Angel
“No, it wasn’t anything like that,” Angel said, feeling stupid about Friday night all over again. “No one got arrested, but we’re all in punishment-drills hell now. The coach is not letting us off easy.”
Sal asked Angel about Sarah. Apparently even he’d seen some of the photos being posted all over including footage of some of the drinking games Angel hadn’t seen and thankfully hadn’t participated in. Angel explained briefly that she’d been a little concerned but they were good now.
Glad that Alex had since gone up to the room, Angel took advantage of his moment alone to talk to Sal about Leo, especially now that Sal had brought Sarah up. Sal could help him validate his gut feeling that something wasn’t right for good reason, not just because Alex’s and Romero’s first instincts were always to crack their knuckles and assume the worst. His older brother also wouldn’t hesitate to tell Angel to get his head out of his jealous ass and just accept that this guy could be the real deal—that maybe Angel was just feeling weird about having to share Sarah’s affection with yet another guy.
He brought Sal up to speed about her dad and Leo, leaving nothing out. He told him everything: the flowers, the near-naked photo Leo had sent her, how often they spoke online and on the phone, and how her dad had just disappeared all of a sudden. He even told Sal about Leo busting the guy’s lip in the restaurant’s parking lot. Of course, Sal was more concerned that Alex had made a scene in the restaurant, but they moved past that.
“So what’s her brother have to say about her dad disappearing?” Sal asked, getting back to Leo. “He doesn’t think it’s odd?’
“I guess not. Sarah said he seems more pissed about it. At one point, she said he told her their dad can go to hell. He hasn’t been talking to him either.” Sal was quiet for a moment, and Angel continued, getting to what he really wanted to talk about. “The thing is, Sal, I got this bad feeling about her brother. I don’t know what it is, but something tells me not to trust him. And now he’s out in Havasu with her. I just can’t shake the feeling that he’s up to something.”
“Is that who that thug was?” Sal asked, his voice going up a tenor. “The one in the photos Valerie posted? I was wondering if I should even mention it because I wasn’t sure you’d seen it. Is he the one with all the tats?”
“Yeah, that’s him.” Angel frowned. “What do you mean wondering if you should mention it? Why wouldn’t you?”
“Because I figured you’d get all crazy, and what good would it do with you all the way in Hawaii? But never mind that,” Sal said, dismissing Angel’s annoyance. “How the hell is a guy like that related to sweet little Sarah? He’s got bad news written all over him, and he doesn’t look a thing like her. How do you know he’s even her brother?”
Finally! “That’s what I’m saying!” Angel, said standing up because he was suddenly too antsy to sit anymore. “Other than her douche bag dad’s word that this guy is related to her, we have nothing else. But what am I supposed to do? Sarah seems pretty confident that he’s her brother. And worse yet, she’s excited about having a sibling. He hasn’t asked her for anything or done anything shady, so my hands are tied.”
“No, they’re not,” Sal said immediately. “Do your homework, man. There’s gotta be a way to find out if he’s really who he says he is. But be prepared to find out he just might be her brother, Angel. Maybe, just like for me, the first impression of him got to you. I thought he was a thug with all his tats and shit, but that impression doesn’t fit what you just told me about him. Other than the photo you called inappropriate, nothing else seems shady about him.”
“First of all,” Angel said, feeling irritated that Sal would insinuate Angel was making more of the photo than it really was. “It was inappropriate. If those shorts had hung even an inch lower, it would’ve been porn.”
Sal laughed before Angel could finish. “All right, whatever,” he said. “My point is I saw the guns on the guy. Even if his shorts hadn’t been hanging low in the photo, you wouldn’t have liked it. I’m just saying maybe he’s not the brightest. Don’t let that one slip cloud your judgment. If your gut’s right, then good for you for not letting your guard down, but if he’s legit, don’t be a stubborn ass. Sarah deserves to have a relationship with her brother regardless of your first impression of him.”
The conversation with the more level-headed of his two brothers hadn’t quite given Angel what he’d hoped for: justification for feeling as suspicious of Leo as he did. Sarah still hadn’t responded to his voice mail.
