Hunter's Edge

Chapter Four

September

Kel held the phone to his ear, pretty sure he'd misunderstood. "You're what?"

Angel sighed. "Babysitting."

"You're babysitting. Angel...we're supposed to go out."

"Yeah, I know." She sounded a bit pissed off. "But Derek asked me and I had a hard time saying no." Her step-dad wasn't half bad—another pushover as far as Kel was concerned, considering he'd married Ann and actually thought she was going to be faithful.

Derek also had two kids and Kel had to admit, they were cute kids. One was eight and she could ramble on for hours. The other was a four-year-old boy who made monkeys in the zoo look tame. But as cute as the kids were, he couldn't believe he was being ditched for them.

"You're mad."

Kel sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. "Not mad, really. Just aggravated." They hadn't seen each other in nearly a week. School had started and although they both attended Georgia State, the campus was huge. He got to see Angel more often than last year, but not enough. Not for him. They rarely got to see other during the week and it was worse now that Kel had picked up a part-time job at nights.

"You know...you could come over."

Kel laughed. "Yeah, that's exactly how I planned to spend Friday night...you, me and two shrieking kids."

"Actually, it's three. Lindsey has a friend spending the night."

"Even more exciting." Leaning back against his desk, he propped the phone on his shoulder and crossed his arms over his chest. "So after they go to bed, can we make out on the couch?"

"I was hoping you'd ask. You still have to work until nine?"

Kel eyed the clock on the wall as he answered, "Yeah, and I'm going to have to get going or I'm going to be late. You got any idea how late Derek and your mom will be?"

"He said by eleven or so. Knowing Mom, that might not happen. But maybe we can try to grab a movie or something after."

Kel grinned. "I vote for the or something. At your place." Another reason why they couldn't see each other as much—he still lived on campus, but Angel had her apartment, nice, private. All hers.

Much as he loved his folks, he definitely enjoyed the freedom that came from not living at home. But damn, there was even less privacy in the dorm than at home. Unlike his roommate, both the one from his freshman year and this one, Kel had no desire to take Angel to his dorm to make love to her. He preferred privacy, thanks.

The couch at her mom's house wasn't the same as the bed at Angel's, but it was better than nothing.

"Or something, huh?" Angel said. Her voice softened, becoming a low, husky purr that sent shivers down his spine. "Hmm...like the sound of that. And we can do that no matter how late they get back..."

Shooting a glance at the clock, Angel wished Kel would hurry up and get here. It would probably be another half hour, easy, before he made it, though.

Still, it didn't keep her from sending the clock another look before five minutes had passed. She was jumpy. Uncertain of the reason, she made a pass through the house, checked all the locks, checked the windows. Everything was locked up, shut down and the kids were having the time of their lives upstairs.

No reason for her to feel like she was going to crawl out of her skin... But she did. Trying to make herself relax, she settled down in on the couch and turned on the TV. She found an episode of Law and Order, the only new show worth watching as far as she was concerned.