Page 3 of His Angel
“What the hell is this?” I yell, holding my wrist up.
It takes a minute for either of them to acknowledge the words, or the fact I’m even here, Leo taking hold of my arm and looking over the offending item, irritation flicking over his features as we wait.
“Well, who wants to explain?” I demand.
“It’s not as bad as it looked,” Wyatt starts, appearing around the side of the ring as the twins finally give it up, unstrapping their gloves and coming our way.
“You were in on this?” Leo asks, his disbelief as clear as mine. “HimI can believe this of, but you?”
The accusation is clear, the threat less so, but there’s no mistaking it’s there.
“What the fuck is this?” I seethe, more than ready for the answers nobody is giving me as I look at Nick and Jacob for an explanation.
“It’s security,” Nick replies, keeping the safety of the ropes between us. “Things are getting tricky around here and we wanted to know you’d be safe.”
“We?”
“I suggested that claiming you would be a good way to ensure you’re not a target for The Sect, or the rest of the guys here,” Wyatt admits. His hand reaches for me, but as I pin him with a thunderous glare, he retreats. “The execution of that… was not my doing.”
Leo raises an eyebrow.
“Things got a little out of hand,” Jacob admits, just as the stairwell fills with chatter, Oliver and the girls finally catching up with us. Not that I care.
“Out of hand?” I screech, jumping up and climbing through the ropes, slapping him in the chest. “Someone pulled me from the car by my hair. By. My. Hair.”
The hissed intake of breath from the stairs would be funny if it weren’t drowned out by the rumble of disapproval from Leo, and it placates the rage coursing through me in a way that I can’t even describe, Jacob ducking through the ropes to intervene as Leo draws ever closer to Wyatt, a beast stalking his prey.
“It wasn’t supposed to go down that way,” Nick attempts to explain, holding his hands out placatingly. “You were the one that locked the car doors, so what were they supposed to do?”
“I nearly hit you with a car, in the middle of the night and it was pitch black. What did you think I was going to do, jump out and check you over in your creepy fucking mask? You must be out of your goddamn mind.”
“Got you safe though, didn’t it?” he replies smugly.
I barely even register doing it, but the sound of skin hitting skin echoes around the shocked silence of the room, my hand smarting as his face reddens, the imprint of my palm crystal clear on his skin.
Someone whistles behind us.
All I see is the quickening of his breath and the darkening of his eyes, fear quickly replacing the anger that rushed through me barely seconds ago as he replies, “You’re fucking welcome.”
He brushes past me, stepping out of the ring silently with his head held high.And I thought Spencer was an infuriating pompous ass.
“This was your idea, you deal with her,” he clips out at Wyatt, shoulder-checking him as he stalks across the room.
“You fucking—” I can’t even manage words as I lunge after him, ready to do as much damage as I can until Leo picks me up as I attempt to get past him, “Woah there, angel,” tumbling from him.
Infuriatingly, Nick doesn’t even look back as he grabs a shirt from the side and pushes past everyone else to make his way back upstairs.
I’m still kicking and attempting to break free when Leo’s words finally make their way through. “Angel, you’ve got an audience.”
“Who cares?” I snap. “You lot have made us all a target by taping our pictures all over campus, and now I’ve got a bullseye on my damn wrist. Andhedidn’t even have the decency to talk to me about it. I just wake up with the thing. No recollection. No explanation. Full body shakes and a headache like I’ve never had in my life.”
The fight falls out of me as I rant, Jacob getting rid of our captive audience as the adrenaline wears off and I crumble, not even acknowledging the silent conversations happening over and around me.
“If Jacob and Wyatt did this, there’s a good reason, angel,” Leo says quietly, placing me back down as he rests against the edge of the ring. “We just need to allow them to explain.”
He pulls me back against his chest and wraps his arms around me, the security blanket I didn’t realise I needed.
“It wasn’t supposed to go like that, and you can rest assured Jasper got what was coming his way for handling you like that,” Jacobs says. “I’m sorry you got hurt.”