ANGEL'S WRATH by SK (SIN CITY HEAT) (12 page)

 
 
 
 
The muscles in Angel's jaw jumped beneath her hand. It surprised him he'd shared so much with her already. Other than Oscar, no one knew the truth about who his real father was, not even Dominick. It hit him out of nowhere that he
did
trust her. Maybe it was because she knew him before things spun so horribly out of control. She represented a place and time when things were the way they were supposed to be in life.

 
 
 
 
He curled his hand around hers and brought it to his mouth. Kissing her fingers, he leaned down and touched her lips with his then revealed the rest of the story.

 
 
 
 
Angel and Nikki were relaxing in his condo the night before
DWC
was to transfer the stock to Angel’s name. It had been a week since Angel told Nikki everything about his past and what his plans were.
 
 
 
 
Nikki now realized what she’d found so eerily familiar in Jaxon’s face in the emergency room. She didn’t know how she’d missed the resemblance before. Jaxon and Angel were brothers...half-brothers. The anger she'd seen in Jaxon's face was almost identical to Angel’s when he was mad. But even more than that, it was the eyes. He and Angel, and even Brad Sr. had the same color eyes, just slightly different shades. Where
Angel’s
were a combination of light brown and green, the other two men’s were more greenish with brown specks, but when all three got upset, their eyes slowly changed, becoming cool and threatening.
 
 
 
 
 
Angel stretched out on the sofa with his head in Nikki’s lap and looked up at her as she smoothed a hand over his hair. “Are you sure you want to be there tomorrow? It’s going to get ugly.”
 
 
 
 
“I’m sure,” Nikki answered. “I want my life back, and I won’t be able to get it until that bastard is brought down.” Nikki had taken a month’s leave from her job. Her secretary told her that Jaxon hadn’t been happy when he’d found out.

 
 
 
 
“One more day, baby. I promise.” Angel reached up and pulled her head down to his, kissing her softly. The kiss slowly deepened as Nikki slipped her hand under his shirt, caressing his hard stomach and chest. She couldn’t get enough of him. They had made love the entire week, and it still wasn’t enough. Just as her hand went to unsnap his jeans, Angel’s cell phone rang.
 
 
 
 
“Ignore it.” Nikki groaned, teasing his tongue with hers, trying to entice him to continue their love play.
 
 
 
 
“Mmmm,” Angel moaned as he nipped at her soft lips. “I can’t. It might be Matt. He said he would call me back. I need to make sure everything goes smoothly tomorrow.” Giving her a quick kiss he sat up and answered the phone.
 
 
 
 
As he suspected, it was Matt with a couple of last minute details he wanted to go over. “Hold on.” He gave Nikki a kiss then stood up. “Baby, this is going to take a while. I’m going into my office so that I have access to my computer. We’ll pick up where we left off when I finish,” he smiled.

 
 
 
 
Nikki pouted a little bit but nodded. “Okay. I guess I’ll go and take a bath. Make sure you wake me when you come to bed.” Nikki gave him a suggestive look before she walked out of the room. Angel’s eyes were hot as he watched the sway of her hips until she was out of his sight.
 
 
 
 
“Mmph. Most definitely,” he whispered to himself. He brought the phone back to his ear and walked to his office. Matt was aware that Jaxon was going to try to get out of transferring the stock to
NaDa Holdings
and they were fully prepared.
 
 
 
 
After about an hour, he hung up and sat back in his chair with a thoughtful expression on his face. Everything seemed to be in line for tomorrow. Jaxon had made no attempt to try and cancel the meetings. Angel smiled. Apparently, he wanted to have the satisfaction of telling Angel personally that he had information about him. Angel would let him have his fun, then finish the ass whipping he’d started a couple of weeks ago. This time he wouldn’t use his fists. It would be mental, a blow so devastating, no doctor would be able to treat it.
 
 
 
 
The smile fell from his face as he thought about the other pressing matter at hand. Yes, things were going perfect businesswise, but he needed to get his own house in order, mainly the women who lived with him because he planned on being with Nikki. That decision was already made, and he didn’t want anything to cause a problem between them so he’d been slowly and quietly setting the women up in new lives. They would be very comfortable for a long time until they decided where they wanted to go from here. Everything was developing smoothly…except for Carmen. Carmen refused to accept that things were changing. Angel really hadn’t had the time to deal with her and her stubbornness, but that would be the first order of business after tomorrow.
 
 
 
 
He stood up, intent on waking Nikki as he’d promised. He already knew he wouldn’t get any sleep tonight. Smiling to himself, he was going to try not to keep her up…too late. However, once they started making love, it always continued to the point of exhaustion before they called it quits. His tigress was proving to be as sexually demanding as he was. Angel was just reaching over to turn the lamp in his office off when the phone rang again. He answered, thinking it was Matt.
 
 
 
 
“Talk to me.”
 
 
 
 
“Angel, it’s Dominick.”
 
