Battlefield: Control (Book Two)

Chapter Twenty-Three - Angela

Angela didn't think much about Orlando's invitation to come over for more training. Naturally, when she arrived at his mansion and rang the doorbell, she was surprised to see his sister answer the door in a cute navy blue dress. Usually, no one else was home when she came over. The house was always quiet and empty.

Not now. There was music playing in the kitchen and something smelled delicious. Enough so to make Angela completely forget that she'd already eaten a huge dinner.

"Hello!" his sister sang out as she looked Angela up and down and nodded in approval.

A good thing, in Angela's book, since the young woman was Orlando's legal guardian. It'd be nice if the two of them got along.

Orlando came down the stairs in his usual all-black attire, from his button down T-shirt, to the baggy black jeans, and even his socks. His hair was wet and looked freshly washed.

"You didn't tell me your girlfriend was so cute Orly," his sister said, looking up at him.

"She's a cheerleader, of course she's cute. But she's not my girlfriend." He pointed at Angela. "We're friends. Tait bailed on me, so I'm going to go hang out with someone else instead. Figured I'd let you and Jon have some time alone. Just remember what I said about not doing things where I can walk in on them. Because when I get back I don't want to come across anything...weird."

"What do you think I do with him anyway?" his sister asked, acting completely appalled. "Kissing is not weird. Most normal couples do it."

"I'm just saying!" He waved a hand quickly and faced Angela. "Are you ready to go?"

"Y-yeah," Angela said, watching the two.

It reminded her a lot of how she and JD did things back home. Only JD didn't take care of her on a twenty-four-seven basis. He didn't have to make all of the important decisions about school, or her whole life in general. Her heart ached for both Orlando and his sister.

She followed him to his car, preferring to let him drive. It was one of the rare nights when her parents lent out both of their cars to JD and Angela. Her younger siblings were staying with Grandma and Grandpa tonight, so she was pretty sure she was being kicked out of the house for as long as possible.

Once more the two got into his sister's car.

"So where are we going on our hot date? I thought we were training," she teased.

"How do you feel about going on the field to practice?" Orlando smirked and his eyes glittered slightly under the green glow of the radio light.

"I'm down with it, but is that a good idea without Alan's permission?"

"I don't exactly care about having his permission or not."

"You want to go see what she's doing, don't you?"

Angela could sense the anger coming from Orlando, like a bad vibe. A dangerous one too, which made her leery of going out to practice tonight.

He shrugged like it was nothing, but the way he tightly gripped the steering wheel suggested it was anything but. "So what if I do? I think I deserve to know after everything we've been through."

Gently and carefully, like he was a wild animal caught in a trap, Angela put a hand over his. "Call her and break up with her, and we can do something fun. That will give you more satisfaction and freedom from the situation than spying on her. I know it might not seem like it, but at least then she can know how badly she hurt you and see the consequences to her actions. If she doesn't care, then she's not worth your time. In the end, you deserve better anyway. You obviously don't trust her, and without something like that, you can't exactly have a relationship. No matter how good the good times are. Spying is only going to make you more bitter and lash out."