Page 123 of Black to Light

“One more thing, Ang,” Nick ventured, as if he’d just thought of something. “Was Jem agitated here? When he landed in Paris?”

Black turned to listen to her answer. So did the rest of us.

“No,” Angel said, as if surprised by her own answer. “No. He wasn’t. He seemed calm. Mostly, he was all-business. Like they were on a tight schedule.”

“They?” I asked.

She blinked, as if surprised by her own words.

“Yes,” she said, sounding more sure. “Him and the girl.”

“What was she like?” Black asked. “The girl. Was she walking under her own power? Did she seem alert? Out of it? Was she––”

“Alert,” Angel said, sounding more and more positive. “He barely had to lead her. He definitely didn’t need to prop her up. He turned to go, and she went with him. They left together, both walking fast. Her head was upright. She didn’t fight him at all. He didn’t even hold her hand. He didn’t touch her once, as far as I saw.”

Angel gave me another look, and that time, I saw anger seething in her brown eyes.

Honestly, it was a relief. I’d much rather her angry than afraid.

“Fuck,” she said, annoyed. “Why didn’t that even occur to me until now?”

I rolled my eyes a little, and gave her a faint smile.

“Gee, I can’t imagine,” I said. “I’m sure it has nothing to do with being kidnapped and not getting any sleep for forty-eight hours––”

“Javi and I couldn’t move,” she said, that anger seeping into her voice. “So I just sat there, and watched them walk away. Mymindwas mostly fine by then, but we couldn’t do anything but sit in two of these chairs, like a couple of posed mannikins.” She motioned at the vinyl seats in the terminal waiting area. “It felt like I’d been tied there with duct tape. When the straightjacket finally dropped, we both fell to the floor.”

“I had to piss like you wouldn’t believe,” Javi said with a strained smile.

I could see he was trying to make light of it, but he didn’t really succeed.

Angel reached out and Javier squeezed her hand.

I saw the understanding pass between them.

I could feel it on Angel better, maybe because she was my best friend, and there were fewer walls between us. She’d been made to feel powerless, helpless, manipulated like a doll, afraid for her life, and completely used. She’d been treated like she wasn’t a person at all, and by someone she considered a dear friend, basically family.

Afterwards, she’d been discarded like trash.

I’d never wanted to hurt Dalejem before, but I did now.

I knew it was irrational. I knew he likely had no control over whatever this was, even if he’d simply lost his mind. I knew it probably wasn’t fair.

I still couldn’t help how I felt.

You’re not alone in that, doc,Black muttered in my mind.

Black’s fury sparked around me like a icy wind. I felt an even hotter rage on Cowboy, as soon as I opened my light, although not a thing showed on his angular face, or in the set of his blue eyes.

It worried me, though.

Not just my anger, but all of our anger.

It worried me a lot.

29

THE CHAMPS-ELYSÉES

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