 
 
 
Angel smiled when he heard his brother’s voice. They had spoken earlier today and made plans for Dominick to go with him to
DWC
tomorrow. Angel had finally told him everything, who his real father was, the reasons he had changed so drastically all of sudden when they were younger, and how he'd chosen to deal with it. Upon hearing the full story, Dominick had gone through a range of emotions, from shock, to anger, and finally wanting revenge, the same as Angel. He was more than willing to stand by his side.

 
 
 
 
Curious, Angel asked him if he'd ever questioned the differences in their looks. Dominick told him that he honestly hadn't. Growing up, both brothers had seen pictures of their mother's family in the islands, and many were close to Angel's complexion so it hadn't been strange at all to him. The two of them having different fathers meant nothing to Dom. It didn't change the fact that Angel was his brother and he loved him just the same.
 
 
 
 
“What’s up, little brother?”
 
 
 
 
“Nothing much. Too wired up to sleep, I guess.”
 
 
 
 
“Yeah. I just got off the phone with Matt. You still coming tomorrow, huh?”
 
 
 
 
“You jokin' right? Short of death, nothing is keepin' me away from confronting those bastards with you.”
 
 
 
 
“Good. How's Keisha? Is the pregnancy going well?”

 
 
 
 
Angel didn't have to be in the same room with Dominick to know he had a shit eating grin on his face. "Yeah, she's great. Beautiful, actually. She says she loves being pregnant. Hell,
I
love the benefits of her being pregnant," Dom laughed. He and Keisha had damn near insatiable appetites to begin with, but now, her sexual hunger had gone into overdrive.

 
 
 
 
Angel chuckled softly. "Tell my sister-in-law I said hello. And how's my little niece?"

 
 
 
 
"Samantha's fine. Angel, she's growing so fast. Keisha's been so good for her. Things are great since Justine agreed to let her live with us."

 
 
 
 
"That's good, Dom. You're very lucky to have such a great family."

 
 
 
 
Dominick hesitated for a moment before saying what was on his mind. "Angel, I know we've had this conversation before and you always blow me off, but you can have that too. Yes, I understand things a little better now that you've told me the whole story, but that doesn’t have to define the rest of your life. My family is your family. You can't tell me you don't want to settle down one day, have lil 'Angels and Angelettes' runnin' around," Dom teased.

 
 
 
 
Angel forced a smile in his voice. "You tellin' me Keisha's going to let you name the baby 'Dominickette' if it's a girl?"

 
 
 
 
"And what's wrong with that?" Dominick tried to sound insulted, but even he had to laugh at the sound of the name. "Anyway, that's not what we were talkin' about. I ain't lettin' you change the subject."

 
 
 
 
Angel leaned back in the chair, silent as he thought about Nikki. Things had changed significantly in his life. He was the first to admit he hadn’t seen it coming. Thoughts of settling down with one woman, a family in his future...unbelievable.

 
 
 
 
"Angel?"

 
 
 
 
Angel redirected his attention back to Dominick. "Let's just say you might be closer on mark than you think." Dominick was rendered speechless. Angel had to smile to himself because that didn't happen very often. "Still there, lil brother?"

 
 
 
 
"Uh, yeah. Wait. Are you saying that you..." Dom had to take a second to get his thoughts together because to say Angel had thrown him for a loop with that response was an understatement. "You've met somebody special?"

 
 
 
 
 
"Yeah. My woman is very special." Dominick raised a brow at the possessive tone. "Actually, you know her from our old neighborhood. She's closer to your age than mine, grew up not too far away from Ma and Pops house."

 
 
 
 
"
I
know her? From the neighborhood?" Dominick repeated as he searched his mind, still coming up blank. Angel
really
had him floored now. "Who?"

 
 
 
 
Angel laughed quietly, hearing the blatant curiosity in his brother's voice. "You remember Nicole Randolph? Her family lived several houses down."

 
 
 
 
Dominick's mind worked furiously. The name was familiar, but...

 
 
 
 
"Wait. Weren't you friends with her brother? What was his name, Jake, Jacob...?”

 
 
 
 
"Jacoby. Jacoby Randolph, yeah we were friends."

 
 
 
 
"That's right, Jacoby! He got killed some time back."

 
 
 
 
"Yeah." Jacoby had always been careless and talked about his business too much. Angel tried to tell him about it, but Jacoby was one of those people who thought they knew everything and was always right. One day, he spouted off to the wrong one and was killed on the spot.

 
 
 
 
"I remember now. Nikki, right?" Dom paused as he put two and two together. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me you...and
Nikki
...? Git tha fuck outta here!"
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
Angel had been swiveling in his office chair from side to side, but came to an abrupt stop and frowned when he heard the disbelief in Dominick's voice. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

 
 
 
 
"Angel, come on, man! I remember Nikki being a quiet, sweet girl, super smart. A
good
girl, bruh! When me, Marcus, and Darrell came by your place last year to get help with that Rochelle crap, the women lounging in the pool and draped around you were like exotic show pieces. They were anything
but
good girls! I mean,
Nikki
? I just can't see it. Nikki is wifey material, the kind you take home to mama. Let's face it, that ain't your usual type, nah mean?"