Halex ate his dinner, his prime rib rare and the horseradish sauce spicy enough to clear his sinuses, he was in heaven. "This is amazing Angel thank you for suggesting it." He said with his hands on his napkin. He patted his mouth, the box burning a hole in his suit and he smiled as he looked at her. Angel's tiny pieces, one at a time as she ate in the most delicate ways, enduring her more to his heart than ever and he cleared His throat, "Angel... can I ask you an important question?"
She looked at him and tilted her head, "You can ask me anything. I will always answer you truly." Her eyes searched for his hazel wonders. As she sipped her wine, she watched him get up and kneel at her side, turning her to face him and her eyes widened as she set her wine glass down.
He cleared his throat and looked around as he cupped her hands in one of his, the box in his left, opening out of her view, "Angel... Would you do me the honor of being my wife?"
She choked on her wine and nodded as he slid a ring on her finger, a solitaire diamond that twinkled in the candlelight everything was moving very fast, and she leaned down to kiss him sweetly, "Yes Halex Adler, this time together just reminded me of how much we deserved to be together." She was twisted up inside but jumping for joy. "How long. How long have you known you would ask me?" She stared at the ring tears slipping down her cheeks.
He smiled and nodded, "Thank you, darling, thank you. I've known since the reunion. It felt right then, but I had to see you again to make sure." He smiled and was beyond happy as he stroked her fingers, brushing over the ring on her finger as couples whispered around them with smiles and she turned back as their food arrived. He'd never thought he'd plunge and there was so much she had to learn and know about, but his deepest secret he could never tell her, not until everyone was safe.
"Halex... I am so happy you asked and yet deathly afraid why, you do not seem the marrying type, you're more love them and leave them." She kissed his fingers, "Tell me why you did it so I can understand."
He turned to face her in the pale light of the street and leaned in close to her, so close he could feel her warm breath, and he stroked her cheek. "I've been in love with you a long time, so long that I thought I would go mad. I've been chasing women to try and fill the hole you placed in my heart, unfillable. Stupid women, clueless and vane." He kissed her softly, his lips molding to her supple ones again, a hand sliding over her bare shoulder as he took her in. Today was it, She was finally Halex's, and he stopped himself, pulling back as he scanned her face, "Did I hurt you?"
Angel shook her head and watched him, "No you didn't hurt me that was nice. Thank you." Angel got quiet again as she was still thinking about their union and suddenly she started talking again. "We can get married the morning after the dinner, a civil ceremony at the courthouse. Then we can move on from there will you take me to live in Dubai with you, or will you stay here with me," She asked curiously on the way home from the restaurant, "I want to know everything."
She watched him curiously as he stayed silent, she was bringing up points he hadn't yet thought of. Would he take her to Dubai and end up protecting her on a detail to keep her safe or would he give up his protection service and become docile in the streets of Chicago?
She grinned and slid her hand over his thigh. Making his pulse quicken and a sick feeling enter his stomach followed by nausea and then heartburn. He was stressed and worried. He had to do this right, and he turned into the cul-de-sac, and then the garage closing the door. Maybe he couldn't do this after all. He turned to Angel and caressed her cheek, "A fast, civil ceremony would be good, sealing us together. In this dress and my slacks and a button up will be fine. "Oh, Angel. It will be beautiful."
Halex pulled into the garage and closed the door. He carried their clothes for dinner inside and hung them up on the Master Suite door hook. Halex went into the guest bath and slowly unbuttoned his shirt, forgetting to close the door all the way, and she gasped when she saw the scars on his back, long healed but still speaking of torture. "Halex...My God, what happened to you? You look like you were tortured within an inch of your life!"
"It was my initiation into the brotherhood where I raised in ranks to become their leader; it only hurt for a short while. I promise." He lied several got infected and laid him up for a month, but he got his payback on the bastard and nearly killed him, yet another thing Angel did not need to know about him, and he pulled his shirt back up and turned to look at her. His skin was recoiling, expecting pain.
She shivered and smiled stroking the tiger winding over his torso, up to his shoulder and down into his trousers, "They did a good job hiding the bullet scars, and the ink didn't blow out." She kissed his collarbone and made her way out of the bath, leaving large fluffy towels on the counter and turned on the heating lamp so it would be warm when he got out. The scars burned into her mind. Who would hurt such a man, what kind of brotherhood he belonged to, and she thought of the brick walls of men she encountered back in Tucson. It was an army of what? Of death? And she was willing to accept it if it meant she would have her Halex. She closed the door with a click, leaving him to himself as he continued to undress.
