Page 35 of Angel

Cage nodded as he inspected his Beretta M-9. “Just not that place,” he indicated a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of the fancy French restaurant. “I actually want to eat tonight.”

CHAPTER 6

Cage wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin. “Tell me something about you that no one else knows.”

Angel looked across the table at him and popped a fry in her mouth. They had picked up burgers from a fast-food joint and taken their meal to a nearby park. The picnic table was seated next to a pond that was home to a lot of ducks, geese, and—from the noise—frogs. “Well, obviously, others know this, but I don’t think anyone at the club does. Keys might,” she amended like an afterthought. “I was a twin.”

Cage took a sip of his soda before asking, “Was?”

She nodded but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “She disappeared when we were sixteen. She found out she was pregnant. My parents didn’t take it well. She wouldn’t tell us who the father was or anything. Then…she was just gone. Poof. Call it twin-intuition or whatever, but two days after she disappeared… Well, I knew. She was dead.”

Cage reached across the table and took hold of Angel’s hand. “I’m so sorry, sweetness.”

Angel tried to shrug it off, but Cage could still see the old pain. “My mom is still insistent that she’s alive and out there somewhere. She doesn’t believe me when I tell her that Amber’s gone. I think it’s guilt that won’t let her accept the truth. The last words she said to Amber were not pretty.” After a moment’s hesitation, Angel explained, “Amber had just told them that she was pregnant and my mom called her a slut.”

Cage flinched. He couldn’t imagine ever calling a child of his ‘a slut’, but to have that be the last thing he said to that child before they disappeared? The guilt must be astronomical. “I’m so sorry, sweetness.” He knew he was repeating words, but he didn’t know what else to say.

Angel took a sip of her soda and then cleared her throat. “What about you? Tell me something no one else knows about you.”

There was probably a lot that people didn’t know about him. He wasn’t exactly an open book. He’d grown up with everyone and their mother knowing his secrets, so he kept a lot hidden after joining the military.

But he didn’t want secrets with Angel. He wanted openness and honesty. He wanted her to be the only person in the world who truly knew him. So he confessed to something not even his own mother knew. “When I was seventeen, I got my high school girlfriend’s best friend pregnant.”

Angel had been aiming a fry towards her mouth but froze at his words. “What?”

Cage nodded sadly. “I was young and stupid and I cheated on my girlfriend.”

“And the…the baby?” Angel seemed to have trouble getting the words out. Cage could understand.

Unfortunately, though, he didn’t have an answer for her. He shrugged. “I don’t know. Her family pulled her from school and I only found out about the pregnancy after the fact. I tracked her down, with the intent of doing the right thing, but she refused to see me. Her parents wouldn’t even open the door. I tried calling, writing, everything. Eventually, I found out through a social media search that she had a boy. I’m not named on the birth certificate or anything, but I still send money to her each month.”

“Have you… I mean, have you ever met him?”

Cage shook his head. “I tried for years and eventually gave up.” Sadness washed over him at his confession. “I’m not even sure the baby’s mine because she had a boyfriend at the time too. I just… I felt responsible and…” He shrugged. “I never wanted kids. Hell, before I met Bree, I hadn’t ever considered being a father. I don’t consider the kid my son. Maybe that’s wrong of me, but it’s like he’s a ghost to me. He’s there, but not. I figured he was better off without me anyway.”

Angel was silent for a long time. Cage looked out at the pond to give her time to process what he’d just confided in her. Frogs croaked around them.

“There are ways to verify if he’s your son, Cage.”

Cage looked back over at Angel. She looked a little pale, but not angry. Hurt, maybe? “I know. I looked into it too. I was going to get a lawyer and order a paternity test. I just… I didn’t want to mess up the kid’s life, you know? I wasn’t… I wasn’t a good person back then.”

Angel tilted her head to the right. “What do you mean?”

Cage shifted uncomfortably on the bench. “I didn’t volunteer to go into the Navy. I was given the option to serve in the military or serve time in jail, and I chose the military.”

Angel looked confused. “I didn’t know judges could force people to enlist. I thought that was a fable.”

“They can’t,” Cage verified. “After I found out about Veronica’s pregnancy, I started drinking. A lot. Took a baseball bat to Veronica’s parents’ house. I got arrested for vandalism, public intoxication, and underage drinking. The judge told me I was getting six months in jail unless I showed up with a military recruiter with proof that I had enlisted.”

“Interesting tactic on the judge’s part.”

Cage nodded. “Guy probably saved my life. Anyway, I was a bit of a punk back then. I knew I wasn’t ready to be a father. Not that I wanted to skate my responsibilities, but it also wasn’t like Veronica had come to me and told me she was having my baby. She refused to talk to me, wouldn’t even answer the damn phone when I called. I figured the best thing I could do was respect her wishes and stay away.”

“But you send her money?”

“Yeah,” Cage nodded. “I’ve only ever had her parents’ information, so I send it there. I don’t have the kid’s name or social so I can’t set up a college account for him but I have a savings account that I throw money into. I’m not really sure what I plan on doing with it. Maybe Keys can figure out how to get it to him after he turns eighteen. I have a guess when his birthday is.”

Angel dipped a fry into her ketchup pile but didn’t make a move to eat it. “Don’t you want to know if the baby is yours?”

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