Page 44 of Lips of an Angel

“It’s not a problem. I’ll try to give you a head’s up if I hear anything else.”

He ended the call, and for a long while I sat there staring at my phone. I would look from that to the computer monitor sitting in front of me. It would only take a few minutes to open the security footage from the day before, but instead I found myself running through every member of my staff, wondering if any of them were capable of drugging Billie. Then again, it didn’t necessarilyhaveto be a staff member—it could’ve been anyone.

A pang of guilt stabbed me in the chest. As much as I pretended to be annoyed with him, I couldn’t deny the fact that Eli was an amazing guy, and a good friend. He was risking his position in the residency program by calling me first. Not to mention his license.

Christ, and I’d fucked his boyf—fiancé.

That feltwrong to eventhink, and that was new for me. I wasn’t the type to overthink much of anything but in the privacy of the empty office, I allowed myself a few moments to worry about it. My heart raced.

I’d started having sex at fifteen and practically never stopped. At times, I hardly paused between partners to think about what I was doing. It was all about the person, the chase, and the release.

With Angel, though, things were different. I was happy to take it slow, to explore his body inch by inch until he fell to pieces beneath me. Nothingelse mattered, other than making sure he was fully taken care of. And since that night? He’d monopolized so much of my mind that none of it belonged to me anymore. I wasn’t used to that feeling either. Something tugged at my chest, and for the first time ever, I didn’t ignore it.

I hated to admit it—even in my own head—but maybe Ryder had a point.DidI have feelings for Angel? I loved him, that was undeniable. I think I’d loved him since the day we met. But up until two weeks ago, it’d been entirely platonic. Then that damn kiss changed everything. Curse me and my big mouth.

Before I could spiral too far, I shook away the thoughts. They were too late anyway. Angel was engaged. He was going to marry Eli—in two weeks. Damn, the thought brought bile to my throat. I choked it down, waking the monitor on the desk in front of me. I was going to do what I did best: ignore my problems until they went away.

Once the footage from the previous night started rolling, I grabbed an energy drink from the mini fridge we kept in the office. Keeping my eyes on the screen, I texted Angel to watch the front of house while I handled the office today. To my surprise, he didn’t rush back to see what was wrong. We didn’t often switch roles, but I didn’t want to tell him about the Billie situation until I knew for sure what had happened. Angel didn’t need the stress on the best of days, much less in the throes of wedding planning.

The act of slipping something nefarious into someone else’s drink was a delicate one, something that was often missed—especially if you didn’t know what you were looking for. I couldn’t risk missing something by speeding up the footage, so I settled in for a long night.

It took two hours of watching before I even saw Billie enter the room. I’d recognize their fiery red hair anywhere. I also knew that they were a bit of a wild thinker. They could be irrational, impulsive. They didn’t always think before they acted.

That was one reason they were so fun in the bedroom.

So when they went up to the bar and ordered a drink, I leaned closer to the screen and zoomed in. Technology had come so far that the details in the footage were surprisingly immaculate. I could see everything, right down to the dainty flowers painted on their fingernails as they dropped a tablet of something into their own drink.

I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I isolated the clip and exported it, ready to hand to the police. How Billie thought they’d ever get away with it was beyond me. The footage, combined with the tests they would’ve run at the hospital, would be more than enough to prove that our bar was a safe space.

As I shut down the computer, there was a knock at the door, and Angel stepped into the room. “Can we talk?”

Well, color me surprised. “What’s going on?”

Angel lowered himself onto the couch, but he didn’t invite me closer. He perched on the edge of the cushion, as if he were ready to bolt at any given second. I started to move, to cross the room to him, but he held a hand up to stop me. Heart pounding, I sat back on my chair.

Angel signed, “There’s a reason Eli wants the wedding to happen so quickly.”

“Are you pregnant?” I quipped.

Angel rolled his eyes, and although it had been over a decade since I’d heard his voice, I knew the exact tone he would have used.

“Okay, okay,” I relented. “I’m listening.”

“The day after we got engaged, he found out that he was accepted to an early fellowship position.”

“Okay…” Surely Angel couldn’t be about to tell me he was leaving. That would be a much bigger conversation, right?

He took a deep breath. “It’s in Seattle. He starts this summer.”

My heart sank into my stomach, but I managed to school my features. “And you’re going with him?”

A pause, then Angel nodded. “He did it for me. It’s time for me to repay the favor. It’s less than a three-hour flight. I can commute back and forth to help handle the bar. Unless,” he paused, twisting the boring gold band on his finger, “unless you can think of a reason I shouldn’t leave.”

I could think of a thousand. Angel didn’t know anyone in Seattle. His parents lived in Georgia, so he’d be even farther away from them. The bar wasn’t in Seattle.

Iwasn’t in Seattle.

Tell him, Raleigh.He’d given me the perfect opening, a way for me to confess I may have thought about him as more than just my best friend. The words formed on my lips, but I couldn’t force them out. I shoved aside the emotional part of my brain that wanted to throw myself at his feet and confess—ugh, confesswhat,Raleigh? I was such a fool. One little spark in my belly and I was ready to ruin everything.

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