Angel's Hero

Chapter 18

Michelle was shocked. She was delighted. She was flabbergasted.
"He said that?" Michelle took a deep slurp of her third Cosmopolitan. "He actually said he didn't want to have to be responsible for you?" She signaled the bartender.
"Yup," Angel chewed on the paper straw of her own cocktail. The minty freshness of the mojito tasted wonderful.
"Tequila. Two," Michelle held up two fingers to the very cute young man behind the bar. "That ass!"
She said the last to Angel, but the bartender frowned at her prompting her to admonish, "Not you."
He laughed as he went back to the other side of the bar, cloth in hand.
"Agreed," Angel took her shot glass and then held it up in salutation to her friend. "But, my god, what an ass on that man."
"To the ass on the ass!" Michelle said loudly right before tossing the gold liquid back. Angel followed suit, and quickly stuck the waiting lime wedge in her mouth.
"Ugh, that still tastes just as bad as I remember," she shuddered.
It had been almost four years since they'd last enjoyed the company of Mr. José Cuervo.
Angel let the warmth from the shot hit her toes, and closed her eyes on the rolling sensation it had as it filled her from the feet up in liquid courage.
"You know, he might not want to want me. But he does," Angel leaned against the counter, tilting forward and lowering her voice, as if she were telling a secret.
"Oh, that man," Michelle spread her arms out. "That man definitely wants you."
She punctuated her words with a pointed index finger at Angel.
"He got a hard-on during the shoot today," Angel giggled as she sucked on her straw.
"No!" Michelle laughed out loud, slapping a hand to the bar countertop. "Ha! That's brilliant."
"I liked it. It made me feel..." She trailed her hand down her throat gently. "Powerful. Like I was in control."
Michelle's smile was wide, and a little crooked.
She'd started to blink slowly, definitely indicating that the three cocktails and two shots were doing their job.
"Shelley, I've been thinking," Angel began as she swiveled on her bar stool.
The music playing through the bar had a strong beat, and was loud enough to drown out her words to anyone nearby. Still, she looked around her to make sure no one was listening.
"Always a bad idea, but go on," Michelle looked out at the other patrons and enjoyed watching a group of young adults conversing around a table on the opposite side of the sea-side bar. She watched the flirtations between them, and as the girls pouted at their cellphones. The flashes going off repeatedly as they constantly checked their images, and shaking their heads, took more.
"I want to do it. Sex. I want to get my first time out the way so I'll be free to have sex with Conner."
Michelle almost fell off her barstool.
"Hear me out," Angel put her drink down on the bar as she turned back to her friend. She could see the argument forming on Michelle's lips. "Conner won't touch me, because of his stupid gentleman's code or whatever, because I'm a virgin. He thinks I've held onto it this long because I only want to be with the man I intend to marry, and he doesn't want to make promises he can't keep, blah, blah, blah, whatever."
She took a napkin from a nearby holder, and began to tear it into strips.
"But Angel, what do you mean get it out of the way? How?"
Angel smiled. "Well, there's this dating app that I thought I would try, otherwise, there's dive bars I could visit. Hell, I could go to Portland for a weekend and get it done. I don't think I want to do it with anyone here in Boothbay, because, you know, strings."
As she said the last word she fiddled her fingers in the air like a puppet master.
"Oh, my god, you're actually serious?" Michelle said incredulously, sitting up straighter and fighting off the rolling affects of the alcohol they had consumed.
"Dead serious. I want it done. I want to be free to be with whoever I want to be with, and at the moment, that's Conner."
"Then be with Conner!" Michelle said vehemently.
"He won't have me while I'm like this!" Angel said loudly. "Believe me, I tried. I had his tongue in my mouth and my ass in his hands, in my bedroom, on my bed, and he still turned me down."
Angel's face turned red as heads turned in her direction. She hadn't realized how loud she had gotten.
"Angel..." Michelle was shaking her head slowly. "I don't know."
"I'm doing this, Michelle," she said. "And you are not going to try stop me. Promise me you wont tell anyone?"
When Michelle didn't say anything, Angel closed a hand over her friends forearm.
"Promise me," she pleaded.
"Okay, as long as this is what you want? What you really want?" Michelle still looked skeptical.
"It is. I want it done," Angel sighed relieved to have her friend on her side. "I don't want to feel like that ever again. Rejected."
Michelle relinquished at the sight of her friend's sudden sadness.
She pulled her in for a hug. "Okay, I'll stay out of it."
"Thank you," Angel released a breath. "Now, we need another cocktail! Barkeep!"

*

Michelle really did try to stay out of it, and not get involved.
When Monday had rolled around, and she'd seen Angel again, they'd laughed over how drunk they had gotten, both swapping their horror stories about their hangovers on the Sunday.
