Page 80 of Angel

It’s over. It’s all over.

I continue to sob, Venom pulls me tighter into his chest, and I drop between his thighs. “I told you I’ll never let you fall, and if you do, I’ll be there to catch you,” he whispers in my ear, and my fingers dig into his steel arms, like they’re castle walls.

I love this man. I love him with everything I have. I want to stay this way and never leave. Not ever again. “H-how did you get in here? Get past his people?”

“Are you forgetting who I am?” No, I haven’t forgotten. I will never forget the man I’ve fallen in love with.

Thumping from the hall causes us to jerk toward the door, ready to pounce. But it’s not danger headed our way. It’s my brothers. “Dayummmmn. He is definitely dead.” Throttle whistles, and Chain and Bullet follow in behind him.

I sink back into Venom, but he drags me up, still in his arms. Chain stands there, studying us, studying the way Venom holds me. And as if he feels my President’s unspoken words, my protector lets me go. Just like that… he lets me go.

Again.

“You okay, Angel?” Chain asks, but his threatening stare burns into Venom.

“Y-yeah, yeah, I’m good.” I smile, and this time it’s for real.

Chain pulls me into a hug. “Don’t ever do something like this again, although I think we all know you don’t listen very well,” he says, as I chuckle into his chest while inhaling his comforting scent.

“Boss, clean up’s on the way,” Bullet calls from the door.

“Yeah, good thing the building’s on the outskirts,” Throttle adds as he ties the still-unconscious, attitude-filled receptionist to a chair. “Sorry, sweetheart, this is for our safety, not yours.” Then he takes the big guy Venom knocked out and secures his hands behind his back.

This stops them from calling any of their buddies before the “clean-up” crew arrives. They won’t hurt her, but I can’t say the same for the bodyguard.

“We should all get out of here.” Venom’s voice is low, and he refuses to look at me.

Chain darts his eyes between the two of us and nods.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Three weeks later

Angel

“Oh my God, will you please, for the love of God, stop pouting around here like a sad puppy.” Tequila slides me a drink.

That night plays over and over in my head. I should be more upset about taking someone’s life, but I’m not. I’m free, and I won’t dare feel guilty about it. But… it’s also been a long, painful three weeks of not talking to Venom. Since he held me on the floor of Victor’s office while I sobbed…

I sigh. “I’m not pouting.”

“No? Because I would argue that.”

I fist my hair and slouch on the countertop. It’s not like I can talk about my juvenile boy troubles with my girls. It’s Venom. No one would accept us together. No one would understand how I fell for such a man. No one, but me.

“Just so you know… I approve.”

My head shoots up, and I stare at Tequila, my best friend, my sister from another mister. “W-wait… What? What are you talking about?” Did she read my mind?

She glances around, leaning on the bar in front of me, and whispers, “I approve of you and Venom.”

“Me too.” Jules sits next to me.

I swallow and bounce my eyes between them. “I don’t know what you two are talking about.”

“Oh, shut the hell up. You do to! We’re both not stupid.”

“She’s right.” Jules touches my shoulder. “Look, you changed him. Or maybe not necessarily changed. Just made him see that he wasn’t the douchebag we all thought him to be. You brought out this side of him none of us saw. That was you. You did that, Angel.”

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