Angel
Because the team photo thing had run late, they’d pushed practice out another hour. Angel and Alex had just arrived at the locker room and started to dress into their uniforms when Angel decided to check his phone again. Finally, he had a text from Sarah, and he clicked on it.
Sorry I couldn’t answer any of your calls, but it was for good reason. If you’re too tired to come by after practice, can you please just call me? I really need to talk to you.
Did she really think he would be too tired to see her, especially tonight? Every call that had gone unanswered had made him more paranoid. She never ignored his calls this long. He hit speed dial immediately, knowing he had time before practice started to talk to her. It went straight to voice mail, so he looked down at his phone to make sure it was her he’d called and not someone else. Her text had been sent less than fifteen minutes ago.
It was her he’d called. Her phone was off? He tried again, and once again it went straight to voice mail. She really needed to talk to him but turned her phone off? He was pissed now that he’d missed her text when she first sent it. With his mind going wild about all the possibilities of what she might really need to talk to him after spending the day with Syd and ignoring his calls, he did something he only ever did when he was desperate. He called her mom. The entire time he’d been with Sarah he’d only done that a few times. Each time he’d been worried for some reason or another and unable to get a hold of her.
No way was he going to be able to concentrate at practice now until he talked to her. Her mom answered after a few rings. “Hey, Luna, it’s Angel.”
It felt weird at first calling her by her first name, but when they’d hired her on to work at the restaurant a couple of years ago, she insisted they all call her by her first name. She’d since left when she got another job somewhere else, but the name had stuck by then.
“Hi, honey,” she said, sounding a little tired. “Are you looking for Sarah?”
“Yeah,” he said, walking out of the locker room. “Not sure if her phone’s off or the battery died, but it’s going straight to voice mail.”
“Let me check,” she said then a few moments later whispered, “Oh yeah. She’s knocked out, hon. Is it important? You need me to wake her for you?”
“No,” Angel said quickly, his brows pinching. “That’s okay. Let her sleep. Was she not feeling well or something? Is that why she didn’t go into work?”
The only times Angel knew Sarah to take naps in the middle of the day were if she wasn’t feeling well or if they’d stayed out late the night before.
“No,” her mom said. “I didn’t even realize she was scheduled to go in today. I just assumed it was her day off. She was fine earlier I think she was just feeling a little drained. I’ll make sure to tell her you’ve been trying to reach her as soon as she wakes up.”
Clenching his teeth, Angel started back into the locker room, the tension he’d felt all day reaching another height. “All right, I appreciate that.”
He hung up and finished suiting up for practice, slamming his locker as he started toward Alex, who was waiting for him.
“Did you ever get a hold of her?” Alex asked.
“Nope,” Angel said simply as he walked past him.
Fortunately, his brother knew better than to ask anything else.
~~~
The moment Angel was showered and dressed he walked out of the locker room. Alex, who hadn’t dressed and showered in record time like Angel, had barely gotten out of the shower. Angel told him he’d be outside waiting for him. He’d already read the text from Sarah telling him her mom had given her the message and she’d be waiting for his call.
“What happened?” he asked as soon as she answered.
His practice had done two things. One, it worked to help alleviate some of the tension he’d built up all day thinking about Sarah and Sydney. He’d cracked a few guys a little harder than he normally would’ve, and that felt good, but it’d also made his being worried cross over to being pissed. He’d let his imagination get the best of him, and it’d run wild, so he tried now to calm himself before saying something he might regret later. Sarah not responding immediately to his question didn’t help.
“I, uh, can you talk?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing really, I just . . . ” She paused, working Angel’s already anxious nerves to the brink. “I just have so much to tell you that I don’t even know where to start.”
“Start with why you had to take a nap today,” he said, his words sounding harder than he’d anticipated. He held back asking if she’d been up late with Sydney because he knew he wouldn’t be able to tone that down.
It was something that made him slam a few guys on their asses today at practice because the thought of Sarah being up all night with Syd made him want to spit.
“I was up late,” she confirmed as he ran his hand through his hair, trying to stay calm. “And after everything that happened today, I felt so drained, so I just passed out.”
“Yeah, your mom mentioned you being drained. Why? And why were you up late?”
She let out a long breath and Angel held his. “Well, first of all, Sydney didn’t just decide to come down to surprise me on a whim like he first said he did. He came down to tell me my dad had shown up at his place a few days ago, looking for me. At least it was a man claiming to be my dad, but Syd and his mom swear he looks just like me. It’s why we were up late talking last night. He didn’t want to do it in front of my mom.”
