Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Candy
I’m hardly through my first foil when a knock sounds on the door of my mini salon. Angel set it up for me when I first came.
It’s got a salon chair, a flatbed for larger waxings, a sink, and cubes for me to store my products. I’ve put some plants and stuff in it to make it feel homier and it’s a place I feel more at home than any other.
I close up the last foil and give Harmony a quick smile. “Be right back.”
Opening the door, I expect to see one of the girls. Someone who didn’t get a time slot or wants to change the one they have.
Instead, Angel stands on the other side of the door, Killian next to him.
Something in Killian’s face makes me step back. I know he’s married with a child on the way. And I know when it came to Promise, he actually helped protect her, even when it wasn’t clear that Angel was going to do right by her.
So the look is unexpected and it freaks me out. I slide back a few inches and tighten the opening of the door. “My next client is about to arrive,” I say nervously, gnawing at my lip. “And Harmony is in my chair.”
Angel’s gaze flips behind me. “We’ll be quick. Killian just had a couple of questions for you.”
“What kind of questions?” I ask, my hand tightening on the knob.
“Want to step into the hall?” Killian asks, a muscle in his cheek ticcing.
“With you? No, thank you.” I give him a polite smile, before my gaze returns to Angel, the question in them clear. Can I trust Killian?
Angel’s slight wince tells me what I need to know.
“Just out of curiosity, did Sver tell you that we met last night?”
I draw in a gasp, looking back at Killian. “What? You’re lying, he—”
“Met me in the parking lot when he was on his way to pick up your things.” Killian’s eyes narrow even as my stomach drops.
There is a lot about Sver I don’t know. Red flag? Who the fuck knows. I think that’s normal except what I do know about him is that danger is his middle name. And I attract bad like a magnet.
My silence is Killian’s invitation to continue. “And just so we’re clear…” Killian straightens up. “He agreed to leave the city and never come back.”
My knees go weak. “He—he’s leaving?” I look back at Angel, tears I can’t quite hold back filling my eyes.
Sver saved my life. Reconnected me with Angel…did he do that for me because he knew he’d go?
I promised myself I’d take whatever he gave and be grateful, but I can feel my heart breaking. My eyes slide closed and I shake my head. “Is it true, Angel?”
Angel clears his throat. “I wasn’t there, but when Sver dropped you off this morning—” Angel stops and I force my eyes open.
“What?” I ask, just needing the bad news as quickly as possible.
“He left me a bag of money and told me it was for you in case he didn’t come back.”
The tears I can’t quite hold slip down my cheeks.
The door opens wider as my arms loosen at my sides, and I press my forehead to the door frame. “I should have known.”
“What should you have known?” Killian asks. “That he was a piece of shit who doesn’t care about anyone or anything other than himself?”
“Killian,” Angel chastises. “That’s enough.”
I force my eyes open, more tears leaking from them. “I should have known that I wasn’t enough.”
I see Killian’s face pinch, but I can’t think about him.
Feelings I’ve hardly admitted to myself rise up, pushing past my lips. “I keep saying that I have shit taste in men, but I think it might be time for me to admit that not even my parents loved me.”
“It’s not true, Candy. Everyone here loves you.”
I shake my head. “You turned me out, Angel.”
“Candy, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was my fault. I don’t just have shit taste. Let’s be honest, I am shit and no one worth anything will ever love me.” I feel myself sinking.
Not just my body. My soul.
I’m not enough to keep Sver. I’ve never been enough for anyone to stay and love me.
“Candy,” Angel growls, his hand wrapping around my bicep. But I barely feel it as the darkness inside swallows me deeper. “Are you fucking happy, Killian? You wrecked her.”
“He deserves this,” Killian growls, but I can barely hear him.
Angel pushes the door open with his free hand and then wraps his arm around me, lifting me off the ground.
But I can barely feel. I’ve gone numb. I’m limp as he carries me over to the table.
“Fuck. Candy?” Harmony cries out. “What’s wrong with her?”
“That’s what you do now, Killian? You hurt innocent women as collateral damage?”
“She’s hardly innocent and he’s done way worse. Sver killed my brother’s fiancée. This is nothing.”
Those words draw some energy back into my muscles as I lift my head, meeting Killian’s gaze over Angel’s shoulder. “What?”
“That’s right. Your man kills innocent women.”
“Are you…are you saying all of this to hurt him?” My hands tighten on Angel’s shoulders. “Is it even true?”
Killian’s lip curls. “Both are true.”
I don’t know how I feel about what Killian accused Sver of doing, but I know what I think of Killian attempting to hurt Sver through me.
My anger replaces the hopelessness that had just filled me.
“Take your bullshit somewhere else.” I glare at him, even as Angel’s hands on me tighten.
“I won’t be a part of whatever you’re trying to do. ”
I realize my mistake the second before Killian starts moving.
But Angel senses it too and he drops me, spinning, his shoulders growing ridiculously broad as Killian slams into him.
Angel stumbles back even as I scramble out of the way. Harmony screams and jumps from the chair. Angel crashes onto the waxing bed which collapses to the floor, buckling under both their weight.
But Angel manages to catch Killian with a stiff uppercut, sending his head snapping back. He pushes Killian off and rolls away, just as Killian presses up onto his hands and knees shaking his head.
That’s when Axel appears in the door. “What the fuck?”
“Get Candy out of here,” Angel growls.
“You’re protecting her?” Killian spits. “Sver could hurt any one of our women. My wife. My future child.”
Angel pushes up, standing between Killian and me. “Candy is one of our women. At least for the Sinclairs. So if your game is to hurt her, get the fuck out. I made a vow to my wife. I will not sacrifice principles over money or power. Period.”
Killian wilts back to the floor. “That’s not what I’m doing.”
Angel starts to answer, but the shrill ring of a phone cuts him off. Killian pulls a flip phone from his pocket, picking up the call and spitting into the phone, “You are a fucking plague, you know that, don’t you?”
And then he presses a button for the phone to be placed on speaker. That’s when I hear Sver’s deep voice rumble through the phone, “I don’t have time for banter.”
“I just told your woman what you did to Rebecca.”
Silence.
My chest grows tight. I don’t know what all of this means, but I know it’s bad. That what is happening is about to reverberate through my life and Sver’s too.
“Vinnie Morelli is driving west on 114th Street and he’s about to turn north onto Claremont.”
“You’re lying.”
“He’s not,” Rock chimes in. “It’s true, but I still don’t know where he’s going. Sver—”
“Triple-time it, Killian.”
“Sver!” Killian roars into the phone. “Promise me that you’ll protect her—"
“I promise. Now go. Don’t waste another second.”
Killian is off the floor and gone before the words can even move past my lips. “What’s happening?”