Chapter Seven
Angel had paint on her face, in her hair and caked under her fingernails, and she loved it. Loved the feeling of joyous satisfaction coursing through her veins, making even the simple kitchen surroundings feel like a majestic mountain top she’d finally conquered.
“You finished the mural,” her grandmother said from the doorway.
“It’s a little much for the room, I know—”
“It’s breathtaking.” Her grandmother’s eyes misted a little. “I think it’s a rare thing when someone can capture the moments before they fell in love for the first time and bravely share them with the world.”
“Gran,” she began.
“Hush. Let me be proud of my granddaughter.”
“Okay.” She scanned the mural a little more critically, wondering if she blended the shadows enough.
As if reading her mind, her grandmother stopped her before she picked up a brush to keep fiddling. “It’s perfect. Don’t change a thing.”
“Are you sure?”
She’d tried hard to capture the moment by the lake when she’d been mad at her father, defying him by using magic in the woods. She’d painted Cade’s silhouette where she imagined he’d been standing when he first spotted her, calling out and pursuing her instead of running to tell the world what he’d seen.
How would he react when he found out that the girl was not only real but a witch?
“He’ll love it,” her grandmother murmured still staring at the mural, as perceptive as always. She slipped an arm around Angel’s waist. “I assume you’re planning on telling Cade the truth then?”
“I have to.” For better or worse. “But first I need to talk to someone else.”
Ten minutes later Angel sat on the porch staring at the cell phone in her hand, willing herself to push the call button on her father’s number.
Scottie’s comments about always going along with her father’s wishes to keep the family peace echoed in her head, and she knew her friend was right. She would never have the life she wanted if she didn’t truly commit to living for herself and not her father.
And the life she wanted included Cade.
This morning she’d rolled over in his bed, taken one look at his handsome sleeping face and knew she couldn’t keep the truth from him. He hadn’t been part of her plan when she arrived in Sapphire Falls, but he was sure as hell part of it now.
She didn’t let herself stress about what that would look like. She wasn’t ready to give up her life on the east coast and move to Nebraska, and long distance relationships rarely worked, but she wouldn’t be able to figure any of that out if she didn’t come clean about their past.
All of it.
She took a deep breath and hit the button, lifting the phone to her ear.
Her father answered on the third ring. “Where are you?”
“Hello to you, too, Dad.” She tried not to be annoyed by the bark in his voice, but wasn’t sure it was possible.
“You pack up most of your belongings and put them in storage and then disappear without a word and you’re worried about proper phone etiquette?”
And in less than sixty seconds she was back to feeling like she was ten years old and shying away from the disapproval he wore like armor.
“Of course I packed up. I’m getting my own place, remember?” It wasn’t the first time she’d said those words to her father, but it was the first time she planned on holding herself to them.
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, and she could picture her father sitting in his home office, calmly massaging the bridge of his nose and probably wondering what he’d done to deserve children who constantly disappointed him.
“And I suppose next you’ll be taking off for Europe for months, forgetting all about your family like Sabrina did?”
“I don’t look as good in a G-string as Bree.”
“Do not be crass young lady,” her father snapped, and for some reason Angel found herself grinning.
“I didn’t call to argue. I just wanted to let you know that I was okay and that I’m going to continue with my mural work after all.”
She wanted to continue capturing life and telling stories through her paintings, not agonize over whether or not her art was worthy enough to stand the test of time for future generations.
She couldn’t hold it against her father for wanting that for her, but this needed to be about what she wanted, even if that meant temporarily widening the rift between them. It was a decision she should have made long ago, but after watching him struggle with his hatred of the Calders and then nearly losing Bryce in the crash, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to add to his stress.
“I see.”
Angel waited, knowing there was more coming. Thomas Lancaster never let anything go after dropping those two words jam-packed with enough disapproval to choke an army.
“I’ll see you at the next family dinner you decide to attend,” he said, his voice gruffer than usual, and then hung up.
She waited to feel guilty for letting him down, but for the first time the sensation never came. She couldn’t make him understand that she needed to do this, and that was okay. Her father would eventually come to terms with her decision. At the end of the day keeping his family intact was more important that getting his way, and she needed to remember that.
Angel rose from the porch swing to get ready before Scottie arrived to pick her up. It was the last night of the Fall Festival and she swore she was going to enjoy it no matter what happened.
And it started with telling Cade all about their past, and finding out if they had a future.