“Why not?”
He was beginning to feel slightly relieved that the voice in his head, the one that had been drowned out by all the worrying he’d done today, was right again. There was a reasonable explanation for all this. But the paranoia was hard to kill. He still had his doubts.
Sarah told him about the story the man told Sydney being different from what her mother had told her about her dad all this time. She got as far as telling him about why she hadn’t gone into work because she needed to talk to her mom and she didn’t want to wait until after work. She’d had a feeling it was going to be a long one.
Alex walked out of the locker room and motioned for Angel that he was ready to go.
“Listen babe,” he said, hating to interrupt her, “Alex is gonna drop me off at the house, and I’ll come pick you up.”
“Are you sure you’re not too tired? I can tell you the rest on the phone if you are.”
“Hell no,” he said, already hurrying to Alex’s truck.
After everything he’d gone through today, he wanted nothing more than to have her in his arms now. He wasn’t completely over worrying that maybe Syd was in love with her like Alex seemed so sure of, but at least he knew now she hadn’t blown him off all day for the guy. Syd had left at noon like she’d told him in the morning, and there’d been good reason why she hadn’t answered her phone or responded to any of his texts. This was huge, and he could breathe a little easier now.
“Be ready for me. I’ll be there in a few,” he said before getting in Alex’s truck.
“My mom’s gone for most the night,” she said. “She had a date and told me not to wait up. I can make us dinner and we can hang out here if you want.”
“Even better.” Angel grinned, getting in the truck. “I’ll see you in a few. I love you, baby.”
“I love you too.”
Angel sat back, letting out a relieved breath. He didn’t even realize he was smiling so big until his smartass brother started in on him.
Chuckling, Alex shook his head as he pulled out of the parking spot. “Really? That’s all it took to tame the raging bull that smashed heads all through practice?”
Smirking, Angel glanced out the window. “She wasn’t with him all day. She was dealing with something else.”
“Yeah, well, I still wouldn’t let my guard down when it comes to this friend of hers,” Alex said as they waited at a stop. “Don’t you ever watch Friendzone? Every one of them longtime friends turned out to be secretly in love with the other and had been for years. Sarah’s a sweetheart, man, and she’s the worst kind of hot a girl can be.”
Angel turned to face his brother with a scowl. Alex had flirted with Sarah from day one. He loved riling Angel up, and Angel knew that’s all it was, but this was the first time he’d referred to her as hot. Not just that, he wasn’t being playful. He was serious, and Angel didn’t quite know how to respond to that, but he was curious about one thing.
“What do you mean ‘the worst kind’?”
“I mean she’s hot but doesn’t even know it.” He pulled out onto the street from the stadium parking lot. “In all the years this guy’s been around her—known her for what she’s really like—you really think he’s never had feelings for her that ran deeper than just friends?”
Leave it to Alex to burst Angel’s relieved bubble. “He’s gone now,” Angel said, clenching his jaw as he turned away from Alex and out his window. “And after the summer, he’ll be even further when he goes back to school in New York. It’s why she hadn’t seen him since we graduated from high school.”
“Good,” Alex said, tapping the steering wheel. “That’s where he needs to be: far, far away from your girl.”
Angel thought about that statement and everything else Alex had just said. He remembered Sarah’s devotion to the guy when she’d first moved out here and how close she’d been to leaving Angel to get back to him. Gripping his phone, he reminded himself he’d been Sarah’s first everything, not Sydney. They’d been together for almost three years now, and they often talked about their future: getting married after they graduated from college, opening their own restaurant, and having babies. He’d long ago accepted that Sarah and Sydney were proof that guys and girls could in fact be just friends. He couldn’t let one visit from this guy after two years and Alex’s caveman mentality derail all that and have him acting like an insecure overbearing boyfriend. Still, he’d never admit it out loud, but the start of a new school year couldn’t come fast enough now. He only hoped Sydney wouldn’t be making too many more trips out here before then like he’d mentioned he might.
~*~
Sarah
Angel’s hello kiss, the moment Sarah opened the door and let him in, left her breathless. “Well, hello to you too,” she said with a smile as he pecked her again then squeezed her tightly.
“I missed you today,” he whispered against her ear then kissed the side of her face, still holding her tight.
“I missed you too,” she said, pulling away and looking into his eyes curiously.
