Page 6 of Angel

Chapter Two - Angelo

I watched the door of Paige’s building, anxiety building in me with each ticking second.

Her asking me to come get her was good. I’d been paying the taxi driver to chauffeur me around the block anyway, hoping to hear just that. As eager as I’d been to rush out of Paige’s apartment earlier, I was now just as eager to speak to her. There were things I needed to say. Things I couldn’t go on without saying.

Here’s hoping she was willing to listen.

Though I took the back exit, like Sophia suggested, once I got a cab I went ahead and waited out front. I didn’t know what Moretti’s guys looked like, but if they followed Paige around constantly there was no use in trying to shake them off.

Anyway, they probably already knew I’d spent the night at her place, so the cat was out of the bag no matter what I did from now on.

Paige appeared through the glass of the building’s front door, right in front of where the taxi sat parked on the curb. I hurried from the car to open the door closest to her. She flew down the stairs, a duffel bag in one hand.

I eyed the bag but didn’t say anything. She kept her own gaze down and dropped onto the leather seat. I shut the door behind her and took my place next to her.

I gave the driver my address and wearily leaned back in the seat, warily watching Paige from the corner of my eye. She stared out the window, avoiding me. With her long, loose hair sweeping her shoulders, lack of makeup, and simple white t-shirt, she looked the exact opposite of the sultry vixen I first laid eyes on.

Not that she wasn’t still damn hot. In fact, she wore the natural look better than most women.

“Aren’t you cold?” I asked.

She looked at her bare arms as if the season was something she hadn’t even taken into account when getting dressed. “Oh. Yeah.”

She pulled a sweater from her bag and slipped it on, and went back to staring out the window.

After a few minutes, I couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“I didn’t know.”

Her head snapped towards me. “Really?”

“Not when I met you, no.”

Her lips pursed. “But you found out?”

I slowly nodded, not wanting to cop to it.

Her lashes fluttered. She seemed to be in shock. “I can’t go back there. I can’t look Sophia in the face.”

“Let me take you somewhere,” I impulsively said. “Away from here.”

“Where?”

“Let me surprise you. I’ll take you out of the city. It’ll be good.”

She seemed hesitant. “I don’t know.”

“Where are you planning on going?”

“I don’t know,” she said again, sounding like a broken record.

“Paige.” I reached forward the slightest bit, pressed just the tips of my fingers against the top of her hand. She shook slightly from the touch.

Just our being together was dangerous. For all I knew the damage could be irreparable. She’d been promised to another man. A man who had the power to make and break people.

Mostly break.

But with us there, alone in the backseat of a cab, there seemed to be no other option. I needed Paige with me. Now that I knew just what kind of situation we were in, I needed to protect her.