Chapter 15
Nora woke up happy, content and weirdly relaxed while lying naked in a man’s arms. Angel’s little snore brought out a smile on Nora’s face.
She finally had a better understanding of Angel after he’d shared the tip of the iceberg of his horrible past with her.
Nora sensed that Angel also had ghastly stories about his time in foster care, but she respected his reluctance to share. He would open up to her, eventually. She just knew it.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.” She leaned in and kissed his lips.
“Do you want to grab some breakfast?” he asked.
She nodded, unable to form a sentence as his dark blue eyes held her captive. She couldn’t believe Angel asked her out for breakfast.
Grabbing breakfast together after sex would count for something, right? It was a big step up from waking up alone in bed that last time.
What a night filled with crazy monkey sex and Angel sharing things about his past can cause.
“At least we’ve already showered,” she said with a smile, remembering how Angel fucked her under the shower two hours ago.
Angel winked. “Good thinkin’, eh?”
Nora got out of bed and walked over to the small dresser next to the door. She slipped on a black silky set of underwear, her favorite light blue jeans, a cute black crop top and completed her look with the biker boots Cat gave her last Christmas.
“Love the boots, babe.”
She smiled. “I figured as much.”
It didn’t take Angel long to dress himself and he opened the door to her room for her to exit.
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” he said.
She shot a look into the hallway, finding the living room empty.
Luckily, they didn’t have to deal with her roommates, who probably heard her with Angel last night. And in the bathroom just a few hours ago.
Nora decided she wasn’t about to let any of her roommates make her feel bad, since nine times out of ten, Nora had to put up with the sex noises her roommates made with their hook-ups.
He let her walk in front of him towards the front door, but he smoothly opened the door for her to get out of the apartment.
“You’re a true gentleman,” she said while they took the stairs to the ground floor.
“I have my moments,” he said with a cheeky wink.
She nearly stumbled when Angel intertwined their fingers and held her hand. He smoothly directed their pace while keeping a watchful eye out on the streets and buildings surrounding them.
“Is that something you’ve always had in you?” she asked while looking up at him as they crossed the street.
“What?”
“Being observant and vigilant.”
Angel held the door to the coffee shop across the street from her apartment, letting Nora step inside after he’d had a quick look at the dark corner in the far-right side that couldn’t been seen from the curb.
As an observer herself, she knew exactly what Angel did and how his mind worked. After a few incidents with Cat at IVMC while growing up, Nora had learned to never trust anyone and to always check her surroundings.
Nora felt Angel’s hand on her lower back, guiding them to a dark corner of the coffee shop where a vacant booth table sat against the wall.
Angel sat down with his back against the wall while his eyes scanned the coffee shop. Nora sat down on the opposite side, not caring that she faced a blind wall since Angel’s gorgeous face made up for it.
”The usual, Handsome?” a slim, brunette waitress said, her smile radiant as she addressed Angel.
Nora furrowed her brows. “You come here often?”
The waitress chuckled. “Yes, he’s here almost?—”
Angel interrupted her, his facial expression cold as he said, “Two specials. One latte macchiato and one black coffee. Strong.”
“What are the specials?” Nora asked before she watched the waitress stomp off with a huff.
“Blueberry pancakes with maple syrup.”
“Oh.”
“I remembered you eating pancakes at the clubhouse. But I can call her back if you’d like something else?” he said.
“It almost seemed like you were in a haste to order?” she softly said.
He shifted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with her question. “Yeah, I wanted her gone, I guess.”
“Forget I asked. I should have known you also had girls flocking to you outside the clubhouse,” she said while rearranging the sugar sachets in the container in front of her.
Angel”s index finger beneath her chin gently lifted her gaze from the table.
“It’s not like that. Yes, she tried. But I only want one girl, and she’s sitting across from me.”
She snorted. “Right.”
”I know it”s a lot to process. But you’ll see that I’m serious soon enough,” he said, leaning back against the booth and draping an arm across its back.
Nora jumped from the clanking of a tall glass against their hard wooden table.
“One latte macchiato,” the waitress said like she’d just thrown up.
She placed Angel’s drink with another loud clang. “One black coffee.”
Nora’s eyes found Angel’s across the table. She bit her lip to stop her from smiling since he only had eyes for Nora while thanking the waitress in a dry tone.