* * *
By the time the sun had set on one of the longest days of his life, Cade’s mood had only marginally improved, though he was doing his best to hide it.
It probably helped that his brother was squirming in place next to him, and Cade took a little too much pleasure in watching it.
“You said you wanted to help out,” he pointed out.
“With moving things around, maybe unload a truck or something.” Ethan pointed to where Ty Bennett, dressed as some kind of Greek god, trailed after his wife Hailey. The former mayor of Sapphire Falls was killing it in a black catsuit as she directed her husband and his brother TJ to set their boxes down at a nearby booth.
Cade clapped his brother on the back. “You’re doing a real service for the community.”
“I think you’re still pissed about what I said this morning, and you just want to get even.”
“Setting you in front of a line of women who will pay to kiss you is not how I would get even.”
“So we’re cool?”
Not entirely, but they were better than they’d been in a long time. He still didn’t expect his brother to stick around and it still bothered him that his parents kept hoping this time would be different, but Ethan was right.
He’d made his choice to stay in Sapphire Falls, even if it hadn’t felt like much of a choice at the time, and he’d spent too much time resenting Ethan for coming and going as he pleased. It wasn’t fair to judge Ethan for living his life on his own terms, especially when Cade would have done the same if things had played out differently.
“Are you seeing Angel tonight?” Ethan asked.
“I don’t know.” But he sure as hell hoped so, because they needed to talk.
“This town doesn’t have to be it, you know. If she’s not sticking around, there’s nothing stopping you from going with her and seeing what else is out there for you.”
Everything was stopping him, and Ethan knew it. His parents couldn’t run the farm without him, and he wouldn’t up and leave and expect them to figure something out.
“I mean it, Cade. I’m not going anywhere.”
It was easier to acknowledge his brother’s sincerity than point out the times he’d said the same thing before. He didn’t want to fight with Ethan anymore. Not about this. “Are you ready for your first customer?”
Ethan visibly paled.
“Since when have you had a problem kissing women for a good cause, or is this about one woman in particular? Saving yourself for Scottie?”
Ethan looked like he couldn’t decide whether or not to punch him or warm up for the brunette pulling a few bills out of her purse.
Just behind her, Shelby waited with her entourage. She’d ceased giving him dirty looks, but Cade was pretty sure he preferred them next to flirtatious ones she aimed in his direction tonight. Apparently she hadn’t heard about him and Angel making out on the Ferris Wheel last night or she wouldn’t be entertaining the idea of kissing him right now.
He took a few steps away from the booth, making it clear he wasn’t participating tonight, but not leaving Ethan to suffer alone either. Not yet anyway. Their truce might be tenuous, but he’d take it over the strained relationship they’d had for years.
Ethan did his duty and sent the brunette on her way, and then Cade stopped paying attention. Ahead of him, Angel walked through the crowd, emerging from between three women pushing strollers and a group of teens dressed as Minions.
Twice he lost sight of her and shuffled a few feet to the left to keep her in sight.
“Hey?” Ethan bumped him with an arm.
Angel laughed at something Scottie said, somehow managing to take in the festive surroundings without losing track of whatever Scottie was saying. At least one of them could manage it.
“You’re not leaving me here,” Ethan growled good-naturedly, following his gaze.
“You can always ask Scottie to be your bodyguard if you’re worried about being overrun by the kissing masses.”
Angel finally noticed him, and the moment her eyes locked on his, everything that had shot sideways today, slammed back into place.
She walked toward him, leaving Scottie behind, but he couldn’t seem to make his feet move to meet her halfway. If he did and she pulled away from him again…
Her gaze never left him as she yanked something out of the little purse she carried, slapped her hand down on the counter in front of Ethan and then launched herself at Cade.
Five and a half feet of sweet wildness slammed into him, and he lifted her like they’d done it a thousand times, drawing her legs around him and anchoring his arms around her back.
If there had been whistles and cat calls last night, then this would bring down the house.
Angel’s fingers curled around his nape, sliding up into his hair and bringing his mouth forward to meet hers. Her lips parted, her tongue sliding smooth and deep and coaxing every brain cell he possessed to slam into the lust-drenched fog he’d been operating under for days.
And it was goddamn awful. Awful that they were in the town square with dozens of people watching when all the wicked things he wanted to do to her did not include an audience.
