And Back Again

Chapter 11

"Send."

Zara sighed, closing her laptop, and looked across the dining room table at Angel. He frowned, took a swig from his beer, and watched as she dabbed a tissue in the corners of her eyes to keep the tears from falling.

"I'm sorry," he said sadly.

"Not your fault," she shrugged. "I still have to talk to Letti though."

"I told Coco, he said he'll talk to her," Angel admitted. "I know you wanted to but, babe, but just let him deal with it. You got enough on your mind."

Zara actually smiled and nodded. "Much less now," she laughed. "It's Sunday night, I should be grading papers or some shit."

"Now you can hang out with me," he offered. "We never did get that time on the hammock," he winked.

"You have a one track mind," she giggled. "Angel," Zara suddenly turned more serious. "What do I do now?"

"What do you wanna do?"

Zara shrugged.

Angel sighed. "Apply to different schools?"

"Can't apply to any school in the district," she said with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "And I don't wanna have my drivetime be over an hour which it would be if I looked further north."

"Barefoot and pregnant?" He suggested playfully.

"If only," she laughed. "Money would be too tight if I didn't get something."

"Tight don't mean we can't make it."

"Yeah, babe, but tight means no more steaks and cases of beer, day trips and all that good stuff we enjoy. The stuff that makes the drama and business worth it."

Angel took offense to that, as if he wasn't enough to make the club worth it she needed material things to keep her around. He knew he was being sensitive but it nagged at him. "I don't need steaks and overnighters to be happy, Z."

"I don't either," she said earnestly. "I just, I enjoy getting away with you, having normal experiences as a couple."

Angel nodded, still slightly upset. "You're good right? With this? With me and the MC?"

"Christ," she grumbled. "How often are we going to go through this?"

"As often as you wanna make comments about steak making my life worth it."

"That's not what I meant," she snapped.

"That's how it sounded."

Zara sneered and shook her head. "It's not always about you, Angel," she snapped, storming away from the table.

"Where you going?" He asked, following her to the door.

"For a walk," she grumbled. "Is that okay?"

Angel rolled his jaw but didn't give her the satisfaction of a snappy reply, he watched as she left and hurried off the steps disappearing down the block. With a roar, Angel turned and punched the wall, leaving a crack in the sheetrock and a gnarly gash in his hand from a stud nail. "God fucking damnit," he hollered.

--

Gabe got the call about a half hour later. Leary had seen Zara leaving the house in a huff and it was the perfect spur of the moment opportunity Bastian had been going on about.  It only took twenty minutes to set up and by the time Zara was about to head home, much calmer, the sun began to set. They couldn't have planned it any better.

One of Bastian's men waited, watched, and when Zara passed by the dark driveway he pounced. Grabbing her by the back of the neck, he forced her down to the cement and jammed an unloaded gun to the back of her head.