Chapter 17
“Vex. I have to do something. I’m going to go nuts sitting around your cabin while you’re at the warehouse. Maybe I could work there? Sweep? File?” Angel propped her hands on her hips as she strolled back and forth across the family room. She had to get him to understand somehow.
“Our cabin, Baby girl. You’re still recovering. You’re not built for physical activity, anyway. What kind of job did you have before?” Vex asked. He was incredibly unbothered by her need to do more than lounge on the couch. He didn’t get it!
“I can do as much physical activity as the next woman,” she argued. “I always worked out and kept myself fit.”
“There’s a difference, Angel, between playing tennis at the country club and moving a fifty-pound supply bag around.”
“Are you trying to piss me off, because you’re doing a really good job of it,” Angel demanded.
“I’m being honest, Baby girl. I understand you’re bristling because your life is completely topsy-turvy. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s best for you.”
Angel slumped, her anger evaporating as he didn’t react the way she expected. “I don’t know what to do. I like being with you, but I need more. Honey and Winnie go to work. Caroline writes all day long.”
“And you’re here by yourself. Okay, let’s take this one step at a time. Your health was drastically impacted by being held in horrible conditions. I’d suggest we need to first find out if you’ve recovered physically enough to consider what to do.”
“How do I figure that out?”
“What do you think about going to an appointment with Razor and letting him give you a physical and run some tests? We already have discussed birth control. At this appointment, we can talk to him about making sure you’re protected from pregnancy before you’re ready for that,” Vex suggested.
“I don’t want to risk a baby while we are sure the Ravagers are still out there ready to pounce,” Angel said.
An unfamiliar warmth kindled inside her.
She liked that Vex had never indicated that he was anti-children.
Had he thought of building a family with her?
She might like to have kids someday. With him.
“Exactly. They won’t always be around. So? We start with an appointment with Razor?” Vex asked.
Angel hesitated. Razor understood what she had gone through and had checked on her when Vex had rescued her. “Will he give me birth control without examining me? That might be strange because we see him and Honey so often.”
“Razor takes care of everyone in the MC and the Littles. Honey knows that her Daddy is a doctor. Are you worried about him seeing you without your clothes?”
“Yes. But if he can prescribe something without me getting undressed, that’s great,” Angel answered.
“Razor won’t do that. He’s serious about doing no harm. He definitely doesn’t hand out medicine as if drugs come out of a gumball machine. Ask Honey if she’d be okay with Razor being your doctor if talking to her would reassure you.”
“I guess I could do that. I’ll try to run into her next week.” How in the world she’d ever bring up that subject, Angel didn’t have a clue. What if Honey got mad at her?
Vex’s movement drew her attention from worrying about her friend’s reaction. She glanced up to see him raise his phone to his ear. Had his phone buzzed?
“Hey, Razor. Is Honey with you? Angel’s worried about upsetting Honey by coming to see you. Would you mind putting the phone on speaker so they can talk?”
Immediately, Angel waved her hands in front of her to ask him to stop. What was he doing? She didn’t know what to say.
“…course. Honey, Angel wanted to speak to you about her appointment with me.”
“Hi, Angel. Daddy’s making me clean my nursery. Thanks for saving me.”
“You can pick up the puzzle pieces you threw at Daddy and chat at the same time, Little girl,” Razor reminded her.
Angel’s eyes got big, and she looked immediately at Vex. Honey had tossed something at her Daddy? That was so naughty. “We could call back later if that would be better?” Angel crossed her fingers, hoping Honey would take her up on that.
“No. This is good. I can multitask,” Honey answered, stressing the last word.
“Don’t be sassy, Little girl. Your bottom will not be happy,” Razor said firmly. His warning sent a shiver down Angel’s spine.
“Sorry, Daddy,” Honey said quickly before changing the subject. “You have an appointment with my Daddy, Angel?”
“Maybe? I….” Unable to think quickly of a good way to say this, Angel blurted, “I don’t want to upset you. Is it weird if Razor treats me as my doctor?”
“Weird?” Honey echoed. “Oh, you mean because he’ll see you naked?”
Angel backpedaled. “Only if absolutely necessary. I can go to someone else if that’s better.”
“Breathe, Angel. It’s okay. I know my Daddy has examined lots of men and women without their clothes.
His job bothered me for a while, but then he pointed out that he had chosen me.
He’s examining his patients as people he cares for so that they can be healthy.
He’s checking for what’s wrong. Not noticing what looks right. Does that make sense?”
Angel replayed that statement in her mind. That made perfect sense. Honey was confident in how much her Daddy loved her. Her friend understood that doctors chose the reason why they scanned people.
