“You can ask me anything, I’ll be honest with you,” he says.
“Were you with anyone else, while we were apart? I know we were broken up, and you didn’t owe me fidelity, but I… I need to know.”
“No, I tried, I went to a room with a girl, and I hate myself for it. But I couldn’t even look at her, let alone touch her. I ran out so fast. All I could think about was you. I’m sorry—”
“You don’t have to apologize, I get it, I tried too. Nothing happened, we had a drink, but I couldn’t.”
“There’s no one else, Elizabeth. There hasn’t been since you, and there won’t be. Just me and you, yeah?”
I nod. “Just me and you.”
He kisses me, pressing me back into the mattress, and it’s like a weight has been lifted, knowing he hasn’t kissed anyone else since we’ve been together.
“Wait.” I push against his shoulders. “What did you want to tell me, about Frank?”
“Oh, yeah, turns out Frank manufactured the whole thing with Diablos Rojos, tried to manipulate the club into getting back into illegal shit.”
“Seriously? What an asshole.”
“Yeah, it would have worked as well. I… I fucked up…”
His expression looks pained, and I stroke his face.
“Hey, it’s okay, no more secrets, remember.”
“Yeah… I made a deal with him, when he went to prison.”
“What kind of a deal?”
“In exchange for him granting my mom a divorce, and leaving Donovan alone, I’d back him on any club business.”
“You wanted to protect your family. And that was years ago, you had no idea he was going to plan something like this.”
“But I should have. And that’s not the worst of it.” Tears fill his eyes; I’ve never seen him cry or get this emotional before. “He threatened you.”
“Me?”
He nods. “Someone told him about you, and he said that if I didn’t stick to the deal, he’d hurt you, send people after you to—”
A sound rips from his throat, and he buries his face in my chest, his body shaking as he cries.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’m safe.” I run my fingers through his hair to soothe him, holding him to me. “Angel, I’m safe, I’m with you, he can’t hurt me.”
“But the thought of anything bad happening to you—”
“I know, I know.”
The truth is, I’m reassuring him, but am I safe? Angel is going against the deal; can Frank hurt me from the inside? Or will he get one of Diablos Rojos to do it… and I know for a fact they’ve already killed someone…
“Are you sure my plan for Diablos Rojos will work?” I ask, “I didn’t know about Frank, or about the deal.”
Angel catches his breath before lifting his head, his eyes red with tears.
“I think it will; Tipo and Walrus are calling ex-members now, I know they’ll find people. And we’ve agreed to tell Diablos Rojos about Frank and let them deal with him.”
“Deal with him?”
“Yeah,” he sniffs, “we don’t think they’ll be happy when they find out he played them.”
