She took a deep breath as the car pulled up. She had decided to start over with Angel and was going to give him a pass for yesterday since it had been his first day on the job. That must have been why he’d treated her that way.

When the car stopped, she slid in, shutting the door behind her, and smiled wide, determined to make this a great day. “Morning, boys.”

“Morning,” Tom replied, putting the car in drive.

It hadn’t been his response she’d been waiting for.

Sitting there patiently, waiting, she realized the tatted one wasn’t going to give her a response.

Okay …

Adalyn took another deep breath, wanting to try again. “So, how was your first day, Angel?”

“Fine.” It was a quick, almost irritated response.

She couldn’t help it when words started spewing from her mouth, uncaring that Tom was there, too. “Do you have a freaking problem with me or something?”

The car fell silent for several moments before his cold, uncaring voice slashed through the air. “Other than you talk too fucking much? Not really.”

Stunned, her mouth dropped open. Asshole.

Tom laughed. “For once, I think she might be speechless.”

“We can only hope,” Angel mumbled under his breath, making Tom laugh harder.

Her chocolate depths flashed as she hatefully stared at the thieving, sexist, piece of shi—

An evil smile began to finally touch her lips. I know how to fix this.

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her phone and searched through her contacts. Clicking on the name she wanted, she went to send a text message, quickly typing in what she wanted to say. She then wasted no time pressing Send.

Adalyn stared down at her phone with a smug look on her face. Reading the name at the top, she finally felt satisfaction. Lucca.

Looking back up at Angel, she watched him finally turn his head back to glance at her, seeing a slight bit of concern finally showing through his eyes. It wasn’t concern for her, however. It was concern for him. Little did he know that it was too late.

Her eyes travelled back down to the screen, reading the message she had sent.

I need to talk to you about Angel.

* * *

Spending the school day with Angel, she couldn’t help really concentrating on him. She concluded that she had no fucking clue who he was. He was like an enigma. The more she tried to figure him out, the less sense she made of him.

He should be nice to me, right? I watched him steal the ring …

That was the biggest mystery of all. He should want to be nice to her to keep her mouth shut, but he was doing the complete opposite, like he was trying to piss her off.

She wouldn’t understand it next to his careless attitude. He damn sure wasn’t much of a bodyguard, considering he was never on alert the way the Carusos were.

A Caruso always stood with his eyes constantly scanning the room, something she never saw Angel do. She wondered if that was the reason for his harsh appearance and tattoos. Maybe he wanted the don’t-fuck-with-me look so he didn’t have to worry about anyone messing with him. She figured it probably worked, knowing not many people here saw men covered from head to toe in tats.

He was like a rare … creature, and there was no way anyone else like him existed.

“Adalyn? Adalyn!” Lake snapped her fingers in front of her face, finally getting her attention.

Adalyn quickly stood, grabbing her things. “Sorry.”

“You all right? You’re acting kinda weird today.”

“Yes. How am I acting weird?” She brushed it off, heading toward the door.

It took Lake a second to figure out what was different about her. “I don’t know. You’re just awfully quiet, I guess.”

“Probably because I was told I talk too effing much by Angel.”

“He did what? Did Tom hear him say that?” she asked.

“Yep. He laughed.” Adalyn went through the open door, halfway hoping it would hit Angel in the face.

“What a dic—” Lake cut herself off when she saw the two bodyguards on the other side of the door.

Rolling her eyes when she saw Angel resting his head against the wall behind him in boredom, Adalyn figured he wouldn’t last much longer, so maybe talking to Lucca wasn’t necessary anymore.

She continued to walk right past them, starting the journey back to the car since they were leaving their last class of the day.

I bet he’s not going to last one more—

A cold hand was wrapped around hers, pulling her backward. It wasn’t until Angel’s back had somehow managed to end up in front of her did she realize it was his hand.

Angel abruptly thrust his other hand and arm out, stopping the male student who had almost ridden his skateboard right into her.

By the smile the guy on the skateboard had and the laughter from a small group of students who were watching, it became apparent it wouldn’t have been an accident if he had collided with her.

Angel twisted his ink-covered fingers into the student’s shirt. “You could’ve fucking killed her.”

Adalyn looked down at the hand that had slightly tightened around hers as he’d said those words. A strange feeling washed over her, reminding her of the feeling she had gotten when she had first met him, making her realize that feeling had never left but had just hidden deeper inside her the more he ignored her.

The greasy-haired kid smirked even wider, clearly unaware of the serious shit he had just stepped into. “I had to make sure you goons were doing your job.”

As Tom stepped forward, Angel shoved the skater with one powerful move, making him fall to the ground. “Now you fucking do.” Then he reached out with his foot, flipping the skateboard up into the air and grabbing it with his free hand.

What the fuc—

Her hand was tugged on to begin walking beside him.

Did that really just happen?

“Hey! That’s my board!” the kid still sprawled on the ground yelled behind them.

Okay, it did, but did he just flip it … then catch it?

That feeling that was creeping up on her got stronger.

Dammit, stop it! Don’t think it!

When he dropped his hand from hers once they left the building, she felt it again—that bizarre sensation that happened when their skins were pulled away from each other’s. She felt another piece of her leave with him while she captured another piece of him. It was unlike anything she had felt before, a feeling that should frighten and bring her to her knees in fear of losing herself to him. But it didn’t. At least, not yet.

When Angel continued walking, he left her still very much too shocked to move.

Lake stood beside her, apparently just as shocked. “That was, um …”

“Fucking hot,” Adalyn finished for her, unable not to think it anymore.

They stared as he confidently walked away with the skateboard still in his hand.

“Yep.” Lake’s voice was a little heavy.

“Do you think he knows how to ride it?” Her voice might have been a little heavy, too.

“We can only pray.”

When the two girls began to pray, they prayed for two different things.

Dear Heavenly Father, if you want to keep me a virgin … don’t let him ride that damn board.