Hell's Angel: Guardian Angel Book 2
Chapter 8

“You have a date with Loki. Damn, that’s weird just to say.”

Cassiopeia was obviously more supportive than Michael, but what really surprised me was Randall. When he got home and I told him I’d have to skip pizza in favor if going out with Loki, he got mad at me. “What’s your problem? You’re a cupid. If anyone was for a little romance or whatever happening around here, I’d think it’d be you. Is it because he works for your mom?”

He didn’t say anything, just stalked out of the room while Cassi finished putting wide curls in my normally boring, straight hair. When she was done, we went back downstairs where Loki was already waiting patiently. He wore pitch black slacks that matched his shiny shoes and his dress shirt was a midnight blue that perfectly complimented the indigo dress that fell in pleats just above my knees. His hair was styled so that it lightly brushed the top of his forehead and those dark eyes locked on me when he gave me a heart melting smile. If it was possible, he was even more gorgeous than before.

“Ready?”

I grabbed my small black purse and my eyes made a quick dart around the room. Cassi was all smiles while her husband had a dark scowl on his face. Michael was nowhere to be seen, which bothered me a lot more than it should have. I ignored the clawing in my gut. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

The restaurant was absolutely amazing and Loki was actually fun to be around. He was smart, funny, and didn’t talk just to hear his own voice. He listened attentively to everything I said and took my worries seriously. I hadn’t expected that from just a fun-loving guy. I though the date would be shallow, but he was pretty deep. The more we talked, the more I started to like him. A knot settled in my stomach whenever I thought of Michael, but he was never too far from my mind. I shook my head to stop thinking of my guardian and smiled at Loki. “Okay, question,” I said as I took a sip of my red wine.

“Answer.”

I rolled my eyes. “In the memory, you kissed me. Why?”

He flashed me his signature grin. “I remember that. Shocked the hell out of you. But you want to know why I did it? The truth is, I’d wanted to kiss you for a very long time. It seemed like a good opportunity. And if I’m totally honest, I still want to kiss you.”

Something like nerves clogged my throat and sent my heart racing faster. I licked my dry lips. A boldness that I wasn’t used to gripped me. “And why don’t you?”

He smiled again and leaned over the table. His warm lips crushed against mine. He sucked my tongue between his teeth and kissed me with a passion that stopped my breath. He tasked like the chow Mein we’d eaten and something sweet. I groaned into his mouth and he pulled away with a soft smile on his face. “I’ve been working for the goddess of love long enough to know the difference between love and lust.”

I blinked, coming out of my daze. “What do you mean?”

He reached across the table to intertwine his long fingers with mine. “I mean that you like me, and wouldn’t mind if we took this date to the bedroom-” I blushed- “but your heart truly belongs to someone else. You love your angel, don’t you?”

Guilt ripped through me and I let my eyes drop down to our joined hands. Did I love Michael? Yeah, but I wasn’t sure if it was just familiar or if I was in love with him. He’d been so distant lately, and I know he was just focusing on keeping me alive during the coming war with Vega, but sometimes I wasn’t sure how he felt about me. I knew that once upon a time, before I’d become human, he’d loved me as more than just his best friend and confidante, but I wasn’t that same girl. I didn’t know which of his feelings were harbored over from centuries of looking after me, what he felt for my past lives and how much his care was actually for the girl that I’d become. “It’s... complicated.”

He grazed a soft kiss on my knuckles. “I know, and I’m gentleman enough not to push you to something you might regret. But I also know that I’m not going away until you order me to. I’m not one to give up easily.”

“What about you? Are you feeling love or lust?”

His normal smile split his face mischievously as the waiter brought our check. “That, Princess, is a conversation for another night.”

As much fun as I had with Loki, I didn’t want to go back to Cassi’s and see the men pissed off at me. I texted Max while Loki was paying for dinner to see if I could stay there for a little while and then I had him drop me at her house. He was reluctant at first, but I assured him that I didn’t need a bodyguard. I played on his ego a little, saying that his magic lessons from earlier were plenty to keep me safe while I visited my sister. I slid into his amazing white 2016 Dodge Charger and the engine purred as he maneuvered it across town to my sister’s. Like a perfect gentleman, he got out to open to door for me. I refused to let him walk me to the door like some ’50s movie, so he kissed my cheek and bid me goodnight before I walked up the sidewalk to the front door.

