Page 8 of Angel Unchained
Samantha
Iknew Angel, the nickname I gave my prison mate, wasn’t sleeping, yet he wouldn’t answer any more of my questions. I’d hoped finding out why he was here would help me figure out what I was doing in this cell with him. What did the Roulex want to accomplish?
Unable to sit still while Angel pretended to be asleep, I stood and paced back and forth in the tiny cell. The stench of blood and urine clung in the air. Maybe if I did offer a kidney and my spleen, they'd let me go.
It was well into the next day when I’d given up on Angel talking to me. He laid in the same position, not even moving. Every once in a while, I when I woke up, I checked on him. The steady inhale and exhale of his breathing told me he was still asleep.
I bent down, examining the lock in the cell door. If I had the right tools I could work to try to pick it. Maybe I should’ve studied lock picking instead of krav maga. All because a married man I had dated, didn’t know he had a wife at the time, started stalking me. Since I hated guns, self-defense had been the next, best, option.
Peering into the lock, I stuck my finger inside the grooves.
“Why are you here?” Angel’s voice made me jump, and I jerked my finger out of the lock.
“Sorry, if you’re not going to answer my questions, Angel,” I crossed my arms, “then it’s not your business.”
“Knox.”
“Pardon?”
He sighed heavily, finally opening his eyes which were a bright blue now. “My name is Knox, not Angel.”
I gave him an shrug. “I’m Sam—”
“Samantha. I remember. This place hasn’t addled my brain that much.”
“Sorry.” I uncrossed my arms. “What do the Roulex want?” He just stared at me and I felt super self-conscious. Like was my hair in tangles all over the place? I smoothed it down, but stopped at his smirk. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on? Why are we in here and together in a cell?”
“You first.” He arched an eyebrow that made his spiral horn rise on one side, giving him an off-kilter look.
Maybe he was more devil than angel. I mean, the guy—alien—was ripped. Muscles lined his chest and abs. His scars had almost healed already. And he looked absolutely sinful.
“Um…I pissed off my boss and a rich client.”
“By asking them too many questions?” he said in a teasing tone.
I snorted. “Funny. No, I avoided allowing my student driver to crash into a kid. We hit a pole instead and the family sued me for getting their son involved in a crash. My boss went alongside them and demanded payment on his broken car—then blamed me that he hadn’t put the latest AI technology in the thing. Which, I had told him to do numerous times.”
Knox gave me a look like I’d lost him several minutes ago.
I sank to the stone floor. “Sorry. I talk a lot when I’m nervous.”
“So you ended up here because you couldn’t pay your debt?”
“I guess.” I shrugged a shoulder. “They said they had a way for me to pay off everything in thirteen months or so. Never thought I’d be in a prison cell though.”
Knox swallowed, his skin turning pale.
“Oh God, are you going to be sick?” I hunted around the cramped cell for a bucket or something for him to use. “Please don’t throw up, cause then I will too. I can’t help it. Once I see, smell, or hear vomit, I—”
His hand on my arm stilled me. I hadn’t even heard or seen him move. His blue eyes were now almost black like a cat waiting to pounce on a mouse and my scream stuck in my throat.
When I tried to yank my arm away, his fingers only dug in more.
“Ow, you’re hurting me. Let go.”
He jerked me to him. I collided into his chest. Before I could think, he inhaled my hair. His lips brushing my temple and sending shivers through me that if he hadn’t been holding onto me, I’d have melted.
Then with a grunt like he was disgusted, he pushed me away from him. I stumbled backward a few steps. My heart raced. Was he like Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde then? Angel and demon?