“They didn’t keep you because you’d been there forever?” Angel asked.
“No. A new guy I met in the parking lot held onto his job, while I was out on my ear even though our tasks were similar. Then I pull up at my mom’s place and some motorcycle thug with tattoos all over was camped out in front of her house casing the joint.”
“He was going to rob her?” Angel asked, shocked and instantly upset as well.
“No. His bike had a flat. He’d stopped on the street under Mom’s big oak tree to plug the tire. I, of course, came at him hot and angry.”
“He didn’t react?”
“Oh, yeah. The look he gave me set me back on my heels. That was Lucien. Something about him warns you he’s not to be messed with. I turned around and slammed my way inside. I almost knocked over my mom, coming out with cookies and iced tea.”
“Oh! She’s so nice.”
“She’s a sweet soul. Mom lives with my youngest brother and his family. She looks after the kids and the house for him after my sister-in-law passed away from breast cancer.”
Tears pricked Angel’s eyelids. She was instantly sad. “I’m sorry, Vex.”
“I’m sad for my brother, but this situation works for them. The kids are doing well in school, and Mom loves being part of their lives and taking care of people again.”
“She was helping Lucien too, huh?”
“She was. He’d knocked on the door and retreated ten feet, so he didn’t scare her. After explaining why he needed to work in front of her house, he focused on getting his tire fixed.”
“That was good of him,” Angel said.
“It was. I took him the refreshments, apologized for jumping to conclusions, and grabbed my mini air compressor to fill his tire.”
“And he offered you a job?” Angel guessed. Lucien looked scary, but she felt something more from him. Maybe he frightened some and kept those he had ties with closer. An effective way of screening people.
“He did. I followed him back to the warehouse and filled out the paperwork. I started the next day.”
“How long has Inferno been there?”
“It started about five years after he hired me. By that time, I’d joined the Devil Daddies.”
“I never thought I’d say this, but thank goodness for a flat tire,” Angel said.
“That nail changed my life. I still have it.”
“No way!”
Vex walked over to a glass jar on the TV and tipped it into his hand. He returned to the couch to show her the nail. “It doesn’t seem that important, does it?”
“I’m glad you kept the nail, Daddy. You holding on to it makes me think you’ll keep me too.”
“Oh, I’m not letting you go, Baby girl. Shall we head outside to see if Honey is ready to play?” Vex asked.
“Yes. Are you going to make an appointment with Razor?”
“You’re going Wednesday at ten,” Vex told her.
“You already had a time set up?”
“I did. A Daddy takes care of his Little girl, Angel.”
Chapter 18
“Daddy, maybe I should see Razor next week?” Angel suggested when Vex drove home to collect her for her appointment. As she stood in the garage, her stomach kept flip-flopping. Anxious about going, Angel had worried so much she’d made herself sick since Vex had left early that morning.
