Loving Angel (A Divisa Novel Book 4) (17 page)

When I walked through the door, the two besties were curled up side-by-side on the couch, each clutching a pillow to her chest and eyes glued to the TV. The only light in the room was the flickering of the screen.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked, relieved that Lexi was back.

When she looked in my direction, I was surprised to see there was no annoyance in her expression. “Getting our weekly dose of Dean Winchester,” Lexi said.

I climbed onto the couch behind Angel, glad I wasn’t getting the silent treatment. “Huh?”

“
Supernatural
?” Lexi shook her head in disbelief. “You need to come back to Earth more often, Chase.”

Angel tipped her back against my knees. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

I rested a hand at her hip, reveling in the jolt of energy from contact. “Nope, but I don’t think it was an entire waste.” Emma and I might have had the teeniest, tiniest breakthrough. It was minuscule really, but I’d take it.

Angel gave me a goofy look.

“What is he talking about?” Lexi asked Angel.

She shrugged. “He’s being weirdly secretive.”

Lexi grabbed the remote and hit pause. Crossing her legs, she sat Indian style on the couch. Once she was comfy and situated, she said, “Spill it. You owe me.”

Prolonging would have been pointless, because Lexi would eventually weasel it out of one of us. She was a glittering, persuasive bundle that harped until you gave in, so I saved myself the hassle. “Someone tried to sink a ninja star into Angel’s head.”

“What!” Lexi legs flew to the floor as she sat straight up. “Are you flipping kidding? Why did you guys not tell me sooner?”

I rubbed Angel’s shoulders. “Because you left before I could, and there is nothing to tell yet. It’s not a hunter tool.”

Angel turned to face me, and they both raised their brows.

I extended one of my legs along the couch. “Okay. Jeesh. I consulted an expert.”

Lexi’s face contorted. “You and Emma talked? Unbelievable. You don’t have single cut or drop of blood on you.”

Angel’s eyes raked over me, double-checking for the slightest scratch.

“I’m fine,” I insisted, pulling her back into my arms.

“And…?” Lexi prompted impatiently.

I grinned. “Like I said, she’d never seen one in person, but I think I found the perfect Christmas gift for Emma. She was drooling and slobbering all over it.”

Lexi played with the ends of her hair, shaking her head. “You are such a doof.”

We spent the next hour bouncing outrageous notions off each other from ninja aliens to Cherokee werewolves. None of them were feasible, but that sort of took the stress out of not knowing where or whom the star had come from.

Chapter 21

For the last five nights, I studied and dwelled on the mysterious star, wondering who had Angel on their shit list now? And why? It didn’t make sense. Then again, nothing did to me. Otherwise, if the world made sense, why did people kill, rape, and torture? Why did I exist? How were demons able to invade the human world?

There were more questions than answers.

In my mind, it would have made more sense if the culprit had been aiming at me and was a horrible marksman. That I could comprehend, but Angel?

Only a select group of people knew about our bond, but I was sure those numbers were growing daily. Obviously, I didn’t want to believe that one of my own would try to off my girlfriend, which was why I was keeping an open mind, considering all the whacked possibilities.

In darkness, I lay on my bed, listening to Angel upstairs talking on the phone to her mom. It was both comforting and saddening. We were all a little homesick. What I wouldn’t give for a home-cooked meal at Chloe’s. Yeah, I might miss Devin a tad, but nothing beat Chloe’s spaghetti sauce. My stomach growled.

I never thought there would be a day I would admit I missed Devin. Not that I didn’t love him or appreciate everything he had done for me. I had always been the independent one of the three. Yes, I was impulsive, reckless, and an enormous pain in his ass, but Devin could always count on me to protect us.

Eventually, there would come a day when I wouldn’t be able to save them all.

Damn if I ever wanted to see that day.

~*~*~*~

The wind carried a whisper:
Angel
.

I took a few deep, cleansing breaths and wheeled around, a chill scuttling up my spine. My trigger happy, mysterious, star-wielding buddy was back. It was time we met, and I wasn’t taking no for an answer. Why I ever thought college life was going to be a walk in the park eluded me.

I glanced between the door to building B and the brick pathway illuminated by the pale glow of the moon, contemplating my options. Angel was finishing her Tuesday evening lecture, and I was being a caring and considerate boyfriend by hanging around to walk her home. But the unexpected guest changed everything.

I wasn’t giving him another chance to take a shot at Angel. Again. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, bam you’re dead. It had a nice ring to it.

