CHAPTER 29
Angel skidded to a stop when he realized it was the coach he’d just seen running up the trail. But he was alone. Where was Sarah? He looked down the trail. Maybe she’d fallen behind. Would the idiot really leave her alone?
Eric and Romero had eagerly volunteered to help him find Sarah and where driving around the park as well. He texted Eric to let them know he’d found them and where.
Angel peered through his rearview mirror and saw the coach turn into the parking lot he’d just passed up. The rain was beginning to come down harder now. He put the car in reverse and backed up fast.
The tires screeched as he turned into the parking lot and saw Sarah talking to the perv next to his car. He was too close to her and her stance seemed defensive. Angel pulled up next to them, turned off the car and jumped out.
Sarah’s expression crumbled when she saw him and she hurried to him. His fist tightened and he was immediately between Sarah and the coach.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” He asked her.
Her frightened eyes enraged him. The coach answered for her. “It was just a misunderstanding.”
Angel turned away from Sarah’s tearful eyes very slowly. His pulse throbbed in his ear. He spoke as calmly as he could manage. “What was a misunderstanding?”
The coach seemed to take it in stride. “We were talking. You know, about you and the break up. She got a little emotional. I was just trying to comfort her.”
Angel’s jaw tightened. The word comfort had never sounded so obscene. He could hardly contain himself anymore. He looked at Sarah’s frightened eyes. “Is that what happened? Tell me the truth.”
Something in her eyes flickered when he said the word truth. Her trembling lips tore him apart.
She put her hands over her mouth then said it, “He attacked me.”
No sooner had she said the words than Angel was lunging at the coach. “You Son of a bitch!” He growled, landing a nose crushing punch to the face.
The coach stumbled back, his hands immediately to his nose. His face was a bloody mess. Angel raged after him landing another blow to the chin knocking the coach against the car. Angel charged at him ready to pound him unconscious, but his arms were held back by Eric and Romero. He managed a hard kick that caught the coach right in the groin, tumbling him to ground moaning.
“Holy shit, Angel. You kicked his ass,” Romero stared at the coach withering in pain on the ground.
Even as he watched the bloody trail from the coaches face run down the parking lot he wasn’t satisfied. He’d been enraged many times before but nothing compared to what he felt now. The bastard was lucky Eric and Romero had shown up or who knows what may have happened.
Angel ignored Romero and rushed back to Sarah. He put one hand on her shoulder and searched her stunned eyes. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
Sarah shook her head. “No, he just scared me,” She sniffed. “He tried to kiss me and held me hard but I got away and ran. He’d just caught up to me. Oh, Angel if you hadn’t gotten here. I don’t know what would’ve happened. He was crazy.”
She threw her arms around his neck and he held her tight. The smell and feel of her in his arms was the only thing that calmed the tornado inside him.
They left the coach there to fend for himself but Angel drove straight to the La Jolla police. He insisted Sarah make a report immediately. He sat with her the entire time holding her hand. They put out a warrant for the coaches arrest. The police woman warned Sarah that it would probably get messy being that he was a teacher but encouraged her to be brave and stick with it so he wouldn’t be free to do this again to anyone else.
Angel would make sure of it. They walked out of the station. He’d seen her send her calls to voicemail the whole time they’d been in there. Angel was sure it was Sydney. Just as they put their seatbelts on, Sarah’s phone went off again and she finally answered it.
She greeted him and then her voice broke. “I know. I’m sorry I was at the police station…..no I’m okay. Yes, I’m with Angel. I’ll tell you about it later okay?” She lowered her voice but Angel heard it and wished to God he hadn’t. “I love you too.”
The blatant jealousy scorched through him. He stepped on the gas. Just a few hours ago he was anxious to kill for her, and now he just wanted her out of his car, his life.
He sped into her driveway. The rain was really coming down. He didn’t bother to turn the engine off or even attempt to soften his tone. “I hope you make sure that asshole goes to jail.”
Sarah nodded and gathered her things and the plastic zip lock the police woman had stuck all her paperwork in to keep it dry from the rain. “Thank you, Angel. You really saved me today… I don’t know what else to say to you. I just wish…”
She didn’t finish and opened the door in a hurry to get out.
He was out of patience. “Wish what, Sarah?”
“That I could understand how you got over me so fast,” She got out and closed the door.
Angel let his head fall back on his seat. Unbelievable.
He turned off the engine, opened the car door and jumped out. “You really think I’m over you?” He yelled over the hood of car.
Sarah didn’t answer. She didn’t even turn around she was halfway up the walk.
