Chapter Nine
Sonya
I wasn’t nearly satisfied with Archangel’s explanation. Seemed like he had played it stupid, and Archangel was most decidedly not stupid. I didn’t think he was lying, but I needed more. I needed to know how anyone could let something like this go for so long. I’d been ready to leave to spare myself pain; now I wanted to stay because I was in so much pain. Maybe that made me a glutton for punishment, but I’d been infatuated with Archangel, literally, for years. I’d known I was too far gone to stay away from him after we’d had sex, but I’d hoped to pull back slightly and sort of regroup.
“Talk to me, Sonya.” Linnie drove down the highway between Lake Worth and Palm Beach. She was taking every back road known to man, likely trying to draw out the drive as long as I needed her to.
I shook my head, swallowing back the lump of emotion stuck in my throat. I couldn’t break down before I was safely inside my room at the clubhouse. I turned my head to try to express to Linnie I just wanted to go home, but the tears started coming and when I opened my mouth to speak, the only thing out of my mouth was a sob of despair.
After that, things were a little fuzzy. I cried so hard my head ached. It was hard to keep from screaming, but I wouldn’t have done that to Linnie. Instead, I turned my face toward the window and hunched in on myself. Linnie would get me somewhere safe and likely call in reinforcements.
I’d somewhat calmed down when we pulled into the parking lot of a hotel. She snagged her phone and my backpack from the back seat. “Ripper got us a suite. Two bedrooms. Two baths. Let’s get you inside, and I’ll go get some necessities and food. Pizza good?”
That was Linnie. She’d take care of everything. It was what she did. She might be less adventurous than me, but she was the fixer of our trio while Bella was the one trying to keep me and Caroline out of trouble.
I nodded numbly, allowing Linnie to guide me into the hotel and up to our suite. Linnie opened the door with her phone and, once inside, she guided me to the couch. She was gone for a moment but returned with a blanket and set it on the couch beside me.
“Let me help you get your shoes off.” She knelt and helped with my shoes and socks. I tugged up my knees and turned to lie with my back against the couch, curled up in a ball. Linnie draped the light blanket over me and sat on her knees in front of the couch. She brushed my hair gently from my face when it fell forward. “I’m so sorry, Sonya.” There were tears in Linnie’s eyes. She knew how much I was hurting because she knew how big a crush I had on Archangel.
“I didn’t even know his name.” It was an inane thing to say, but it was all I could come up with at the moment. My voice wavered and tears spilled from my eyes to streak down my cheeks and my temples where I lay on the couch.
“I know. Bella is on the way. I’m going to get some stuff. Do you want me to wait for Bella to get here?”
“No. Actually, why didn’t we go home?”
Linnie smiled, leaning in to kiss my forehead affectionately. “Because you’d hate it if anyone saw you cry. And I don’t think you’re quite ready for Thorn to kill Archangel yet.”
“I’m so glad to have you as my friend, Caroline.”
She smiled at me. “I’m glad you’re my friend too, Sonya. We take care of each other.”
I nodded. “We’ll always take care of each other.”
“Yes. We will. Always.” She stood and leaned in to kiss the top of my head. “I’ll be back. Bella has the key on her phone so she can let herself in. “Pizza and beer?”
I managed a half-hearted smile. “Sounds perfect.”
As soon as the door clicked shut behind Linnie, my tears started flowing again. I had a small window of time to get this out before my best friends surrounded me and we set about helping me dull the pain. I clutched the blanket tightly around myself as I let the grief envelop me.
How could I have been so stupid? Of course, a man like Archangel would already be taken. I should have known better than to throw myself at him. He was quiet, but so much larger than life it was hard not to focus on him the second he entered a room. Now, I’d gone and really fallen for him, only to have my heart crushed. Hadn’t I given myself this talk already? Like, before I’d gone and fucked him? I’d been right. But no number of pep talks could have prepared me for him telling me he had a wife.
Once the harsh sobbing was finished and the immediate storm had passed, I pushed off the blanket and stood, heading to the bathroom. I washed my face and used the bathroom before washing my hands. When had I ever let myself feel this way over someone else’s actions? Not only that, but Archangel was right. He hadn’t had the opportunity to tell me because there’d been no reason. You know. Until there was.
Of course, my leaving had also contributed to the problem. So I got it. Didn’t mean I was going to stop Ripper from digging up all the dirt he could. It was time to test Archangel’s word not to lie to me. I wanted the information going into that conversation ahead of time.
My phone chimed from where Linnie had put it by the couch. I picked it up and looked.
Archangel: Can I come to you now ?
In a way, the early contact from Archangel immediately telling myself I needed to go into any conversation with Angel from a strong position told me I was making the right decision. And, God knew, it had been a very long time since I’d made the right decision. I knew what wrong decisions felt like.
Me: I’m not ready. You’re going to have to give me a couple of days .
Archangel: I’ll check with you every 12 hours .
Me: Why don’t I message you ?
Archangel: Tried that once. This is where I ended up .
He had me there.