He was about to check a text from his coach when he heard Alex’s voice and some of the other guys on the team whooping and hollering. Angel looked up to see a smiling Alex walking toward him. “Let’s go check out this island,” Alex said.
“What?” Angel asked, confused as some of the other guys were high fiving each other behind Alex.
“You didn’t get the coach’s text?” Alex asked. “Tomorrow morning’s practice is still on, but the second practice tonight is cancelled. We’re free to do what we want tonight.” He turned to look at the guys behind him and lowered his voice. “Those idiots are actually talking about partying.”
Angel jumped up from where he’d been sitting, suddenly feeling energized but mostly relieved that their grueling second practice was cancelled. “I say we grab a cab and have him drive us around to check out the sites.”
“Fuck the cab.” Alex’s face soured as they walked out of the hotel. “We gotta a lot of time to make up for. Let’s go rent a helicopter.”
~~~
Back from his evening out in Waikiki with his brother, Angel was finally able to call Sarah back, who’d of course called when they were on the helicopter and there was no way he could answer his phone. After that, he hadn’t a moment far enough from Alex to have the conversation he knew he’d be having with her once he got a hold of her. But now that they were back, Alex had stepped out to do the very thing Angel wanted to do—make a call in private.
He hit the speed dial button and lay back on his bed. The last thing he wanted to do was argue. But he was still curious why she hadn’t told him about Leo being there. She hadn’t left a message, just texted him to call her whenever he got the chance. Just hearing her voice when she answered had him smiling instantly.
“Hey, baby,” he said, sitting up. “I was on a helicopter earlier when you called.”
She was quiet for a moment then responded. “Helicopter? I thought you said you had two practices today.”
“I did, but they cancelled the second one.”
“Who’d you go on a helicopter with?”
“Alex,” he said simply.
“Just the two of you?”
“Yep.” He smirked. “It was romantic as shit. We held hands and everything.” That made her laugh and he smiled. “God, I miss you.”
“I miss you too. We’re leaving super early tomorrow morning so we’ll be there in time to pick you two up from the airport. I can hardly wait.”
“You don’t have to, babe,” he said, the thought of seeing her tomorrow already exciting him. “I don’t want you guys racing home. That’s a long drive.”
She assured him they wouldn’t be racing. They’d have plenty of time if they left early in the morning. Angel hated to ruin their fuzzy moment, but he had to know or it’d drive him crazy.
“So why didn’t you tell me Leo was out there with you?”
“He didn’t get here until today,” she said. “I didn’t even know he was coming. I’d mentioned to him I’d be here, and then today he just showed up.”
“I saw the photos of you and him on the Jet ski.”
“Yeah,” she said almost in a huff. “I didn’t know Valerie would be posting so many of them.”
Angel gnashed his teeth once again to try and see the silver lining. With a guy like Leo driving Sarah around on his Jet ski, it was highly unlikely any other guys would dare mess with her. Unlike Valerie and the other girl who’d gone out there with them, the only photos of Sarah with any guy were the ones with her and Leo.
“So you had fun?”
“Umm.” She seemed to hesitate then continued. “It’s been an interesting day.”
He waited, but that’s all she gave him. “How so?”
Sarah exhaled rather dramatically, making Angel nervous. “First, we were invited onto that big boat you probably saw in the photos.” She paused, but he didn’t respond to that because he didn’t want ask who the fuck invited them.
He already had an idea—total strangers they’d probably just met. If he asked and was right, there’d be no holding back telling her what he thought about that, and he didn’t want this call to sour this quickly. Something in Sarah’s tone already told him he might be hearing something galling.
“Then,” she continued, “Leonardo showed up unexpectedly, and to be honest, his showing up was kind of a blessing. I didn’t really want to go on that boat, so he saved me from having to do so.”
“You didn’t go on the boat?”
“No.”
Okay, maybe his theory about it being better that Leo had been there was panning out. “What else?”
She yawned, and he could hear her moving things around. “I’m so tired, Angel. Maybe I can just tell you about everything else tomorrow. There’s just so much. All I know is I’m never doing something like this again. It was too nerve-wracking with all the drunken guys and girls and fighting—”
“Fighting? Who was fighting?”
