Chapter 5

Five

Lobo

I don't need this shit.

The last time any of us stuck our noses in something that didn't directly have anything to do with us, we wound up being separated and carted off to a secret island, made to be fucking gladiator fighters.

I'm done fighting other people's battles. All I want is to make sure my club is okay.

At least that’s what I thought before I saw Angela. She's as green as they come. It's like she doesn't have any life experience whatsoever. In fact, it seems the only thing she's efficient at is not being able to trust men, which means some asshole out there did something to her to put this fear in her heart.

I shouldn't care one way or another, but for the life of me, I can't sleep just knowing that she could be lying there scared.

"You still awake?" I grumble.

"Yes," her sweet, soft voice floats in the air and lands with a thud right in my gut. I don't know why she has such an effect on me, but she does. It's not even sexual, even though I've thought about crawling up on that bed several times already just to feel her next to me. I know she wouldn't tolerate that.

"Did you need something? You want to switch?" she asks, and I puff a breath through my nose. Why the hell is she so damn selfless? I've already given up my comfort for the night, yet she keeps trying to make me rethink my decision.

"No, I don't want to switch. I just wanted to ask you a question."

"Go on."

"What is your plan? I mean, you can't think staying in an abandoned warehouse is something you can do long-term. Are you going back to the States? Are you staying here?"

She takes a few seconds before she answers. "I don't know."

"How can you not know? What was the plan when you came out here?"

She sits up in the bed and folds her arms over her chest. It's obvious that what I'm asking her is hitting close to a nerve. "I didn't have a plan when I came out here. I just am here now."

"What the hell does that mean? You just appeared here? You must have gotten here somehow."

Angela presses her lips together tightly before she answers me. "I was snuck onto the island via cruise ship. I didn't even know what island I was on until the next day. I don't have a plan. I'm just trying to survive." She holds my gaze before she flops back down to the bed, leaving me with more questions than I had before.

She's on the run? The question now becomes if she's on the run because someone wants to do something to her or because she did something to someone else.

"Are you running from the cops or something?"

"No, of course not." She has the nerve to sound offended.

I could've guessed she wouldn't do anything to hurt someone, but I had to be sure. If she's not running from the cops, that means she's running from someone else—someone who's trying to do something to her.

"Your husband? Boyfriend?" I ask, going to the next possible explanation.

The room is silent for a few seconds, and I lean up on the cot, thinking maybe she'd fallen asleep.

"He wasn't my husband, not yet." Her voice is thick, as if she's about to cry.

No wonder she's so worried about me trying to hurt her. The man she was about to spend the rest of her life with did something so heinous it forced her to stow away on a cruise ship to get away from him.

"What about family? Can't someone in your family help?"

"I only have a brother and my father," she replies.

"Okay, what about them?" Maybe she's too ashamed to call them, but if there's one thing I know about family, it's that no matter how much wrong you've done, they'll always be there to help you.

"My father and brother watched him hurt me. They watched and they laughed. Believe me when I say I have no one. Now, if you don't mind, I really want to go to sleep." She turned over on her side, and I am stuck staring at her with my mouth hanging open.

That was by far not what I expected her to say.

This woman has really been through it. But I've yet to hear her complain even once. Sure, she's skittish, but she doesn't seem bitter.

I promised myself I wouldn't get involved with other people's drama, but now that I know Angela, there's no way I'm letting her battle her demons alone. I need to find out more information, but I'm pretty sure getting her to open up to me is going to be harder said than done.

First things first: getting her to trust me.

***

I wake up to the sound of soft footsteps making their way to the door.

If this were any other woman, I'd be happy she was leaving on her own accord, but this was Angela. I didn't want her to be spooked off. There was absolutely no chance that I wasn't going to go looking for her again. Just thinking about her sleeping outside is enough for me to want to check on her every day to make sure that doesn't happen.

"You don't have to sneak out," I grumble and turn my head to look at her.