Because a kiss like that, all fierce heat and mind-blowing need led to a place that would get him arrested if he didn’t get her somewhere a little more private. Just as soon as he took another lingering taste of her, savoring the feel of her mouth as he slowly lowered her back to the ground.
“How much does that cost?” a woman nearby asked.
“I love this town,” came a laughing reply, as the women in line for the kissing booth clapped and hooted.
Angel laughed against his mouth, melting into him all over again and threatening to unravel the last strand of restraint he was clinging to.
They finally broke apart, but he didn’t let her put more than a few inches between them. “I’ll bring her back shortly,” he said to Scottie, hoping she wouldn’t mind.
“I’ll occupy myself somehow.” She winked and stepped up to man the booth beside Ethan.
A few men drifted toward the line immediately.
Angel shot him a worried look.
“There’s nothing to worry about. Ethan doesn’t do jealousy.” It wasn’t a lie exactly, but who knew what his brother’s feelings for Scottie would drive him to do under the right circumstances.
The crowd thinned a little as he skirted the perimeter of the square instead of pushing through the middle with Angel in tow.
She tugged on his hand. “There’s actually something I need to show you—”
“Cade!”
Damn. Cade turned at the sound of his mother’s voice. Ignoring her wasn’t an option, but neither was blindsiding Angel with the dozen questions his mother would have for her.
He crossed to where she sat on a hay bale next to the massive pumpkin they’d grown this year that was just over a thousand pounds.
“You must be Angel. I’m Grace.” His mother had always been friendly and polite to the women he’d dated, but tonight Grace Marshall was damn near beaming.
“Nice to meet you.” Angel nodded to the giant gourd. “That pumpkin is huge.”
“We dubbed him Godzilla since he crushed everything else we planted anywhere near him, but he’s still almost four hundred pounds smaller than the one we grew last year.”
“We were just on our way to the Haunted House,” Cade explained.
His mother smiled over the rim of her hot cider. “Have fun, then. Oh, Angel, would you be free for dinner tomorrow night? We’d love for you to join us.”
Angel looked a little uncertain for a moment, and then that hundred-watt smile kicked in. “I’d love that.”
“See you at six then?”
“Sure.” He pressed a quick kiss to his mother’s cheek, and then nudged Angel forward.
“She seems really nice.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” Cade teased. “She can wield a wooden spoon when she’s pissed like nobody’s business.”
Angel laughed. “My father’s idea of discipline was freezing us out.”
“Some days my butt would have appreciated a little freezing.”
They crossed the street, the spooky music getting louder as they climbed the stairs. The Haunted House had been running since Friday so it wasn’t as packed as opening night. The less crowd the better as far as he was concerned.
Right before they slipped inside, Angel stopped him. “You do realize I know what you’re up to, right?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” he said innocently. At least it sounded a lot more innocent out loud than it did in his head.
Angel rolled her eyes.
He held the door open for her, the last traces of bright light about to be behind them. “I don’t think you have a problem with what I’m up to at all.” He set his hands on her hips as the door closed with an ominous creaking sound.
He kept Angel in front of him as they moved deeper into the house, loving when she jumped and squealed to avoid the foam ax and the zombie who swung it.
“We’re just getting started.” There was probably something wrong with him that he was this turned on while stepping over fake body parts strewn across the floor and bypassing mannequin witches that popped out from the side of the wall.
She jumped again, her body backing up into his, and he nearly groaned. He brushed her hair aside, tucking his face against the curve of her neck.
“Cade?”
“Yeah?” He dragged his teeth across the back of her shoulder, following the same path with his lips a heartbeat later.
The sound of a chainsaw buzzing made her tense and she cast him a nervous look over her shoulder, her face awash in a soft green glow from the eerie lighting throughout the house.
Cade let the mummy play his part, waving his chainsaw as he ran passed, bumping against the massive wooden coffin leaning against the wall on his way by.
He heard the mummy grunt, and cringed for the poor bastard. That had probably hurt—
Creaking and movement from the corner of his eye shot his heart up a notch. The coffin pitched sideways and he spun to the right to take the brunt of the impact.
It didn’t come.
Angel said something he didn’t catch, and he lifted his head to see her holding up a hand, her necklace lit up like a small green fire.
* * *
“Say something, Angel.”
The quiet words followed the loud thump of the coffin banging against the wall as it settled back into place.
She managed to look at Cade, but nothing came out, not a single syllable. She’d worked out everything in her head, taking him back to her grandmother’s, showing him the mural and saying something that sure as hell didn’t start with “I’m a witch” right off the bat.