She’d seen that enamored look in them before many times, but this seemed different. She wondered if it had anything to do with Sydney, and it immediately worried her. Aside from the details about her dad, there were other things she’d be telling him tonight that she was certain he wouldn’t be thrilled about. In fact, because there was no way he’d know about all the other issues Sydney and Carina had dealt with throughout their relationship, the moment she told him the ultimatum was ultimately the last straw, she knew that Angel wouldn’t see it that way.
The second Sydney uttered the words “I chose you,” Sarah knew it. Angel would think it was all about her, and his theory about there being no such thing as a guy-and-girl platonic relationship would be up for debate again. That was something they hadn’t discussed in years. Seeing how he was acting now, she questioned whether or not she should tell him that part at all.
Enjoying his long lustful kisses, she decided she’d worry about that later. She had so many other things to talk to him about before that. Like how she’d already started putting together her email to her dad but kept deleting it and starting over.
After ending up on the sofa for a while and thinking she might have to tell him to lock the extra latches on the front door in case her mom happened to get home early, he finally pulled away and smiled. She could tell it was a struggle for him to restrain himself, but he did. “I know you’re anxious to tell me about your dad, and I wanna hear it, so I’ll behave.” He dove into her neck one last time. “For now.”
She giggled, squirming as he licked her neck. The truth was she was anxious to tell him about it. He finally un-wrapped his body from hers and sat up. “The rice should almost be done,” she said, standing up.
Seeing him pat his crotch down as he stood made her grin. “Good ’cause I worked up a big appetite at practice.”
“I just fried up some chicken breasts I dipped in Italian seasoned bread crumbs,” she said, walking toward the kitchen.
Angel sat down on a stool at the counter. Sarah put their plates together and filled him in on everything her mom had told her about her dad. He was noticeably quiet throughout, and she had a feeling she knew why.
“And your mom doesn’t wanna be there when you meet him?”
She shook her head, stabbing her last piece of chicken with her fork. “She doesn’t even want to see him again. But I won’t go alone. You can come with me or Sydney—”
“I’ll go with you,” he said quickly. “But that’s not my point. So far, no one knows for sure if this guy is really your dad. I know it’s been a long time, but you’d think if he’s been looking for you for years he’d at least have the year you were born right or have some kind of documentation with your full name on it. Something. Your mom would be the only one who would know for sure if this guy is the real deal or not.”
“I could take a picture of him,” Sarah offered. “Then I could show it to my mom, and she could say yea or nay.”
Angel frowned before putting another forkful of chicken and rice in his mouth but said nothing. She knew he’d never been a big fan of her mom. Over the years, she’d filled him in on the details of her childhood. Sometimes she regretted telling him certain things such as all the times her mom had left her alone overnight because she was on dates. She’d meant to explain why growing up in Flagstaff she’d spent so many nights over Sydney’s. While it did explain why she’d been so close to Sydney and his family, it didn’t go over well for her mom. She saw the look of disapproval he attempted to hide when she told him about her mom’s rebellious years and how, even after knowing the kind of man her dad was, she agreed to move in with him.
“I don’t wanna force her, Angel,” Sarah said, walking her plate over to the sink and rinsing it. “She didn’t say she wouldn’t do it; she just said she’d rather not. I can only imagine how uncomfortable that would be for her.”
“This isn’t about her, sweetheart,” Angel said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Your safety is at risk here. Even if he is your dad, who knows what you might be getting yourself into with this guy? Like your mom said, he was a dangerous man then and probably still is. He’s done hard time. I know you’re curious about meeting him, but maybe you should slow down and think it through first. Sleep on it for a few days. Give it a few weeks even.”
Sarah glanced up from the dish she was rinsing then back down at the plate. She’d hoped Angel would be a little more excited for her, but she understood his concern. Sydney had warned her about proceeding with caution too, but he was still excited when she called him earlier and explained everything her mother had said.
“Sydney said he looks like a decent guy.”
There was no hiding the irritation that washed over Angel’s face as he stood up with his empty plate in hand and walked around the counter.
“I know. I know,” she said, suddenly feeling stupid about even saying it. “Looking decent doesn’t mean anything, and you’d think I would know this better than anyone, right?”
Angel set his plate down in the sink and wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissing her on the cheek. “I wasn’t even thinking about that, babe. All I’m saying is, from what you know about this guy, at least at one point in his life he was very bad news. I don’t want you taking any chances.”
“I won’t,” she whispered, spinning around to face him. He pinned her against the sink, looking into her eyes. She smiled, softly pecking him. “But it’s not even about meeting him so much. Of course I’m curious, but I’m more curious about meeting my brother.”
