Abandoned Angel (11 page)

“I would have Blaze. I would have gone with him if you hadn’t,” the realization came to her as she spoke the words, “if you hadn’t rescued me at the clubhouse.” What Blaze had done for her was suddenly very clear.

Angelina had an incredible urge to wrap her arms around the strong man so that she could physically feel his protection in the same way she sensed it. She did not. Instead, she sat in the still of the night, slightly nodding her head as she composed her thoughts. Not only was the alcohol kicking back in, she was seeing Blaze in a different way. Instead of an intense fear spreading throughout her body, a real sense of gratitude and admiration took over. Perhaps the beer helped exaggerate the feeling, but it was there just the same.

“Why?” Angelina reluctantly questioned.

“Why what?” responded Blaze.

Angelina continued, needing an answer; “Why me and not Tiffany?” she asked.

She spoke deliberately quiet, not wanting to trigger his anger again; she just wanted to know why he was helping her out. She was nobody, and meant nothing to the man.

Blaze sat motionless for a moment before he answered, trying to figure out how to explain, both to himself and to her. Hell, he wasn’t ever sure he had an answer. He just had not wanted her to end up in a situation that she could not and would not survive. The woman had not chosen to be a part of this life; she
was thrown
into it. That made all the difference in the world to him. Choosing to live this way was one thing, forced into this life, was all-together a different story. Blaze didn’t know how to explain that to her, and he wasn’t up to trying. He took another swig of his beer, giving himself a moment to think.

“Because you are
soooo
much hotter than Tiffany!”
Blaze finally stated with a matter-of-fact tone, lightening the mood. What else was he going to say? That he had an ardent desire to help the woman, even though he didn’t know her. He didn’t understand it himself, how could he explain it to her? Instead, he laughed, “I mean look at those tits.” He made a motion with his hands to exaggerate the size of her boobs.

Angelina’s surprised look made Blaze chuckle even more. She liked his laughter and the way it lifted his expression. It was as if he was two separate people. When he laughed, his eyes lit up and invited her in. When he was serious, there was no room for her in his thoughts. It was a shame that he didn’t laugh more often. His laughter made him very attractive.

His response amused Angelina. It was ok that he was not willing to give her a real answer, at least for now. He was funny, when he wanted to be.

“You helped me out because of my tits?” she asked. “Now that’s deep Blaze,” finished Angelina, grinning at him like a student infatuated by her teacher. Her eyes sparkled with amusement. Blaze enjoyed her subtle beauty.

“I’m a biker, baby, that’s about as deep as it gets,” he replied, once again amused by himself.

Some of the smartest men he knew were bikers. The curve of his mouth lightened as the strains of his past lifted from his expression. He had avoided the question, but she let it drop just the same.

“You are a biker, yes, but somehow I imagine it gets a lot deeper with you,” she replied, sure there was more to the man than what he implied.

Although she was flirting, it was hard to forget that he had backhanded her earlier. Why was she always attracted to the dangerous ones? She didn’t want to be with someone who bounced back and forth between emotions so easily. Or did she? Angelina chuckled over her confused thoughts. For a moment, she had forgotten that Blaze would be out of her life within a couple of days. It did not matter if she found him attractive or not – they were from two different worlds, in a temporary situation.

Blaze gently pushed her can of beer towards her mouth, telling her to drink. She did so, eagerly, with her long fingers draped around the cold beer. She wanted the relaxed sensation that she was feeling to continue so that she didn’t hurt anymore. Angelina guzzled most of the can down quickly, allowing a splash to drizzle down the side of her mouth. Blaze stared at her, a bit mesmerized. He knew she did not come from money, and was amazed that she managed to look classy, even as she chugged a beer. He noticed the way her hair fell into her face, and how her eyes sparkled when she was being playful. He hoped that the reserved woman would be able to be playful often - once she had her son back.

“Do you want another beer?” he asked, enjoying the greed in which she drank.

