“Trying to fucking cut in on a Devil Daddy in our fucking house? What the fuck!” Vex said, completely pissed as he stopped dancing in the middle of the floor.
A man bumped into Vex. “Sorry, dude. How about moving over there to talk to your lady?”
“Fuck off,” Vex told him. The man wisely shifted to the other side of the dance floor.
“While I am impressed with how you can use one obscenity in a variety of grammatical categories—noun, adjective, verb, your anger is my fault, or that guy’s,” Angel said, pointing to the jerk who’d asked them to move.
When Vex glared at her, she continued, “Trevor doesn’t understand what’s going on. Let’s go speak to him. I owe him that much.”
Vex’s eyebrows drew together in a savage glower. He opened his mouth and snapped it closed. “Fine,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Thank you.” Angel ran her hand up and down his bulging upper arm. “Can I talk to him alone?”
Vex stared at her for several seconds before shaking his head no. “That will never happen.”
Angel didn’t push her luck by insisting. “Okay, you can be near me. But let me meet with him privately.”
Again, he paused before growling, “I hate this.”
“Thank you, Vex. I owe you one. How about if you consider how you’re going to collect on that promise?”
The fury receded from Vex’s expression. A different light appeared in his deep green eyes. A thrill ran down her spine at the heat in his now predatory gaze. “I’ll work on that, Baby girl. But I’m staying close.”
“I’m better when you’re nearby. Thanks, Vex.”
Vex took her hand and shouldered a safe path for her to follow him through the dancers. He led her through the front door, where Scythe and Wraith had towed Trevor into the parking lot.
“Wraith! Scythe! Angel wants to speak to him. Let him go,” Vex called over the scattered people waiting to get inside to eat and drink.
Wraith released the collar of Trevor’s navy blazer and backed off, holding his hands up. He and Scythe stepped away to watch the show.
“Thank you!” Trevor shook himself off and straightened his clothing with indignation. “I should sue you for assault.”
“If you’re going to call this assault, I’m going to get a few blows in,” Wraith said, walking forward.
Angel was impressed. Trevor stood his ground, squaring off as the enormous man approached. Before anything could happen, she ran down the stairs. “Thanks, Wraith, Scythe. I’ll handle the conversation from here.”
Out of the corner of her vision, she spotted Vex taking a place next to his Devil Daddies brothers. “Trevor? What are you thinking?”
“I had no way to contact you, Angel. I went by your apartment to check on you, and the rooms were empty. Have you moved in with that biker?” he asked.
“Thank you for being worried about me, Trevor.” Angel sidestepped the question. “I am in a safe location.”
“You’re not going to tell me where?” Trevor demanded.
“No. The fewer people who know where I am, the better.”
“Are you really at such risk?”
Angel stared at Trevor for several long seconds before shaking her head. “You do remember I was kidnapped and held in atrocious conditions until the Devil Daddies happened to be there rescuing Razor? Razor didn’t know me—didn’t know my name or that my family is rich. Vex risked his life when those who I thought loved me sat back and waited for something… I don’t know what. The price to come down? The police to find me? Me to die?”
“You had a harrowing experience,” Trevor said in his most concerned tone.
“Trevor. Do you understand I had to shit and pee in a corner? I might get fed every couple of days, but whatever they threw for me to eat off the floor was spoiled. When I got my period, I had no supplies. My jeans stiffened with blood. The fabric smelled and attracted insects. The head of the Ravagers paraded me through the halls for the bikers in that MC in my bloodstained jeans to embarrass me. He wanted to tell me that my father had refused to pay my ransom. That no one cared for me enough to get me out of there.”
Hearing all that aloud horrified her. Angel hated remembering any of that. She stopped to gather herself and waited to see if Trevor would say anything. His expression wasn’t of anger or even self-blame for having done nothing. He looked disgusted. An image of Vex getting her clean popped into her mind.
Angel centered herself and finished, “Then, when they’d robbed me of hope and dignity, they threw me back in that blackened room to rot. Oh, and he threatened to hand me over to the Ravagers for their fun if no one coughed up some funds. That idea made the return trip through those violent men yelling foul suggestions at me more terrifying. Is that your definition of harrowing?”
