28. Curved Couch
TWENTY-EIGHT
CURVED COUCH
T hree months later …
We were in Tweety, Raye’s bright yellow Juke, on our way to the storage units, and I was getting the third degree from Harlow.
“So, are you moving in with Eric?” she asked.
Move from the Oasis?
Not until there was a ring on my finger.
“No, we’re a dual household family,” I answered.
“You’re at his more than you’re at yours,” she accused.
I looked to her. “That isn’t true.” And it wasn’t.
“Yes, it is,” she retorted.
“No, it isn’t,” I replied.
“Yes. It. Is!” she cried.
Whoa.
At the drama, I narrowed my eyes on my bestie.
“Oh my God, bitch, dial down the sexual frustration already,” Luna ordered from the front seat. “Jess isn’t at Eric’s more, but even if she was, who cares? Get over yourself and jump on Javi, for all of our sakes.”
And…
Yeah.
Three months and that hadn’t gone anywhere except to make Harlow be very un-Harlow on occasion.
That was my nice way of saying she could act like a bitch.
As in…now.
“Pot, say hello to kettle,” Raye said under her breath.
Oh shit.
Luna’s head snapped to Raye behind the wheel. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Harlow is in a game of hide and seek with Javi, but every time he finds where she’s hiding, she hides somewhere else. We all got that down since we’ve been watching it for three months. But I don’t know what you and Knox are playing at,” Raye returned.
“Mortal Kombat?” I suggested.
“Nothing is playing between Knox and me,” Luna asserted (or more accurately, lied ). “We’re just friends.”
“You two fight a lot for just being friends,” Harlow pointed out. “You act like Luke and Ava, except without the marriage and babies, but with the sexual tension.”
It must be said, Luke and Ava could bicker.
It was cute.
Knox and Luna?
It would be, if they were jumping each other’s bones after, which they weren’t.
So…
Not so cute.
“That’s because he can be annoying,” Luna fired back. “And there is no sexual tension.”
“He’s almost as mellow as Eric,” I stated. “And we pretty much choke on the tension anytime you two are around each other.” I turned again to Harlow. “It’s suffocating if you and Javi are there too.”
Harlow crossed her arms on her chest and pouted, “It’s the man’s job to make the moves.”
“Oh my God, are you serious?” I asked.
“How many moves does he have to make before he gets himself some?” Raye asked right after me.
Harlow looked out the side window, which meant this conversation was over.
Okay then.
Moving on.
“All right, does anyone know why Arthur told us to go to the storage units?” I asked.
“I don’t,” Raye answered. “Clarice just dropped a key at SC this morning and said we needed to hit unit number fourteen. Tonight, and together.”
Number fourteen meant our cache of units had grown by one.
“I hope it’s a pink Hummer,” Harlow mumbled.
I wouldn’t pick pink, but even so, a pink Hummer for the Angels would also kinda kick ass.
“Do you have any idea how much of a gas guzzler a Hummer is?” Luna asked, clearly not over her attitude.
“Maybe they have electric ones,” Harlow retorted.
It was hard, but I managed not to bust out laughing at the thought of an EV Hummer.
Personally, I didn’t care what it was.
We’d had three months of chill.
I was down with that.
Henny was settled in.
Eric and I were settled in.
I’d mastered the perfect burger (yes, the Dijon, Worcestershire sauce and garlic was the ticket).
Eric had heard through the grapevine that Savannah had abandoned her plans to open a restaurant in Phoenix, and even better, he hadn’t heard a single word from her.
Javi, Jeff and Cody were all deep into training with the NI&S team. And they’d also recruited Jacob.
Even so, men from the Denver team were still cycling through as they got the new guys trained, so we’d all come to know Lee, Luke, Vance and Hector, as well as their respective wives, Indy, Ava, Jules and Sadie, pretty well. Fortunately, Daisy also came down on the regular, as did Ally, Lee and Hank’s sister, and another Rock Chick. So we’d met Daisy’s hubby Marcus, and Ally’s man, Ren.