Michelle had spent most of Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday morning with her head deep in the toilet, so Sunday had been a sofa and crackers kind of day.
Angel had told her about waking up in her bed, with one shoe on, and how she still hadn't found the other one. She'd spent the day alternating between being in the lake refreshing herself, and consuming copious amounts of water and frozen pizza.
They'd laughed, and thanked their stars they'd decided to get a taxi home.
Michelle had casually mentioned the plan Angel had announced, laughing it off as drunk-talk.
But then Angel had shown her the app she'd downloaded, with the plan to go home that day and build her profile. Michelle had laughed along with her, not believing Angel would go through with it at all.
She'd even suggested which picture to use.
And then, on Wednesday when Angel had told her that she'd matched with someone, Michelle still hadn't believed her.
Now it was Friday, and Angel was packing her bag, heading for Portland, to meet her date.
"You're seriously going?" Michelle asked, letting the reality of the situation settle over her like a panic-inducing fog.
"Yes, stop asking me that," Angel grabbed one of her black dresses, a strapless number that fit like a glove to just below her knees. She threw in gold earrings, a gold bracelet and a matching gold clutch bag.
For shoes, Michelle watched as she brought out two pairs.
One chunky black heel with simple straps across the toes and around the ankle, and then a more detailed pair with delicate gold chains fastened around the ankle strap, with extra gold chain attached to the toe strap. They were Michelle's favorites, and Angel had bought her a pair as a congratulatory gift when she'd booked her first photography gig.
Angel had always been such a supportive friend.
She'd always been there for Michelle when she'd needed her. First at school when she'd been dumped at the boarding house as her parents had been deployed, then when she'd met Owen, when she'd discovered she was pregnant, when Owen had proposed and she'd been so happy.
Then when Owen had attacked her.
Then after, when Jackson had been brought home from the hospital, and she'd been so broken and confused.
When her father had gotten ill.
Angel had been there through it all, Michelle acknowledged. Angel was an incredible person, and the woman demanded absolutely nothing in return.
Well, it was her turn to step up to the plate and be there for her friend. There had to be something she could do to talk Angel out of this!
"Angie," she began, sitting on the bed next to Angel's bag, and took her friend's hands. "You don't have to go through with this. You can still cancel."
"Stop it, Michelle," Angel shook off her friend's hands. "I want to know what it's like to be wanted, to be needed, by a man who isn't afraid of what that might mean."
Michelle's heart ached for her friend.
"If I get it over and done with, I'm free of my virginal status, and Conner will want me."
Michelle paused as she watched her friend shove other items into her travel case. She could very well understand the desperate need to be loved.
Was she wrong for trying to stop her? Angel had always known herself well, and done the right thing. Michelle couldn't remember a time when Angel had been wrong in her decision-making. Perhaps she wasn't wrong now.
Nodding, Michelle got up. "Fine. Okay."
Angel rushed to her friend and locked her arms around her in a tight hug.
"I want you to text me as soon as you get to the hotel, and when you're at dinner with him, and... after. I want to hear details."
Michelle had to swallow around the bile in her throat to get that last bit out.
"I will," Angel said. "Thanks for understanding, Shelley."
Michelle left Angel's cottage, at the same time as the yellow Jeep did, and drove blindly for five minutes.
Her stomach was in knots.
She had to talk to someone, had to get someone to fix this.
Without realizing where she had aimed her vehicle, she saw the sign on the roadside, and sighed.
In twenty minutes she turned onto the lane that would eventually end at the organic farm.
"Please let him be here today," she whispered to herself.
As she approached the large red barn that stood in the middle of a number of fields, her mind raced.
How was she going to do this?
She passed rows and rows of neatly lined vegetables, a greenhouse that she couldn't see into, and then parked under a large oak tree just off to the side of the barn that housed the organic farmer's store.
At two o'clock on a Friday, the place was packed.
Michelle stepped out of her car and held a hand to her brow to shield against the sun.
People milled around the structure, inside in the cool air, and some even walked between the rows of still growing produce. Michelle breathed deeply and felt contentment within her as she took in the surroundings.
She saw Robert standing at the large double doors of the barn, talking to what looked like a farmhand, if his overalls were anything to go by, as he pointed to something up the side of the building.
She moved closer and tried to get words to form on her suddenly parched tongue.
"Yeah, thanks, Gary," Robert was saying. "If we could get those rafters fixed this weekend, I'd really appreciate it.
Robert turned around, his face cracking in a smile as he saw Michelle. "Hey, there!"
"Who let you have the baby?" Michelle stuck her arms out, and happily took the beautiful little girl, expertly tucking her into the crook of her arms.
