Redeeming Angel (14 page)

An emotion crossed her face. A wistful
gleam. “Well honey, Devin and I have decided to move in
together.”

“
What? Are you
insane?”

Chapter 13

{Angel
}

Where love was concerned, Mom didn’t
have the best track record. I mean, her last husband had turned
into a drunk, landed in jail, and ultimately was used by Hell. He
had a black soul, the kind Hell gravitated to.

I thought for sure Chase
would come barreling through the front door at the speed of light
due to the rise in my blood pressure. He was definitely listening,
but I was past the point of caring.
“Don’t
you think you’re moving a little fast?” I asked, pizza getting
cold.

She twirled the stem of her glass on
the counter. “It might seem that way, but with you gone at college,
Dev and I have gotten more serious. And it seems like such a waste
having this big old house empty most of the time.”

I made an ugly face. Gross.
She’d just implied she spent most of her night’s next door. I could
have done without that image. “Can we not mention you and
Dev…
together
?”

Mom smiled warmly. “He’s an amazing
man and an even better kisser.”

OMG. I buried my face in my
hands, groaning.
Make her
stop
. I swear she made a game out of
embarrassing the crap out of me. The more uncomfortable I got, the
louder she generally laughed, but her tactics never failed to make
my cheeks burn. The second she started telling me how famous
Devin’s butt was, I was walking out. But then I realized something.
Whether she did so intentionally or not, her awkward teasing made
me feel more normal than I had in weeks.

Still didn’t change the
fact I didn’t want my mom to move in with Devin.
I
didn’t want to move in
with Devin. I started to visualize what my life would be like if
Mom and Devin got married. It got me thinking. Lexi would
constantly be in my stuff, always trying to dress me up. Travis and
I would be duking it out for Internet connection. And
Chase…

My head lifted. Oh God.
Chase and me. Under the same roof. Twenty-four hours a day. I
needed oxygen.
Suddenly, living together
wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Mom thrust her fingers through her
tousled hair. “I know that look. What are you thinking?”

“
Chase and I are going to
live together,” I whispered.

“
I wondered when you were
going to make that connection. Actually, I’m surprised it wasn’t
your first thought. You sure you don’t have a fever?” She lifted
her hand as if to place it against my forehead.

I rolled my eyes. “Funny. I leave for
a few months and suddenly you think you’re a comedian.”

“
Comedian or not, I’m still
your mom, and there are going to be rules. Very strict
rules.”

It was my turn to laugh. Mom didn’t
know the meaning of strict, and really what was the point? There
was pretty much nothing left for Chase and I to possibly
do.

“
I know how much you care
for each other,” she stated.

Did she really though? I wasn’t sure
Mom grasped the depth of our feelings. She knew we were serious and
I loved him. She knew we shared an unexplainable bond, which
summarized our relationship—unexplainable. Not rhyme or
reason.

“
But,” she continued, “that
doesn’t mean I’m okay with you shacking up.”

Shacking? Who still uses
the word shacking?
“I get your drift. Oh,
and I’m not calling him dad.”

She laughed. “I think you’re getting
ahead of yourself. I never said anything about marrying
him.”

True, but I knew Mom, and she would
never make such a huge step unless she loved Devin and was hoping
it would lead to the sound of wedding bells. The woman was a
hopeless romantic if there ever was one.

Maybe this meant she would be giving
up her daisy dukes, but something told me that wasn’t happening
anytime soon.

“
You’re sure you’re okay
with this? Nothing is set in stone. I don’t have to sell the house.
I can
—”

“
Mom, stop. It’s fine. I
swear.” I could see how important this was to her, and by God, if
Devin made her happy, who was I to stand in the way? It was like
she said; we were all away at college, and I would feel better
knowing Devin would be around to look after her.

Argh. College.

I’d already missed so much of my
classes there was no way I would be able to catch up. Knowing
Chase, he had probably used his wily methods to ensure I was
getting straight As. However considerate his efforts were, I didn’t
want to bs my way through school. As it was, I would probably have
to retake the semester, and so would Chase. I just had to convince
him. He had his methods, and I had mine.

“
Okay then,” she said,
taking a bite of cold pizza and making a funny face. “How about I
make us all a family dinner tomorrow? You look like you could use a
home-cooked meal.”

“
I’d like that.”

Change. Change. It was all
around me. Everywhere
—
inside me. Reminders that nothing would be the same. I felt it
then, a thread of darkness, residing in me, curving and weaving
around my soul.

I don’t know what happened. I sort of
just checked out, withdrew inside myself. The next thing I knew,
Mom was calling my name and I was blinking rapidly, trying to focus
on where I was.

“
Angel, are you okay?” Her
smile slowly fell.

No. I was far from okay,
Mom. I’d just spent almost a month locked in a dungeon possessed by
a darker side of me. And I don’t think it’s fully gone.

Instead I said, “Yeah. I’m fine. I’m
just happy to be home.”

Expression filled with tenderness, she
reached up and brushed one side of my face.

The darker side had once been strong
enough to manifest and take over.

Never again, I vowed.

~*~*~*~

Questions. I only had about
a gazillion of them. Chase and I hadn’t had the
talk
about what happened, neither of
us anxious to relive those moments. I remember the pain clearly. It
was the before and after that were fuzzy, and he was the only
person with answers.

“
Really? You bought a new
car?” was the first thing that popped out of my mouth.

A shit-eating grin unfolded
on his lips. “I
borrowed
it.”

