Page 27 of Angel

Angel stopped walking. She tried to look confused. “I am?”

Cage pointed a finger at her. “See, that? That’s how I know it’s true. If you weren’t keeping something from me, you’d have been angry I accused you of something rather than pretending you didn’t know what I was talking about.”

Angel’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know me that well.”

“I know you very well, sweetness. You’re keeping something from me.” He gripped her hips and brought her flush up against his chest. “No need to tell me, though. I’ll figure it out.”

Now Angel rolled her eyes. “I thought Jasmine and Sophia were the only ones who liked to play detective.”

Cage’s grin was sinful. Angel felt her nipples pucker as warmth spread between her legs. “I can get a sexy detective’s costume and would be happy to do some snooping.” He brushed his lips against hers.

“Stop that you two!”

Angel and Cage broke apart to find Lucky standing by the bar with baby Conner strapped to his chest and Scotty. Lucky had his hand over Scotty’s eyes, which Scotty found so amusing he was uncontrollably giggling. He wasn’t fighting against being blinded all that hard, loving the game of having his dad’s hand over his face.

Cage took Angel’s hand. “Sorry about that, man.” Though he didn’t sound sorry at all.

Angel walked with him towards the stairs that led up to Church. She saw two of the Honeys with brooms and cleaning supplies chatting in the doorway that led to the clubhouse apartments but didn’t think anything of it.

Most of the club members were already in the room, either seated or standing around. A few of them came up to Angel and offered her a hug. Many inquired about Bree. Cage hung back and allowed Angel to answer their questions but kept close.

Banging on the table drew everyone’s attention. Steel put down the gavel. “Take your seats. We’ve got a lot to talk about before we have to get to our day jobs.”

Angel aimed for her usual seat, but Cage grabbed her hand. He brought her around to the other side of the table. He sat her where he usually sat and then went towards the back of the room where a table of coffee and pastries was set up. Angel wasn’t the only one watching him as he prepared two cups of coffee and a plate with two pastries. He brought everything over to the conference table. He put one mug in front of her, the plate between them, and the second mug in front of himself. Then he took the seat next to her.

Angel didn’t know whether to scowl at him or thank him. She landed on scowling. “I can get my own damn cup of coffee.” She didn’t mind the bed service…but that was different. Private.

“Shut up and drink it,” Cage countered. He looked down the table at Steel. “Where are we at with the Pythons?”

Angel put her left hand up to stop Steel from answering. She turned to Cage on her right. “Nothing has changed here, Cage. Yes, I agreed to go on a date with you, but that doesn’t change us here. I am still one of you and I can get my own coffee and breakfast.”

Rather than annoyed, Cage’s expression turned amused. “And where do you think your coffee and pastries come from in these meetings, sweetness? Have you not noticed that for the past year, I’ve been the one to get them for you? Today was just the first time I stopped being subtle about it.”

Angel’s jaw opened. She had no idea what to say to that. She tried to think back to specifics—and realized that one of her brothers usually passed her a cup of coffee at the start of Church. Like an assembly line. She’d never questioned where it came from.

“I… But…” She looked down at her coffee. Cage just sat there with a smug look on his stupidly beautiful face. “I… The…” Realizing the others were looking at them, Angel’s cheeks flushed. She turned to face down at the table at Steel. “Where are we at with the Pythons?”

Steel took pity on her and started the meeting. Keys took over and had a lot to report regarding the Pythons’ financials.

“Take it all,” Steel ordered him. “Empty them out. Let’s see how loyal his members are to him when they can’t get paid.”

Keys nodded. “I’ll have it all within the hour.” He looked across the table at Angel. “I’ll be to the tattoo shop around noon. I have a new security system for you as well as a panic button.”

“That’s fine.” She appreciated the extra security. Not for her, but for Bree and her employees. “Bree has an appointment at one with her therapist.”

“That’s good.” To the group as a whole, Keys said, “Last night, I spoke with the officers about putting tracking devices on the ol’ ladies and the club kids. However, just as a precaution while we’re dealing with the Pythons, Steel is recommending we wear them too.”

“Oh!” Pumpkin flipped his non-existent long hair. “Got a nice pair of earrings for me to wear like they have in the movies?”

“No, jackass.” Keys threw something across the table at him. Pumpkin caught it and held it up. “Dog tags. We’re all used to wearing them. Hell, some of us still wear them. No one will suspect they’re not our original tags.”

“Why not just put something into the stitching of our cuts?” Ghost asked.

“Because a Python is more likely to take or ruin our cuts,” Angel piped in. “They were pissed I had one. Tried to grab for Bree’s too. They’re a symbol just like our military uniforms were. There are a lot of POWs out there that reported the first thing taken from them were their uniforms.”

Keys nodded to her. “What she said.”

Cage cleared his throat, “Taking their money is great, but that won’t destroy them.”

---