And Back Again

Chapter 10

Zara was mid-yawn when she answered the early morning FaceTime call from Angel. He laughed loudly, smiling for the first time in over 12 hours, and watched as she flung off the covers and sat up in bed.

"Good morning," he said, starting to yawn after her. "I'm not home yet, still in Vegas."

"I thought you'd at least be on your way by now." Finally looking at the screen she noticed a few cuts on his face and the sheer exhaustion in his puffy eyes. "What happened?"

"Someone doused Galindo's fields with fucking chemicals and set it up when we got there," he huffed. "It was a goddamn light show."

"Is everyone okay?" She asked, rudely terrified from her sleepiness by the news.

"We're good," he groaned. "Couple cuts and burns from the explosion but nothing major."

"Who the fuck was it?" She asked eagerly.

Angle shook his head. "Dunno."

"Christ," she sighed. "Galindo's got a fucking enemy."

"I know," he huffed. "Adelita had all this info last year. Maybe making the deal to work with him was just part one, maybe she's still trying to bring it all down."

"That's not your concern," Zara said quickly. "Just do what Galindo is paying you to do, Angel. Anything extra is dangerous and I'm really tired of dangerous."

Nodding, he rubbed his hand over his face and groaned. "I haven't slept yet."

"Go sleep," she said forcefully. "Hotel looks nice enough."

"Vegas baby," he chuckled. "It's either expensive as fuck or it had sheets with cum stains."

"Nestor picked the former, I see," Zara laughed a little. "Things aren't still tense there, are they?"

"Not for me," he smirked at her. "I got my girl, I'm happy."

Zara yawned again and shook her head. "You're the worst."

"I know." Angel looked up at the door opened to see EZ strolling in the room. "You get the food?"

"Yeah," he laughed. "Hey Zara," EZ said without having to ask who Angel was talking to.

"Hey, E," she said, "Keep him outta trouble."

"I will, don't worry."

Angel smirked a little and lowered his voice. "What are you wearing?"

"Angel," she chided, "Your brother is right there."

"E, go take a shit or a shower," Angel said authoritatively.

"I wanna eat," he complained.

"Eat in the bathroom," Angel ordered him.

"You better listen to your sponsor, prospect," Zara giggled, teasingly lifting her shirt up a few inches.

"Goddamn it," EZ grumbled, taking his food out of the room to eat with Coco and Gilly.

The door slammed and Angel's eyes lit up. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," she said, lifting her shirt up over her head. "Now whip it out, Reyes, let's hit this relationship milestone."

--

By lunchtime, Zara was showered, dressed and ready to waste her day grading tests she'd been putting off for too long. To limit distractions, she sat at the dining room table with her phone screen down and a cup of coffee.

It didn't take long to finish one class' tests and when her phone rang she decided she'd earned a break. Zara expected it to be Angel but, much to her disappointment, it wasn't.