Chapter 15 Onyx
I watched as Charlie and Cooper stripped her bedding as I listened to her retching in the bathroom. Charlie scanned the floor quickly with the light, and then he was on his knees searching under the bed.
“Yo, Bride of Dracula, if you don’t want your vibrator found, I’d come out now,” he called as he grinned at me, and I fought my smile.
The bathroom door opened, and she stood there looking at us all.
She looked . . . defeated. It was a good look on her, but it irked me when it wasn’t me who put it there.
“Why would it be under the bed?” she asked him tiredly.
“I live alone,” she told him as she pulled the drawer of her nightstand open and produced a case.
“Do you need it? Or did you just want to embarrass me?” She tossed the case on top of the nightstand. “Haven’t we done this before?”
“Open the case,” Cooper spoke over whatever Charlie was going to say.
“Why?”
“Because unless I’m wrong, you’re missing Bob.”
“Bob?” She looked between the three of us. “Who the hell is Bob?”
“Battery operated boyfriend,” I answered smoothly.
Her cheeks flamed red, and the three of us waited as she picked up the case again. Hesitating, she looked up at us and then turned her back. I knew from the stiffness of her shoulders that the toy was gone.
“When did you last use it?” Cooper asked her quietly.
“Really?” Angel demanded as she glared at him. “Are we in high school?”
“He wants to know so we can determine how long it could have been since it’s been taken,” I told her as I watched her turn away from Cooper.
Angel hated me for that night — it was no secret — but she absolutely detested Cooper. I never did find out why, and was only ever reminded of their mutual contempt when they were in the same room as each other.
Cooper flashed me a look, and when I raised an eyebrow, he looked away again. “Remind me why you two hate each other?” I asked them both.
Charlie snorted as he bagged up her bedding. Angel realized what he was doing, and she stepped toward him.
“What are you doing?”
“We need to get it tested, the samples have DNA, Coop can run the tests,” he told her. “She staying here?” he asked me.
Both Cooper and Charlie were looking at me, and I realized that they both expected an answer. Fuck my life. Turning to look at her, I scanned her from head to foot. “Well?”
“I’m staying here,” she said stubbornly. “This is my home.”
She sounded less certain, but I couldn’t force her out of the door, nor did I really want to. Angel being in my house would only lead to trouble.
“Who was the last man in your bed?” Cooper asked her as he reached over and took the case off her.
“Why?”
“So, I know if you really are a kinky bitch that likes to be covered in cum or if this is all from some loser jizzing on your sheets.” He paused as he looked at the case. “And you need to tell me when you last used robo dick.”
“I . . .”
Angel was speechless. It was a fascinating thing to see, a phenomenon I hadn’t seen in a very long time. “Why are you never this speechless at work?” I taunted her, grounding her.
That snapped her out of her stunned confusion. “I knew I should never have called you,” she snapped at me. “You and your jerk-offs can fuck off now. I want you gone.”
“Hey, we aren’t the ones letting loose on your sheets,” Charlie reminded her. “And I need you to leave the room so I can check your drawers.”
“He means your panties,” I told her with a twisted sense of glee. Angel gave her closet the same look of loathing she usually reserved for me, and with a groan, she left her room.
“Took longer than I thought,” Cooper told me with a grin. “Get the info I need while I do in here.”
“Tell me again why you hate each other?” I asked him as I went to leave.
“Stuck-up bitch,” he answered as he opened her closet. “Always has been.” As I looked over at Charlie, he conveniently looked away, pretending he hadn’t heard.
“Mm-hmm.”
Leaving them to their work, I found Angel at her back door, examining the lock.
“All good?”
“Yes.” She looked up at me in resignation. “I changed the locks. They’re new, so how did they get in? They can’t have a key.” She sighed heavily and turned back to the door. “I don’t know the last time I used my vibrator, and there’s never been a man in my bed here.”
“Woman?”
“I’m not gay, Onyx,” she barked at me. “Though Christ knows, if any man could turn a woman gay, it’d be you.”
“What a compliment,” I said to her with a shit-eating grin.
“What? That you turn women off so much they want to forget men completely?”
“Is that what you meant?” I said with fake surprise. “Sounded more like you were telling me once you slept with me, no other man could compare.”
“Of course that’s what you would hear.”
I heard the others leave, and I looked back at Angel. “They have what they need,” I told her.
