When We Met (14 page)

Chloe sniffed. “Did it hurt?”

“A lot.”

“Is the snake okay?”

“Yes. It wasn't his fault. He was being a snake. That's why we have to learn to respect nature. I was trying to help the snake, but he didn't know.” He paused. “I'm not going to die.”

She pressed her lips together and nodded, then started to cry again. He hugged her close. Taryn surprised him by moving to Bailey and holding on to the other woman. Consuelo shook her head and walked toward the doorway.

“No one is hugging me,” she said firmly before ducking out into the corridor.

* * *

T
ARYN
GLARED
AT
Jack, who sat in one of her visitor chairs. He showed no sign of budging, which meant he was planning to stay through her meeting with Larissa.

“This has nothing to do with you,” she told him.

“Sure it does. You're going to get mad. You don't get mad often, so people forget what you're like. But I know what's going to happen. You'll get verbal and eviscerate Larissa, who already feels bad enough. Then she'll cry and run off.”

“You're protecting her?” Taryn asked, putting her hands on her hips. “You know what happened.”

“I do. She was wrong. It's okay to say she's wrong. It's not okay to make her feel worse than she does. I don't want her quitting.”

“Which is really what this is about. How you'd be put out if she were gone.”

“You'd miss her, too.”

Something Taryn could grudgingly admit. “I'm not going to fire her or try to get her to quit. But she has to stop, Jack. At least this part of it.”

“I know.” The words came from the doorway.

Taryn glanced up and saw Larissa walking into the office. She looked as pale as Chloe had the day before, but without the freckles. She'd pulled her long blond hair back into a ponytail and had on jeans and a T-shirt. There were shadows under her eyes, and her mouth was down-turned.

She walked into Taryn's office and sat next to Jack. She swallowed before speaking. “I'm so sorry,” she whispered. “I never wanted anyone to get hurt. You have to know that.”

“I do,” Taryn said, finding it difficult to stay angry now that she saw how upset Larissa was. “But you can't keep doing this.”

Larissa nodded. “You're right. It's one thing to rescue butterflies, but dangerous or venomous animals are different. I don't have the training.” Tears filled her eyes. “It's just when they called, they made the situation sound desperate.”

“They always do,” Taryn grumbled.

Jack shot her a look, then rubbed Larissa's back. “You were trying to help. It's your thing.”

“She didn't help Angel,” Taryn snapped. “And it's not the first time. Remember those fighting dogs she kept at your place? You had to move to a hotel. This is more of the same.”

Jack started to speak, but Larissa shook her head. “She's right. I put Angel in the hospital. If we'd been farther away from a doctor, he might have died and it's my fault.” She swallowed again, then straightened. “I have to look at what I'm doing and be more responsible. I'm sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Taryn said, not wanting to torture her friend. “Please tell me you get it.”

“I do. I promise. I can't say I'll stop helping, but I'll be more careful in the future.”

Jack shot Taryn a warning glance, as if to say they'd gone far enough. Taryn nodded.

“That's what I needed to hear,” she said, then stood. “I'm not mad.”

“You were,” Larissa told her, rising to her feet.

“Just a little.”

The two women hugged.

“I really am sorry,” Larissa told her.

“I know.”

Jack led Larissa from the room.

Taryn crossed to the window in her office and stared out. She was pretty sure she looked normal on the outside, but she was still shaking on the inside. Being mad at Larissa had helped her keep her worries at bay, but now she didn't have a distraction. She'd been reveling in the afterglow of her unexpected morning encounter with Angel when she'd gotten the call that he was in the hospital, suffering from a snakebite. Talk about a random event.

She hadn't liked knowing he was in danger and she'd been shocked by the intensity of her concern. Her relationship with Angel was supposed to be fun. A couple of adults having a good time together. No strings, no promises. She didn't want it to be different. There was no win there. Because neither of them wanted a happily ever after. He'd already had his and there was no way she was trusting anyone with her heart.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

T
ARYN
'
S
ASSISTANT
WALKED
into her office. Taryn glanced up and saw the worry on the other woman's face.

“What?” she asked, instantly coming to her feet. “What happened?”

She knew Angel was okay. He'd been released from the hospital a good three days ago and was better every time she saw him. He'd been cleared to resume normal activities and had planned to go to work today. Which left the boys. Knowing them, there was no way to guess what disaster one of them had gotten into.

“You have a visitor,” Jude said. “She doesn't have an appointment.” She gave a little shrug. “To be honest, I'm a little nervous about telling her she has to make one.”

Taryn relaxed. “I have to see who has flapped the usually unflappable you.”

She followed her assistant out into the waiting area and saw Consuelo pacing there. The petite brunette wore her usual tank top and cargo pants. She looked like a caged animal waiting to pounce.

Taryn grinned. “Don't worry. I can handle this. Come on, Consuelo. You're frightening the staff.”

Consuelo walked with her to her office, then stood in front of Taryn's desk. She crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her chin.

“You have to make it stop,” she announced.

“Okay.” Taryn sat down and motioned for Consuelo to do the same. The other woman remained standing. “Make what stop?”

