Page 79 of Angel Betrayed

“Az didn’t start that fire,” Seline said.

Her words pissed him off. “So now you’re defending him?” The truck was closing in. Sam stalked to the middle of the road. The better to stop the truck.

“He saved me.” Quiet. Confused. She didn’t follow him, but instead waited on the side, looking a bit lost. “If it hadn’t been for him, I would have burned.”

His jaw clenched. “The blast threw me out. I didn’t—I didn’t leave you.” He’d been ready to race back in and fight the fire for her, but Az had beat him to the punch.

So the bastard had done one good thing. Now I owe him for that.

“Why do you hate him so much?”

The rattle of the truck should have drowned out her words. It didn’t. He heard her far too clearly.

He heard her, but he just didn’t answer her.

The pickup was slowing down. Sam caught sight of the man driving. Older, thinning, gray hair, rounded shoulders.

He could almost smell the fear rolling off the human. But then, the man’s truck was being blocked by a blood-soaked Fallen. Smart people would be afraid in that situation.

“Az told me what you did.” Seline’s voice was so quiet. “He said you just…slaughtered. That it was why you fell.”

Fury spiked, but Sam lifted his hands and focused on the driver. Az, dammit, you always twist the truth so well.

“He said you fell because you killed—you killed and you wouldn’t stop.”

“I told you the truth already. You believe whoever the fuck you want.”

The truck’s engine idled. Their voices had been too low for the driver to hear. The driver’s side door squeaked as the man rolled down his window. “No quiero problemas.”

Sam nodded. The man was saying he didn’t want any trouble. Too bad, he’d found some.

The driver wasn’t a demon, and he didn’t have the look of a shifter. He just seemed human.

Sam eyed the truck. “I’ll give you five hundred American dollars for the truck,” he said in Spanish.

“You got the cash on you?” the human fired right back, in English.

Yes, luckily, he did. One thing he’d learned, money talked in the human world, so Sam always made sure he was well stocked. He pulled out his wallet. The leather stuck a bit, courtesy of the fire. He waved the bills in the air. “Right here. ”

The man smiled, then he lifted his right hand—the hand that was holding a weapon. “Then put it down, cabron, and walk away with the puta, or I’ll put more holes in you.”

“Are you kidding me?” Seline snapped.

The gun barrel slid to the side and pointed at her.

The man’s already small eyes narrowed even more. “Or maybe I put holes in you?”

Sam closed the distance between him and the bastard in less than a second. “Or maybe you don’t.”

Sam slammed his fist into the man’s jaw. Then he grabbed the gun and pointed it right at the old asshole’s forehead in a lightning-fast move. “Maybe I keep my money,” Sam growled. “Maybe I take your truck, and maybe I leave you with a few holes to remember me by.” The dumbass had picked the wrong Fallen to fuck with.

But the idiot just laughed, then he said, “No bullets. Just messing with you?—”

Screw this. Sam head-butted the guy. The asshole fell back onto the vehicle’s seat.

“Is he dead?” Seline asked as she crept closer.

Sam climbed in the truck and tossed the gun out behind him. Bullets wouldn’t do him any good against Rogziel and his hound. “Despite what Az told you, I don’t kill every person I meet.” Just most of them. “You’re still breathing, aren’t you?” He grabbed the human’s body and tossed him into the road. He’d wake up soon. The blow hadn’t been that hard.

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