“I really do,” she said, grinning to herself as she realized how she must look. It had been a long day, she was a mess, and tired as hell. Her shirt was torn and tied around her breasts, and to top it off, she had blood splattered on her shoulders from a man’s broken nose. His nose was broken, mind you, over an argument about her. The situation certainly was not comical, but for some reason, when she thought about it like that, it amused the woman. Damn, some day she would have one hell of a story to tell her grandbabies. She grinned at herself as Blaze teetered over to the group Doc was sitting with; he was feeling the alcohol also, though he hid it well. Angelina finished her beer. Her goal was to feel peaceful, as quickly as she could. She longed to feel comfort, and to push her fears and worries aside for just a while. The beer was bringing her to that. It was also making her very drowsy though.

When Blaze returned, he straddled the log next to Angelina. His fit legs touched the side of her body. Angelina turned to look at his strong face.

“What is your son’s name?” he asked as he handed her a cold Bud Light. The question surprised her. She assumed that he could care less about her baby boy. She wondered why he suddenly showed interest.

“Justin,” she hesitated, not wanting to allow herself to get upset again.

“My baby’s name is Justin. He is an amazing little boy,” she added, missing him tremendously.

Blaze smiled at Angelina and brushed the hair from her face.

“I bet he is,” replied Blaze, thinking how lucky the boy was to have a mother like Angelina. Her eyes flickered as she said her son’s name. Blaze would hold that mothers’ look of love in his memory. It softened his heart, as he had not seen that look from anyone in a long time. With the one word, he could see that Angelina’s world centered around her beloved son, as it should be. He could also see the pain that the question brought her, reminding her that her son was not safely by her side, as she wanted.

“Did Justin see this happen to you?” Blaze asked as he gently touched her bruised face with a tenderness that surprised her.

Angelina looked down, ashamed and embarrassed by her situation, shaking her head.

“I don’t think so,” she said softly, ashamed of the fact that she really didn’t know for sure. She prayed he had not seen or heard the abuse, but odds were that he had.

Blaze watched the woman for a moment as a breeze sprayed across her young face. He found the freedom of the night exhilarating, and was enjoying the nice buzz that he had going. His knees, one on either side of the log, rubbed up against the outside of Angelina’s leg as she continued to face the fire in front of her. He sensed that his touch was making her nervous – albeit, a good nervous.

Angelina was suddenly very aware of the sexual attraction she held towards Blaze. She was not quite sure how to behave. Blaze was being kind, playful, even charming. As far as she could tell, he was flirting with her. His behavior and the fact that she was enjoying herself with the biker was confusing. How could she allow herself to have fun with the hard, edgy man that intimidated her so? Angelina still felt like she was tiptoeing around on top of egg shells with Blaze, and understood that if she cracked one, (said the wrong thing) his anger would come back in full force. She did not want to forget her place again, regardless of his current behavior and kind temperament. He had after all, backhanded her earlier in the night, and she had too much experience with seemingly kind men turning ugly on her. She needed to stay on guard and be careful to show respect.

Blaze leaned in close to Angelina, so that they were almost nose-to-nose. Staring directly into her soft eyes, he whispered, “So, Biker Bitch, think you could get used to living like this?”

The way he raised one eyebrow as he asked her this, struck Angelina’s funny bone. She could not help but to laugh, snorting out beer, onto his face as she did so. An instant fear tightened her chest. It was a complete accident, but such accidents had gotten her beaten in the past by her drunken father. As Blaze slowly wiped the moisture from his face onto his hand, and then from his hand onto his dark jeans, Angelina apologized.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.” Her body tensed as her heartbeat quickened in anticipation of his anger. He looked up at her, his face completely lit - with humor. The expression on her face after spitting on him was priceless. Was he really that scary? Blaze bellowed out; a real laugh – the kind that lifts your spirits and eases your soul. He had that contagious kind of laughter that you are lucky to be a part
of
. Angelina joined him, trying again to apologize, but this time unafraid.

Doc, off in the distance, shook his head as he watched Angelina soften his friend’s features.

