Graham, Jan - Finding Angel [Wylde Shore] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (31 page)

Christian had accepted a few days beforehand that he loved Angel with all his heart, and somewhere inside he knew that she loved both him and Daniel as well. This morning he believed that Angel was definitely closer to admitting that to Daniel than she would be to him. He was going to have to work a bit harder to repair the trust that had slowly built between he and Angel over the last week, and the first step would be another heartfelt apology as soon as she awoke.

Christian didn’t hear Daniel walk into the room. All he heard was a tired “Yes, please,” as his brother sat down at the kitchen island. Christian poured two mugs of coffee and placed them on the counter.

“Is she okay this morning?” he asked.

He stared at Daniel. His eyes were bloodshot, and he could see concern and worry still on his face. Christian thought Daniel hadn’t appeared this exhausted since he used to do twenty-four-hour rotations at the hospital during his intern years.

“She’s still sleeping. It looks like the nightmares have stopped. She stirred a few times after you got out of bed, asked me where you were. I said I’d get you to come back to bed at one stage, but she fell asleep again, so I thought I’d let you just sleep wherever you had fallen. She hasn’t woken up for about two hours now, so we just need to let her sleep. What time did you get out of bed anyway?” Daniel asked as he drank his coffee.

“I got out of bed about five. Right after she asked me not to hurt her.” Christian stated wearily.

“She didn’t mean you, Christian. She was having nightmares for God’s sake. She’d been in emotional turmoil for nearly twelve hours by that stage. I’m positive she didn’t mean you.”

Christian didn’t believe a word Daniel had just said. But he listened as his brother continued explaining the effects of trauma on people and what sleep deprivation could do to a person’s ability to be rational under stress. It didn’t help much. Christian still felt like he’d lost the most valuable thing he’d ever owned.

“I hear what you’re saying, I understand it should make sense, but I still think I’ve damaged my relationship with Angel, and that will take some time to fix.” Christian went back for a second coffee. “At the moment I just feel like shit, and I want to hit something. It’s all my own frustration. I know that, so I’ve decided to work on the car today. What do you think? Feel like belting the shit out of an old car with me?”

“Why not? I could do to rip something apart, and given Barnard is no longer around, that V will be the next best thing. First I need to eat though, and that leftover roast has my name on it.” Daniel went to the fridge and pulled out the plate of leftover meat.

“You know you were right, this does taste exactly like the roast our mothers used to cook when we were young,” Daniel stated. “And if we need anything right now, apart from Angel to be all right, it’s something that reminds us of the love only a mother can give. So eat.” Daniel held out the plate to Christian.

As both men plowed into the leftover roast, they discussed the car.
The Chevy Bel Air
Sport Coupe
they had purchased was their dream car. The highly sought-after V had been a bargain.
Fully renovated, the car would have cost them three times as much.
Restoring it to its original condition was something the boys had slowly been working on for quite a few months now.
They’d had no trouble fixing the dents and removing the rust. Daniel had just finished respraying it in its original colour of
Onyx Black not long before they had met Angel.

Today they had decided to put the engine back in, no small feat for the two of them. The thing weighed a ton, but they had the hoist and once the engine was hooked back up they were close to finishing. Christian headed down to the shed as Daniel wrote a note and placed it on the bench so Angel would know where they were when she finally woke up. Christian hoped she slept for a while yet. She had been through hell last night, and by the time she had finally fallen into a deep sleep, she’d looked drained and exhausted.

Angel awoke around lunchtime. She felt like she had been hit by a bus, her eyes were sore and gritty, her head ached, and she felt sick in the stomach. She knew it was just her normal stress reaction. She had lived through it before. Still, it was never easy to cope with. A night of violent dreams always left her feeling ravaged the next day. She looked around the room. Daniel and Christian were gone from the bed. She wondered if they had slept at all. Angel felt guilty about keeping them awake. It was just lucky that neither of them were working for the next couple of days.

Even though she felt ravaged by the night’s events, Angel knew something was different for her. She had awoken filled with a sense of safety, remembering the comfort she had felt knowing that each time she had woken from her nightmares one or both of the brothers had been there to hold her and ease her fears. Angel hoped a shower would make her feel less of a wreck so headed to the bathroom before dressing and going into the living area to find her two favourite men.

To Angel’s surprise, instead of finding the brothers, she found a note.

Good morning Angel,

We are in the shed working on the car. If you want to see us or need us for anything either, ring the mobile or come and visit us down the back.

Love you & need you always.

Dan & Chris

Angel smiled as she read the note. Even after all the shit of last night, they ended the note with “love you and need you.” Angel would have been less generous with her words had she been the one suffering from lack of sleep, but then no sleep made her really quite impatient with others and usually put her in an incredibly bad mood. Angel made a mental note to see if their tired mood was actually as chipper as the note indicated. Maybe they were just trying to be nice to her after her crisis last night, but she doubted it. They had never misled her with their moods or behaviour to date, and she doubted a night of little sleep would change that.