My eyes went wide with understanding.
Borrowed my butt. “Chase!”

He bumped my shoulder with his. “Don’t
worry. It will be safely returned to the owner. No harm
done.”

“
Uh-huh.” We were sitting
on the stoop of my front porch, watching the wheat field across the
street grow. What else did you do in Spring Valley?

The sharp autumn sunlight bounced off
his silver eyes. It was the middle of October, and in Illinois that
meant the weather changed from day to day and temps ranged from
eighty to twenty. The leaves had started to turn and flutter to the
ground, like little drops of fire in the trees. It would only take
one good storm to strip the trees of their covering.

“
Everything is so quiet
here. It makes me nervous,” I said.

“
The calm before the
storm.” He fidgeted, and I couldn’t help but notice how often his
eyes darted over the yard.

“
Are you going to tell me
what’s got your boxers wadded up?”

His lips twitched. “You just can’t
stop thinking about me half-naked, can you?”

That was his sad attempt at trying to
avoid the question. I wasn’t letting it go. I pinched him on the
side at the sensitive area above his hip. “Tell me or I’ll be
forced to hurt you.”

He placed a hand over my knee. “I
planned on telling you, but I wanted more time with you before
dealing with the past and what’s to come. I’m selfish like
that.”

I placed my hand over his, lacing our
fingers together. There was this urge inside me to touch him as
much as possible. “Well, thanks to you, we have time to be selfish
with each other.”

His chest heaved. “You’re right. I
guess I should tell you what happened in Vegas.”

“
You went to Vegas. Without
me?”

“
Yeah well, you were kind
of indisposed. But trust me, Angel Eyes; it wasn’t a vacation. I
went in search of a demon who might have answers to stop the
darkness from spreading, from overpowering you.”

“
A demon?” Outrage city
came pouring out. “You trusted a demon?”

“
No. Nobody said anything
about trust. I’m not completely witless. Anyway, I knew what I was
getting into. This wasn’t the first time I’d gone in search of
demons.”

“
You’re just a world of
wonder. Why did you never tell me?”

He folded his hands, propping his
elbows on his thighs. “There are some things from the past, things
I’ve done I don’t want shadowing the way I feel about you. I’ve
never felt like this about anyone, and I’m bound to make
mistakes.”

“
I know who you are, and I
know you’re not perfect.”

He snorted.

“
We’ve both done things
that have damaged us, but I don’t need all the details of your
sordid past. I love who you are,” I said to make sure we were
clear.

After a moment of silence, he said,
“The only way I knew how to save you was to step into the darkness
with you.”

“
I could sense you. Even
when there was nothing but blackness, I felt you. It was the only
thing that kept me going.”

“
Our bond is stronger. I
was counting on it.” His skin was still a golden summer tan. I was
jealous, looking down at my own pasty arms. “When I was searching
for a way to bring you back, I had to make a deal.”

My lips turned down. “What kind of
deal?” I asked, scooting to the edge of the step.

His eyes said it all.

“
Chase! You
didn’t.”

“
What did you expect me to
do? There was no other way. I wasn’t about to leave you there
another minute.”

I knew that while I’d gone cuckoo,
Chase had suffered. There had been moments of clarity where I felt
his pain, but hearing the anguish in his voice, struck a chord.
“And you’re worried about the deal you made?” I never knew Chase to
let a demon get the better of him. It was disconcerting.

His gaze got lost in the distance.
“It’s not the deal I’m concerned about.”

I raised a brow. “What
then?”

He deadpanned. “It’s the demon. She’s
different than any I’ve encountered. And…”

She?
It was stupid, but I was suddenly filled with jealousy. Me?
Jealous of a demon? Redonkulous. But there was something in the way
he spoke about her that caused my internal girlfriend radar to go
berserk-o.

“
Before you jump to all the
wrong conclusions,” he said, sensing the fibers of my jealousy
through our link. “She’s Lexi and Travis’s mom.”

My mouth hit the ground, immediately
dousing my irrational possessiveness. “Uh, say what?”

Fingers dove into his ragged hair. “I
know. That was exactly how I felt.”

“
Oh my God.” I got a sick
feeling in my gut. “What does she want?”

“
She says she wants to
reconnect with Travis and Lexi.”

“
And you don’t believe
that’s all?”

“
No.”

The first lesson Chase taught me was
to never trust a demon, no matter what they promised. “What are we
going to do?”

“
I honestly have no idea,
and that’s what’s bothering me. If Kira really wants to find Travis
and Lexi, there’s not much I can do about it. I’ve been trying to
decide if I should tell them or not.”

“
Do you think they have any
interest in seeing her?” Demon or not, she was their mom, and I
knew how much my best friend longed for a “real” family. Yet there
was nothing
real
about a demon.

“
We’ve spent our lives
running from and fighting demons. It’s hard for me to imagine they
would want anything to do with her.”

Chase’s feelings for his father were
very black and white, and I could hardly blame him. I hated
Alastair, but Chase’s hate went deeper—a lifetime deep.

Some people come into your life as
blessings; others come into your life as lessons. Kira was
definitely a lesson—and we were still waiting to see what lesson
we’d learn. One thing I did know—it wasn’t going to be good. When
she called in her deal with Chase, he’d have no choice but to
answer.

Damn her.

I wanted five minutes alone with the
demon. She’d messed with the wrong guy—my guy. A burn started in
the pit of my chest, rising. “She wants to use you.”

“
I know.” Helpless anger
etched into his face, matching mine.