Page 18 of Angel

Getting so close to losing Paige made me realize I couldn’t be complacent. Not only could I not let her slip away, I couldn’t just rest idle, sitting on my hands, while a mysterious swirl of activity surrounded me. I needed to know what we were in for, needed to know what came next.

If experience taught me anything it was that when things happen all at once they’re usually connected.

There were too many secrets. All I needed to do was a bit of unraveling.

Dominic was one of the hardest people to get information from. You had to work him, convince him you were onto things when you actually weren’t.

“Why are you even asking about her?” came his cool reply.

“Because whatever is going on with her has to do with me.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

I hit the gas, taking a quick right just before the stoplight in front of me turned red.

“Maybe not directly, but...”

“No.”

I ground my teeth together and fought the urge to lash out at him.

“Just tell me this. What’s her job? I know being a DJ is a cover for something.”

“You know everything you need to know, Angelo. Stop sticking your nose in places it doesn’t belong.”

“It’s important.”

I couldn’t tell him anything more, couldn’t let him on to the forbidden romance I was getting deeper into by the moment.

“Please,” I said, using the word I’d probably said to him maybe twice in my life.

I gulped, ashamed at begging. This wasn’t like me. I didn’t ask people for things, didn’t plead for what I wanted. I took what I needed, and if it wasn’t easy enough to get I just walked away. Most things weren’t worth keeping long term anyway.

But now was a time I couldn’t just mosey off into the sunset.

“Fine,” Dominic snapped. “If you must know, Sophia is in the Western Europe Burn Unit. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to bed.”

“The...”

There was a muffled noise, and then silence. He’d hung up on me.

I still held the phone pressed against my face, my ears buzzing from shock.