She tried to think back over the last minute and figure out how she ended up using her magic in a stupid haunted house where the biggest threat was the handful of people dressed as zombies and mummies brandishing fake weapons.
“Angel?”
She shot him a helpless look, wishing like hell she’d read the primer for outing herself. Bree and Bryce never had to deal with this since the Calders were witches too.
Cade turned and walked back the way they’d come.
Shit.
“Wait.” She rushed after him, squeezing past the people that rounded the corner. “Cade!”
He didn’t slow down, and she fought the panic churning in her stomach. More people moving through the haunted house got between them, slowing her down. He shoved the main doors open hard enough people turned to see why he was leaving in such a hurry. And it was her fault.
She jogged down the steps, trying her best not to mow anyone down in the process. She spotted him a few dozen yards to the left, moving away from the town square.
“Cade, wait!”
He stopped but didn’t turn around. She still hadn’t figured out what to say by the time she reached him, and it must have shown on her face.
“Were you going to tell me the truth at some point, or just leave town without saying a word about it?”
Her mind spun. “You already know?” But he didn’t remember, he’d thought it was all in his head. “You never said anything—”
He let out a brittle laugh. “Because I thought if I gave you a little time, you’d realize you could trust me. But when you didn’t say anything after I just saw…” He threw his hands up in the air. “I’m not entirely sure what I saw, but I know you weren’t going to be straight with me about it, were you? You were just buying yourself a little time to figure out a plausible story—”
“I’m a witch,” she blurted out, not caring for the first time in her life if anyone overheard her. “Actually, no.” She backtracked, refusing to say it like it was a bad thing.
She may have spent most of her life hiding that side of herself from most people, but she was proud of who she was, and he needed to know that.
“I’m an artist and a loyal sister, occasionally a dutiful daughter. I’m a one-eyed cat lover and a horrible cook. I’m a speed demon behind the wheel and the worst horror movie critic. And I’m also a witch.”
“And your necklace really glows?” He stepped toward her, lifting the green stone into his hand, not even blinking at the witch part.
“Yes, my amulet really glows. Not always, but lately it’s had a bit of a mind of its own.” She shrugged, still fumbling her way through this.
He should be more shocked, and strangely she found his calmness harder to work through than if he’d been scared of her. Then again, he hadn’t been scared that night in the woods either.
He released her amulet. “At first I thought I was crazy, you know? Daring to believe my own insanity years after the fact. But I just couldn’t shake this feeling. I’d accepted that I dreamed up the girl in the woods and then you came along and I found myself hoping…” He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking a little lost and breaking her heart. “Did you know who I was the day you got here?”
She shook her head. “Not until the night by the river.”
“Wild Thing,” he said, taking a step back.
“You called me that the night in the woods.” She’d heard him yell when he broke his leg, but stood frozen in the woods for a long time. She’d run too far from her grandparent’s cottage and didn’t know the way back in the dark, and even if she had she wouldn’t have been able to leave him alone in the woods.
The fact that it was so dark and that she was covered in mud gave her the courage to follow the sound of his voice until she found him. Given her disheveled state from trying to outrun him in the dark, it hadn’t surprised her when he teased her about living in the woods, like a wild thing.
“I don’t remember that, or maybe I did at one time but convinced myself it wasn’t real.”
“It was real,” she said softly, willing him to remember it the way she did. “All of it.”
“But you never said a word.”
She blew out a nervous breath, still afraid to hope for the best. “I was afraid you’d hate me for ruining your life.”
“Hate you—” He rocked back on his heels. “Scottie told you about losing my scholarship,” he guessed.
“Yeah.”
He searched her face. “So that’s why you left that night without a word.” When she nodded, he continued. “And what about after that? When you avoided me? Was it a game, were you just going to leave Sapphire Falls when the festival ended like none of it mattered?”
“Everything mattered. I was going to tell you tonight. Not just about that night in the woods but the magic too. Everything.”
And she should have insisted on it the moment she arrived, but then she’d seen him standing by the kissing booth, looking at her like she was the center of his world, and nothing had mattered as much as launching herself straight into his arms.
“You have no idea how much I want to believe that.”
Her throat closed up, and she knew she had no one but herself to blame for the hesitation in his eyes. “I know I haven’t given you any reason to trust me, but it’s the truth. I couldn’t leave here without telling you, not after last night.”
