Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“This is your forte, my dear. Spare no expense. Funding your good deeds is my forte.” He grinned at Jezebel and she gave him a merry laugh before kissing him once more, then hurrying out of the office, closing the door behind her.
Chapter Eleven
Sonya
I didn’t make it the first twelve hours waiting on Archangel. Me and Linnie and Bella had pizza and beer until we were stuffed, then passed out for a couple of hours. They left right at dark at my insistence.
“There’s no use you guys staying here when you could be at home in your own bed. I’ll have Ripper send me the bill because I think I want to chill here for another day.”
“Stay as long as you like. You know your dad won’t mind.”
“I just want to be away from both clubs for a few hours so I can think without everyone wanting to know what happened. That’ll come soon enough. I need to have time to process.”
“You sure you don’t want one of us to stay with you, Sonya?” Bella gripped my hand in hers. “I don’t mind.”
“I appreciate it, Bella, but I’m good. Really. Besides, you guys have work to do.” We all three burst into giggles again.
“God, I’m full,” Linnie groaned. “Got Lock and Poison headed here with a cage. One will drive my car home and the other will take us home. He might have brought someone with them to get Bella’s car too, but I’m not sure.” She shrugged. “Someone’ll get it for her.”
“You guys are the best,” I said again. “I know I said it before, but I mean it.”
“You feel better?” Bella gave me a hopeful look.
I thought about my answer before nodding. “Yeah. I actually do feel better. I also realize you were right, Bella.”
“Oh?” Her eyes widened in surprise. “Er, I mean, of course, I’m right. But what was I right about this time?”
I laughed, pulling my friend into my arms for a hug. “About Archangel.” I pulled back and smiled at them both. “I might have overreacted just a touch.” I tried to grin, but I knew my expression looked as forced as it was.
“You were protecting yourself,” Bella said softly. “You weren’t leaving because you didn’t want him. You were leaving because you wanted him too much. When that woman showed up… Well, that was the feeling you were trying to avoid. By leaving before he could convince you to stay.” Of course, Bella knew what I was feeling. Felt like the three of us had been friends forever.
“I’m still going to look at what Ripper finds before I talk with Archangel. But I’m not going to assume the worst. He told me what happened, and I believe him. His next actions will tell me all I need to know.”
Linnie nodded. “I think that’s a good assessment. Take all the time you need. I’ll call you tomorrow and bring food.”
“Make it tomorrow evening. I’m going to try some of that meditation shit Angel was trying to teach me.”
“Seriously?” Linnie traded a look with Bella. “She’s got it pretty bad, Bella.”
“Meditation? Who are you and what did you do with Sonya?”
“Shut up.” I grinned. “I’m going to be all right. In fact, now that I’ve decided to grow the fuck up and stop acting like a sulking teenager, I feel better about the whole situation.”
“You just tell us what you need and we’ll make it happen. If that means we drag Archangel here by his hair, that’s what we’ll do.” Bella was the sweet one, but she was also fierce as a dragon when someone messed with her family.
“I got this, Bella. Thank you, guys, so much.” We group hugged. “You’re the best friends ever.”
“We love you, Sonya. You need us, you call or text. We’ll come with reinforcements.”
“I will, Linnie.”
After they’d gone, I’d soaked in the jetted tub for the better part of an hour. Thinking. Meditating. Trying to find my inner peace like Archangel had taught me. I was surprised, but I had a measure of success. I managed to float in a sea of calm until my mind was quiet and I could find my inner strength once again. The first thought when I came back to the here and now was that Archangel would be proud of me. That was when I realized I was torturing us both by not talking with him.
I got out of the bath and dried off, wrapping a towel around myself. My hair was still up in a messy bun to keep it out of the water so I didn’t have to dry it. I picked up my phone and opened my texting app. I stared at Archangel’s name for a long moment before opening the last messages we’d traded. I took another unsteady breath and texted him with shaking fingers.