“I can only guess. Maybe some of what I told him sunk in last night.”
“What did you say to him?”
Angel shakes her head. “Better you don’t know.”
“Please.”
She gazes at me. “I asked him if he’d be able to live with your innocent blood on his hands.”
Along with respect, I now love this girl. Besides Juanita, no other woman has gone out of her way for me. Sure, the Devil’s Crusaders old ladies would comfort me after Sammy beat me or humiliated me, but only after the men were gone—only if they were guaranteed safety before the fact. But Angel, a virtual stranger, she forced her old man to think about his actions—about the following consequences.
“Thank you,” I cry, crawling out of bed and finding the strength to throw my arms around her.
She pulls out of my arms and looks at me. We’re about the same height and size, minus her rounded tummy where her baby is growing. “Eagle isn’t happy with me right now, Starlet. He never likes it when I call him out on something. He prides himself on being fair. But all great men stumble sometimes.”
“Sammy didn’t just stumble, he fell down and never got back up.”
We both laugh uncontrollably. Someone taps on the door.
“Come in,” Angel calls.
The door swings open and Eagle fills the doorway. “Sounds like you’re feeling better, Starlet.”
I consider his presence. He’s young and handsome—and brutally direct.
“As good as I’m ever going to feel again,” I throw at him, hoping to play on his sympathy and guilt.
His hollow chuckle is a clear indicator that he doesn’t appreciate my passive-aggressive approach. “I feel sorry for your past, Starlet. I can’t imagine what it felt like having your childhood end so abruptly. But don’t attempt to manipulate me with guilt. I don’t know you, and my club is my life.”
Angel stares at her husband, then squeezes my hand. “It will be all right.”
“Silver is getting restless.”
“Do I have time for a quick shower?” I ask Eagle.
“Yeah.”
Angel follows him out of the bedroom, and I sit down on the edge of the bed, panic and fear swirling together inside my head, and apparently in my tummy too, because I feel like I need to throw up again.