“Everyone,” she whispered, but he noticed the tiniest change in her voice.
She sounded sad, and it made him sit up straighter. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said, but there was definitely something wrong.
“Sarah, babe, don’t lie to me.”
“I just . . .” She took a deep breath. “I just should’ve never come here without you.”
“Tell me why?”
“It seems my stomach’s been in knots all day.” Her voice sounded less upset now, and it made Angel feel a little better, but she was still being cryptic.
She lowered her voice and told him the rest. The other girl who had gone with them, Monica, had gotten really drunk. So instead of leaving her on the boat alone with all those guys—all four of them wouldn’t have fit on Leo’s Jet ski when he and Sarah had gone to pick up Valerie—Leo dropped off Sarah with his friends on the shore and went back alone. He got Monica and Valerie back just fine, but a few minutes later the drunken guys from the boat came looking for them in their Jet skis, and Leo and his friends had stepped up. “Leonardo beat one of the guys so badly,” she whispered, and Angel couldn’t tell if she was crying. “I thought he was going to kill him. It was just so scary. It was a side of him I didn’t expect. That’s all. It’s just a reminder that I know so little about him.”
A part of Angel was glad Sarah was feeling cautious about Leo, but another part of him was even more concerned about her brother. From what she was saying, the guy was unpredictable—dangerous.
“Anything else or are you too tired?”
He was trying to be mindful that she was three hours ahead of him and that not only had she had a long day she’d just finished telling him she was getting up super early—for him. But he got the distinct feeling she was holding out on something even bigger than just the fight.
“There’s more,” she said, yawning again. “But I really need to get some sleep, Angel. Valerie and I are gonna take turns driving tomorrow. If I get into this now with you”—she inhaled and exhaled—“it’s not gonna be short.”
Great. Now he really wanted to know. “That bad?” he asked, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the headboard of the bed.
“No,” she said, yawning again. “It’s just long. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow. Okay? I promise.”
They hung up, and twenty minutes later he’d nearly conked out with the TV on until Alex walked in and woke him.
“You talked to Sarah?” Alex asked, pulling off his shirt and throwing it on the chair.
“Yeah,” Angel nodded, turning the TV. off, hoping Alex wouldn’t turn it back on again.
Alex walked into the bathroom, and Angel could hear him brushing his teeth. As soon as the water stopped running, Alex called out. “So you know?”
“About what? The fight?”
“You mean fights.” Alex chuckled, walking out of the bathroom, and sat down on his bed. “From what Valerie tells me, Leo’s worse than Romero.” Alex untied his shoes and shoved them off using his feet then started pulling off his socks. “And you said he wasn’t like us with Sof, but sounds to me like he is. First, he beat the shit outta this one guy. Valerie said she was pretty sure if they’d left her friend with him he would’ve taken advantage of her. Leo made sure he got the girl off the boat, but then later that same guy turned to Sarah and told her the other girl was too drunk to be any fun but she’d do just fine.” Alex laughed again, shaking his head. “Idiot. Val said Leo beat the guy until he was barely moving.”
“She told me about that fight,” Angel said, sitting up on his elbow, surprised Sarah hadn’t mentioned that detail about it. “There was another one?”
Alex peered at him as he stood up and unzipped his pants. “Well, not so much a fight as much as Leo knocked someone the fuck out again. She didn’t tell you about that?”
Angel shook his head but already had a bad feeling about it. “She was tired. She said she’d tell me the rest tomorrow.”
“He walked them back to their room, and a couple of drunken idiots were waiting down below for them,” Alex said, sliding in under his sheets. “Said they were hoping to be invited up to their room again.”
“Again?” Angel asked, instinctively glancing at his phone, ready to call her back if he had to.
“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Alex frowned. “I guess last night the girls were hanging out on their balcony, people watching, and these two guys started talking to them, so the guys decided to invite themselves up their room. According to Valerie, the guys knocked on their door, but they didn’t let them in. Anyway”—Alex yawned—“Leo was cool until one of them said something to Sarah, and he dropped him on the spot with a single punch.”
