Page 23 of Demon's Angel

My hand hits the table. “You’re wrong, she didn’t. Wouldn’t have taken his dirty money. She didn’t say anything. He saw her pregnant and fuckin’ guessed.” And that’s something else to worry about. Why he knew it was possible.Fucker didn’t use a condom. “Made the assumption. To date, she’s refused to have a DNA test done, but there’s no doubt he’s his. She hasn’t been with anyone else. Bastard knows that even though she’s told him different.”

“Why don’t you step up, Demon? Claim her and the kid.”

Chapter Nine

Demon

Hell’s suggestion seems to ring in the air after he said the words. The immediate response that comes to my lips is to tell him not to be so fucking stupid, that I’ve never heard anything so inane in all my life. Luckily, I snap my mouth closed before I can voice it. After all, isn’t that what he did? He stepped up when Moira had been raped and became pregnant. Okay, so our father had been responsible, but I have a feeling it wouldn’t have mattered. The big difference, though, was that Moira was already his though he hadn’t yet officially claimed her.

He’d raised me as his son for thirty-five years. It’s only in the last few months I’d discovered the remarkable truth. My reaction had been to replace that pedestal he’d always occupied by reason of being my father with one even higher. To step up like he did requires a very special type of man, setting the bar too impossibly high for anyone else to reach.

It’s why I’d not given voice to my immediate response. He’s proposing I follow in his footsteps. Because of his actions, I can’t follow my first impulse and dismiss his suggestion out of hand, or not without giving it some thought. There’s no similarity between the circumstances. I might be attracted to Violet, what man with a working dick wouldn’t? Though my cock wouldn’t turn any offer down, I know me, and all I could offer is a one-night stand. Anyway, she looks on me as a brother; she’d be horrified to know what’s on my mind.

Violet isn’t the woman I’d earmarked to be my partner in life—I haven’t yet met the woman who’d fill that spot—whereas Hell had already been in love with Mo. I owe nothing to Vi but a promise I’d made to her brother. I, at least, carried the same blood as Hell. He might have raised me as his son, yet I’m his true sibling. Hell also carried guilt that it was his and Moira’s connection that had made her a target for Blackie, whereas I played no part in Violet’s abuse. Except, if I’d been looking out for her, maybe I could have stopped her making that mistake. A big if, and one I don’t feel I should be standing up and taking responsibility for.

Nah, the circumstances couldn’t be more different.

Becoming confident that by rejecting his suggestion, I’m not negating anything that he’d done, I finally allow words to come out, “I hear what you say, Hell. But it wouldn’t be right.”

“Don’t dismiss it so fast,” Bomber interrupts. “You say you don’t want a war, and maybe you’re right. This could be one way to avoid it.”

I’d grown up with these men. Most had joined along the way, but Rusty and Bomber had been like uncles to me, there from the time of my birth. I’d always respected their views.

“Angel needs to pay for what he did,” I respond through gritted teeth.

“Yeah,” Bomber continues, “I agree with that. But there are ways and means, and sometimes revenge is best served cold when it’s least expected. If he really wants the kid, you stepping up and claimin’ it would at least throw put a dent in his plans.”

“Kid has dark brown eyes, just like yours,” Rusty puts in.

“That’s because he’s half-Italian,” I respond. “Could be he’ll grow up to look like his sperm donor.” But he’ll have Violet’s and Nathan’s inherited features too. Could be that he’ll remind me of my friend who left this earth far too soon. Can’t deny I’d be claiming a part of Nathan, his nephew the only thing he’d left behind.

I feel like slapping myself around the head. Fuck, this whole idea is ridiculous, even if you leave out the part where I’ve no desire to be a husband or a dad, and probably wouldn’t be good as either.

“It’s a crazy suggestion. For a start, we all know it’s a lie.”

“But a lie for all the right reasons,” Lizard speaks up. “Angel wants the kid. At least Violet has it right that he’s the last man suitable to be a father. What I don’t understand is why he’s going after her so hard. Do we know why he wants full custody? Could we get him to back down to visitation rights?” He breaks off and frowns. “And why Violet, and why the kid? If he did it to her, man like that’s probably done it before. Why’s it her he’s messing with?”

From what Violet said, I doubt if Angel could be persuaded to reverse his claims. Anyway, even co-parenting would be bad enough with a motherfucker like that. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. There seems no reason he’d want the kid. Unless he could profit from him.

“Why Violet, and why he wants Theo so badly, I’ve no idea, Liz. You’re right to ask, but my first concern is his bid for custody’s right around the corner, and that’s what I’m focused on dealing with.”

“As far as I can recall, Angel’s married, but with no offspring.” Hell’s rubbing his brow. “I’m sure Lucio said as much during one of our meets.”

“From choice or circumstance? And what’s he doing raping a girl with a woman waiting for him at home?” Bomber’s been faithful to Jeannie since the day they wed, well, so I’d been told. They’d gotten together before I was born.

Buzzard leans forward. “Why don’t you step up, Demon? You could claim the kid, then divorce or whatever after Angel backs down. Violet would be safe…”

Cad barks a laugh. “Yeah, he could. But paternity can be challenged for eighteen years in Colorado. Unless Angel is taken out of the picture, Prez would have to carry the lie until the kid reaches maturity. He’d be close to his sixties before he was free.”

I raise my eyebrow at him. “You seem pretty handy with that info, Cad. Something about you we don’t know?”

He shrugs and turns away from my inquisitive stare.

“You got a secret kid somewhere, Cad?” Pyro asks gleefully. I’d be surprised. Man’s pale as the cadaver for which he’s named, as he barely comes out of his computing cave.

“A virtual one, maybe,” jokes Sparky, on the same wavelength as myself.

Cad’s glaring. “Had to look into some shit for my sister, alright?” He satisfies our curiosity but isn’t comfortable doing it.

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