Page 74 of Taming Liberty

“Work,” I parrot, my voice flat. I’m not convinced. Angel’s big tell when he’s putting on a front is his hardened face and cold voice. Otherwise, he’s kind and warm.

It’s chilly in here.

I reach over him to swipe the phone off the nightstand, but he grabs my arm to stop me.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“I just want to see who it was.”

“I already told you.”

I shrug out of his grasp and grab the phone.

Angel sighs. “Liberty, stop.”

The phone powers on as I hold the side button. He tries to take it from me, but I jerk it away.

“Are you serious right now?” Angel asks.

“If it’s just work, what’s the big deal? I just want to see.” When his lock screen—which is just a boring, blue image of nothing—appears, I swipe to type in his passcode. “What’s the code?”

“One, two, three, four.”

I roll my eyes and type in the clearly fake passcode. The phone vibrates with the rejection.

“I’m obviously not giving you my passcode.”

“Then you’re about to get locked out.” I type in random numbers and turn to look at him.

He shrugs. “It isn’t as if I’m using it anyway.”

My eyes narrow, and I stop typing. “What is the big deal? Just tell me who was calling.”

“Work.”

The phone vibrates in my hand, and I peer down at it. Caller ID says Luis. No last name. Gee, I wonder who that is.

Angel grabs the phone out of my hand, clicks ignore, then sets it beside him.

My narrowed eyes relax. “Why are you ignoring your brother?”

“I’m not,” he says, stone cold. He points his stare at the TV, but it’s obvious he isn’t paying any attention to the movie.

I huff out a sigh and get out of bed. His eyes move to me, but I ignore him and get dressed. Once my white sundress is on, I finger comb my hair while searching for my shoes.

“What are you doing?” Angel asks, his higher pitch thawing the icy demeanor.

I find one sandal by the edge of the bed, but before bending to pick it up, I peer at Angel. “Going to see your family.”

He scoffs. “What?”

I grab my shoe and kneel on the floor to look underneath the bed for the other. Found it.

I raise up and shove my foot into a sandal, doing a one-legged hop while I tug the strap around my ankle.

Angel was leaning against the headboard, but now his spine is steeled as he sits up straight. “Seriously, what are you doing?”

I stare him right in the eye while I slip on the second shoe. “Seriously, going to see your family.” Once I have both sandals on, I square my shoulders and cross my arms over my chest. “I’m not on vacation right now. Your mother is sick, and we’re wasting precious time sitting around in this room hiding from your dad. If you want to keep hiding, fine, but I told your mother we would talk again, and I don’t like to go back on my word. So I guess I’ll see you later.”

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