“What did the guy say to her?” Angel asked, wondering what would make Leo so mad or if the guy was just as feral as he looked.
“I dunno,” Alex said, rolling over. “Something stupid I guess, but Valerie said none of them ever saw it coming, least of all the drunk guy. One moment his drunk ass was slurring something at Sarah, and the next he was on the ground.”
Staring at his already passing out brother, Angel thought about that. Sarah had described Leo as scary.
I thought he was going to kill him.
Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough. Angel needed to know everything about this guy now. Angel knew all about explosive tempers. Sarah was no stranger to his. But she’d said it herself. As much as she’d been around him and his brothers and even Romero, who was worse than all of them, she’d never used the words scary to describe any of them. Brother or not an unpredictable and possibly dangerous guy was not someone Angel wanted Sarah getting close to.
~*~
Sarah
The entire ride back to La Jolla Sarah had thought about everything she had to tell Angel today. This might possibly have been the longest ride of her life. She’d had extensive time to think about what she’d be telling him, and she knew Angel was already suspicious of Leo. As discomforting as it was to have seen that side of Leonardo, at least he’d been up front and honest about it. He didn’t have to tell her, and the fact remained that in both instances when he’d just reacted, he’d done so in her defense. Angel couldn’t possibly hold that against him.
After spending the entire day with Leonardo, she’d picked up on a vulnerable side of him. While he’d said things to her that made her uncomfortable, including that he’d never felt what she brought out in him, she wondered if that was because of what she’d realized about him from the very first time she’d spoken to him. He wasn’t the best-spoken person she’d met. He was crude and cussed too much, but he had a soft side.
It was something she’d noticed from the very beginning. She got that when it came to saying nice things—sweet things—he had a hard time with his phrasing. It was as if he weren’t used saying those things to anyone. Maybe that’s why his choice of wording felt wrong. Just like when he called her baby girl. She tried to go with the theory that he thought like her dad, but it felt wrong, and since Angel couldn’t even stand hearing Sydney call her Lynni, she was certain he’d object to this. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell Leo not to call her that.
Another thing she’d confirmed this weekend was something she’d begun to pick up from Leonardo in the previous weeks. Regardless of the uncertainties she still had about him, her instincts told her he wasn’t out to hurt her. He’d made that even clearer this weekend. If he’d wanted to, he could’ve easily done so. Instead, he’d protected her, albeit a bit harshly. Except for that one moment she began to panic on the Jet ski, not once had she felt unsafe around him. She wasn’t letting her guard down about Leonardo. She knew better. There was still something off about him, but the one thing she knew now for sure was that he’d never harm her. She was certain, however, Angel wouldn’t understand, because even she couldn’t explain why she was so certain. So she decided that for now she’d keep that part to herself.
They dropped off Monica first, and then Valerie dropped off Sarah because both wanted to pick up the guys in separate cars. Sarah and Angel were getting a room. She’d been gone all weekend, and she was in no hurry to get home, not when she knew the alternative was to sleep all night and then wake up in Angel’s arms. Her insides were already going wild with anticipation.
Valerie met Sarah by the luggage claim, even though neither Angel nor Alex would be waiting for any luggage. They’d just agreed that would be a good place to meet. There were plenty of other family members, girlfriends, and even wives with kids waiting for the team. The arrival of their plane was announced, and Sarah couldn’t believe how anxious she felt about seeing him. It was almost silly. He’d been gone for just a weekend, but with everything that had happened that weekend, she felt as if he’d been on the other side of the world for months. She watched as some of the players began coming down the escalators. Some were wearing their jerseys others wearing school T-shirts or sweatshirts. Then she saw him. Both he and Alex were wearing jeans and their jerseys, only Angel wore a long-sleeved shirt under his while Alex wore a short-sleeved one.
“There they are,” Valerie said, nearly dancing next to her.