“Angel?” Honey asked when she didn’t respond.
“Sorry. I’m here. Thank you, Honey. I was replaying what you said in my brain. You’re pretty smart.”
“Except when I’m battling PMS and temptation is staring at me,” Honey whispered.
“I can understand that. You should eat chocolate.”
“See, Daddy. Angel says I should have chocolate,” Honey crowed.
“Angel doesn’t know you’ve already eaten a king-size bag of chocolate pieces,” Razor reminded her.
“Oh, yeah. Angel? Want to play? I’ll have this cleaned up in ten minutes or so,” Honey asked.
“I’d love it,” Angel answered. She liked Honey a lot. Honey couldn’t be mad if she wanted Angel to come visit.
“Give us a half an hour, Angel. Two thousand pieces take a while to corral,” Razor told her. “We’ll meet you outside.”
Vex disconnected the phone and slid it into his pocket. “Just so you don’t get any ideas, no throwing things at Daddy. I believe in multitasking too. A Little girl can pick up puzzle pieces with a red bottom.”
“I’d never. That’s so naughty.” Angel immediately rushed to assured him.
“Oh, you’ll find something else naughty to do,” Vex said. “Let’s talk some more about what you’d like to do after Razor gives you the green light to work.”
Sitting on her Daddy’s lap, Angel basked in his attention as she told Vex about her training and previous job. He seemed impressed by her knowledge and asked great questions. She’d attended an excellent university after high school. That’s what everyone did. A degree was expected.
“Did you think of continuing your studies?” she asked Vex hesitantly.
“No, Baby girl. College wasn’t ever for me. I worked two jobs through high school to help my mom support my brothers. My classes were fine. Some teachers were great. Others, awful.”
“How did you become a Devil Daddy?” she asked.
“Believe it or not, Lucien’s bike broke down in front of my mom’s house a few years ago. I arrived pissed off because the printing business I’d been at since my sophomore year in high school had announced they were retooling to automated machinery. Everyone in my division got fired.”
“They didn’t keep you because you’d been there forever?” Angel asked.
“No. A new guy I met in the parking lot held onto his job, while I was out on my ear even though our tasks were similar. Then I pull up at my mom’s place and some motorcycle thug with tattoos all over was camped out in front of her house casing the joint.”
“He was going to rob her?” Angel asked, shocked and instantly upset as well.
“No. His bike had a flat. He’d stopped on the street under Mom’s big oak tree to plug the tire. I, of course, came at him hot and angry.”
“He didn’t react?”
“Oh, yeah. The look he gave me set me back on my heels. That was Lucien. Something about him warns you he’s not to be messed with. I turned around and slammed my way inside. I almost knocked over my mom, coming out with cookies and iced tea.”
“Oh! She’s so nice.”
“She’s a sweet soul. Mom lives with my youngest brother and his family. She looks after the kids and the house for him after my sister-in-law passed away from breast cancer.”
Tears pricked Angel’s eyelids. She was instantly sad. “I’m sorry, Vex.”
“I’m sad for my brother, but this situation works for them. The kids are doing well in school, and Mom loves being part of their lives and taking care of people again.”
“She was helping Lucien too, huh?”
“She was. He’d knocked on the door and retreated ten feet, so he didn’t scare her. After explaining why he needed to work in front of her house, he focused on getting his tire fixed.”
“That was good of him,” Angel said.
“It was. I took him the refreshments, apologized for jumping to conclusions, and grabbed my mini air compressor to fill his tire.”
“And he offered you a job?” Angel guessed. Lucien looked scary, but she felt something more from him. Maybe he frightened some and kept those he had ties with closer. An effective way of screening people.
“He did. I followed him back to the warehouse and filled out the paperwork. I started the next day.”
“How long has Inferno been there?”
“It started about five years after he hired me. By that time, I’d joined the Devil Daddies.”
“I never thought I’d say this, but thank goodness for a flat tire,” Angel said.
“That nail changed my life. I still have it.”
“No way!”
Vex walked over to a glass jar on the TV and tipped it into his hand. He returned to the couch to show her the nail. “It doesn’t seem that important, does it?”
“I’m glad you kept the nail, Daddy. You holding on to it makes me think you’ll keep me too.”
“Oh, I’m not letting you go, Baby girl. Shall we head outside to see if Honey is ready to play?” Vex asked.
“Yes. Are you going to make an appointment with Razor?”
“You’re going Wednesday at ten,” Vex told her.
“You already had a time set up?”
“I did. A Daddy takes care of his Little girl, Angel.”