Angel charged around the car toward her. He called her name again and she stopped and turned around. Angel saw she was crying.
“I can’t even imagine being over you and moving on, but you’re already with someone else.”
“What?” He couldn’t believe she was doing this. “Don’t throw this shit back on me, Sarah. I’m not the one who-”
“Angel, I know you ran back to Dana two days after we broke up.”
Angel could see she was furious, and his mind raced to think about what she’d just said. “I went to talk to her, that’s all.”
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter, I hope you two are happy,” She began to turn back toward the house.
“No, no, wait,” Angel took a few steps forward. He wasn’t about to let her turn this on him. “Only reason I wanted to talk to her was because she had information on you.”
Sarah spun around. “What the hell would she know about me?”
“Someone saw you that night. The night you and Sydney were holding hands and hugging on the beach,” Just the image tossed his insides. “She called me that night to tell me and it made no sense to me. I ignored it. But after finding out the truth, I wanted to confirm exactly what it was she had seen.”
Thinking about sitting there and getting the confirmation from Dana, made him relive the pain, and he started to walk away. He was so done with all of this.
“I’m so sick of crying over you, Angel,” He heard Sarah sob. “You’ll never understand about me and Sydney and he’s always going to be a part of my life.”
It killed him to hear her so upset. But she was right. He’d never accept it. He couldn’t. He turned around to face her. She looked as broken as he felt. But it only made him angrier, she’d done this damn it. Not him. “What do you want me to understand, Sarah? You really expect me to be okay with you moving in with this guy? This guy you’re in love with?”
“I. Am. Not… in love with him!” she yelled. “I love him, it’s different.”
They were both getting soaked but it didn’t matter. Angel had a feeling this would be the last time he’d ever talk to her and he wasn’t holding anything back. He laughed in disbelief. “Like a brother, Sarah?”
“Yes!”
He stalked forward but stopped a few yards away from her. “What about the dress?”
Sarah stared at him wide eyed at an apparent loss. Angel was glad the storm was so loud or his booming voice might bring out the neighbors. He could see Sarah trying to make sense of what he was yelling about.
“That fucking dress, Sarah! You’ve never dressed like that for me, but you wore it for your brother? You expect me to believe-”
“It was for you.” She cried.
She was still lying. Incredible. Angel clenched his teeth but was unable to calm his voice. He was too riled up. “I wasn’t even gonna see you that night!”
“But you were!” Her eyes lit up. “Remember? You were supposed to pick me up but then Sydney showed up last minute. I didn’t want you to find out like that so I left with him and called you.”
Angel thought about it for a second, still breathing hard. It didn’t make sense. She never dressed that way.
Sarah dropped everything in her hands on the lawn hurried toward him. She stood right in front of him and Angel looked into her flooded eyes. “This is gonna sound so stupid. I was gonna to tell you that night about Sydney. I swear. I worried about it the whole day. Valerie came up with the idea that dressing that way would distract you. I don’t know, make things easier. I didn’t have time to change when he got there. But the dress, the hair, all of it was for you, Angel, not him.”
Feeling an enormous weight lift from his heart and being so close to her, he had to resist pulling her to him. But he did move the wet strands of hair away from her face. Her eyes searched his. For the first time since they’d broken up, he began to feel a glimmer of hope. If only he could get past her going back to live with Sydney. “So, when do you go back to Arizona?”
She sniffed, and bit her lip. “I may not.”
Angel’s heart had just started to calm and he felt it start up again. He lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“My mom may be getting out of jail sooner than we thought. Maybe a couple months. That’s why I’m still here. I went to see her and she asked me to hold on a little longer. But she also said it was up to me where we would live once she’s out.”
His eyes searched hers now. “So, what are you gonna do?”
“That depends.” She had that crinkle between her eyebrows.
Angel frowned. There was always something. “On what?”
“On you.” She seemed to hold her breath.
It took a second for it to sink in. But when it did he pulled her into his arms. She was startled but laughed. “Don’t play with me, Sarah. You’ll really stay?”
Her eyes welled up again. “You want me to?”
Angel smiled bringing his hands to her face and touched his forehead to hers. He stared in her beautiful eyes before kissing her tenderly. He’d missed her scent, her lips, her taste so much. He was never letting her go again.
Sarah pulled away and gazed in his eyes. “I love you, Angel.”
Hearing her say it for the first time choked him up. “Say it again,” he whispered.
Her eyes sparkled and she laughed. “I love you.”
“I love you too, baby.”