Chapter 6 Angel
Chapter Six
ANGEL
Never could I have imagined Henry would look so. . . desperate when I told him it was over.
But when I refused to budge and insisted on sleeping downstairs, he looked almost emotional. Like he really was sad our marriage was over. And I might have bought his act and relented except for the fact that my cunt was still uncomfortably heated and dripping from my brother-in-law’s tongue.
Hunter was literally disgusting and depraved, and I had only tricked him because I wanted to make damn sure he didn’t make a fool of me twice.
But when pussy-eating like that was out there, it was hard to feel too sad about getting a divorce.
Not that I would ever want to see Hunter again.
If he was so twisted that he thought it was all a very good joke to fuck me while pretending to be my husband, I didn’t want anything to do with him.
And I couldn’t think of any other reason why he’d do something like that except a sick sense of humor.
That night my dreams were uneasy, chaotic things and I tossed and turned uneasily on the couch. It wasn’t long after I finally fell asleep that I woke up with my heart pounding. It was like I was suffocating in my dream. . .
For some reason I couldn’t move. As a horrible, choking fear filled me, I flailed wildly in this nightmare, my arms and legs heavy with my panic.
I was trapped in the coils of the nightmare and I couldn’t escape. . .
Then suddenly the pressure on my chest lifted abruptly, and I sat up, gasping for breath and clutching the back of the couch.
There was a sickening thud beside me, and I saw Hunter Santerre shoving a big masked man into the side of the wall.
I wasn’t sure how I instantly knew it was Hunter and not Henry this time. There was something in the set of his shoulders that I recognized.
What the fuck was Hunter doing here?
He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt that showed off the dark tattoos that snaked menacingly up both his big arms.
I screamed as the other man took a swing at my brother-in-law. He was all dressed in black with a black mask over his face and I realized in horror that this intruder had been in my living room, next to my couch, bending down over me and applying pressure. . .
Hunter dodged the blow and head-butted the other man, knocking him viciously into the wall.
Shit! How had this happened? Had I somehow forgotten to lock the back door?
I got up and rushed to the fireplace, picking up a poker with my trembling hands. As the intruder managed to land a blow on Hunter’s jaw, I slammed the makeshift weapon as hard I could across his back.
The intruder twitched with a howl of pain, and Hunter yanked him back as he lunged at me.
“Get out of here, Angel!” he ordered angrily, his dark brows drawn over his eyes. “Run!”
“It’s my house!” I said indignantly, and I hit the intruder again in the front, and this time I heard the satisfying crack of his ribs.
“I swear to God, Angel, if you don’t listen, I am going to spank your ass so red!” Hunter hissed furiously as he kneed the intruder in the gut and put his big hands around the other man’s throat.
But Hunter wasn’t the boss of me, and I raised the poker again as I heard a clatter down the stairs and turned to see my husband there.
Wait, what was Henry doing up and still dressed? He looked like shit, five o’clock shadow on his face and his suit rumpled and stained.
“Hunter, stop!” Henry yowled.
Hunter jerked around to face Henry, dragging the intruder’s body with him and my husband’s eyes widened.
There was something in them that I’d never seen before.
What was that expression? I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it tasted strange, wrong, under my tongue and I instinctively shuddered away from it.
There was weakness there in Henry, an oily strange weakness that made my stomach flip-flop with nausea.
“Fuck no,” Hunter said coldly.
Hunter’s back was turned to me so I couldn’t see his expression but I could see the face of the intruder as Hunter yanked his mask off.
He looked vaguely familiar. . . like I’d seen him somewhere before. . .
The other man was big and beefy, with a massive bull neck, but somehow he was looking up at Hunter with sheer panic in his expression.
His giant ham hock hands were grappling desperately at Hunter’s, but somehow Hunter was the stronger one, Hunter was the one whose powerful hands began to twist around his neck.
I couldn’t make myself look away. It seemed unreal that I was sitting here in my silky trophy wife pajamas watching my brother-in-law choke a man out in front of me.
Hunter kneed the other man in the chest as he struggled, his purple face twisted in agony.
“Hunter—” Henry began again, taking a step into the room, but it was too late.
“If you think I’m leaving this piece of trash alive after I caught him trying to smother her. . .” Hunter said, almost conversationally, his voice so cold it sent shivers down my spine. “Then you’re an even bigger idiot than I thought.”
And there was a hideous crack that I knew I would hear over and over in my nightmares, as the intruder’s neck snapped.
I shrieked as his head lolled at a strange, ungodly angle, and Hunter dropped the body heavily to the ground.
Blood rushed into my ears as the sudden silence thundered around us.
“Pick it up, asshole,” Hunter snapped to his twin, pointing at the dead body.
Henry said nothing, and I saw him swallow hard and automatically bring his hands up to straighten his tie, then he dropped them when he remembered he didn’t have a tie on.
“Angelise, I—are you all right?” my husband asked in a strange, grating voice. “I’ll—get a better security system. This shouldn’t have happened.”
“Security system?” I shrieked, “I’m calling the police.”
I grabbed for my phone and Henry threw himself across the room, falling down at my feet and clutching at my pajamas.
“Please, no, baby! Don’t call the cops! I promise I’ll fix this. Just give me another chance.”
“Fuck no!” Hunter snarled. “She’s getting out of here.”
He reached down and put a hand on Henry’s collar, dragged his brother off me.
I hadn’t realized before how much stronger Hunter was. . .
“Come onnnn,” Henry said, pulling at the hem of my pants. “I swear I won’t cheat again. I swear it, Angelise. No more fucking randoms. I’ll be a model husband. I’ll give you everything. You want a summer house in Switzerland? Need a bigger diamond ring, baby?”
“I’ve already heard that,” I said, yanking my foot away. “From your goddamn brother! You’re sooo sorry that you had to send your own goddamn brother to apologize in your place.”
“I didn’t send him,” Henry bit out. “He did that on his own.”
I scoffed. “I know that’s a lie.”
“All right, well, I thought he’d do a better job at apologizing. He’s better at words than me.”
“How about these words? You sent him to apologize and I let him eat me out and told him I’d never forgive you. Is that the outcome you wanted?”
Henry’s face sagged.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I did that. My brother came up to me and--begged me to let him fuck you. I—I was frightened of him, so I did it.”
“Bullshit,” Hunter said coldly.
He had his arms crossed and was glaring at his twin.
I should be fucking terrified of the way Hunter was standing right over the dead man he had just strangled in front of me, his fists clenched like he was going to punch Henry if he moved toward me again.
I’d never seen my husband looking like this. There were big sweat marks under his pits and his face looked sweaty and greasy. He kept darting his eyes back and forth. Like he was looking for help.
“What are you looking for?” I snapped.
He didn’t answer.
“You know I would never hurt you,” Henry wheedled.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I cried.
He stank like old whiskey as he lurched toward me.
“I never touched you!” Henry said loudly. “I was upstairs the whole time.”
“The outside security cameras were turned off,” Hunter said, stepping toward Henry and gripping him by the collar. “Fucking strange coincidence isn’t it, that they’re out on the very night an intruder came in to kill Angel?”
“I had nothing to do with that,” Henry babbled. “Why would I want to kill my own wife?”
My heart contracted as I stared at the outside camera.
It was turned down to the ground, which meant it wouldn’t have picked up anything that had just happened. And if I could just remember where I’d seen the would-be murderer. . .it seemed like it must have been around Henry’s office. . .
“Your own wife?” Hunter growled. “You’ve lost the privilege of having a wife.”
Then with two hard hands around my waist, he picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder easily.
“You’re coming with me.”