Broken Road (23 page)

“Yeah, I’ve seen her mad plenty of times. It’s like dealing with a two-year-old.”

They both chuckled and then Angel said in a serious tone, “So, the question is, what exactly do you want from me, Jarrod?”

“A chance.”

She paused a moment before answering. “I don’t know. It seems like there is so much negativity surrounding us. Is that how we want to start a relationship? I mean, if it begins with so much trouble, it could only get worse, don’t you think?”

“No, I don’t. I really don’t. All that negativity stems from one source. Morgan. As long as she’s out of the picture, there will be no more negativity.”

“She’s my cousin. She’ll always be in the picture.”

“Yeah, but in time she’ll get over it. It’s just too fresh for her right now.”

She bit her lower lip as she contemplated his statement. Jarrod leaned forward and gently took her hand in his.

“We could take it real slow,” he said. “As slow as you want. You set the pace.”

She looked into his dazzling blue eyes as he gazed right back into her smoldering green ones and then she quietly said, “I can’t start anything until I find Ile.”

“You still want to kill her?” he asked sadly, still holding her hand and caressing it with his thumb. He looked down at their clasped hands, afraid to hear what her answer might be.

“No. I need to thank her.”

Morgan sat low in the driver’s seat of John’s car, which she had borrowed earlier that day. She had been following Angel during her time off from work for the last few weeks. She had almost begun to think Angel had kept her promise, but watching the two of them sitting there together in that coffee shop, holding hands, proved otherwise. She was furious. No, she was beyond furious. She was livid, beside herself with rage. If they thought she was just going to sit back and allow them to continue with their little fling, they had another thing coming. They had unleashed the fury in her and were about to pay. Obviously they didn’t know what she was capable of.

Chapter Twenty-Two

A
ngel awoke to the sun streaming through her window. She threw the covers off, jumped out of her bed, and ran to the window. It was a beautiful, sunny day with only a few swollen, white clouds dusting the gloriously blue sky. Although she hadn’t slept well, due to the scores of overwhelming thoughts that invaded her mind throughout the night, she awoke in high spirits. In fact, she couldn’t wait to get to her first class, because the quicker she got through the day, the sooner she would be able to see Jarrod. They had agreed to meet tonight after his workout at Perry Field.

She grabbed her clothes and toiletries and practically ran toward the shower down the hall. As soon as she was done and dressed, she snatched up her handbag and books and headed toward class. As she approached the massive, tree-shaded brick building that was surrounded by beautifully maintained grounds, she saw Ileana waiting for her at the bottom of the steps, appearing exceedingly nervous.

Angel was contemplating whether to have some fun and make her suffer a bit or letting her off the hook from the get-go, but when Ileana turned and saw her, the look in her eyes indicated she had suffered enough. She stood up and ran toward Angel.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, her eyes tearing up quickly. “Please, please forgive me.”

“I do,” said Angel as she quickly hugged her best friend, who looked as if her legs were just about to give out. “I know you meant well and I appreciate what you did for me.” Closely watching for her reaction, she added, “We both do.”

Ileana immediately pulled out of the embrace and exclaimed, “We?”

“Yes…we,” said Angel, smiling.

“As in…you and Jarrod?” she asked incredulously.

“Yup.”

Ileana pulled her best friend back into a bear hug and said, “I’m so happy for you. I just knew it would all work out. He does seem as amazing as you described him. I didn’t think it was possible, that there even existed a man like that, but he does. He’s terrific.”

“Well, we’ll see. Right now we’re just going to take it real slow and see what comes of it.”

“That’s good. Slow is always good.” Ileana had a triumphant beam pasted on her face. She took Angel’s arm, hooked hers with it, and together they walked that way to class.

Meanwhile, approximately three miles away, Morgan was sitting on her bed in her makeshift room, idly brushing her short, dark tresses. The room was eerily silent. All that could be heard was the sound of the brush as it passed slow and rhythmically through her hair.

She heard someone enter the house, and she immediately put the brush down and opened the door slightly to her room. She peeked out and saw it was Benjamin standing stiffly beside the kitchen table as he sifted through the mail. The time had arrived to put her newly devised plan in motion.

She stepped out of her room and walked toward the kitchen area, stopping near the doorway, and said, “Hello, Benjamin.” Although he didn’t respond, she noted how his back stiffened upon hearing her voice.

“I said hello, Benjamin,” she tried again, raising her voice just a tad.

Still not looking at her, he quietly responded, “Hello.” Gently placing the mail back on the table, he began to draw some sort of design on a dusty portion of the table with the tip of his finger.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come home. I wanted to speak to you about something.”

He ceased his doodling and turned to face her, still keeping his eyes downward and began to clench and unclench his fists in nervous agitation.