He was laden with scars from torture and war if only he'd had her in his life before he wouldn't be so marred and ugly and he slid into the shower sliding to his knees to sob. He couldn't marry her after all; it would kill her to live his life of war and deceit. He had not slept with her yet, had not sealed her to his soul. He would leave after the dinner. He had to. He had to save her and himself. He had to go back to Dubai, to war and the club, to go back to the war on drugs and firearms. He'd lived the life ten years, it was all he knew, and he couldn't take her into it. She would collapse under the barrage of cruelty and the beast.
He made her beautiful; he opened up a new her to the world. She would find a good husband now. He knew it, and he hung his head, letting the scalding water pound against his scars and sobbed. This was war, and he was saving his guiding light. He knelt there until the sobs stopped and the water ran cold on his scars, and he got out, wrapping up in a fluffy towel and going downstairs to get an orange and he went over to the big bed and blanket, watching the puppies. Life, she'd want children, and he would destroy children. Halex was a monster, and he didn't realize he'd done it till he felt the orange juice dripping on his toes, but Halex had squashed the life out of the orange, and he lowered his head. "Angel I'm sorry."
His heart was shattering into a million pieces, and he had no way to calm himself, and he let the panic attack come, and he lay his head up in the icy water.
He slowly slid up the wall and turned off the water, wrapped the bath sheet around his narrow hips and slung another towel around his shoulders. Halex wiped a handiwork over the mirror and just stared at his reflection. Halex needed to shave and dug into the bag of toiletries and essentials he had bought. Slowly he lathered his face with shaving cream and began the job of cleaning all but mustache and goatee. Leaving them connected and he wiped off the last of the shaving cream and splashed on some Armani code and slid into a pair of jammy pants and headed down the hall to Angel's room, "hey beautiful did you get your shower in?"
Angel nodded from the chair she was curled in, "yeah just reading over this contract for the hospital. They want me to take over. I'm not sure what to do it's a good offer." She tucked the contract away and folded up her lap blanket and got up walking over to Halex and kissed him softly but the moment they touched the air cracked with their electricity, and he wrapped her in his arms, and he deepened the kiss with a low growl of approval.
Angel broke the kiss only when she had to breathe, and she looked up at him, "Halex why did you come?" Her eyes started to glisten with tears, and she blinked, the green orbs brighter ringed in the red of upset.
Halex cupped the right side of her face in his left hand. "I came because I love you, Angel. I have been uncomfortable, unable to commit to a strong relationship, surrounding myself with people to drown out that you weren't there. I wanted to bring you with us when we had to leave. I cried for days. I have loved you so much and for so long that I would do anything to have you." He leaned down and kissed her again. His whole body was trembling as he backed her up to her bed and followed her over when she fell back.
Halex crushed her body to his one arm around her waist and the other tangled in her hair as he lightly pressed himself against her, "I'm scared I'll crush you."
"You won't break me." She slid her hands over his chest, sure, steady hands pulled through his chest hair then over his shoulders to drag him down for a deep soul-touching kiss.
Halex suddenly ran cold he couldn't do this, "not till after the wedding I want to do something right."
She nodded and righted her nightgown, "I can understand that. She climbed up on the bed and curled up under the blankets. "Goodnight Halex."
Halex flipped off the light switch to the overhead light and closed her door and went downstairs and sat in the family room. Beau came up and curled up next to him, "Hey Beau I'm gonna be around a lot more." Beau lifted his head and yipped, wagging his thick tail, "Don't wake up mom she had a busy, exciting night." Beau laid his head down and licked Halex's hand and curled up to sleep.
Halex got up and made himself a pot of extremely robust coffee and sat down on his bed in the guest room where he pulled out his handguns and started taking them apart for proper cleaning. He filled the magazines, meticulously cleaned every piece before putting each gun together.
It was a routine he did weekly to make sure the munitions would work properly if and when he needed them. He didn't plan on ever having another firefight. He'd barely survived the last, and he rubbed his chest where one scar, the hole that almost killed him, still burned from time to time. He almost died with his life in his hands, damned Kirill. He hadn't known that it was Angel he was bringing her to, only to the lights of help and lifesaving he had prayed instead of a cleaning service.
He finished the handguns and cocked each one it snicked smoothly into place and loaded the chamber with a single round. Beau started barking, the puppies to and he walked to the base of the stairs. Angel was screaming and thrashing. The bed scoot against the floor as she shouted out and Halex ran upstairs and flung open the bedroom door and slid into the king size bed with her and let her fight him till his scent filled her olfactory senses and she calmed and lay in his arms.