Me: Forget I asked that. Once a day will be fine .
Archangel: Every 12 hours .
Archangel: You don’t have to answer every time. I’d appreciate it if you answered at least once a day though .
Me: That’s fair.
Archangel: I will always answer if you reach out to me, Sonya. Do it .
As I set my phone back on the table, the tears started again. This time, it was a slow, steady trickle instead of the all-consuming grief I’d experienced before. I reached for tissue by the lamp and blew my nose and tossed the tissue in the trash can by the couch.
The whirr of the electronic lock signaled Bella’s entrance. She gave me a consoling smile as she shut the door behind her.
“Hey, Sonya.” She hurried to me, setting down a backpack beside the couch before giving me a hug. “I’m so sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for. Just… piss-poor timing on everyone’s part.” I tried to give her a small smile, but I don’t think I managed very well.
“Caroline said you hadn’t told her what happened. Only called her to come get you so you could sneak out. She said you weren’t upset when you called her, so what happened?”
I filled Bella in while we waited on Linnie to get back. She said she’d talk to Ripper, but I wanted to talk to him too. I also hoped Linnie told Ripper to keep this one close to the vest. I wasn’t ready for my mother and father to know about any of this.
“Holy shit.” Bella’s eyes were wide with shock. “Holy shit! That’s insane!”
“Right?”
She reached over and took my hand in hers. “It’s going to be OK, Sonya. We’ll figure out what to do. If we need to prank Archangel, we can do that. I’m sure we can find something appropriately embarrassing.”
Her comment got a genuine laugh from me. “Thanks, Bella. I don’t know what I’d do without you and Linnie.”
“You’ll never have to find out. We’re your ride or die chicks.”
The door lock whirred again, and Caroline came in with two huge pizza boxes and dragging a cooler behind her.
“Good God, Linnie!” Bella jumped up and ran to our friend. She snagged the pizzas while Caroline continued with the cooler. “You could have told me to meet you in the lobby.”
“I was good.”
The normal conversation helped pull me out of the fog of hurt, and I knew I’d be OK. My friends would always help me when I was down. We were a team.
“I’m so fuckin’ lucky to have you guys.” I gave them a watery smile. “You’re the best.”
“Come here, Sonya.” Linnie pulled me and Bella into a three-way hug. I let their love fill the holes in my heart. I recognized part of my heart would belong to Archangel for a long time to come, but these two women would be with me.
“You know,” Bella said when we finally broke away and started dishing out the pizza. “If what he told you was true, Archangel and Gloria’s marriage didn’t sound like a real marriage but more of a paperwork technicality.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled around a mouth full of pizza. “I’ve decided I’m not talking to Angel until I get some facts from Ripper’s investigation. Did you ask him, Linnie?”
She nodded. “I told him everything I heard and some of what you filled in for me that I’d missed before I got there. He says he’ll have some questions for you, and to call him when you’ve had a chance to rest.”
“It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did,” I whispered, setting down my slice and popping the top on a beer. I took a long pull before setting it down with a gasp. “I’ve had a crush on him forever. Then this happened.”
“OK, so fill in the rest of the gaps, Sonya.” Linnie took another bite, wiping her mouth. “What is ‘this’?”
I let my head fall back on my shoulders to look at the ceiling. “Well…”
“Yeah?” Linnie wasn’t going to let this go. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to say this, even to my best friends in the world.
With a sigh, I sat up and closed my eyes. “I slept with Archangel.”
I opened my eyes, needing to see their reactions. Both of them stared at me blankly, like they didn’t understand what I’d just said. They glanced at each other briefly before Bella cleared her throat.
“Um, by slept with, you mean…” She let the sentence hang, obviously wanting me to fill in the blank so they didn’t hurt or embarrass me. Yeah. I loved these girls!
“I fucked him, Bella. And, sweet baby Jesus in the manger, he fucked me too.”
There was a beat of silence before both of them dissolved into giggles. And just like that, we were all laughing until my tears were tears of joy. No matter what happened next in my life, I’d always have these two. They’d have my back, and I’d have theirs.
Then I had a thought. I got up and snagged my phone before grabbing another slice of pizza and taking a huge bite off the end. I wiped my fingers, then picked my phone back up and drafted a text.
“Sending you guys something to proofread.” I grinned as I hit send. Both their phones dinged simultaneously. As they read, Bella’s eyes got wider and she made an “O” with her mouth, while Linnie’s face split in a grin until she was laughing nearly as hard as she had been before.
“Oh, Lord…” Bella’s face was a delicate shade of pink, but she was fighting a grin. “You realize if this works out like we all hope it will, you’re gonna get the biggest spanking in the history of spankings. Right?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. Besides, I’ve not decided if I still want him or not.”
Bella did smile then. “That’s my girl!” She held out her fist for a bump and I obliged.
“I made a couple of minor adjustments and sent it to everyone in Bane and Reign I had phone numbers for, with a note to pass it on to everyone but the club whores.” Linnie beamed. “Pure genius, Sonya. Pure fucking genius.”