Chapter 26 Angel
Standing in the doorway of his bedroom, I watched him as he shut the tablet down and kept his gaze on me.
“Why aren’t you dressed?”
“Because my stalker was here, and I’m worried,” I told him calmly.
“He won’t get in,” he told me as he put his devices on to charge. “The house is secure,” he spoke with his back to me, and I really didn’t like that he did.
“What if you were always the target?” I asked him.
“I wasn’t,” he dismissed the idea easily.
“How do you know?” I asked as I walked toward him. “The police said that you were the duck because you were always there when something happened to me, but what if you were always there, because it was to make you react?”
“If someone wanted me to react, they would have targeted something or someone I care about.”
I took a step back, but I didn’t think he noticed, too intent on his own self and his own anger. Onyx looked up at me. “Go get dressed.”
“Are you going to work today?” I countered.
“Of course. I have meetings, clients, and people who depend on me.”
Without a word, I turned and walked back to the room. It didn’t make sense for me to have a stalker; it never had. But him? I could see it. What if I were the decoy and the actual target was down the hall?
He was a dick. To everyone. He had to have a lot of enemies. It made sense that it would be him. Was I really the only one who could see it?
Showering quickly, I got dressed in a pantsuit, and when I went downstairs, he was on the phone, pacing back and forth as he spoke to, or more accurately barked orders at, whoever the recipient of his wrath was.
He saw me waiting and held up a finger as if to silence me. I had no intention of speaking, so it didn’t matter even if he did piss me off . . . again.
“Yes, I said all of it,” he said curtly, and then I saw him roll his eyes. “Just do it and tell me when it’s done.” He hung up and then looked at me. “You have everything you need?” he asked as he picked up his tablet.
“Yes,” I answered quickly.
A knock sounded on the door, and I jumped in surprise, whereas Onyx didn’t flinch. He strode past me, and I watched as Cooper and Charlie walked in. Charlie was already telling Onyx something, but it was Cooper I watched. He looked like death.
“What happened to you?” I asked him quietly.
“Not enough sleep,” he muttered as he headed for the coffee machine.
Onyx was still listening to Charlie, and I moved closer to Cooper. “What if it’s him?” I asked him, and Cooper glanced at me. “What if it was never me and always about him?”
“Already checked and rechecked,” he told me as his coffee brewed.
“Everyone?” I asked in surprise.
“You think there’s a list of people who hate me?” Onyx asked from behind me.
“Yes.”
Charlie muffled his laugh, and even Cooper smiled. Onyx didn’t. “We already checked,” he said coolly as he looked Cooper over critically. “You look like you’re going to crash any second.”
“Probably am,” Cooper told him as he drank down a coffee.
“Balan, let’s move it,” Onyx ordered, and I turned to face him. He knew I was going to protest because his eyes widened fractionally, and I shut my mouth.
Charlie was on the phone to someone regarding the paint outside, and I missed what Onyx said in Cooper’s ear, but Cooper gave a nod, and I watched as Onyx checked him again before he walked away.
The car was paint-free. Which I didn’t understand and daren’t ask because Onyx was a ball of rage beside me. He drove quickly to the office, and when he parked, he got out, and I hurried out after him.
As we waited for the elevator, he turned to me. “You go nowhere today without me, understand?”
“I don’t think—”
“Angel,” he warned as the elevator arrived. “Don’t.”
“Fine.”
As we arrived at our floor, Onyx strode into his office, and I hesitated before I followed him, closing the door behind me. “What is your problem?”
He’d been taking his suit jacket off when I came in, and he paused before he hung it up. “Why must there be a problem?”
“Don’t,” I snapped, mimicking his tone from earlier. “Don’t do this, you don’t get to do this now.”
“Do what? I have a very busy day, so can you hurry this along?”
“You’re being a dick.” Crossing my arms, I stared at him. “I’m sorry they got to your house, but it’s not my fault.” I thought about it. “Okay, it’s maybe my fault, but it wasn’t intentional.”
“I’m aware of that, Angel, and it’s not your fault.”
“Okay. So you can’t, you know, take it out on me or pretend that nothing’s happened.”
“Nothing has changed,” he told me coldly.
And for him, it probably hadn’t, and I was stupid to think maybe it had. Last night as he slept beside me, I’d felt . . . relaxed. At ease with him. My fear of thawing toward him had also melted away, as had my dislike of him. He hadn’t even done much to warrant it.
Just protected me, and apparently that was enough.
“I’ll let you get on,” I told him as I turned to open the door. “Let me know what happens.”
“I will.”
