Page 48 of Lips of an Angel

noun

Excessive laziness or the failure to act and utilize one’s talents

Chapter 18

RALEIGH

They saythat when you’re about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. Now that my life was threatened for a second time, I could confirm that it was bullshit.

Angel’s eyes were squeezed shut in pain, body nearly blurring with violent tremors. His tattoos winked and shimmered under illumination without a source. I’d never seen anything like it before.

So focused on whatever light show was happening with Angel, I didn’t notice Billie angling themself to get better leverage over me. I didn’t notice how close to the edge of the sidewalk our argument had carried us. Spittle flew from their mouth as they shouted in my face, but I ignored them. My best friend needed me.

Sudden motion. Unexpected pressure.

And then I was falling. Billie found the perfect moment to shove me into the road, right into oncoming traffic. My ankle twisted with an audible pop, and I yelped in pain. Far more alarming was the pair of headlights filling my vision. There was no honk, no squeal of brakes. There wasn’t time.

There was no way I could save myself, so I closed my eyes—and out of sheer self-preservation, tried to throw myself toward the sidewalk and minimize the damage. I knew it was hopeless.

Nothing happened.

Everything around me went so silent that my ears rang to fill the void. Then, my heartbeat kicked into gear with a physical thud. My ankle throbbed, and my arm burned from road rash. I gasped so hard my chest ached, but I didn’t mind it all; I was still alive if I could feel the pain.

I hadn’t heard any tires screeching, any sounds of crunching metal. The heat that I expected to feel from the fire never came. Instead, I was enveloped in a comforting warmth—afamiliarwarmth.

Cautiously, I slowly removed my arms from around my head and opened my eyes. Everything wasfrozen.The cars around me had stopped as if someone had pressed pause on a movie. People on the sidewalk were frozen mid-step. Even Billie stood there, paused in time with a horrified expression on their face.

Only one other person seemed to be trapped in this… shit, I wasn’t even sure what to call it. The world around me had turned golden, like it was permanently caught in the light of the setting sun. The light grew brighter the closer it came.

It became Angel. I sometimes joked that Angel was the center of my universe, but damn—he glowed like the sun.

I blinked rapidly, afraid I was seeing things.Hadthat truck hit me? Was this some coma-induced dream? Was I actually dead?

I’d always had half a foot on Angel and was built a bit broader. It didn’t matter. Angel shielded me with his body, that radiant golden light cascading from his fuckingtattoos. It was as though Angel’s soul had become a beacon, and his light was pouring through the centers of the all-seeing eyes scattered across his body. His hair rustled in an unfelt breeze, shimmering to match the same hue as the glow around me. Every strand seemed to have been coated in liquid gold, as opposed to its usual platinum blond.

With a groan, I rose into a sitting position. Angel raised his head to look at me, and his eyes shone so brightly that it almost felt like I was watching a living cartoon.

Then the rest of Angel came into view. A massive pair of swanlike wings stretched out to either side of him, each easily as wide as I was tall. Under all of that power, the truck that was meant for me had slid sideways, stopping just shy of his wing.

As though my brain suddenly decided this was enough, a wave of dizziness came over me. I swayed, lightheaded, then Angel’s arms were around me. The sounds of the city returned so suddenly that the noise made me flinch, but only one sound mattered: Angel’s gentle shushing in my ear. His wings encompassed me, the softest feathers I’d ever felt brushing my irritated skin.

My vision grew hazy, and I suddenly clung to consciousness. Angel combed his fingers through my hair, soothing me and speaking without words. “It’s okay.”My eyes closed, and I welcomed the darkness.

I expected to wake up in the apartment, in my own bed. It was currently Cinderella’s village, what with the amount of wedding stuff scattered all over the place.

No such luck. A soft, rhythmic beeping sounded to my left, and a pristine white room came into focus. I squirmed, and the scratchy blanket over my lap rustled against the stiff clothing I wore. I looked down—a hospital gown. An IV trailed out of my right hand, leading to a bag of saline strapped to an IV pole. My right bicep was bandaged, and now that I noticed it—it really stung. Pain rippled through one of my ankles as well.

Someone grabbed my leg, drawing my attention.

Angel.

He sat in a chair next to the bed, peering up at me with his electric blue eyes. They were glossy with unshed tears. He attempted to smile, but the tears spilled down his cheeks. I couldn’t stand to see him cry, so even though I was lying in a hospital bed, I grabbed the hand he had on my thigh and tugged until he climbed onto the hospital bed with me. His arms wrapped around my neck, and I shuffled as much as I could to make room for him.

“I’m okay,” I whispered. “I’m right here.”

Angel clung to me tighter, sobbing into my neck and dampening the itchy collar of the hospital gown. He didn’t have to speak for me to know what he was thinking. “You almost weren’t.”

With one arm around Angel, I reached back to scratch my neck. Something was really irritating me. Finding something stiff there, I tugged on it—and pulled a small tuft of white feather out of my hair.

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