Laughing felt good, for both Blaze and Angelina. Each of them needed it, because they had not experienced it to that extent for a while. Angelina liked his laughter and the way it carried throughout his whole being. He appeared to be a completely different man when he allowed himself to laugh. It was odd how this intimidating, cold, hard man could cause her to feel things deep inside that she had not felt in a long time, with something as simple as his laughter. One moment she was terrified of Blaze, sure she would again trigger his temper, and the next moment, she sat next to him, enjoying his company more than she could have imagined she would. The way he made her feel, both intimidated and carefree, confused her. She rationalized it by telling herself that she had not spent time with an adult in a very long time, and that was all it was.

Once she was able to catch her breath, Angelina responded by saying, “Yeah, I’m quit the biker bitch Blaze. I can’t seem to keep my mouth under control. I don’t listen real well,” she raised her eyebrows humorously, “and apparently I can’t handle my liquor.” The smirk on her face filled with simple amusement. “I sure do look the part though,” she chuckled half-heartedly, looking at her clothing. Her head shook slightly as she grinned. “First I jump you about Tiffany, and then I hide behind you like a terrified weak child while you defend my . . . uh, my honor as it is.”

Angelina pictured the incident and realized how ridiculous she must have looked - cowering behind the man like a little school girl afraid of the class bully.

“Your honor, huh?”
Blaze chuckled, amused by her choice of words. “Is that what I was defending Angel, your honor?”

“Ok, so if it wasn’t my
honor
, Biker Man, that you were trying to protect,” she shot back, enjoying the playful banter, “was it my ass or my tits?” Blaze was easy to tease.

Angelina managed to look both innocent and inviting curled into a singular gaze. Although intrigued by her warmth, Blaze realized that had he not been drinking, he would never have allowed the camaraderie to develop.

“Both,” Blaze simply stated. His mischievous grin dazzled his manly features.

“Thank you for that Blaze.” Angelina lost her smile as her face fell solemn and serious.

“I imagine you must thing I am pretty pitiful huh?” she asked. “Weak.”

“You did fine,” stated Blaze patting her hand instinctively. “You did the right thing by getting behind me, but I have a gut feeling that if it came down to it, you would be quite the scrapper.” The biker thought about how Angelina had wanted to protect Tiffany. “Trust your instincts.”

She smiled sweetly, appreciating the statement, even if she did not believe it to be true.

“I don’t know about that Blaze, I’ve just taken it for so long now, that I don’t know if it is in me to fight back anymore.”

Angelina had never talked about the abuse she had endured throughout her life - with anyone. It was a private, shameful matter, but it seemed ok to talk about it with Blaze. He did not judge her or ridicule her, and he did not feel sorry for her either. That was important to the woman. For a long time Angelina longed for an adult friend and right then, in her drunken state, Blaze felt like a friend. She enjoyed that, even if it was not going to last. She allowed herself to live in the moment.

“Don’t you see Angel? You are fighting back,” replied Blaze. “You are fighting for your son, and that is the first step in fighting back.”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” she agreed, “and damn, I am going to kick Rusty’s ass when we find them.” She tightened her fist as if wanting to knock someone out. “I am a green belt in karate you know!”

She amused herself, knowing that a greenbelt meant nothing if you had no experience using your skills. She had none.

“You are? Well, maybe I will just have to train you so you can be a black belt then,” Blaze teased. He was surprised to hear that she had taken lessons. His firm hand rested on her knee. He was suddenly very comfortable with Angelina and their location.

Doc continued to watch from a distance, unnoticed. Although he was glad to see Blaze enjoying the woman, he had put his guard down. That was never a good thing with Spike around. Spike has never liked Blaze, and after the incident with the bitch, who knew what Spike would do. Blaze had pissed the malicious man off by stepping between him and Angelina at the bar. Although Doc will do his best to help his friend out, allowing himself to
be drawn
into this type of situation was ridiculous. Blaze should have known better.