“W-what about?” he said. He barely spoke above a whisper, so it was difficult to hear him.

“I thought you might be interested in knowing something,” she said as sweetly as she could muster. “I heard something about you today and thought that you might want to know.” Turning away from him, she walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

He followed her into the living room and stood motionless in its center.

“A-b-b-bout me?” he asked as he quickly lowered his head again to stare at his shoes.

“Uh-huh.” She nodded and added, “I was at work today, and two girls came in to look for dresses. One of them was very, very pretty.”

“What d-does that have to d-d-do with me?” he stuttered.

“I happened to overhear one of the girls tell her friend there was someone she was crushing on. Want to know who that person is?”

He shrugged. Since he wasn’t looking anyway, Morgan rolled her eyes at him and gave him a dirty look. “It was you, silly,” she said.

He looked up at her and pushed his glasses back, but this time he didn’t lower his head again.
Finally a reaction from the wackadoodle
, she thought.

“Me?” he asked, surprised and shocked.

“Yes, you. Isn’t that exciting? She’s so pretty too. Long dark hair, beautiful green eyes, and a nice body too. You two would make such a nice couple.”

“Um…m-maybe she was t-t-talking about someone else…a-another Benjamin?” His stammering was getting worse, and he was beginning to perspire. In an attempt to calm his nerves so that his speech would flow more smoothly, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“No. She was definitely talking about you. She mentioned your full name. Benjamin Langdon. Plus, she described you to a tee.” What a weirdo. Jeez, if Angel were ever to find out she was behind this plan of setting Benjamin onto her, she’d have a conniption.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Definitely. You should check her out, see if you like her and then let her know you’re interested.”

“I could n-never ask her out.” Oops, there went the head again. It almost seemed as if his head was connected to an invisible string that was attached to an imaginary hand. Every now and then, the hand would pull the string taut so that the head would be raised, and then it would abruptly let go, so that the head would drop like a rock.

“Why not? Benjamin, you already know she’s interested in you. In life you have to take the bull by the horn and make things happen for you. You just can’t sit around and wait for things to be served to you on a silver platter. That’s just not reality. You have to go out there and get it yourself.”

“N-n-no. I d-don’t think that’s a g-good idea…,” Benjamin stammered again.

She stood up from the couch, picked up a pen from the coffee table, and used it gingerly to lift a dirty sock that had been left on the floor. With her arm outstretched in front of her as if the sock had been contaminated by radioactive material, she carried it into the kitchen and dropped it, along with the pen, into the garbage can. Returning to the living room, she found Benjamin exactly as she had left him. Head bent down, yielding to his unending obsession with his damn Chucky T’s.

“Benjamin, why don’t we sit down? Please?” she asked in a soothing, trusting tone.

He shook his head and began to fretfully scratch his head. She noted how he’d begun to slowly sway back and forth, switching his weight from his left leg to his right, while nervously clenching his pants leg into a tight fist.

Speaking in a cautious, hushed tone, she continued, “Listen, I just want to help you. You seem like a nice guy and you should…no…you deserve to be with someone special.” If he believed that load of crap, she’d love to talk to him about investing some money into a fund she created a few years back that was still going strong—the Morgan Billings MasterCard Fund.

“How are you g-going…to help me?” he asked sheepishly.

“Are you kidding? There’s so much I can do for you. How about I start by getting you a picture of her? Then you can see for yourself just how beautiful she is. If you like her, we can start off slowly. Maybe send her some flowers. Every girl loves flowers. What do you think of that?” She spoke to him as if he were a child she was trying to convince to be a good little boy and share his toys.

“Um…okay. I g-guess.”

“Good. Then it’s settled. I’ll get a picture of her for you.”

“How?” he asked.

“She comes to the store all the time. She’s one of our best customers. I’ll sneak the photo with my cell phone when she’s not looking.”
Angel will never know what hit her
, she thought to herself while smiling maliciously and hoping to God she had a picture of her cousin stashed away somewhere.

Three days later and with no luck in finding a current photo of Angel, Morgan had no choice but to follow her to the mall, where she met up with Jarrod. When Morgan saw them together, it took all the restraint in the world to not run up to the two of them and scratch their double-crossing eyes out. She made sure to get at least one photo of her without Jarrod in it, which was not easy, because he always had his blasted arm around her.

As she showed the picture to Benjamin, she noticed how wide he opened his eyes and how his demeanor seemed to change. He almost appeared excited.

“Pretty, isn’t she?” she asked while closely scrutinizing his reaction.

He nodded rapidly and then became grim with concern.

“Why would she w-w-want to be w-with me?”

“You underestimate your appeal. Listen, every woman out there has a type that she likes. My type, well, my type is outgoing, tall, athletic, and handsome. Some women prefer the brainy, quiet, shy type. You obviously are her type.”