Page 21 of Angel

Rather than be embarrassed as she worried he would be, Cage let out a light chuckle. “No, I’m not.”

Angel started to cover her chest with her arms. They slept together once a year ago. What if he no longer found her attractive? He was used to pretty girls with feminine bodies. Take away her bruises and cuts, Angel was still muscular and tall.

“Stop thinking whatever it is you’re thinking that has you crossing your arms over your boobs like that. You were just assaulted, nearly raped, and you’re a walking bruise. Of course, I find you attractive, but I’m not so much a man-whore, as you once called me, that I am turned on by any of this.”

Angel’s arms slowly lowered back down. “Sorry about that,” she mumbled. “The man-whore comment, I mean.”

“You’re not exactly wrong,” Cage said. He started to move the cloth over her shoulders and down her right arm. He was careful not to touch her rope burns with the washcloth. “I have been a man-whore since losing my virginity to Delaney Vartabedian in ninth grade.”

It did not surprise her in the slightest that he’d started having sex so young. “So what changed? Why are you so hellbent on dating me now?”

Cage cleared his throat. When he pulled back from her and she felt the washcloth leave her skin, Angel looked over her shoulder at him. To her surprise, his cheeks were pink. “After you blew me off at the hospital last year, I was a bit preoccupied with donating my kidney. As I told you, I was worried you’d only agree to date me out of appreciation for Bree. I tried to move on, tried to put you out of my head.”

He looked down. “I met this girl at Demon’s about six weeks ago.”—Angel felt like her heart had plummeted into her stomach. She knew exactly the day and date he was referring to.—“It was going great, I think. She was giving all the right signals…” Cage shook his head. “I asked her back to my place.” Angel suddenly wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the rest of this. “But as we were leaving, I saw you with the guys. You were laughing and having a great time.

“That’s when I realized I didn’t want to go back to my rooms and have anonymous sex with a girl I’d never see again. I wanted to be standing there with you, not just one of the guys but your guy. So I called for a ride and sent the girl on her way.”

Angel’s stomach rolled at his confession. He’d turned that girl down while she’d… Angel hung her head in shame. If he’d gone back inside the bar, he would have seen her sloppy drunk and with another man, her baby’s sperm donor.

Splashing behind her caught her attention before Cage brought the cloth back to her skin. “Anyway, after that night, I decided then to work towards being a man you could be proud of, that you would want to be with.”

Cage could feel Angel’s body trembling beneath his touch. He knew she was crashing hard and he needed to pick up his pace before she fell asleep in the tub. He took note of every scratch, bruise, and burn on her body. He even let out a low growl when he saw the Taser burn on her lower back.

Steel had only told him the basics when he called, but Cage planned on getting every single fucking detail of what his girls had suffered through. And then…then the Pythons’ world would burn.

After he helped her wash, Cage pulled her back against his chest and held her. It didn’t take long before he felt her body start to tremble in a different way. She tried to muffle her sobs with a hand over her mouth.

Angel was the strongest woman he knew, but what she was going through had nothing to do with gender and everything to do with the trauma of what she’d just survived. Hell, Cage would be bawling out crying if he’d nearly been raped. It wasn’t a concept that, as a man, he had to consider. It happened, and he knew that men were less likely to report a rape. Didn’t make the reality of it any less terrifying.

He comforted her as best he could while letting her process as she needed to. Jenna hadn’t hesitated to come over to assist Bree so he could help Angel. Cage was grateful for that, because he knew that Bree would not be comfortable with him helping her shower. While it would not have been easy for him, he would have done it. There would have been nothing sexual about doing it, but it would have been awkward. With Jenna here, Cage didn’t have to leave Angel on her own to check on Bree or help her too.

When the water started to turn chilly, he reached over and pulled the plug up with his toes. The sound of the water draining caught her attention and Angel started to sit up more.

“Let’s get you to bed.” He kissed her damp hair. He liked that she was starting to grow it out more. “I’ll make sure Bree and Jenna are situated and then come back.”

Angel, though, shook her head. “I’m not up for that, Cage. I just want to sleep.”

“I’m aware,” he told her honestly. “And I just want to hold you while you sleep.”

Still, Angel hesitated. “Not tonight.”

Any other night and Cage would have argued, but she had a right to be alone after what she’d just been through. “All right,” he nodded against her head. “I can respect that.”

“Can we…” Angel cleared her throat. “Can we date before we jump back into bed? I just… I need to make sure that this is right.”

Hurt gripped him. “Do you not trust?—”

“No!” Angel turned on the tub floor to face him. “No, it’s not about trust, Cage. It’s about Bree. If we move too fast, if we mess this up, it’ll affect her as much as it will the two of us.”

Cage could understand Angel’s reservations and concerns but, damn, it still hurt that she thought there was a possibility they were going to mess this up. Because they both knew that she believed he would be the one to be doing the messing-upping.

Cage forced himself to nod. “We’ll go at whatever pace you need to, sweetness.”

Angel rolled her eyes. “You do not need to keep calling me that. I am not sweet.”

Cage leaned forward and nipped at her earlobe. “Would you rather I call you ‘Sour Patch’? First you’re sour,” he kissed her throat, “then you’re sweet.”

Angel snorted and groaned. “You’re aware that ‘Angel’ is already a nickname, right?”

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