As she walked out the back door, she glanced around and found a pair of old shoes sitting near the steps of the veranda. She slipped her feet into them and headed down the steps into the backyard. Angel had always known the shed was down the back but had never been there. It was a fair distance from the house, in fact so far that Angel could barely hear any noise coming from its direction at all. As she got closer, the flopping sound of the oversized men’s joggers she wore was slowly erased by the sound of music, AC/DC if she wasn’t mistaken.

As she reached the open door of the shed, she looked around in amazement. It looked a bit like the mechanic’s shop where she took her car to get it serviced. All manner of hoists and tools were strewn about the space, wooden work benches were scattered with odd, metal-looking objects that she assumed belong in a car engine. There were dirty cloths with oil and grease stains. This was definitely not somewhere she could see herself spending a lot of time. There were car seats sitting on the floor. The car doors were open as was the bonnet.

The car itself was black. It had fins at the back end with whitish-coloured inserts running toward the boot area. The chrome on the back bumper and around the lights was dull, but she imagined once the car was finished it would sparkle. Angel knew nothing about cars. She had never taken an interest in them even though most of the men she had been with throughout her thirty-four years had a passionate knowledge of all things auto. Angel thought it must be a male thing, part of their training as children which resulted in the ability to bond with other males over discussion about motor vehicles. Even though she knew nothing about them she knew this car was old. It reminded her of something from old TV shows like
Happy Days
, or movies like
American Graffiti
. Angel hoped she didn’t have to dress the part in order to go for a drive in it when it was finished. She definitely wasn’t a poodle skirt, bobby socks, and sneakers kind of girl.

She couldn’t see Christian or Daniel as she stood in the doorway and ventured further inside. She heard the clank of metal and then heard Christian swear from under the bonnet. He let out a string of expletives before standing up and turning quickly to throw a wrench at the back wall. Angel was taken aback. She had never seen Christian show anger before. She trembled a little at the display of aggression and wondered if she should turn back to the house, but deep inside she knew Christian would never be aggressive like that with her. She did feel a bit sorry for the car though.

“Is the engine not behaving itself?” Angel watched as Christian spun back around to face her.

She smiled at him as she stood just inside the doorway. From the speed he had turned around and the shocked look on his face, he obviously hadn’t

heard her approach.

Christian gazed at the beautiful woman before him. Her hair was wet, and the moist waves rested easily at the sides of her face, falling down over her shoulders before disappearing behind her. She wore a black singlet and a short, straight, denim skirt. The singlet held her breasts tightly but still allowed them to sway gently as she moved toward him. Her skirt hugged her hips and ended midthigh with a frayed hemline. As she walked over to him, he wondered if it was just her bra she had neglected to put on or whether her undies were also missing in action.

He felt his cock stir as he watched her. If he wasn’t so unsure about how she would react, he would have rushed over to her, stripped her in the middle of the shed and slid inside her before she could say another word. But after last night, he knew he needed to be less forceful than his horny body was instructing him to be.

“Nice shoes.” He laughed, staring down at her feet as she stood before him.

She had just showered and smelt divine, much better than the grease and engine fluid he’d been working with most of the morning. He watched as Angel kicked off the shoes, making a statement about the latest fashion in Paris. She was even sexier with no shoes on. Now if she would just lose the skirt and singlet, he’d be even happier.

Angel moved closer and kissed him on the cheek. Christian didn’t think she appeared nervous, but she certainly didn’t look as relaxed as normal standing this close to him, and he thought he felt her hand tremble as she touched his arm when she was kissing him.

“Where’s Daniel?” she asked as she started to move around the shed, picking up things and inspecting them curiously.

“He’s gone to get some parts for the car and to pick up some lunch, he was going to wake you when he got back.”

Christian tried to tell himself it was just a simple question and he shouldn’t read anything into it, but in the back of his mind he wasn’t sure if things had changed between them.

“How are you feeling today? You had a rough night. I feel awful about making you so scared last night.”

“I’m a bit drained, but I’m okay. I’m sorry you didn’t get much sleep with me waking the two of you up so often. I can be a bit annoying like that sometimes. I have the nightmares some nights even when nothing has happened, so it’s not really last night that made me have them. I’ve always had them.” She leant against one of the work benches, looking at him briefly before her eyes darted away from his gaze. Christian noticed the look of embarrassment on her face and heard the uncertainty in her voice.

“It’s all silly really. I mean, everything happened so long ago, and now Samuel is gone I shouldn’t let any of what happened upset me so much. Anyway, I’m sorry you and Daniel had to put up with me being so upset.”

“Angel, you have nothing to apologise for. I should be the one saying sorry, not you.” He walked over to her and lifted her chin so she was looking directly into his eyes.

“I would never hurt you, Angel. Last night when you woke up and said
‘please don’t hurt me, Christian,’
I realised I had scared you severely during dinner. I don’t ever want you to be scared of me, Angel. I promise I would never hurt you. I’m not like Samuel.”

“I don’t remember saying that. Oh, Christian, I’m not scared of you. I’m so sorry if you thought I meant you, my nightmares were of Samuel, not you. I feel so safe with you. Please don’t think I’m scared of you, because I’m not.”