“You never came back.”
It took her a second to realize that he was talking about that night in the woods.
“We laid there together for hours talking, me trying not to be a pussy and cry from the pain. And you never came back.”
“My father stopped me. He insisted on calling 9-1-1, certain you would expose us if I went back.” But she should have fought harder, should have insisted there was nothing to worry about. God, if she’d only stood up to him years ago. “And then Scottie told me—”
He flinched like he’d been slapped. “Scottie knew, this whole time?”
And that had been the wrong thing to say.
“She knows you had been in the woods that night? Knows who you are?”
Angel nodded, not wanting to say anything else to redirect his anger to Scottie. She might not be happy that her friend had kept this from her, but she knew Scottie thought she was just protecting everyone.
He turned away, interlocking his fingers across the back of his head, falling silent. “I would never have hated you,” he finally said so softly that she barely heard him. His arms dropped to his sides. “I used to lay in bed, missing you. I wanted to hold your hand, hear your voice, your laugh, in a way that never made any sense. Who needs a stranger after spending a night in the dark with them? But I needed you.”
She moved to touch him, but he caught her hand in his, drawing his thumb back and forth across her skin.
“I didn’t care about breaking my leg until a year later. Because that’s how long I spent looking for you. Every festival, hell even celebrations in other local towns. I went to them all. And then when I couldn’t find you, I had to face the fact that maybe everyone was right and you were something I dreamed up, a way to cope with a traumatic situation. And that was worse than losing out on my scholarship,” he added. “Because until that night, I didn’t realize there was anything I could love more than football.”
His eyes were heavy with emotion when he lifted his head to meet her gaze, and everything holding her together came undone.
“Cade, I’m so sorry. If I had known…”
“You would have stayed away,” he finished.
“No.” That wasn’t at all where she had been heading with that.
“Yes. Because in your shoes, that’s what I would have done too. You have something special, Angel.” He touched her amulet. “Something you needed to protect, and if Scottie had told you about what happened to me years ago, you wouldn’t have come back.”
She started to disagree.
“People thought I was crazy, maybe even a little obsessed for a while there, but no one really knew what you meant to me. And even if you had come back, I would never have known if it was just because you felt bad for me.”
Her eyes blurred. “I don’t feel bad for you. I feel bad for us. For the time we’ve missed out on together.”
Cade brought her hand to his lips like he had all those nights ago, only this time she could see the deep green eyes locked on her as his mouth lingered, soft and sweet, and stealing her heart all over again.
He took a step back without warning, releasing her hand. “I have to talk to my brother.”
Her mind whirled, trying to keep up when she’d been so damn sure they’d been about to get past this. “Cade, you can’t tell him about me. About what I am.”
He walked backward, his expression unreadable. “This can’t wait.”
And then he was gone.
* * *
Cade never expected to be going through the haunted house twice in one night, but he was desperate. He needed to find Ethan, and his brother had last been spotted heading into the place that had shot him back into the past so hard his head was still spinning.
He’d spent the last few of days wavering between thinking he was crazy and not giving a shit if he was and just enjoying every second he could with Angel. But hearing her call herself a witch would take a while to process. And what she’d done…
He’d been okay with hoping—believing—that Angel was the girl from the woods, but he hadn’t fully embraced all the details of that night. He hadn’t given a lot of thought to what else he’d seen that night by the lake, the flashes of color and a girl dancing in the woods like something out of a pagan fairy tale. He did know his curiosity had ruled him more than his fear when he’d called out and chased her through the woods, certain she was the one he’d seen at the festival.
But a witch?
Later.
Later he would wrap his head around that and what exactly it meant. He had a thousand questions, but they could wait a little longer.
“Where’s Ethan?” he asked the vampire hanging out beneath the rubber bats that swooped down from the ceiling.
Dracula pointed to indicate a room off the main hallway. “But I think he’s a little bu—”
Cade shoved the door open, and Ethan and Scottie jumped. At least he was pretty sure it was Scottie that his brother had pinned between him and the wall.
She turned her face to look at him. “Hey,” she said trying to sound like he’d walked in on them chatting about the weather and not making out.
He nodded at Scottie, not getting into all the secrets she’d been keeping. That would be a much longer conversation than he was taking the time for right now.
“Did you mean what you said?”
Ethan gave him a blank look, and Cade guessed the blood was going to take a bit to get back to his brain.
“About staying for good this time.”