“Now it’s your turn to answer three questions,” he said while picking up his hot coffee.
Nora closed her eyes and took a sip from her drink. She licked the smoothed and creamy texture from the milk on her upper lip, while enjoying the intensity from the espresso for a moment.
“Mmm,” she said.
She opened her eyes, finding Angel’s blue orbs fixated on her lips. He seemed unsettled as he shifted in his seat, his fists closed upon the table.
Angel cleared his throat. “So. Three questions.”
“Oh, right. Shoot,” she said.
“Tell me about your dad.”
She should have known that would be the first thing he would ask her about.
“What about him?”
She grabbed a sugar sachet and filled her already sweet drink with sugar, just to have something to do while thinking about what she should tell him.
“He’s alive?”
“Yes.”
“You still talk to him?”
“No.”
“And your mom?”
“She tries to call me now and then, but I’ve given up on her.”
She wondered what Cat and Gwenn told the brothers at the club. It wasn’t anything nearly as ghastly as Angel’s story, but still… Nora didn’t like to talk about her past.
“Why?”
Nora pushed her drink to the side and leaned back with a sigh. “Because they’ll never change. I’ve kept in touch with my parents the longest out of everyone, but they only pull you in so they can have you referee in their stupid fights.”
“Fights about what?” he asked.
“The usual. About my dad cheating on my mom. She’ll never walk away, though. It’s pointless.”
“He had Gwenn and her four sisters with someone else, yeah?” Angel said.
“Yep. Apparently, he had another family on the side, but my parents never told us. I’ve met my half-sisters at a farm during a reunion. My brother fell in love with Teagan, the girl from that farm, that day. At least one positive came out of this.”
“And your half-sisters? How do you feel about them?”
Nora shrugged. “Gwenn is all right. She’s just like Cat, you know?”
She watched him as he quickly diverted his gaze. She wondered what that was all about.
“And your other half-sisters?” he asked, his gaze zeroed in on the street through the window.
“They’re nice, I guess. But older. Maybe you know my half-sister Fianna? She’s married to Ronan. He used to be a fighter for your club.”
Angel nodded. “Yeah. I know Ronan. He’s a friend of the club.”
Nora had heard the term before and knew that it had some kind of status. Not too significant, but still.
“Question number two: why accounting?”
She instantly relaxed, knowing this topic wouldn’t be so hard to talk about.
“Dev told me that if anything happened in the outside world, I could always help the club with fixing the books and stuff. Most of the times he hated us visiting the club, but now that we’re older, I’ve noticed how he tries to keep us close. Maybe it’s his way of making up for all the years he’d been at the club while the rest of us were at home, stuck facing our parents tearing each other down.”
Angel”s large hand enveloped hers on the tabletop. “I wish I had known things were that bad at home.”
“It’s nothing in compa?—”
Angel shook his head. “Don’t compare, darlin’. I’ll always win since my childhood has been a disaster. But knowing that someone had it worse, does not make your pain any less real. Everyone has their own shit to deal with.”
“Two specials,” the waitress sneered while ditching two plates filled with blueberry pancakes on their table.
Nora slid her hand from underneath Angel’s and began slicing a piece of pancake.
“Mm. Looks good.”
“Sure does,” Angel said while looking at her.
She laughed. “Cheeseball.”
“Your laugh is infectious,” he said, and she could tell by looking in his eyes that he’d meant it.
“Thanks.”
“They’re good, yeah?” he asked while he nudged his head at her plate.
She swallowed down her first bite. “Yes. Delicious.”
“Good.” He forked half of a pancake and stuffed it inside his mouth.
Nora took a sip from her lukewarm latte macchiato and wondered how he knew that she’d preferred this drink. She tried to recall if she’d ever had one at the clubhouse during lockdown.
“Are you ready for question number three?”
Nora wondered what else he would come up with and nodded.
“You wanna go for a ride?”
Her heart leaped in her chest. Going for a ride on the back of Angel’s bike meant something. She’d heard the stories about bikers refusing a bitch to backpack and telling everyone that the back of their bike was meant for Old Ladies only.
“N-now?”
Angel placed way too much money on the tabletop before sliding out of his side of the booth.
He held out his hand for her and said, “Yes. Now.”
She accepted his hand. “W-where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” His mischievous smile made her heart race even more.