“The people. The food. Do you know that we have over twelve casseroles in the refrigerator right now? And even more in the freezer. Women and children stop by without phoning. They want to know that Angel's okay, and then they want to talk to me.”

Taryn didn't bother to hide her amusement. “How horrible. They're all bitches.”

Consuelo's eyes narrowed. “Are you mocking me? Do you think that's safe?”

“I'm feeling brave and tough.”

“Then you're a fool.”

“Very possibly.” Taryn crossed her legs. “What do you want me to do about it? Angel is a member of the community. People care about him.” She decided the moment was too good to pass up. “You do realize they would do the same for you, if you were sick or injured, right?”

Consuelo took a step back and glanced around, as if expecting the walls of a trap to close in on her. “Shit. You're right. That would be awful. They're so nice and normal.”

“Disgusting,” Taryn agreed.

Consuelo's angry stare returned. “You are clear that I could kill you where you sit, right?”

“Or pretty much anywhere else. But you won't. Enjoy the food. I'm sure it all tastes good.”

“There is that,” she admitted grudgingly. “But they're in my house.”

“Stay with Kent for the next couple of days.”

Consuelo's eyebrows rose. “At
his
place? He has a child.”

“He has a teenage son who has probably guessed the two of you have had sex at least once.”

“Oh my God. You didn't just say that.”

Taryn loved that the normally taciturn and tough Consuelo was living so close to the emotional edge. Oddly, it made her feel closer to her.

Taryn leaned forward and lowered her voice. “We've all guessed.”

Consuelo sank into one of the chairs and groaned. “I hate it here.”

“No, you don't.”

“I don't,” she admitted with a sigh. “It's just hard, you know. To fit in.”

Something Taryn could relate to. “The niceness can be grinding.”

“Right? Having to say hi to everyone. Asking about family members. And they're all breeding. Everyone is pregnant or getting pregnant or has just had a baby. Kent and I aren't having kids.”

“I didn't know you'd decided that.”

“We haven't talked about it, but there's no way.” Consuelo's mouth twisted and her tone became wistful. “Unless he would like us to have a baby.”

“You'd be a great mother. You wouldn't take crap and you'd love fiercely. That's nice.”

Consuelo's gaze snapped back to her. “Do not say that word when you're talking about me.”

Taryn wasn't sure if she meant
mother
or
nice,
but either way, she was willing to comply. “Yes, ma'am.”

“I should kill Larissa. This is all her fault.”

“It is and she's apologized to Angel more than once. She's learned her lesson. Leave her alone.”

Consuelo studied her. “Defending one of your own?”

“Yes.” It was one thing for Taryn to snap at Larissa, but very different for someone outside the family.

“Fine.” Consuelo stood. “You know I hate this, right?”

Taryn wasn't sure if she meant the invasion by the town, the “niceness” of it all or the expectations she wasn't sure she could handle. Regardless, she nodded.

“I do know. And you're going to get through it.”

“I hope so. Because if I don't, I'm not going down alone.”

Taryn laughed. “That's the spirit.”

* * *

A
WEEK
AFTER
the snakebite, Angel was feeling back to normal. Larissa had apologized so many times he was officially avoiding her—which was tough. Fool's Gold was a small town.

Now, as he crossed the street to head to a meeting, he looked both ways. Not for cars, but for a specific blonde who still blamed herself for the snakebite.

He managed to make it to the building he wanted without an encounter. Something he considered a win. He went inside and gave the receptionist his name. A couple of minutes later, he was shown back to Raoul Moreno's office.

Raoul had moved to Fool's Gold a few years before. He was a former football player who now spent much of his life helping disadvantaged inner-city kids with his summer camp—End Zone for Kids—along with scholarships. Most of the latter were funded through his Pro-Am golf tournaments.

When Raoul had scheduled the meeting, he'd refused to say what it was about. Angel had read up on him. His training had taught him that a thorough background investigation could make the difference in any situation. But he hadn't found anything that would indicate why Raoul wanted a meeting. His company was too small to benefit from a corporate bonding experience at CDS. Even if that was his point, he would have contacted Ford, who was in charge of sales. If he was looking to connect with more of his kind, Angel thought with a grin, he should have gone to Score.

He walked into the building and found Raoul sitting alone in an open space. There were plenty of desks but no private offices. He could see a glassed-in conference area in the back.

Raoul rose from his desk and walked toward Angel. The other man was tall, with dark hair and eyes. He had the easy walk of a man comfortable with himself. Raoul was in decent shape and could probably handle himself on the streets, but in a real fight, he'd go down like the civilian he was.

“Thanks for coming,” Raoul said.

“You made it sound important.”

“It is.”

The two men shook hands. Raoul led the way to the conference room and motioned for Angel to take a seat. Raoul did the same and turned on a small laptop. A permanent screen was on the opposite wall.

Raoul leaned toward him, his forearms resting on the desk. “You know about my program? End Zone for Kids?”

Angel nodded. “Inner-city kids come here for a couple of weeks in the summer. They get to be away from the stress at home and live in nature. Kids from Fool's Gold go to a day camp. They get to know each other, see life from others' perspectives. They all sing ‘Kumbaya' at the end.”

