “You don’t want them to know you’re with me?”
“It ain’t that. I just don’t want them thinking we’re friends or no shit like that. That’s how
people lose respect for you. The moment they start thinking we’re friends, they’re going to slack off and I’ma have to fire their asses up.”
Angel’s smile was still there, taking her breath away. It was sinful for a man to be as fine as Angel. Every time she looked at him, nasty thoughts took off through her brain.
“Leave them girls alone.”
“Nope. Then they gon’ say some shit about you being fine.” Snow sucked her teeth loudly. “I almost cut all of their damn hands off.”
His deep laughter made her chest vibrate as his hand covered hers. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Why I don’t?”
“Because I only want you. Hard-core, mean-ass Snow.” He rubbed up and down her arm. “Even if I don’t know you that well.”
“Why would you say that? You do know me.”
“We’ve been apart for a long time, Emelia. There’s things I’ve missed.”
“Like what?”
When Angel’s shoulders shrugged subtly, the truck got quiet again. Neither of them saying anything else, just waiting for their driver to return. It was torture for Snow because there was so much she wanted to say but didn’t know where to start.
She’d observed over the past few weeks that Angel still wasn’t much of a talker, which was the total opposite of her. It had been that way since they’d been kids, so she wasn’t surprised, but it was still hard for her to contain herself sometimes.
“Tell me about it.” The pad of his thumb rubbed the skin on the back of her hand.
Wide-eyed, Snow looked at him. “Tell you about what?”
“What’s on your mind? I can tell you’re thinking about something. Your eyebrows are frowned a little, and you have your eyes squinted.”
“I wasn’t thinking about anything in particular. I just want to talk to you. Tell you whatever it is you feel like you don’t know about me.”
“Well, tell me.”