In my own office, I thought about it — all of it. I couldn’t remember it all straight in my head, and opening my top drawer, I screamed as I jumped back. A dead rat lay in my drawer, and I felt sick as I saw the entrails around the body.
Onyx was suddenly in my office, and I pointed to the drawer. Looking at it, he snorted as he closed the drawer. “Spilled its guts,” he muttered as he checked the drawer. “This fucker got into my office. Again.”
“It’s technically my office,” I said as others came into my office.
“Angel?” Glenn asked.
“Saw a spider,” Onyx told them as he straightened. “You’d think someone like Angel would be calm around spiders, but it’s like we always suspected. She’s a screamer.”
I knew why he did it, but it didn’t make me hate it less. With a few chuckles and muffled laughter, my colleagues left my office. “Really?” I snapped at him.
“Close the blinds; I need to get rid of this.” When I didn’t move, Onyx turned to look at me. “What? Why are you not moving?”
“Because I’m not a machine,” I snapped at him as I crossed to the door and yanked the blinds closed. “I need time to process.”
“You don’t have time, so suck it up, and do not touch anything.
” He exhaled loudly. With quick deft movements, he removed the liner from my wastebasket and then scooped the animal from my drawer with it, carefully folding everything in the liner, and then dropped it in the trash.
“I’ll get the drawer replaced,” he said as he stared down at it. “Angel, come here.”
I didn’t like his tone. I didn’t like the way he looked at me from under his lashes as I stayed at the door.
“Angel.” He straightened, and his tone left no room for argument. Swallowing hard, I crossed the room and stood beside him. “What do you see?”
Looking down, bracing myself to see the remnants of the rat, instead, I saw the card that had come with the flowers.
“He brought it back,” I said as I went to pick it up, and Onyx grabbed my hand.
“Touch nothing.” His hand held my wrist loosely, but even though it was a form of control, it was still some comfort, and I would take it even when he didn’t know I needed it. “What else do you see? Tell me.”
“Blood, bits from . . .” I swallowed. “Well, you know, the card, my notes, pens, um, my receipts.”
“Look at the receipt.”
I looked at Onyx, who was staring at me. “Why? Which one?”
“You’ll know.”
Frowning at him, I did as he asked, looking back in the drawer. The top receipt was for gas from last year. That wasn’t right; I never filed them out of sync. “He took my receipts? I file them chronologically,” I said as I returned my attention to Onyx.
“Look at where you were and the date.”
“Fuck sake, Onyx, can’t you just tell me?” I muttered as I looked back. “Thirty-five dollars on gas, Murphy, July fourteenth.”
“You didn’t go to see the Carmichaels in Dallas in July, you went to see the kid who died.”
“Judd?” I looked between Onyx and the drawer. “Yes, to tell him I wasn’t going to represent him.”
“Ryan Carmichael’s car accident was the next day.”
“I didn’t hit his car, Onyx!”
“No, I know that, now.” He dropped my wrist, and I felt the loss. “I think Judd Christie did. I think he did, and then he killed himself.”
My mouth dropped, and I shook my head. “That’s . . .” I couldn’t think. “That’s a huge assumption.”
“You went to tell him he was not a, what do you call it, good fit?”
“Yes.”
“How did he take it?” Onyx was watching me like a hawk.
“He was upset, but he wasn’t abusive. He said he understood,” I told him. “I wished him the best for his future, and he thanked me for coming to tell him in person.” My hands were shaking as I twisted them together. “He died. This isn’t him.”
“No, unless he’s more talented than you thought,” he said with a quick grin.
“I looked into his death last night, sent it to Cooper. He didn’t overdose; he committed suicide.
” Onyx’s dark eyes stared at me intently.
“Kids with problems who get told they don’t fit in a future they’re never quite believing in,” Onyx said quietly.
“They act out. They drink, they do drugs, they believe their demons. I’m pretty sure I know who ran Ryan Carmichael off the road,” he said gruffly.
“Really? You think they’re connected? This is my fault?”
“No. It’s not your fault. But you reject a kid with prospects. Okay, he’s troubled, but still, you looked at him, so he was good, right?” he asked me.
“Yes, I mean, he had potential.”
“Okay, and then you go all the way to Murphy to tell him in person he isn’t good enough—”
“I never told him that!” I interrupted him angrily. “I told him that we didn’t fit, that he wasn’t right for how I worked; I never told him he wasn’t good enough. I would never say that to someone.”
“Okay, you say these things, Angel, but as a kid who’s got issues, all I’m hearing is that she doesn’t want to work with me. Why? Why am I not good enough?”
