Angel's Mafia (gxg) ✓

XXIII | Chirping Birds

THE MOMENT SHE WOKE UP, she knew something was different.

Not wrong, but different.

Without opening her eyes, Angel tried to remember last night. First, they had gotten into the hotel room. There were only two beds. And then . . . and then . . .

Cade knew.

She knew what Angel herself had never told anyone. Had never dared to let anyone know.

Angel opened her eyes. Cade's face was an inch away. Her long, dark lashes fluttered against her tall cheekbones. There was a spray of plae freckles on her nose, and her skin was pale and awash with light from the curtains they had forgotten to close. In the morning light, Cade's face was almost golden, her blonde hair a halo.

It reminded Angel of the first night they had slept together. Not last night, but almost two weeks ago. When they had planned the heist. Cade had been so drunk she couldn't remember a thing, but Angel could. She had folded Cade's dress and tucked her into bed. She had never done that for anyone before.

But last night . . . Cade had seen her. Pacing.

Angel didn't sleep. Had barely slept. Since the night her family was murdered, two years ago, Angel hadn't dared to sleep more than a few hours at any time. Her dreams were plagued by memories, but it wasn't the nightmares that scared her.

That night, when she had been sixteen, and the Genoveses had shown up in the middle of the night, Angel had been sleeping.

Sleeping―as her mother and father and brothers were shot.

She hadn't heard a thing. How could she have just slept through it? Through death? Through the murder of her own family?

No. Now, Angel didn't sleep. It was better this way.

But nobody was supposed to know. That kind of thing could be used as leverage, blackmail.

At the same time, though, Angel had started to trust Cade. Without meaning to. And she knew . . . in a way she had never known before . . . that she could trust this girl. With the paint-speckled hands and the wry grin and the useless knowledge of old art.

It was why, last night, at almost 4 a.m., when Cade had blinked blurrily and called out for Angel to come into bed, Angel had looked at her with guilty eyes.

Because she knew what she had to do.

And she knew how this had to end.

As long as Jonathan was alive, there was no escaping him. Not even if he was miles underground in a prison cell meant for the worst of crimes. No, Angel had promised to deliver him Cadenza Conti. And she would.

She had to.

"Hey," Cade said sleepily, and Angel gave her a smile.

"You're awake."

"No shit," Cade said.

For the first time, Angel realized her legs were entwined with Cade's.

"You look beautiful when you sleep." Angel didn't know why she'd said that. But she didn't take it back. She couldn't, even if she'd wanted to. It was the truth.

"That's some Twilight-type shit right there," Cade said, grinning. "What are you, the Edward to my Bella?"

"I'd be a better Edward than Robert Pattison any day."

"I don't know. You're not really brooding enough."

Angel's mouth dropped open. "Don't make me turn you into a vampire."

"Why not? Superhuman strength, eternal life, beauty . . . sounds like a dream to me. Minus the bloody part."

Angel knew at once that Cade was talking about her stepbrother. Nathan. That son of a bitch. A rapist―that's what he was. And he deserved worse than prison.

Fortunately, Angel didn't need to be a vampire to exact bloody revenge on that piece of shit. But Cade didn't need to know anything about that.

Angel rolled out of bed. "Come on. Let's get ready."

Glancing over to the clock, Angel almost gasped. It was 12:49 p.m. Almost nine hours. Nine hours. She had slept for nine hours with Cade.

She hadn't done that in two years.

What was it about Cade, she wondered, that made her feel comfortable enough to sleep for more than a couple hours?

Angel shook off her shock and plastered on a mask of stone. It was a habit by now. No one could know what she was thinking or feeling.

But as she caught Cade's eyes, she saw something there. Something that told her Cade wasn't falling for it.

That she could see right through it.

Angel shook her head. Not possible.

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To the moon and back,
Sarai