The Dividing Line: VENGEANCE (Book 2)

| 01 | (BWWM)

All that had been displayed on his body from day one reminded her to proceed with extreme caution.

Angel's primary objective back then was to help the wounded man and send him on his way. It was never her intention to allow him access to the fragments of her broken heart.

Cole had been her boogeyman and KB was forever in her mind a playful prince.

Often, Angel found herself comparing the two men who had successfully managed to capture her soul where others failed miserably to so much as turn her head.

From time to time, she would see an image of KB's smiling face. His mischievous nature always left her in fits of laughter as he sought to ease her day. Even though he had once been labeled a playboy, it wasn't long after they began their liaison that Angel caught on to the pretense KB had created for himself. Though he was a wealthy outgoing bachelor, the man had also been fiercely protective of the bits of personal information he was none-to-eager to share.

KB was all too aware of the exposure he would subject himself to if he brought too many money-grubbing women into his world. His answer was to stage photo opportunities with models to make it look like he was a player when in truth, he was more of a homebody.

Though KB had hints of snobbery chiseled deep down in his character when she first met him, there was no malice in his heart. He was genuinely a good man. Because he turned out to be so down to earth, that was the only reason Angel ever spared him a side glance.

Cole was the exact opposite of KB.

He had once terrorized people just because they had nothing in common with him; he only valued those he considered to be family. Cole lived his life as a menace to society; he cared for nothing and no one who didn't fit neatly within his lily-white world. To emphasize his contempt for all who were different from him, Cole had transformed his body into a message board to preach the hate consuming his existence.

Initially, Angel felt the weight of her concerns building for the stranger because Cole was everything she had been taught to avoid like the plague. But just like a moth was drawn to a flame, Angel eventually found herself gravitating to a beast named Cole.

As she stood in the same spot for several lost minutes, bands of steel and stone wrapped themselves around her waist. The beat of his heart thumped against her as his lips trembled to leave a trail of heat from her earlobe, down to her jaw, across her collarbone, and to the back of her shoulder.

Cole had become exceedingly well-suited to seducing his Angel, but that wasn't the only reason she connected with him so well. She had discovered, well before they engaged in an amorous affair, that Cole was a decent man underneath the crap he had been taught.

With time, he eventually explained how he came to believe in the lies instigating the wrongs he had committed.

For some time, an air of distrust loomed like a thick fog around them. His leeriness of Angel was likewise mirrored by her carefully performed tasks whenever there was a need for her to come in close contact after they first met. Over time, Angel and Cole processed their awareness, disbelief, horror, and finally shock associated with being trapped with a stranger.

Angel allowed her guest the space to struggle with and expel his inner demons as she did likewise. As a reward for her patience, Angel was privy to observe a gradual shift in Cole. Those changes became so evident that Angel felt justified when she permitted him to remain by her side. Once he confessed his desire to remain out in the middle of nowhere with her, not only did she consent to a newfound friendship that had been building itself between them, but Angel encouraged it.

Stormy blue eyes that were once chaotic and full of hate reflected a calm newfound peace. With Angel, Cole insisted he had found the opposite of the mountain of negatively hateful beliefs he was once taught concerning black people. He eventually confessed that he was proud to have found a heart that raced whenever he was near.

Every time she caught a glimpse, her face lit up just for him. It often amazed her that next to a man like him, she could regain the smile she once believed had disappeared for all eternity. But despite the joy fluttering in her tummy, Angel was at a loss when she tried to explain to him in subtle ways that it was the wrong time to make other more serious decisions. They so desperately needed to come to a better understanding of who they were individually before they could settle on whether they were headed in the same direction together.

But much to Angel's dismay, Cole refused to accept her need for time to examine what was growing between them. He cared about her point of view, but it was far too difficult to ignore the joy she made him feel.

Sharing a whirlwind twelve-month romance, brought with it new emotional bonds and a realization of just how perfect they were for one another, regardless of their differences.

Understanding how profound it was for two entirely different people to make such a connection, Angel found herself accepting that heaven must have created them for the express purpose of loving one another. That belief was further confirmed by the quickening of her pulse whenever she sensed Cole's presence.

His scent.
His touch.
A tingle.

Angel held the power to briefly stop his heart, even if only for a millisecond which was why he lived to move her to the core of her being.

Neither of them had ever met a person so adept at reaching their inner selves making their intimacy more than just kisses and hugs. Time spent between the strangers became more than merely indulging in one another's presence.

Angel saw glimpses of Cole lying next to her on the couch just to be near her. There was no sex or provocation, it was time spent simply fulfilling a need to be next to someone. Even in those moments of peace, Angel had a habit of picking on him only to become a sore loser with her jaw stretched a mile long when she couldn't get her way. Cole would feign disinterest, leaving her to pout, only to return to replace the frown on her face with a smile.

What they had was light and playful as if they had always been life-long friends.

||-||-||

He found tranquility in her arms when he needed it most.

When Cole initially woke up from his brush with death, he experienced difficulty balancing his preconceived notions of black people versus what he had come to learn about Angel. His environment and everything in connection with his host were in strict contradiction to what he believed to be the truth about blacks. His biggest fear was that she would use his diminished state to try and change him. Though the thought kept him on edge, that day never came.

Somehow, Angel managed to overlook his ink. Because she didn't bust his balls because of the choices he had made, he grew to respect her. When it sunk in that she had come to accept him just like he was, Cole did something for her he had never done for anyone. He decided to compromise on Angel's behalf by taking the necessary steps to minimize her exposure to the hate scribbled on his skin.

When he identified the fear in her eyes, it pained him that she was forced to cast those beautiful jewels on the tattoos that screamed out their hate for her. As long as they were sprawled out naked as the day they were born, the couple's hunger equally fueled their cravings to devour every centimeter of exposed skin with their eyes. To do so, Angel would be forced to face each toxic remnant of Cole's hate-filled past. She could see him and look beyond the hate that secured his love and loyalty.

Regardless of the countless activities, they shared something about the woman who saved him and reached inside him to quiet a storm that had been brewing for as long as Coke could remember. The passion, peace, and warmth Cole indulged in with Angel were instrumental in the fact that he was whipped at that point. Because of her ability to look past the monster in him to see the man very few people knew, Angel slowly became the center of Cole's world.

For her kindness, she earned his devotion and respect.

For her patience, Cole's rage was tempered leaving him with no desire to hurt his woman in any way.

||-||-||

"The best way for Wattpad to know how you feel about stories like mine is when you Comment & Vote. Your interactions are totally up to you, but hearing from you really helps and encourages me to write the stories you enjoy reading.

Thanks so much for your support."