“If he’s even your brother,” Angel reminded her but kissed her the second she felt her smile level. “Baby, I know this has gotta be exciting for you, and I wanna be excited for you too, but I’d hate for you to get your hopes up and this turn out to be a letdown. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
She nodded, knowing he was right and felt suddenly embarrassed to look him in the eyes because she knew how stupid he must be thinking she was. How could she let herself get so caught up in this so quickly? There were still so many unanswered questions. She knew all this. It was the first thing she’d thought. This could very well be one big lie, but a part of her was hopeful that it wasn’t.
“Hey,” he said, lifting her chin so she was forced to look into his eyes again. “It’s okay to be curious. I am too.”
She took a deep breath and shrugged. “Maybe I could do what Sydney suggested. Feel him out via email for a little bit before I decide if I wanna meet him. I could ask him to send me photos. That way my mom can confirm whether or not it’s really him, and Sydney can confirm if it’s the guy who showed up at his place. At least then we’d know it’s actually him. It still wouldn’t mean we can trust him, but at least we could rule out if he’s an imposter.”
“Now you’re talking.” Angel smiled, kissing her, then took her by the hand around the counter and toward the sofa. Without turning around, he asked. “So how late were you up with Syd last night?”
It was casual, but Sarah knew him too well. It was probably something he’d had every intention of asking her from the moment she’d mentioned she was up late.
He sat down, and she plopped down next to him, flipping the television on. “I’m not sure. One maybe? I just know it was late, and then this morning we were up early, and after that conversation with my mom, I was done. The nap felt real good.”
Angel peered at her. “Anything new with Syd?”
“Actually,” she said, knowing this was going to change the mood, so she chose her words carefully. “He and Carina had been having problems for some time now, and they finally broke up.”
Over the years, Angel had gotten pretty good at hiding his displeasure when it had to do with Sydney even when she told him things she knew he wouldn’t exactly be thrilled about. But being with him for this long, Sarah was also good at picking up on the telltale signs that something had hit a nerve, like last semester when she’d switched her classes around a few weeks into the semester. By the time she was settled in her new Marketing Principles class, the only person left to partner up for the project they’d already started was Dae, the guy Angel couldn’t stand on her track team. Dae had asked her out more than once, knowing she was in a relationship with Angel.
When she had to break the news to him about who she’d be spending time working on their project, he’d played it off as if he were okay with it like he was now. But Sarah could see it in his eyes just by the way he looked at her. He’d been anything but okay with it.
“Did they? How long ago was this?”
“Few weeks ago,” Sarah said. “It’s why he decided to come home for the rest of the summer.” Seeing his reaction to that almost made her want to keep what else he decided to do to herself, but she knew it was just a matter of time before she had to tell him, so she figured she may as well do it now. “He’s transferring to East Side U. too.”
That launched the brows. “He is? When?”
“This year. He put in all his paperwork before he came home, and, of course, he’s already been accepted.” She leaned into him, feeling how tense he’d suddenly gotten. She rubbed his arm. “Remember way back I told you U.C.L.A. had always been where he’d talked about going when we were in high school? ESU was the other big one he’d always wanted to go to. Now he’s decided to finish school there.”
She wouldn’t mention that the only reason he changed his mind back then was because Carina had gotten a scholarship to Columbia and that now that they’d broken up he was transferring to a school just two hours away from Sarah. Regardless of how bad it sounded or looked, Sarah knew it had nothing to do with wanting to be near her. He just wanted to be closer to home, and he said staying at Columbia, where he’d see Carina every day, would be awkward. There were other academic reasons for it that made sense. He also said he was over the cold weather and being in Southern California would be a welcome change—the change he’d need to get over Carina.
“So it’s over, over?” Angel asked, still looking a little stunned over the whole thing. “After all that time with her, he’s really walking away? Weren’t they together as long as you and I have been?”
“Yeah,” she nodded, still a bit saddened over it. “They started going out the year I moved out here. But this isn’t the first time they’ve broken up. They’ve had issues for a long time.”
Angel eyed her weirdly. “What kind of issues?”
Sarah straightened out, feeling a little uncomfortable. If she didn’t know any better, Angel was already coming to conclusions of his own—conclusions he was partly right about. Just like Angel, Carina had had the same reservations about Sarah and Sydney’s friendship all along, but she’d never told him. Still, Sarah knew the whole truth. No matter what, she wouldn’t let him make accusations.
“He said she was very clingy and needy—that she always had been—but he’d thought she would outgrow it.”