She jumps and squeaks a little in surprise. After placing a hand on her chest, she gives me a tight smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"No, you were just going to leave like a bat in the night. Honestly, you don't have to run away. I've got the room for the next week, and I'll be leaving to help with the construction on the compound. You can stay as long as you want." Moving slowly, I push up to a sitting position and keep my eyes locked on hers.

She looks different this morning—well-rested. Her eyes are a bit brighter, and there's some color to her cheeks. If I'm not mistaken, it looks like her hair is wet. She must've taken a shower while I was still sleeping.

"I can't stay. Magda is expecting me at work this morning."

I nod my head.

"Okay, I get it. But I'll be there this evening to pick you up. You're coming back here."

"No, I can't. You've done more than enough for me. You've already been more of a blessing than I've had in a long time. You don't need to do any more."

I laugh loudly at that. Out of all the things I've ever been called in my life, "someone's blessing" has never been one of them. "A blessing? Me? Girl, you make it sound like I just cured world hunger or something. I gave you a bed to sleep in."

"Even the smallest kindness means the world to someone who's known only hate."

The way she speaks leaves me confused and somewhat hopeful—almost like every word out of her mouth is another nugget of knowledge that I am desperate for.

"I don't know about all that, but if I can help, I'm going to. It's just the way I was raised. So no, I'm not going to leave you alone. I'll be there tonight to pick you up. Please don't make me have to chase you through the factory again. I'd rather not have you almost dying every time we meet each other."

She gives me a small smile before she turns and walks out of the room.

I could walk her to work, but I don't want to get any closer to her than I have to be. She's already getting under my skin because I want to know more about her—what makes her tick and why she speaks like she's out of a parable instead of real life. I need to keep some sort of distance between myself and her. If I don't get too close, it won't hurt so much when she leaves.

A few minutes later, there's a knock at the door, and I'm almost excited when I think it's Angela coming back for some reason.

" Ven, " I call out, and the door opens. My mouth falls into a frown when I see it's Coca and not Angela.

"I guess I wasn't the one you were expecting?" she laughs and looks around the room. "Where did she go? I thought you were going to send her out to get some clothes for us?" she asks as she notices Angela isn't in the room.

"She ran off to work. I'll be bringing her back tonight, so just have the clothes ready for her," I say while grabbing some clothes out of my own bag to wear for the day.

" Claro ." Coca nods her head, but she doesn't turn and walk out like I expect her to do. "So what's her deal?" she asks, looking to me for some answers.

"What do you mean, what's her deal?"

"I mean, was I right? Is she on the run?"

I don't want to tell Angela's business, but if anyone around here should know what's going on with this woman, it's Coca. She's got her ear to the ground and finds out things faster than most of us. The only one who gets information faster is Pooh, but that's only when he's behind the screen at his computer. Coca is a full-fledged woman's advocate.

"Yeah, she's on the run from her ex-fiancé. Her family is no help. She was fucking sleeping in the old cement factory. It's a fucking mess." I shake my head, and Coca's jaw drops.

"Are you serious? How long has she been there? Why didn't Magda say anything?"

"I'm not sure she knows. Angela isn't the type of person to be very forthcoming with her information."

Tú sabes lo que eso significa, ?o no?

I look up at Coca. I don't want her to say what I think I know she's about to say. "No, I don't know what this means," I reply through gritted teeth.

"It means you're going to have to get her to trust you so we can help her. That's what you want, isn't it?"

With a loud groan, I shove my feet into my boots. "Coca, she's not my responsibility. Hell, she's not even your responsibility. If she doesn't want us to get into her life, then we should just leave it alone."

Coca smirks at me, staring like she knows something I don't.

"Okay, if you feel like you can let her go without knowing more, then let her go." She turns and walks out of the room, leaving me stuck.

Is she trying to insinuate that I'm not going to be able to stay away from Angela? Does she not know me? I've cut people out of my life that I've known for far longer than this woman. I can leave her alone if I want to.

Just not today. I'm not going to leave her alone today because I gave her my word.

I'll just go see her one more time, make sure she's got somewhere to stay. Some food maybe. I’ll just take care of her a little bit.

I won't get attached.

I won't.