Shirleen and Moses had moved to the Valley of the Sun, and Moses had joined the team, taking over managing the control room.
Roam had found a pad, and he was all moved in too.
Tex and Nancy had sold their place in Denver, but as yet had not found a home to buy in Phoenix, because apparently, (always full of surprises) Tex was picky. This meant they, along with all their cats, were living with Mace and Stella, in the casita at their massive compound in Paradise Valley.
But even as awesome as all this was, we needed a case.
What could I say?
I hadn’t known him long, but I missed Titus.
And doing deeds to stop people from suffering was a serious high.
Raye swung into the storage facility.
But it was Luna who whispered, “Whoa,” when we all saw Shanti standing outside her car that was parked outside our units.
Raye parked bumper-to-bumper with her vehicle, and we all got out.
“Hey, girl,” Raye called guardedly to Shanti. “What are you doing here?”
Shanti looked confused. “I don’t know. You texted me and told me to meet you here. You said it was urgent.”
“I did?” Raye asked, which meant she did not.
Though, somehow, Arthur did.
Seemed we had a new recruit.
The question was…why?
We met up with Shanti and huddled around her phone.
Sure enough, there was a text from Raye asking her to meet us there. Urgently.
“Does this have to do with Willow?” Shanti asked.
Uh-oh.
“Willow?” Luna asked in return.
Shanti nodded, and it was then I remembered Shanti and Willow were super tight.
“She’s got a bad ex,” Shanti explained. “He’s a supreme dick. He comes and goes out of her life, leaving a mess in his wake. She hasn’t said anything, but she’s acting weird, so I think he’s back.”
We looked among each other.
“Has she talked to you guys about him?” Shanti asked.
“Ummmm….” Harlow didn’t answer.
No one else said anything because she hadn’t.
This lasted a long time, so to end it, I made a decision.
“Raye, open the door and let’s see what’s up. We can explain to Shanti after.”
“Good idea,” Raye said and turned to the lock.
She unlocked it, threw up the rolling door and hit the lights.
“Holy… what ?” Harlow breathed.
None of the rest of us uttered a word or sound.
We just stared into the unit that had thick, white carpeting throughout. At the back, there were two gold standing lamps on either side of a curved red couch with black piping that faced a baronial black desk, which had one thing smack dab in the center of it.
An old-fashioned speaker.
The walls had been paneled and covered in wallpaper that was a swirl of red, pink, orange, and black on a white background, that would normally seem too much, but somehow, it totally worked. Though, the wall behind the desk had a large, built-in screen.
There was a delicate secretary desk angled toward the unit close to the door, on top of which was a keyboard, and in an arched display along the outer edges were four computer screens.
Opposite that, there was a life-size marble statue of a woman in a Grecian gown with two slits up her legs. She had gold leaves adorning the front of her gown and her hair. She had gold angel wings at her back.
But she was not angelic.
Exactly.
She was in attack stance, one of her arms straight out, holding a golden bow, the other arm was bent, but up, as if she’d just let loose the arrow.
Oh yeah.
And along the walls were Andy Warhol inspired portraits of Raye, Luna, Harlow, me, plus Shanti, and oh fuck…Willow.
It was a far cry from Titus’s setup (there was no bar or beverage fridge).
But it was a start.
And that angel was kick-freaking-ass, but those prints were everything .
Morgan Freeman’s voice came from the speaker.
“Come in and close the door, Angels.”
“What the holy hell?” Shanti whispered.
Mm-hmm.
We had a lot of explaining to do.
Raye took Shanti’s arm and guided her in. “I think Arthur’s going to share a few things with you.”
Shanti looked at Raye with wide eyes.
Luna, Harlow and I stepped onto the carpet.
And I turned and closed the door.
The End
The Angels Will Return in…
Avenging Angels: Tenderfoot