“Yeah, I’m staying.”
“No bullshit?” he pressed. “Because this is a big fucking deal and I need to know you mean it this time.”
“You’re staying?” Scottie whispered in a small voice, not sounding entirely thrilled about it.
But that was for them to work out.
“I’m staying, Cade,” Ethan answered, a tension creeping into his voice that hadn’t been there moments ago. “No matter what happens,” he added, though Cade got the impression the last part was meant for Scottie. He took a step back and faced him. “Do whatever you gotta do.”
“Okay.” And that’s what he’d come here for. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything else to Angel until he knew he could follow through on the crazy plans swirling through his mind.
But they weren’t half as crazy as falling in love with a witch.
There were dozens of things to work out, details they’d glossed over, about him, her father, Scottie. Details that still mattered, but not as much as knowing that when the dust settled they could move forward. Together.
“You’re grinning like an idiot, you know that right?” Ethan said.
“Fuck yeah.”
“Go find Angel.” Scottie extracted herself from Ethan’s embrace. “We’ll talk later,” she said, like she’d figured out what was coming.
“And the beers are going to be all on you for that one,” Cade pointed out, slipping out of the room, leaving them to sort out their own issues.
All the uncertainty and old hurt slid off his shoulders, a different future stretching out before him. And all he had to do was choose it.
* * *
“Apple Cider?”
Angel glanced from the offered paper cup to the woman holding it out, a friendly smile on her face. Shelby.
“Thanks.” She took the cup to be polite, sipping when she realized how raw her throat felt, her emotions still churning inside her.
She’d lost track of Cade in the crowd when he’d left to talk to his brother, leaving her in a weird limbo. One minute she’d been terrified that she’d blown everything, and then the next hopeful they could figure out a way to sort through the whole mess, and then…
Now she didn’t know what to think. She stood at the edge of the town square, vaguely registering the music the DJ played in the gazebo for the Monster Mash party, scanning the people walking past, hoping she wasn’t being foolish thinking Cade was coming back.
“Are you looking for Cade?”
She took another sip of the cider, letting the warm liquid slide down her throat. “Have you seen him?”
“He came out of the haunted house a few minutes ago. He was headed toward the post office. Lots of people park down that way.”
With so many people jam-packed in the square, it was hard to tell what direction the post office was in. “I don’t know where that is.”
Shelby looked undecided about something, then finally removed the pretty pumpkin-covered apron she wore. Angel highly doubted the slim brunette did anything that would get her even a little bit dirty, but maybe she was judging the other woman too harshly.
“I can show you.” Shelby snagged a cup of apple cider for herself from the booth she left in someone else’s hands, sipping from it as they made their way along the edge of the crowd. “No costume tonight?”
Angel shook her head. “I had other things on my mind.” Like showing Cade the mural. She still wanted him to see it, hoping it would prove to him that she meant what she said about planning to tell him the truth tonight. He’d taken off so fast she wasn’t sure he believed that.
“Me too,” Shelby said, finishing her cider. “I would drink this stuff every day if I could. It’s addictive.”
Angel’s cup was half empty by the time they walked down between the post office and the bank. They only passed the occasional group primarily consisting of parents walking with their kids or belting them into their cars seats despite their grumpy protests about not being tired.
The sounds of the festival were still going strong behind them when Shelby turned down another side street and stopped, then pivoted to scan the other direction.
Shelby frowned. “I don’t see his truck.”
Angel leaned against a parked car, a little light-headed from all the excitement tonight. Or maybe it had to do with the fact she’d hardly eaten all day. She took a long drink of the cider, needing the sugar boost until she could find some real food. Assuming she could get her stomach to settle long enough for to eat. It was still a disaster at the moment.
“Maybe he parked in the lot another block down,” Shelby said. “Sorry, I guess I’m not that big of a help.”
“It’s okay.” The words felt a little slippery on Angel’s tongue. “I’ll just head back to the square. I’m sure he’ll show up.” She took a couple steps, the ground a little softer than she remembered. “I thought you were pissed at Cade. Why are you helping me find him?” She made it another car length and then stopped again. Man, she really should have eaten today.
“I’m not helping you. I’m helping me.” Shelby’s words rolled around Angel’s head, thick and clumsy sounding.
“I don’t—” The ground skidded sideways, and Angel dropped her cup and purse to hold onto the closest car with both hands. What the hell?
And then she couldn’t keep her eyes open a second longer.