Descending slowly, Angeline heard Kane yelling for her to go back, to try to run.
“Shut up, kid.”
Noel bent down and shoved his fist into Kane’s open mouth. At the sight of his lip splitting open, the blood dribbling down his chin, Angeline moved quicker to his side. She had to help him, like she had when they first met.
“Not so fast.” Noel stopped her where she stood and flashed a set of yellow teeth as his scar seemed to stretch up his face. Angeline tried to back away from him, but Noel’s arm encircled her back, and he pulled her close. “So this is the little shit that’s got Kane all mixed up,” he said.
She hated the sight of Noel’s hands on her son’s head, and even as Theo seemed to cringe under his father’s touch, she held her baby tighter.
She wanted to whisper to her innocent baby, “No. You’re Kane’s, sweetie. I promise,” but she remained quiet.
“Little bugger kind if looks like me,” Noel said with a wicked laugh. “How about that, boys?”
The other Blood Brothers nodded, but Angeline could see that they were uneasy. Could that be her way back to Kane? If she could just get them on her side, then maybe there was still a chance.
“Get your hands off—” Kane clawed at the air, and Waldo sent him crashing back to the ground with the force of a single, swift kick. Angeline winced, as he groaned in pain, and Noel turned Angeline’s face to his.
“We made a cute kid,” Noel teased. “I’d love the chance to get under you again.”
Angeline closed her eyes at the idea of his hands on her. His fingers came to rest under her lips, and Angeline barely suppressed a whimper, as he traced the line of her mouth. “Might be sweeter to plug this little hole,” he said. “What about it, Angel?”
Doing everything in her power not to tell him that he has no right to call her Angel—never did, she focused on the previous statement and said, “Try it and I’ll bite it off.”
Noel seemed stunned by her defiance, and he brought a sharp slap to her face. As her body absorbed the blow, she spun back and fought to keep Theo’s crying form in her arms.
“You son of a bitch!” Kane screamed through his bleeding mouth. “I will fucking kill you!”
“Trash eating scum!” Noel yelled, as he hoisted Kane from the floor. His fists went to work on his chest, and Kane went limp in his hold. “Like to see you try.”
Angeline tried to calm her son, as Noel dragged a chair from the kitchen. Placing it before her fallen body, Noel sat Kane down and pressed his hands to his shoulders.
“What do you think, kid?” Noel asked, glowering at Angeline as she crouched in the corner. “I mean, the possibilities are like endless.”
Whistling for Waldo and the guy with the dreads, they assumed Noel’s position and steadied Kane’s swaying shoulders. Kane was made to watch as Noel knelt at her side and brushed the matted hair from her cheek.
“I’d like to see her dance,” Noel said. “Bet I could turn her out before she knew what hit her.” Noel’s palm surrounded her face, and he looked back to Kane, seething in his chair. “She is a fine piece of ass,” he continued. “Think we can both attest to that.”
Angeline shivered at the thought that Noel would make her a whore. His whore. Her father was groaning weakly just a few feet away, and Kane was a prisoner of his Brothers even as he tried to kick the chair out from under him. However, they were outnumbered, and there was nothing to stop Noel from ripping her from her home, from the boys that she loved, and sending her into total blackness.
“And as for the little one… well…” Theo wailed when Noel touched his face, and Angeline clutched him desperately. “He might fetch a fair price. Lots of people would give their eye teeth for such a sweet kid.”
Theo sold on the black market to anyone with the right amount of cash? Raised in a home where he might never be loved? She wouldn’t have it. “This is my son!” she screamed. “I won’t—”
“Ain’t she a fighter!”
As she struggled to rise, Noel danced her to his chest and pressed her to his body. Angeline bit down on her tongue at the feel of his cock rising under his jeans, and Kane screamed like a mad man. “Leave her alone! Leave them alone!”
“I don’t know,” Noel said. “She’s mighty soft. They both are.”
Noel pressing his hand under her skirt and probing her dry pussy with his wretched finger was one thing. When he touched Theo again, she followed Kane’s lead and tried to kick him away.
“Not so fast!” Noel said, tightening his grip and forcing Angeline to her knees. Breathing hard, she saw Kane ensnared. They couldn’t hold each other, but she brought her head to Theo’s chest and tried to find some salvation in the feel of his heart beating wildly into her ear.
“I’m sorry, Angel,” Kane said. “I am so sorry.”
With the little hope that she had left, Angeline looked into his eyes. His dark eyes. Even now, when her future, when Theo’s future was in jeopardy, she still felt a kind of safety when she could just linger in his stare. Sadness clouded her soul at the thought that this would be the last time that she would see him. She should have found another solution for her father’s pain. She should have fought harder or at least pressed charges when Noel raped her.
She should never have met him.
“I’m… I’m sorry, too,” she murmured.
Straining towards his bloody lips as she kept Theo close, Angeline felt the room fall way. For just a second, there was nothing but them and their child in her home. The brutes at her back, at his arms, seemed to vanish, and she felt his blood swirling on her tongue and down her throat as she kissed him lightly. Even injured, he tasted like a dream, but sorrow washed over her when she realized that this kiss would have to sustain her for a lifetime of servitude.
Without him.
Kane’s mouth came to rest against her ear, and Angeline drank in words of love that she might never hear again.
“That’s it!” Noel cried. “That’s enough.”
He pulled her away from Kane and sat her across from his captive frame. Shrugging her off, Noel assumed her abandoned position at Kane’s side and gripped his collar. “It goes like this,” he said. “Bet your little bitch told you all kind of tricks of the trade.”
He winked at Angeline before he continued.
“Now you can do it, or she can. But I’m betting that you’ll stand up. Finally be a man.” Noel was back on his feet and punched Kane’s arm. Putting the point on it, Noel twisted back to Angeline, and she flinched when he touched her hair. “Or maybe he really is a dud. If that’s the case…”
He touched Theo, and the baby screamed again. Angeline forced her eyes to Noel’s and glared at him. “Then what?” she challenged.
“Then, you’re gonna get real sore real quick, Angel.”
“No! Okay! Okay I’ll…”
Noel rose with a clap and tousled Kane’s battered head. Pinching his cheek, Noel smiled. “That’s a good kid,” he said. “We’ll make a lot of money. And… Kane? Hey?”
Pulling him from the chair, he brought him to Angeline’s side. She moaned at the feel of his body so near and longed to hold him, to kiss him again. However, Noel placed his face between their desire and said smoothly, “And you’ll stay in line, or your girl and my kid will be mine to do with as I please.”