“No.” I shook my head as I felt a lump in my throat. “No, I didn’t, Onyx, I didn’t.”
“It’s not your fault,” he told me as he walked around to stand beside me. “Did he have a brother, father, uncle?”
“Brother. He was younger, he was quiet. Their dad wasn’t a present parental figure.”
“Was he there? The brother? When you told Judd?”
I thought back. “I think so. He was really quiet. I didn’t really notice him to be honest.” Onyx watched as I sank down onto my chair. “He’s just a kid; why would he do this?”
“Let’s find out,” he answered darkly as he pulled his cell out of his pocket.
I didn’t listen to what he said as he spoke on the phone, probably to Cooper.
I thought back on every conversation I ever had with Judd Christie.
He was arrogant, had a huge chip on his shoulder, and he used his fists more than his words.
He would have been a nightmare client. PR would be troublesome, and he was unlikely to encourage sponsorships.
I didn’t see a future where Judd and I could work together.
He had talent, and he would be drafted, I was sure — he’d just need another agent.
It happened all the time. I didn’t need to feel guilty for not working with someone.
Onyx ran his hand over my hair. “This isn’t your fault,” he told me quietly. “Cooper’s on it. He may be a bit slower, but he’s looking. I think you need to go home.”
“Are you coming?” I asked as I looked up at him, and I saw he was going to refuse, and then he nodded. “Yeah, let’s go once Charlie gets here.”
“You don’t need to,” I corrected myself. “You have work and meetings, and shit, I have meetings—”
“Angel, we’ll cancel the meetings. It’s why we have PAs,” he added with his usual smirk, and I smiled.
“Okay.”
Charlie came in about thirty minutes later. Onyx had gotten his PA to get me a hot water with lemon, and I was ignoring all the whispers and the looks from my co-workers as they passed my office far more frequently than they ever had before.
I didn’t listen as Charlie spoke quietly to Onyx, but soon, a firm hand was on my elbow, and I was being led to the elevator.
“One more person walks past me and speculates,” Onyx suddenly said very loudly, “will get their desk packed for them.”
Lifting my head and looking back, I saw several people dive into the nearest office, and I looked up at him. His eyes flicked down to mine, but he returned his attention to the doors of the elevator. When it came, he led me inside and hit the button for the parking garage.
“I think I’m freaked out,” I said quietly.
“Mm-hmm.”
“I’m glad you’re here.”
That earned me a look, and he frowned. “Let’s not get crazy,” he murmured.
I gave a little laugh, which surprised him and me. “Sorry,” I said, covering my mouth.
“Fuck, it has to be depressing if you’re apologizing for laughing,” he said grimly as we walked to his car.
“He’s just a boy,” I told him as I got to the passenger side door.
Onyx stepped into me and tilted my head back to look up at him. “And he needs to be stopped.”
“But not hurt,” I whispered. “We should tell the police.”
His thumb brushed my cheek, but he said nothing as he opened the car door for me. We were quiet on the drive back to Belle Meade, and halfway there, I threw caution to the wind and reached over and took his hand.
“What is it?” Onyx asked me softly.
“Just let me,” I countered.
He gave a grunt in reply, but he didn’t move his hand away, and as I lay my head back on the headrest, I closed my eyes.
With my eyes closed and my hand in his, I could forget that there was a stalker prowling through my life, seeking revenge for something — I still wasn’t sure exactly what — that had happened.
“We’re here.”
It took me a moment before I let his words register, but I let go of him and exited the car. Onyx met me at my door, and without a word, he took my hand and led me inside.
It was nice.
Normal.
The feeling of safety he gave me was as shocking as it was comforting.
The huge guy standing in his kitchen was a surprise. “Jeremy?” I asked in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”
“Got told you may need a friend,” Jer said quietly as he grinned at me.
Looking at Onyx, I looked back at Jer. “But . . . how?”
“Called him yesterday,” Onyx said as he moved to his friend, and they exchanged a quick hug.
“Good to see you,” he told him as Jer clapped him hard on the back, and I saw Onyx wince.
“Dick move,” he muttered as he stepped back and turned to me.
“I thought you may need someone who understands what we do.”
Which was all very well and good, but Jeremy Pittman and I were not BFFs.
“Um, that’s nice, it’s really good to see you,” I told him lamely. “You look great.”
Jer started laughing. “He doesn’t mean me, vampire,” he said, understanding my confusion.
“He means me.”
Turning, I looked at her, tiny still but currently heavily pregnant. “Chrissy.”