Max whistled when she answered. “Damn, sis, you look hot. What’s the occasion?”

“I had a date,” I answered as I slipped off my shoes. The soft carpet of the living room felt nice against my bare feet and I let myself fall into her brown upholstered couch.

“Really? Michael finally took you out?”

Disappointment and guilt ripped at my insides. As much as I wished it had been Michael, I couldn’t regret going to dinner with Loki. “Nope. It was someone else.”

Her hazel eyes narrowed at me. “That’s probably not a good idea. Your life is so hectic that it wouldn’t be fair to bring someone else into it. And you and Michael are so perfect together!”

I smiled, just one side of my mouth going up. “Don’t worry, I’m not endangering some poor human. He’s actually a titan, technically, but god would be the description that you would know.”

Her face went ash white and her eyes were round as tennis balls. “A titan? Are you crazy?!”

“Technically. But I think he’s more like his human description than anything Vega could create. You’ve heard of him. Loki, the trickster god in Norse mythology.”

Twin spots of pink colored her cheeks. Despite the fact her husband Ethan was practically a saint, she’d always had a thing for bad boys. Loki, as the villain in the Marvel movies was her latest crush. And just like that, she went from overprotective and angry to star struck. “Is he as hot as Tom Hiddleston?”

“Hotter,” I replied, thinking of that steamy kiss back at the restaurant.

Both dark eyebrows shot up into her hairline. “Now that’s not possible.”

I laughed. Her face was dead serious, like we weren’t discussing the attractiveness of a couple of guys. “Believe what you want, but the real Loki is gorgeous. And he’s really easy to get along with. I had a really nice time on our date.”

She sighed dreamily and I could practically see her trying to come up with a mental image of what he could look like. “I’m going to need to meet him to give my judgment, but what about Michael?”

I sighed and raked my fingers through my hair with the light red curls going flat. “I don’t know. Things have been weird since I found out about my past, but things got super awkward after everything with Vega. I think I love him, but I don’t know how he really feels about me. And he thinks he has to fix everything for me. He’s become so distant.”

Her thin arm wrapped around my shoulders. Her skin was colder than my perfect 100 degrees, which didn’t surprise me because I’d always run hot, and sent chills down my spine. She kissed my cheek and leaned her head on my shoulder. “You’ll figure it out. Just don’t do something you’ll regret because you want some male attention. If you like Loki, go for it because it sure sounds like he has a thing for you. But make sure there’s nothing going on with Michael.”

I closed my eyes and made myself comfortable on the crown of her head. Talking with her helped me sort through whatever was going on in my mind. “Thanks, sis. I needed this.”

The house was dark when the cab from Max’s dropped me off. It was late so I was quiet as I sneaked to the first-floor bedroom and used my phone as my only source of light so I wouldn’t disturb Michael. Only, the room was empty. I came up short at the edge of the bed and hurried to flick the lights on. The room really was definitely empty. I frowned as I changed into some pajamas and braided my hair back. Michael stressed diligence so I figured he was probably out checking security until I got home. I sent him a quick text to let him know I was safe and crawled into bed. I’d see him in the morning.

Boy was I wrong.

When I woke up at the ungodly hour of six-thirty AM, he wasn’t there. His side of the bed was still cold and his bag was still untouched by the armoire. Now I was getting worried. I jumped out of bed and ran down to the kitchen still wearing an over-sized concert tee and some plaid flannel pants. My hair was a mess and my bare feet kissed the cold tile with every step. The panic didn’t subside until I saw him in the grassy backyard through the kitchen window. He looked perfectly content as he went through some fight moves, except for the deep scowl on his face.

I slid open the glass door and leaned on the railing of the porch. “Hey,” I called with relief coloring my voice. “How are you already up doing that stuff? I swear I need a cup of coffee before I’m functional this early in the morning.”

He didn’t look at me and his answer was terse. “I did not sleep much so I am still awake fine.”

I frowned. “Did you sleep at all? I didn’t know you came into the room.”

