Page 21 of Archangel

“OK, so fill in the rest of the gaps, Sonya.” Linnie took another bite, wiping her mouth. “What is ‘this’?”

I let my head fall back on my shoulders to look at the ceiling. “Well…”

“Yeah?” Linnie wasn’t going to let this go. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to say this, even to my best friends in the world.

With a sigh, I sat up and closed my eyes. “I slept with Archangel.”

I opened my eyes, needing to see their reactions. Both of them stared at me blankly, like they didn’t understand what I’d just said. They glanced at each other briefly before Bella cleared her throat.

“Um, by slept with, you mean…” She let the sentence hang, obviously wanting me to fill in the blank so they didn’t hurt or embarrass me. Yeah. I loved these girls!

“I fucked him, Bella. And, sweet baby Jesus in the manger, he fucked me too.”

There was a beat of silence before both of them dissolved into giggles. And just like that, we were all laughing until my tears were tears of joy. No matter what happened next in my life, I’d always have these two. They’d have my back, and I’d have theirs.

Then I had a thought. I got up and snagged my phone before grabbing another slice of pizza and taking a huge bite off the end. I wiped my fingers, then picked my phone back up and drafted a text.

“Sending you guys something to proofread.” I grinned as I hit send. Both their phones dinged simultaneously. As they read, Bella’s eyes got wider and she made an “O” with her mouth, while Linnie’s face split in a grin until she was laughing nearly as hard as she had been before.

“Oh, Lord…” Bella’s face was a delicate shade of pink, but she was fighting a grin. “You realize if this works out like we all hope it will, you’re gonna get the biggest spanking in the history of spankings. Right?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Besides, I’ve not decided if I still want him or not.”

Bella did smile then. “That’s my girl!” She held out her fist for a bump and I obliged.

“I made a couple of minor adjustments and sent it to everyone in Bane and Reign I had phone numbers for, with a note to pass it on to everyone but the club whores.” Linnie beamed. “Pure genius, Sonya. Pure fucking genius.”

Chapter Ten

Archangel

“You’ve got a lot of nerve coming here, Gloria.” I’d never wanted to hit a woman in my life more than I wanted to hit the woman in front of me.

“I’m your wife, Colm.” She waved off my words like they were of no concern to her. Figured. “I have every right to be where you are.”

“Bullshit. What do you want? Why are you here?”

She stuck her chin up in a stubborn mien, but as I studied her, I could see she was mostly bluster and bravado. Underneath, the woman was uneasy. I held her gaze, never letting up. Then she huffed out a breath. “Fine. I need a place to stay.”

I just stared at her, unsure if I’d heard her correctly. She was going to have to explain, and I wasn’t asking her for the courtesy. I took a threatening step closer, and her eyes widened. It was easy to see the exact moment she realized she’d underestimated me, this club, and the entire fucking situation. Her unflappable demeanor shattered.

“No, wait!” She stumbled backward in those ridiculously high heels. She fell against the hood of her Maserati. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“Just a suggestion, Gloria. When you trick someone into marrying you, you should really find out what kind of person you’re scamming. I gave you a pass in Vegas. I felt sorry for you and had no reason to think I’d be coming home alive. Not to mention killing someone right before you deploy to a place you’re likely to get killed is just really bad karma.”

“I’m sorry, OK?” She tried the pretty pout, but it did nothing to soften anything inside me. Especially after watching Sonya riding away from me as hard as that fucking Mustang would go. “I was in a bad financial spot. I overheard you and your buddies talking and seized the opportunity.”

“What opportunity? Whydidyou trick me into marrying you? You were never going to get rich. Hell, I don’t even remember fucking you. Did we even do that?” I was getting increasingly agitated. Mostly at my younger self.

She shrugged like it was really no big fucking deal. “I needed the money. Once I got myself out of my tight spot, I realized I had a nice little nest egg, so I saved the rest. Mainly because I didn’t need it anymore, but also because I felt bad about tricking you out of it. As to the fucking part, Colm, you were really way too fucking drunk to fuck, if you know what I mean.” She gave me an angry, embarrassed look. Did I have to reference our hooking up on what she’d made our wedding night? Not at all. Didn’t mean I wasn’t going to continue this confrontation. Just because I did my best to keep the peace didn’t mean I wouldn’t be passive aggressive.

“You could have contacted me anytime and given back the money, as well as freed me from a marriage neither of us wanted.”

“Who said I didn’t want it?” She looked almost as outraged as she had when I’d asked her if we’d fucked. “A strong man to protect and look out for me?” She gave me what she probably thought was a seductive smile. “I came back hoping you’d be my husband in truth as well as name.” Gloria reached out and slid her hands up my chest over my T-shirt and tried to wrap her arms around my neck. I grabbed her wrists -- hard -- and shoved her back into her car. She had to grasp the mirror to keep from falling and, because she’d already swiped Caroline’s Mustang with the driver’s side, the mirror fell off and Gloria landed on her knees on the pavement.

She sucked in a pained breath, and it took everything in me not to go to her immediately. The poor prospect wasn’t so disciplined. He lunged for her and helped her to her feet.

“You all right, ma’am?”

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