Page 9 of Angel

But…eventually…the day would come when he would realize he wasn’t happy, that sharing her bed and her life wasn’t enough for him.

He would walk out her door…and Angel would be devastated.

Angel buried her face into her pillow again to hide the plethora of emotions roiling through her. “Why are you here?”

“Because you’re sick and I want to prove to you that I can be here for you.”

Fuck, that was the exact opposite of what she needed him to say. Because that sounded so good. For a moment, she wanted to be sick. She wanted to really have the flu or a stomach bug and she wanted him to be here caring for her.

Angel let out a long, miserable groan. “Go away.”

“Why are you fighting this so hard, Angel? I don’t even know what happened that day at the hospital. Then I got approved as Bree’s donor… Well, that kinda took it out of me for a while. And I wanted to talk to you about it, but you were concentrating on Bree and getting the house ready. I get it. We both got busy. And,” he hesitated, “I’ll be honest, I was a bit worried at the time that if I asked you out on a date again that you would only agree out of gratitude for Bree.”

Angel let out a snort.

Cage chuckled. “Yeah, I should have known you’d never do anything out of gratitude and only because you wanted to. It’s been a year, Sweet Angel. I’m tired of waiting. It’s time you and I sat down and had a real talk about our feelings. You scared me the other night. I didn’t like getting that phone call from Bear that you and Tessa needed to leave in the middle of the night—and don’t give me that bullshit that it was Tessa who needed to go. You and I both know that Bear would never allow his ol’ lady to leave like that and not go with her if she was the one needing medical help.”

Angel remained silent. She just hugged her pillow tighter to her face.

“Please, sweetness, throw me a bone here. I’m begging you. Tell me something, anything. I hate that I’m stuck in this awkward friend-zone with you. Somedays you act like I’m your best friend and other days you act like I’m the spawn of Satan.”

Angel shrugged and did not look at him.

She felt his hand on her shoulder, rubbing soothingly. “I get that you’re sick and not feeling well. I’m trying to be here for you and for Bree. I’m trying to show you that I can be a part of your family?—”

Angel threw his arm off of her and bolted upright. Rage fueled her and, despite her wooziness at the fast movement, she only swayed slightly. Cage put his arms out as if he was going to catch her, but Angel slapped his hands away.

“‘A part of my family?’” she sneered back at him. “In what capacity, Cage? My club brother with benefits? You are not and never will be Bree’s father. I’d never allow that. You can be her fun-loving uncle who donated a kidney. Great. But that’s it. That’s all you’ll ever be. You want to be here for me? Great. I appreciate the back rub. But I can’t help wondering which Honey you’re going to take to your bed tonight. Or how about which one was in your bed last night? How about the blonde I saw you with at Demon’s? Was she in your bed too?”

The hurt was evident on Cage’s face, but it wasn’t enough to stop Angel. She’d been hurting for over a year. She was so sick of hurting. She didn’t have the time or the patience for Cage’s bullshit. He couldn’t change who he was—and neither could she.

Hell, Angel wasn’t even sure she was open to a relationship anyway. Not after losing her baby. It all seemed so trivial in comparison.

What it came down to was sex and pride for him. Had Cage ever been turned down by a woman before?

“I’m not some conquest. I am not some bimbo with no morals. I am a person, Cage. I’m a mom. You are and always will be a womanizing man-whore.” Her strength and energy waned, Angel went to lay down again. She made a gesture towards her bedroom door. “Just go away, Cage. I feel awful enough without having to fake being happy to see you.”

Angel curled herself into a tight ball around her pillow. For several minutes, Angel didn’t hear anything that indicated he’d left her room. Then she heard the click of her door closing.

Tears streamed down her face. She wasn’t usually such a bitch. She knew she’d been awful to him, but she needed his advances to stop. He couldn’t have it both ways. He couldn’t be ‘part of her family’ and still be sleeping around like it was his profession.

She was mindful enough to realize that she was putting her guilt on his shoulders, blaming him for her promiscuous night that had ended in a chemical pregnancy and eventually led to her current depressed state.

Her actions weren’t Cage’s fault. Angel knew that.

Maybe her mom was right after all. Angel wasn’t woman enough. With her muscular body and hard demeanor, she certainly wasn’t winning any beauty pageants. Cage was the sort of man who needed a Barbie Girl on his arm. That certainly wasn’t Angel. She wasn’t woman enough for a man like Cage. Hell, she wasn’t even woman enough to keep her baby safe past five weeks.

Angel had never cared before. It was her own doing, being ‘one of the guys’. She didn’t hate being a woman. There were certain annoyances, sure, like her period, PMS, and she was dreading menopause. It was who she was, and she had no desire to change that.

It hurt, though. Knowing who she was wasn’t enough for Cage. He’d find a new woman soon.

It shouldn’t matter to her.

Tears fell and her chin trembled. But it did. It mattered a lot. She wanted to be Cage’s. She wanted him to look at her like Steel, Lucky, Bear, Bulldog, and Jumper looked at Jenna, Harper, Tessa, Abby, and Jasmine. Like she was his entire world. Like she was his everything.

And Cage?

Well, obviously she wasn’t woman enough to keep his eyes from wandering. Which was fine. It was. She’d move on. Life would continue as it had been, as if her baby had never existed. It would be her and Bree against the world. Just the two of them.

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