“Yes, I did sleep, but not in your bed.”

“Why?” I snapped. I didn’t like how defensive my voice sounded.

Michael stopped his practicing and looked at me full on. “I did not think it appropriate, given circumstances. I can protect you just as sufficiently from the couch.”

My hands balled into fists and angry tears clouded my eyes. “You are not sleeping on the couch when the bed in the guest room can fit us both perfectly. Don’t be stupid. What circumstances? Is this about my date with Loki?”

His strong, square jaw tensed. I wanted to stroke my fingers along the light stubble there, but held myself back. His silvery eyes were stormy and tense, closed off so that I couldn’t even read his thoughts through them. “Your choice of a suitor is not my concern. What is my concern is keeping you safe, Lyra-Rose.”

My anger and disappointment flared up and light encased my hands. “That’s crap and you know it. You’re the one that’s been pulling away. If you’d asked me out, I would’ve said yes in a heartbeat.”

“It is not my place to be your suitor. I am your guardian, nothing more.”

The finality in his words made my heart crack in my chest. He couldn’t possibly believe that was all he was to me. A lump lodged itself in my windpipe, making it hard to get the words out. “Whether we date or not, you’re still my best friend. You have never been just my guardian. And if you think you can simplify our relationship to that, then I guess you don’t know me at all.”

I turned my back and stormed back into the house. Tears streamed silently down my cheeks and I sniffled to calm the sob that wanted to escape past my mouth. Urgent footsteps warned me that I wouldn’t be alone for long and I hastily wiped at my face.

Cassi rounded the corner in a purple nightgown and one fuzzy blue slipper. Her brown eyes were wide with panic and her breath came up short when she spotted me. She took in my crying face and her expression fell. “Oh, damn, Lyra. You heard?”

“That Michael’s an ass? Yeah, I got that memo.”

He bit her bottom lip and water filled her eyes. “No. Lyra, Max is. . . Oh, gods, I don’t even know how to say it. Sh-she’s dead. Ethan found her body when he went out to get the paper.”

My vision went black and cotton filled my ears so that I couldn’t hear anything. My head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds and my legs didn’t have the strength to support me. I was only vaguely aware of my knees smacking into the tile and a loud wail that it took me a minute to realize was coming out of my mouth. Someone cradled me in their arms and rubbed their hand down my hair while my world completely disintegrated. No! This was absolutely not possible! Maxine Miller could not be dead! She just couldn’t be. For gods’ sake, I’d just seen her.

“Shh, Lyra. Shh. You need to breathe. You’re going to make yourself sick. I’ve got you. I’m here.”

The voice cooed in my ear to sooth me and some itty-bitty part of my brain was able to make sense of it all. The voice belonged to whoever was gently rocking me on the floor. It was a man, one very familiar, but not the one that I needed at that moment. Loki’s blurry shape swam before my watery eyes. He didn’t smile and that sent me keening all over again. The world was all topsy-turvy; first Max being... I couldn’t even think the word, and now Loki with just a completely broken expression instead of the grin I’d already grown used to.

I hiccupped. “I-I-I h-have to s-see her. I n-n-need to know wh-what happened.”

Loki’s soft, warm lips carefully kissed my forehead. “I know. We can go right now. C’mon, get up and get dressed. Randall is on the phone figuring out the details.”

Numb, I let Loki lead me into the bedroom I was supposed to be sharing with Michael. Entering the room with Loki instead of my angel sent a dull ache through me, but I couldn’t dwell on that when I kept thinking about my big sister. How could she be dead? She wasn’t even in her thirties yet. She was supposed to live a long happy life with her husband, watch her daughter grow up, get an anchoring position at a national network. What happened between last night and now that changed everything?

I put on some black sweatpants and a black shirt; the color seemed appropriate. I tied my hair up without even bothering to brush out the tangles and was quick to brush the morning breath from my teeth. Loki kept his arm around me as he led me out to the SUV in the driveway. My entourage followed and from the corner of my eye, I could see Michael shooting me worried glances with compassion in his eyes.

I am right here for you, he said in that silent way of ours as Loki loaded me into the front passenger’s seat.