Page 28 of Angel's Vengeance
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The way he’d spoken that word against her lips hadn’t been a simple plea.She’d heard plenty of those in her lifetime and uttered a fair amount of them herself.No, with Rhode, there was a passion to it, painted with some sort of urgent arrogance that belied the devastating look of disgust he gave her before the snow from his boots plopped onto her face as he got gone.
Unfortunately, it was his disgust that made the most sense.Disgust she knew, after all.The concept had practically been her babysitter, let alone the chief motivating factor in making sure that she maintained as low a profile as possible around her sire.
She was used to the stuff, knew its shoe size, and could even make friendship bracelets that featured all of its favorite colored beads.
Seeing it carved onto Rhode’s features, though, after being cradled beneath him, feeling the insistent hardness of his body responding to hers, and scorching against him as the fireshecalled forth did the same to the branch above them, well ...
Just because she was used to degradation didn’t mean it sucked any less.
Neela zipped up her coat, not even caring that another one of her curls got snagged in the zipper.It seemed like a small price to pay for the secrets Rhode knew she was holding.Secrets she hadn’t had a chance to reveal.
Maybe that was why he’d bolted when he popped those fiery peepers open and those dawning shreds of realization finally wound their way into his psyche.Regret was no one’s favorite flavor, and he’d looked like he’d just swallowed two scoops of the stuff.
If he ever allowed her to explain, would he even understand, though?Or would it just send him to the skies again?
Had she even earned the right to care about him one way or the other?
A black SUV parted the misting snow, which had only begun to ramp up from flecks to flakes, and parked in front of her.But when the window rolled down, a woman’s long blond braid—which was clearly revolting against the icy precipitation—nearly leaped out of the winter coat collar it was tucked into.The smile that greeted Neela was both soul-shatteringly sweet and just a hair too knowing.
“Please tell me Rhode didn’t abandon you on the side of the, um, road,” the woman said, already grimacing at the unintended rhyme before the words finished coming out of her mouth.
“Please tell me Brass sent you and the heat’s cranking in there.”
“You bet your sweet tits it is.”She patted the outside of the door with her gloved hand, bestowing a curious amount of affection on the inanimate object.“I’m Drea, and you’re cold, so let’s continue this chat inside.”
Neela already had one cheek on the fine leather before Drea finished her sentence, and though Neela’s lips were still feeling the tingle from earlier, that didn’t stop her from orchestrating the best low whistle of her life over her new surroundings.
“If I had a vehicle like this, I’d not only give it a waxed pet down daily but would solely drive it while wearing a pair of those cotton white gloves museum curators have on when handling precious artifacts.”
Drea pulled onto the street and winked a violet eye at her.“I know, right?This was a gift from my soul bond, Chrome.”
Ah.Figured.“What was the occasion?”
“That, by some miracle, I hadn’t fallen through the rusted-out floorboards of my old car or died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by the thing’s longer-than-street-legal failed emissions test.”
“Oh, wow.Well, I can say with complete certainty that this is the nicest car I’ve ever been in.”She didn’t need to elaborate that it was also only thesecondcar she’d ever been in and discreetly crossed all fingers and toes the news wouldn’t get back to Molly in some way.
“Really?”Her bright eyes creased at the corners.“I’m going to hold you to that, if you don’t mind.I love Molly like a sister, and we used to live together in what is now her apartment, but she said she gives me one month tops before the back seat is riddled with Twizzler wrappers and I have to explain to Chrome why the leather’s sticky and the vents smell like caramel macchiato.”
“I suppose there are worse things to smell like.”
“My thoughts exactly!Yeesh.If the man thinks he’s keeping me from my iced coffees while he gets to leave his peppermint gum wrappers lying around, he can take his spare set of keys and shove them so far up his?—”
“Hey, you know, I never said thanks for the ride.I really appreciate it.”
Not wanting to step into any more family angel drama than she’d already waded through, and also not wanting Drea to accidentally blow through a second definitely-no-longer-yellow traffic light, Neela thought it best to steer the conversation in a different direction.
Drea seemed to ease up on the gas at the same rate the heat left her voice.Soon, they were strolling the speed limit with the rest of the lethargic traffic.Because, you know, small towns and whatnot.
“No problem at all.Brass and some of the others are out on patrol tonight.Chrome and Bronze are watching over Molly’s apartment, so don’t be surprised if the next-door neighbor Mrs.Carmine hollers something out her window about too much foul language.Which issoironic because I’ve heard that eighty-year-old cuss out the UPS delivery guy with more linguistic flair than an auctioneer.”They pulled up to a stopped traffic light, and Drea leaned closer.“I think she secretly loves the guys since they keep seedy people away from the parking lots, but she just maybe resents that she hasn’t been able to keep up with a lot of the younger lingo, you know?The woman’s a doll, but she still has a cable subscription.There’s only so much pop culture and modern vernacular you can glean from that.”
“Seeing as this is the longest I’ve been aboveground in my entire existence and the only man I thought I recognized from before abandoned me in the snow a few hours before nightfall, I can kind of relate to feeling a bit lost.”Neela chewed the inside of her cheek as the car slowly accelerated through the light.Silentlyand slowly, mind you.
God, it hadn’t even been five minutes, and Neela had already managed to steer the second conversation she’d ever had with a woman straight into shit’s creek.
“Chrome and I found him, you know.Rhode.It’s been— Look, it’s not my story to tell, and I can’t say I love the situation I’m in.”