Page 48 of Soulless Angel

I’d had an incredibly screwed up twenty-four hours. I wasn’t in the mood to take crap from anyone, not even the Angels.

“Yeah, maybe I do want to fight you, Blaze. I was forced to kill a man to save my own ass today. The question is, do you want to mess with me right now? Because I think you’ll be surprised how that turns out for you.”

I stepped right up to him, holding his steady gaze. There had been a time when the Angels scared me. When I would do anything to avoid conflict with them. Those days were over.

Blaze grabbed me by both arms, jerking me hard against him. “I won’t watch you drink yourself to death because you can’t handle this shit. Go ahead and try me. I would love a reason to remind you who you belong to.”

While Daire watched with intrigue, Cash wasn’t having it. He pulled us apart, shoving in between us.

“You both need to calm the hell down. You both could have died today. Taking it out on each other isn’t going to help anything. We have bigger problems, like not getting killed.” Cash’s shout rang through the house. “Blaze, settle the fuck down and let Clover make her own decisions. Clover, stop antagonizing Blaze. This isn’t the time.”

“Agreed. We need to be prepared. They’ll come again.” Daire spoke up, drawing our gazes to him. He stood near the island, drinking far more rum than I’d had. Yet nobody talked about his drinking or his drug use.

Shooting Blaze a fiery glare, I snatched the bottle from where he’d placed it on the counter and took a rebellious drink. I understood that he only wanted to protect me. However, theAngels had dragged me into one horrible situation after another. If I wanted a goddamn drink, I would have one.

Blaze stormed away, going into the living room, where he sat heavily on the couch and pulled out a joint. He sat there smoking, ignoring the rest of us. I suddenly felt like crying. The adrenaline had subsided and reality was crashing in hard.

While Cash and Daire busied themselves gathering guns and other weapons while locking down the house, I went upstairs to shower and change. I still had traces of blood in my hair.

Tensions were high. No doubt Blaze was feeling the crash of his encounter as well. I didn’t want to fight with him. It made me ill to think of how close we’d both come to death today. I didn’t want to lose him. I didn’t want to lose any of them.

A hot shower did nothing to make me feel better. I watched remnants of blood slide away down the drain as I vigorously scrubbed my hair and body. Tremors racked me until I dissolved into tears. I’d been holding so much inside for so long. Today had been the tipping point.

My tears ran down my face, joining the water as it rushed down the drain. My chest heaved with sobs. So much for being a badass.

Through the shower curtain, I saw motion as the bathroom door opened. Daire entered, closing the door behind him.

“Angel?” He leaned on the counter, facing the shower. “Are you okay?”

Dammit. He must have heard me crying.

I sucked in a shuddery breath. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

Crap. Turning off the water, I opened the curtain to find Daire waiting with a towel. As I stepped out, he wrapped it around me. Then he folded me into his warm embrace.

Resting his chin against my wet hair, he sighed. “I’m sorry we dragged you into all this. Sometimes I wish we’d left you alone. But I can’t let you go now, Clover. It’s too late for that. You’re mine, and I won’t give you up.”

His words filled me with anguish. Sometimes I felt the same way. Life would be simpler without the Angels. It would also be emptier.

“I’m sorry I slapped you,” I said, sniffling softly.

“Don’t be. I deserved it. Feel free to throw another one if it makes you feel better.” There was a smile in his voice.

I pulled back to look at him, falling into his eyes. “I’m scared, Daire.”

“I know.” He hugged me tighter. “Whoever the fuck JD is, he won’t win this fight. We’ll find him, and we’ll kill him.”

He meant every word. I knew that. So badly I wanted to believe him… but I didn’t.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CLOVER

“You should come to bed. It’s getting late.” I patted the bed beside me, trying to entice Daire to stop pacing the house.

He’d been all over the house, from the top to the bottom and back again. I was pretty sure he’d checked every window and door at least a dozen times by now. That didn’t seem to be good enough for him. I understood his concern, but I was exhausted after the day I’d had. I could barely keep my eyes open.

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