“Okay.” She looked over my shoulder at Charlie’s retreating back. “And what is that exactly?”
“Evidence, I think you would call it.”
She looked like she wanted to ask what they were going to do with it, but she never did. Instead, she simply nodded and waited.
“Chivalry demands I ask if you are okay to stay here alone.”
“Chivalry and you don’t belong in the same sentence,” Angel said as she passed me, her body brushing past me.
My hand snatched her arm and pulled her back.
She looked up at me in anger, but I simply stared her down.
“We don’t need to be here. We don’t need to help.
Remember who called who.” Again, I watched her fight her instincts to snap at me.
Instead, she gave me a curt nod, and I let her go.
“Lock up tight when we’re gone. Don’t call the police. This is our business now.”
Angel looked at me warily before she licked her lips. “Devils’ business?”
“Cooper and I will get you answers,” I reassured her, and saw her lips press together when I mentioned Cooper. “What did you do to Cooper Carter, vampire?” I asked her outright.
“Mind your business,” she snarled as she walked to the front door. “Thank you for coming, and if you find anything, well, can you let me know?”
“I’ll put you on speed dial,” I smirked at her as I passed, and my grin was wide when I heard the front door close forcibly behind me.
At my car, I turned to my friends. “Who wants to go first?”
“I will,” Cooper said without making eye contact. “I have stuff in the trunk I can use to test her shit.”
“You do?” Charlie asked him in surprise. “What the fuck do you say to the cops when you get pulled over?”
“I tell them to keep driving,” he told him with a wicked grin. “I got this,” he told me. “Go.”
“No problem,” I said as I checked the time and headed to the car. “Keep me posted.”
“Good luck,” Charlie said with a wave as he drove away.
Sharing a look with Cooper, he and I shared a grin. This was what he did, and he loved his job. Knowing I was leaving it in good hands and knowing he wouldn’t move from outside her house, I was heading home myself.
“What a fucking day,” I said out loud in the car as I drove. I was exhausted, and I knew I only had a couple of hours to sleep, and my bed was calling for me. “How the hell does she have a stalker?” I asked myself again. She never went anywhere to get a fucking stalker.
The fact that someone was in her house pleasuring themselves on her bed made me furious. The fact that she wanted to stay in her house irritated me even more, because it was obvious she wasn’t safe.
It wasn’t my job to make sure she was safe. She made that clear. She could look after herself. I thought about the panic she was in when she called me. For help.
Cursing loudly, I turned the car around and ignored Cooper’s knowing grin when I passed him in his car and pounded my fist on her door.
Angel opened it and gaped at me. “What?”
“Get your stuff. You’re not staying here.”
“This is my house,” she said again.
“Yeah, it’s a house where some loser is coming in and jerking off over your bed and your clothes.
Get your stuff.” She looked like she wanted to argue.
Shocker. “It isn’t a request, vampire.” I saw her hesitate, and I leaned forward.
“It’s either me or Cooper, but you’re not staying here. Pick wisely.”
“You better come in while I grab some things.”
Not long after, we left, and I waited as she locked up her house. I’d never shared a car with Angel before. Had I not been conscious of the fact that she looked like she would jump from the vehicle at any moment, it would otherwise be a normal car journey.
Opening the gates that led to my house, I saw her glance at me but say nothing.
The drive was lit up, and she gawked out the window as I drove the short distance.
The house was secluded, and the first thing I had liked about this property when I bought it was that the short driveway was curved, so it hid most of the house from the street.
Well, if there was a street.
Parking, I got out without a word and headed to the house. When I didn’t hear her car door open, I looked back at the car. She was sitting inside, and I knew exactly what she would be thinking.
If she came into my home, she was admitting she needed me. And she did. But it was still a hard pill for her to swallow. Asking me for help. I should probably be more gracious.
I wasn’t known for my grace.
I waited. If she thought I was opening the car door for her, she’d thought wrong. She took any longer, and she’d be sleeping in the car. She must have seen my intent on my face as the car door slowly opened. Angel got out, opened the rear door, and pulled out her overnight bag.
She walked toward me, flinching when the car beeped, alerting her to me locking it. In silence, we entered the house, and I disabled the alarm quickly before I led her through the open-plan living area toward the kitchen.
Turning and leaning against the counter, I watched her put her bag on the barstool and look around, her hands running over her skirt, because she was still in her work clothes.