Ideally the takedown would go much smoother if Angel wasn’t involved, which meant I needed to work fast. According to my phone I had two minutes, not exactly tangible, but doable when you had a select set of skills. Just when I was about to take off for a perimeter check, I saw him.

At first glance, he was just a photographer snapping pictures of the campus, nothing alarming. But there was something about him that struck a cord inside me. Dude looked eerily familiar. He was a middle-aged man with dark hair and black eyes. Then it hit me. He was the same guy outside my house that day, taking pictures of the fields. My entire body went on red alert.

If there was one thing I didn’t believe in, it was coincidences.

My two-minute window was closing.

Before I could make a move, I felt the unmistakable tingles, and the
window
slammed shut. Angel was behind me. I glanced over my shoulder as she approached. A swell of terror rose up in me, and it was
all
coming from the girl next to me.

Instinctually, I stiffened, ready to throw down. I seriously expected a demon, a hellhound, or Freddy Kruger to jump me. At this point, anything was possible.

Her face went ghostly pale, and the books in her hand clattered to the ground. “Dad?” she said. Her knees buckled, but she managed to stay upright.

My mouth hit the ground.

Holy shit.

This was a new turn of events. No one moved. Stunned, the three of us stood there gaping. Her emotions, my emotions, I couldn’t decipher whose were whose. They were a tangled mess, and after the grenade that just went off, who could blame us.

“He’s y-your father?” I asked, finding my tongue.

“Was,” she added snidely, the shock slowly winding down.

The camera hung around his neck, and I was able to get a good look at him as he stepped under a streetlight. His build was scrawny, and the pasty color of his skin made his eyes appear darker. “Angel. I can’t believe it’s really you. I’ve been waiting for the right time to approach you.”

A horrible shudder rippled through her. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

All kinds of warning bells went off in my head, ringing from ear to ear. He no longer seemed a harmless bystander. What kind of man watches his daughter for months, hidden and pretending to be someone else? It was creepy. It was disturbing. It made my demon wanted to come out and play.

I balled my fits, fighting the growl that was soaring up my throat. Although, I didn’t know a damn good thing about her dad, I doubted telling him my not-so-little secret on our
real
first encounter was fitting.

Tiny lines of worry wrinkled at the corner of his eyes. His bright, eager smile slowly faded. “I had to see you,” he justified.

I wanted to take Angel to the side and tell her that this wasn’t the first time he’d been hanging around. My hand crawled to the small of her back, and before I could whisper in her ear, she shook me off.

“Chris, you shouldn’t have come.” Her voice was stern and disapproving, shining in the hardness of her features.

Ouch. Shot down. Not only did she revert to his given name instead of dad, but she also dismissed him as if she didn’t have a care in the world. I didn’t blame her. I knew better than anyone how she truly felt about this man. We both had daddy issues.

“Can we talk? Alone, Angel Cake,” he pleaded.

Absolutely. Not. Happening.

I don’t know what it was about Angel’s dad that rubbed me the wrong way. It could have been because I know how hard and how far Angel and her mom had run to get away from this man. However, in my gut, I knew it was much more. Something in his eyes was wrong. I’d be damned if I left him alone with Angel. Those uneasy vibes I’d been feeling, they sprang upon me in tenfold.

“Don’t call me that,” Angel said, grinding her words.

Fire flicked in my core.

Glops of heat sweltered within Angel and me. We were both going to lose our cool, if you got my drift. One of us needed to take a chill pill, and I knew it was going to have to be me. I’d had a lot more time reining my control. Angel was much too emotionally invested. By calming myself, I could potentially douse the flames that were sparking in her eyes.

“The last thing I want to do is talk to you,” she added.

I exhaled. Thank God. She was going to be reasonable for once.

She lifted her chin. “I want
you
to leave.”

Chris flinched. “Angel—”

Lips turned down, bolts of fear and rage ricocheted inside her. “And I don’t just mean my school. I want you to leave the state. The goddamn country for all I care.” With each sentence her voice got louder and louder. “Go as far away from here as possible, and don’t ever look back.”

I expected to see shock on his face, but certainly not the glint of anger. There was something not right in his dark eyes. My demon senses warned me he was not the kind of guy you wanted to push too far. Angel’s father wasn’t at all who he appeared. There were dark, dangerous skeletons hiding in his closet, and they were close to unraveling.