He was still peering at her in that strange way that made her so uncomfortable. She’d never been good at lying, and she’d vowed long ago to never keep anything from Angel again. She’d learned her lesson. Not even half-truths would be acceptable.
“So what made him finally decide to end it?”
Sarah removed the hair band out of her hair and pulled her hair back again, redoing her pony tail. It was a nervous attempt to make time to think of how to say it. She’d been so consumed with thoughts of her father all day she never even stopped to think of how best to tell him if she ever had to. It hadn’t occurred to her he might ask straight out.
“Carina gave him an ultimatum,” she said, looking away at the television, hoping he wouldn’t ask for specifics, but she knew he would, so she didn’t want to be looking him in the eye when she told him. “And he finally walked away.”
Feeling his eyes on her, she continued to pretend to be engrossed in the laundry detergent commercial on the television. “What was that ultimatum, Sarah?”
If she didn’t hear it in his voice—that he already knew—she might be tempted to continue to stare at the TV. Of course, it was now on an episode of a show Angel knew she hated, so it was pointless to pretend she was into it. Needing to deal with this head on instead of making it seem as though she might actually believe for a second what she knew Angel was already thinking, she turned to face him. “He either ended his friendship with me or ended his relationship with her.”
Angel’s eyes dug into her like she’d only seen them do this intensely a few times since she’d been with him. One of those times was that night she’d never forget: the night he met Sydney for the first time.
“So he chose you over his girlfriend of almost three years?”
“Yes, but their problems had been building for months, Angel—”
“And now he’s moving to Southern California?”
Sarah nodded, knowing full well she’d been absolutely right about how Angel would take this. No matter how much she argued or how many other facts she had to back up the idea that there’d been many issues between Sydney and Carina, she could already see it in his eyes. He wasn’t going to buy any of it. “Look,” she said, slipping her hand in his. “I know what you’re thinking.”
“I don’t think you do.”
“Of course I do,” she said, trying not frown. “It’s what you’ve always thought: that he has feeling for me beyond friendship and that his moving out here has everything to do me and not the academic reasons he told me and that—”
“He’s in love with you and always has been.” Sarah was already shaking her head, but before she could protest, he continued. “Why do you act like that’s so out of the question?”
“Because it is,” she said with conviction. “You don’t know him like I do, Angel. If he’s always been in love with me, don’t you think he would’ve mentioned it by now? I know, for you, it’s seems impossible, but he and I were friends long before I met you—long before I was in a committed relationship. He could’ve said something then. At the very least hinted.”
“Maybe he was afraid of ruining things,” Angel said, still looking every bit determined to stick with his theory. “I can’t believe the thought never crossed your mind. You said it yourself. He was overweight for many of those years you knew him—very overweight. That could’ve been a huge deterrent for him. If he was that insecure that you wouldn’t be physically attracted to him, maybe that’s what kept him from making a move sooner.”
She continued to shake her head. “It was never like that between us. In fact, I used to tease him that I thought Carina had a crush on him before they even got together.” She took a deep breath when his expression stayed exactly the same. Deciding to try a different approach, she humored him. “Okay, so what? You think now he’s decided to make his move? Now that I’m in love and have been in love and in a serious relationship for almost three years?” She squeezed his hand. “Baby, he knows how much you mean to me. I promise you he would never do or say anything that would cause problems for us, even if by some infinitesimal chance you’re right and he’s been in love with me all this time.”
His glare finally eased up the tiniest bit, but Sarah knew everything she’d worked so hard for in the last three years was down the toilet. The progress she made getting Angel to fully understand the dynamics of her friendship with Sydney, even if it was never full acceptance but more like tolerance, was back to square one.
But she was done with tension for the day. She could tell Angel could use a release, and she definitely could too. Smiling wickedly, she leaned in and kissed him passionately. Feeling him over his pants with her hand, she confirmed he was instantly ready for her. Pulling back, she smiled at him, biting her lower lip. “I’m chaining the door.”
She jumped up and headed for the front door, chaining and locking the dead bolt Angel himself had installed when she and her mom first moved in. She turned to see Angel smirking at her expectedly. The bulge in his crotch was evidence he knew exactly what she was up to. She hurried to him, leaning over to kiss him as her hands worked his zipper open and pulled him out as he groaned in her mouth. Within seconds, she was out of her shorts and climbed on the sofa one knee on either side of him.
As she slid onto him easily, making it obvious how ready she too had been for him, Angel moaned, letting his head fall back.
“God yes,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut as she pushed down, wanting him in as deep as possible.
This was so what she needed today.