Page 12 of Angel

As soon as work was over, Angel was going to find Cage and have a rational conversation with him. She still had no intention of dating him or sleeping with him again, but she should apologize. That was the right thing to do.

The chime of the doorbell announced the arrival of Angel’s last appointment for the day. She was beyond exhausted and, frankly, wished she’d told Bree not to schedule so many appointments. Her arm was sore and her hand was cramping from holding the tattoo gun for so long. People thought Angel collected stress-balls because she liked the different shapes, but the truth was she used them throughout her day between appointments.

Seeing Angel work a stress ball in the shape of a brain with the words Made You Think on the side of it, Bree told her, “It’s just a consultation.”

Angel let out a sigh of relief. Delilah had already gone home. She’d stayed later than Patrick or Katie to make up for her morning off. It was just Bree and Angel now.

The kid who walked through the door made Angel’s eyes narrow. He was a punk, pure and simple. He wore eyeliner, black clothes, and boots. His hair was spiked with neon green tips. There was more jewelry on his face than Angel probably owned. He was tall and lean with a long hook nose.

Angel also placed him around eighteen. If he was under eighteen, this appointment wasn’t going beyond the reception area.

“Can I help you?” Angel asked. The kid hadn’t acknowledged either of them yet, just looking at the pictures Angel had on her wall of her customers’ tattoos over the years.

The smile he gave was cocky. “Possibly. You Angel?”

Her hackles were starting to rise at the blatant disrespect in his voice. Angel nodded once. “I am.”

“Then you can help me.” That grin turned malicious.

Angel instinctively reached for the belt knife she kept on her at the small of her back. It was small and concealed under the faux leather, but it would do the trick. Her gun was in the safe at Bree’s feet behind the reception desk.

Something sharp pierced Angel in the back. She heard Bree’s scream as unimaginable pain, like a swarm of bees attacking her, racked Angel’s body. The electricity shook her rapidly as she lost all muscle control and the ability to move on her own.

The pain stopped and Angel collapsed to the floor. She gasped for breath. Her ears were ringing and any movement hurt. She knew she’d been struck by a Taser from behind. No one should have been back there though. She’d been facing the front door.

A second scream pierced her ears, and Bree came to the forefront of her mind. She had to protect her daughter!

Angel reached around to rip the barbs out of the small of her back. They were imbedded into her skin just below the line of her cut. That was unfortunate because the leather cut might have protected her.

Another wave of electricity rolled through her. Angel cried out, her hand losing momentum and function.

As her mind started to fade from consciousness, she heard someone close to her ear say, “You can help me. You’re going to help me send a message to your buddy, Steel.”

Bree sat frozen as she watched Angel be tased for a second time. Her mom was one of the strongest people she knew; it was unnerving to see her so easily taken down.

Bree’s eyes flashed to her wheelchair in the corner of the room. Her stupid legs made her utterly useless. She was too far away to help Angel. Fear gripped her.

It had been a year since she’d last felt so helpless. The knowledge that you’re going to die is a heady one. All Bree could think was why me and how unfair it was that she was going to die. There’d also been solace in death. She’d been in pain for so long that death had begun to feel like an escape.

Bree no longer felt that way. For the first time in her life, she had a life worth living and fighting for. She had friends and family. She had Angel, a mom who loved and protected her. Angel had given her the strength to hope again.

Now fear gripped her once more. Bree watched, frozen in her seat, as two men came into her view. One was holding the Taser that had struck Angel down. He was big, but not as big as some of Bree’s uncles. His companion was more potbellied than muscular, but the thing that stood out about him was that he was wearing an eyepatch over his right eye.

Bree saw the hatred and maliciousness in the men’s eyes and knew that they meant to harm Angel in the worst of ways. She’d seen that look too many times in her life not to recognize it.

The boy who had come into the shop from the front door stepped forward. He looked far too young to be mixed up with the older men. He squatted down next to Angel and whispered something in her ear. Bree saw Angel’s eyes roll back into her head as she lost consciousness.

She had to call for her uncles! Her eyes landed on her phone on the reception desk. A quick glance at the three men in the room made her wonder if she could reach it in time. She only needed to text out one word and the club would come running. Uncle Keys would be able to track both her and Angel’s phones in seconds. It didn’t matter who she sent the message to. They would come.

But it would be a long couple of seconds to get to her phone, unlock it, and send the message. Doing so now would draw attention to her phone. Bree needed to bide her time.

In the past year, Bree had been working on honing her fear with her therapist as well as several of her uncles. Uncle Bulldog was even teaching her how to defend herself from her wheelchair. While Bree had been hoping and praying that she never had to be in a life-or-death situation again, she knew she needed to know how to push past her fears.

“People know of fight or flight, but there’s another F.” Uncle Bulldog told her this often. “Freeze. The inability to move is almost guaranteed to be your death sentence. We’re going to make sure you not only know how to fight, but also know how to think your way out of that fight.”

Bree was terrified. There was no doubting that. She could feel herself shaking uncontrollably as she watched Angel’s hands be tied in front of her. The man with the Taser kept the gun attached to Angel’s back, making Bree wonder of he planned to use it again. Confetti from the Taser being fired littered the linoleum floor around them.

There were two entrances and exits from the tattoo studio. Angel made sure Bree knew every inch of this place in case of an emergency. Although, Bree was pretty sure Angel had had a fire in mind and not a hostage situation when she’d said ‘emergency’. Clearly the two men had broken in through the locked back door to sneak up on Angel.

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