"How do you know I'm not Raymond, and this isn't my daughter?" He teased.
Michelle looked up from the rosy-cheeked baby sleeping peacefully. "Just do. You're Robert."
Flattered, Robert gestured for her to follow him indoors.
She did, fitting her index finger into the tiny hand.
"Give me back my daughter, fiend!" Michelle's head snapped up as a familiar voice filled the area inside the barn.
Other's turned to look in her direction, but continued on with their shop when they saw only smiles on their faces.
The old barn had been converted into a store, each enclosure was a section dedicated to a specific type of produce, and had been fitted with the correct cooling and drying mechanisms, perfectly housing the fruits and vegetables, keeping them fresh. Some areas had been converted into walk in freezers, while other's had been fitted to dry herbs, which were later turned into branded spices onsite.
It was an impressive store.
The man strode towards them, a smile on his face. "You had better forgive my brother for using my child as a lure. I hope you didn't promise him anything in return for getting to hold her?"
Raymond Mason was every bit as handsome as his brother, maybe even more so, but the subtle differences between them were quite obvious to Michelle.
Robert walked with confidence while Raymond strolled, seemingly without a care in the world.
Raymond was taller.
Robert had longer hair.
And most importantly, Raymond had a wedding ring on his finger.
"Hi Raymond," Michelle smiled as she handed sweet Eva back to her daddy. "Good to see you again."
They'd met earlier in the week when Michelle had come to take the photos of the twins working out.
While this whole photo shoot scenario had started on a whim to get Conner and Angel together, Michelle had been surprised at how well the images were turning out, and she'd sent them to an agency.
Surprise!
They'd loved them, and commissioned a whole lot more.
She'd fed them the storyboards she'd originally created for Angel's sake, and they had chosen the images involving Conner and Angel, plus the idea of the twin farmers working out had intrigued them.
So, Michelle had taken a series of photos of the brothers, Robert just as surprised that it had turned into a real project.
He'd been such a willing participant in getting their mutual friends hooked up when she'd explained their chemistry, and Angel's reaction to Conner.
Robert had said that Conner's lack of a dating life since before his final tour had taken its toll, calling him grumpy.
He was more than ready to jump in to help his oldest friend.
"So, what brings you out here today?"
"Can we talk in private for a minute?" She asked, smiling apologetically at Raymond.
"Hey, no worries. Use the office, I need to head up to the house and get miss Eva here back to her Mama for a feeding."
Raymond left them and Robert lead Michelle to the office at the back.
"Okay, what's up," he said as he leant against the desk in there.
Taking a second for herself, to appreciate his beauty, Michelle stared at him, unashamed that he noticed her appreciating his looks.
"Remember how my idea was to get Angel and Conner together, by forcing them to touch each other while nearly naked and sweaty?"
Robert laughed. "Yeah. I'd say it worked. Conner's been real dreamy lately. And he blushes like a love-struck teenager whenever one of us mentions Angel."
"Well, it may have worked too well."
He quirked an eyebrow. "How so?"
"I found out the reason they have been keeping apart. Turns out because Angel is a virgin at thirty years old, he believes she shouldn't waste it on him when he can't guarantee a future. He figures if she held on to it this long, it's because she wants to save it for marriage. He called her a responsibility. She didn't like that. She wants him, but he wont touch her."
Robert stared open mouthed for a full minute.
"Angel is a virgin?"
Michelle rolled her eyes and made a sound of frustration.
"Yes, gosh it's not that bad."
"Uhm, yeah, it would be to a guy like Conner. He was raised real strict-like. His Ma drilled it into his head that a woman was to be respected, and not dallied with. It's a very big deal."
Michelle dragged her hands over her face, frustrated all the more.
"So what's the problem? We just need to get them together enough times that they fall in love, and boom! Problem solved."
"Not quite, genius," Michelle slammed her hands onto her hips. "Angel is, at this very second, headed to Portland to meet a man she met on a dating site, to get rid of her virginity, so she can be with him, without his stupid morals getting in the way."
"She's what? Are you insane? Why didn't you stop her?" Robert shot off his desk, standing in front of her briefly, staring down at her like she was a mental case. His hands twitched at his sides like he wanted to grab her and shake her.
"I tried! But you don't understand how upset she is, and how hurt she is by Conner's rejection. I think she really likes him."
"Yeah, and he really likes her," he moved back around his desk where he lifted the handset of the landline. "He's gonna be pissed."
"Wait! You can't tell him! I promised her I wouldn't get in the way."
"Then why tell me?" He looked at her, waiting, his hand poised over the keys to dial. When she remained silent he huffed his breath out. "Because you knew it needed to be stopped, that's why."
She gave in and watched as he dialed.