The instant both brothers saw them, they smiled big. Jesus, they both looked so perfect, but Angel’s gaze took her breath away and had her choking up already. Both she and Valerie rushed to meet them and were in their arms the moment they were close enough. Angel buried his face in her neck, holding her tight. “God, I missed you,” he said, inhaling deeply. “That felt way longer than three days.”
She pulled away to look at his face. “It did, right? I’m not just pathetically love-sick?”
Angel laughed. “Well, I hope you are because I sure as hell am, but, yeah”—he smiled big—“it felt way longer. Next time we plan ahead ’cause this ain’t happening again.”
They parted ways with Alex and Valerie and headed straight to a room near the beach. Sarah thought maybe he’d want to take a walk on the beach or have something to eat at one of the beachside restaurants, but even as early as it was, Angel said all he wanted to do was get back to the room, order in, and enjoy their time together. He didn’t say it and Sarah was certain it was because he didn’t want to ruin the mood they were in, but she knew he had to be anxious to hear everything else she had to tell him about Leonardo.
She was used to Angel not being able to keep his hands off her, but today was different, the way he touched her and caressed her even as he just listened to her talk. She told him about long drive home from Havasu and how they’d nearly run out of gas because neither she nor Valerie had noticed how low they were until they were miles from a gas station either way.
“Monica slept almost the whole way home; she was so hung over,” Sarah said, touching his lips in the elevator up to their room.
Just like when they’d waited for the clerk to give them their hotel keys in the lobby, Angel held her close, hanging on her every word. Love-sick was exactly the word she’d use to describe the way he looked at her, and she loved it because it was exactly how she felt looking at him.
“Unreal,” he whispered, running his fingers through her hair.
“What,” she smiled, looking down at his lips then back into his eyes.
“The way you make me feel,” he whispered, tracing her lips with his fingers, then looked down at her as she stared deep into his eyes. “It’s like everything I felt this weekend, all the angst, all the worry and then mounting anticipation to be near you again, was all worth it. I’d even do it all over again, relive the torture the coach put us through a hundred times, for this very moment. This,” he whispered, kissing her softly then pulling away to look into her eyes again in that way that had always made her knees weak. “This makes anything worth it. I’ll never say it enough. I love you, Sarah.”
Feeling the warm tears flood her eyes, she hugged him tight just as the elevator dinged and came to a stop.” I love you too.”
They walked down the hallway, leaning against each other and giggling because they both knew how disgusting most people would think their behavior was. Alex and Valerie were likely already naked somewhere, making the most of their time back together. If Angel did nothing more than hug her and stare into her eyes the way he had since they’d met at the airport, she’d be just as blissfully satisfied.
The moment they were inside and the door closed behind them, Sarah found out real fast that hugging and staring lovingly into her eyes all night was not all Angel had planned. He pulled her close and kissed her a lot deeper than he had been since he arrived.
Walking backwards as their breathing accelerated with every stroke of their eager tongues in each other’s mouths, Angel lifted her blouse from the bottom and pulled it off her. He pulled his shirt off, and she ran her hands over his big bare shoulders, kissing them as he brought her down to the bed. Like a pro, he undid her bra and had it off her in seconds, all the while kissing her insatiably. Sucking her bottom lip harder and harder knowing damn well that would have her moaning soon, he unzipped her jeans. Sarah lifted her hips to help him pull her jeans off along with her panties.
Angel groaned at the sight of her now naked body under him. Sarah would never get tired of the way his eyes gazed over her so slowly in such awe as if it were the very first time he was taking in every inch of her. Spreading her legs, he slipped his hand between them and stroked gently, making her tremble uncontrollably. Maybe another time she’d be willing to wait for him to take his time, but not today. She reached down for his zipper and started to undo it until he pulled away and did it himself.
Once she had him out of his pants and just as naked as she was, she pulled him down onto her, loving the way his perfectly chiseled hard body felt against hers. “Make love to me,” she whispered anxiously.
“Okay,” he whispered back, looking into her eyes with a slow smile. “But first can I fuck you until your screaming my name?”
Her eyes twinkled as she spread even wider for him. “Yes please.”
Mercifully, he didn’t make her wait. In the next instant, he plunged in and began doing just that.