Raoul grinned. “Something like that. Without the singing. This is our fourth year. We're expanding the program all the time. I had the idea that eventually we'd turn it into a year-round school. Maybe offer science classes or something. That plan was derailed when one of the local elementary schools burned down.”

Angel thought about his encounters with Mayor Marsha. “Let me guess. They took over the facility until the new school was rebuilt.”

“Yeah. So we focused on the summer camp. Now there's a new school and I have my camp back. I'm still not sure what to do with it in the winter months. Kids today face a lot of problems we never did.”

Angel nodded. “Sure. When we went home, we could escape. With social media, that's not possible. There's constant contact. Nothing gets forgotten.”

“Bullying doesn't end at three.” Raoul studied him. “That's what I want to focus on first. An antibullying campaign. There are a lot of studies that talk about why kids become bullies. If we could break the cycle, even at one school, it would be a start.”

“Interesting idea.” Not that Angel knew what it had to do with him.

“I thought so.” Raoul leaned back. “I have a trained psychologist on my staff. Dakota has been studying this for nearly two years. She has some theories I want to put to the test. If we find a method that works, we can come up with a program. After we test that, we can take it out to schools around the country.”

“Ambitious.”

Raoul shrugged. “I've been blessed. I had a successful career that left me a wealthy man. Someone close to me taught me the importance of giving back. This is how I've chosen to do it.”

Angel knew that most people would think the summer camp itself was enough.

“I want you to sign on as one of my volunteers,” Raoul told him.

Angel wasn't used to being surprised. “Why me?”

Raoul grinned. “I've heard good things.”

“The guys at Score speak football. I don't.”

“They're good men and I thought about them, but I think you have the skill set I'm looking for.” He chuckled. “For one thing, you're going to scare the crap out of the average teenage boy. That means he'll be listening.”

Angel lightly touched the scar on his neck. He knew he looked intimidating. Or at least he had. Between his time in Fool's Gold and the way his Acorns swarmed around him, he was able to forget from time to time.

“It's not a big-time commitment,” Raoul told him. “Two or three hours a week. We'll be figuring it out as we go. Once we have some idea of what's working and what isn't, we'll bring in other volunteers and expand the program.”

Angel thought about how he'd first planned on working with teenage boys. Because of Marcus. He hadn't been there for his son—he hadn't been able to keep him safe. Maybe giving back would lessen the gnawing sense of having failed at the one thing that mattered—protecting those he loved.

“Sure,” he said. “I'll do it.”

“Great.” Raoul stood. “Let's go.”

Angel rose. “Go where?”

“The high school. Several of the boys have a study period in about fifteen minutes. We can pull them out and talk to them.” He flashed another smile. “I cleared it with their counselor a couple of days ago.”

“You were that sure of me?”

“I asked around. You seemed like the type to agree.”

Angel didn't bother asking what type that was—mostly because he didn't want to know.

Just about fifteen minutes later he and Raoul were walking into Fool's Gold High School. They signed in at the front desk and were then shown to an empty classroom. They'd barely walked inside when five guys joined them.

The students were younger than Angel had expected. They were still small and skinny. Awkward in their bodies, with too-long legs and arms. Later they would fill out, but right now they were trapped between childhood and manhood. Sophomores, he thought, taking in their curious expressions.

He would guess they were about the same age Marcus had been. Marcus, who had loved baseball and comic books and “Halo 2.” Who'd been good at math, loved to read but hated writing essays in English. Marcus, who had been bugging his parents to get him a dog and who'd helped his mom make breakfast every Sunday morning.

Time seemed to bend and shift. The classroom disappeared. Angel had been on a job, protecting some rich banker who'd pissed off the wrong South American drug runners. He and his boss at the time, Tanner Keane, had been holed up with the family at an out-of-the-way cabin near Asheville. Because who would look for the banker and his family in North Carolina?

Angel had been in town buying groceries when the call came in. A state trooper had broken the news about the rainstorm and the single-car rollover. He'd said that both the driver and passenger had died instantly. They hadn't suffered.

Angel remembered listening to the information but not believing it. Not understanding Marie and Marcus were gone. Later, he'd been grateful for the knowledge that they'd gone quickly, but at the time he'd told the officer he was wrong. He had to be wrong. Because Angel had spoken to Marie not an hour before. She'd never said it was raining.

Tanner had sent Angel home on the company jet. Their family doctor, also a close friend, had identified the bodies, but Angel had insisted on seeing them. He'd ignored the blood, the broken bones and held each of them. But he'd been too late. They were cold and whatever had made them the people he loved had been gone.

Tanner's wife, Madison, had made all the arrangements for the funeral. Angel had started drinking and he hadn't stopped for nearly six months. In that time he'd thought about putting a gun to his head. The only thing that had stopped him was the knowledge that Marie would be so disappointed if he did.

He'd tried to work through the stages of grief—but he kept coming back to anger. And the person he couldn't forgive was himself. Because if he'd been there—if
he'd
been driving—they would both still be alive.

“Angel?”

Angel felt more than heard Raoul speaking his name. He was pulled back to the present with a gut-clenching jerk. The past faded and he was left standing in a classroom with five teenage boys staring at him.