He looked around fleetingly, sweaty palms fumbling with the camera strap. “Prison has changed me.”

“I’ll say, but you aren’t the only one who has changed,” she snapped.

He cocked a slim brow, and in a cold, detached tone said, “I noticed.”

“What does that mean?” Her head did a little bob and weave.

“You’re in college. You have a…boyfriend.” His gaze shifted to mine in a not-so-friendly stare.

I call bullshit.
That was not what he had implied. I shot him a lopsided grin, shoving my hands into the back pockets of my jeans.
Damn right she has a boyfriend, Pops. And I am your worst nightmare.

“I’m not a little girl anymore. That’s what happens when you miss the last six years of my life.”

Judging by the grim expression on his face, someone wasn’t happy. “I’m still your father.”

“A pathetic excuse for one. How did you even get out?” Angel asked.

“I was released early for good behavior.”

She snorted. “I seriously doubt that.”

Their banter went back and forth. The tension between them was thick and mounting. Evidently, there was a lot they had to get off their chests, but it still pissed me off. With each retort, their tempers elevated. People were starting to look at us funny. Not that I gave two shits.

Angel grabbed my hand, turning her back on her dad. The scattered textbooks on the ground were long forgotten as we started to walk away.

We didn’t get far.

“I saw your mom with her new
boyfriend
,” he shouted after us.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

We both jerked to a stop.

I wanted to hit him. Right then. Right there. I wanted to take his camera and ram it so far up his nose that he would be able to get a killer shot of his brain cells. I probably would have if I hadn’t felt Angel shaking violently beside me. Through our interlaced fingers, I felt the tremors that shook her body.

She was fuming.

Our heads twisted toward each other, eyes glowing. Mine yellow. Hers blue. Color rose in Angel’s cheeks. “Stay away from my mom.”

I would know the sound of Angel’s voice in a crowd of a million people. This was not her. There was a grainy, electronic quality that had me doing a double take, just to make sure it was still her beside me and not a deep-fried robot.

Mentioning Chloe was a very stupid move. My hopes for getting out of this situation without any demon-mojo decisively plummeted.

Angel had kept her face angled toward me. How many ways did she have to tell him no?

“You can’t just leave. We have unfinished business.” He reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder.

That did it.

Heat swept down my throat, and my skin prickled. Seeing him lay a hand on her, my demon flared to the surface, quick and furious. I gripped his wrist and jerked. “Don’t touch her.”

In that moment, I never wanted to hit someone so bad; I could literally taste my need for blood. Angel’s father’s blood. I wanted to make him pay for the hurt, the pain, and the struggle that she suffered because of him. I wanted to sock him for Chloe, too. She deserved a man who was a thousand times better than this lowlife. He wasn’t worth the dirt on their sneakers.

And as much as I never wanted to involve her in my drama, I was happy and relieved that Angel and Chloe had moved next door to us, because there was no way in hell that Devin or I would let this douchebag, imbecile hurt them again. As soon as I got her out of there, I was making a quick phone call to Dev. He needed to know there was a crazed lunatic on the loose.

Chris didn’t back down as I’d expected. Oh no, this daredevil, he stepped forward, asking for trouble. “I have unfinished business with my daughter that doesn’t concern you. And I wouldn’t dismiss me so easily. You won’t like the results.”

Did he just threaten
me
? It was laughable. This conversation kept getting more and more unreal. And eerie. And weird.

I flexed my arms, preparing for fists of fury.

Angel’s hands flattened on my chest, pushing me back in a poor excuse to hold me. “Or what?” she fired at her father. “Are you going to hurt us? I’d like to see you try.”

“I might surprise you.” The cockiness was evident in his tone. He actually thought he stood a chance.

“Oh, but I’m full of surprises,” Angel sneered. “Chase, get me out of here before I do something I’ll regret.”

With pleasure.

Funny how doing something regrettable used to be my line. By the look in her eyes, it might already be too late. It was quite obvious from the glowing red ring surrounding her irises that things had accelerated. “Um, I think we better go
now
.”

This time when we walked away, he didn’t try to stop us. I took one last look over my shoulder, and what I saw curdled my blood. Her father stood with the night back dropped against him, hands clenching his camera and eyes radiating the color of good aged whiskey. If that had been all, I could have rationalized it. Dealing with the abnormal was no sweat off my back. However, it was the flash of his skeletal frame before it flickered back to human that had
me
tripping.

Shit sandwich.

What the hell was that? What the hell was
he
?