“Oh my God, is he okay?” Angel sat up straighter.
“This was a while ago.”
“What?” Angel rubbed her face with her hands. “What are you saying? Ryan wasn’t in a car accident?”
She was clueless. “He was. Last year. The car that hit him drove off. He was hurt, wife left, sob story, sob story, sob story.”
“You are truly a callous bastard,” she said as she looked up at me.
“I don’t understand why you wanted Ryan.”
“I swear, if you saygroomingto me, I will kick you in the balls.” Angrily, she pushed the covers off her and got out of bed. “Tell me what you are asking. I don’t understand.”
“You have clients, you have college kids, college kids ready to go pro; I don’t know why you went for a freshman. Unless you felt—”
“Guilty?” Angel demanded incredulously. “Oh my God, Onyx, I’m notyou!”
“Me?” I scoffed. “I’ve never felt guilt.”
“That is so something not to be proud of!” Angel yelled at me. “Jesus, what iswrongwith you?” Her eyes searched mine as she floundered. “Do you think it’s Ryan who is targeting me?”
“I checked, he’s clean.”
“Then why are you asking me about him?” Pulling at her T-shirt, she looked at me. “I’m struggling to understand.”
“It doesn’t sit right,” I told her. “Something about that whole thing is off.”
Angel sighed heavily as she sat back down on the bed. “Okay, ask me all the questions,” she said as she lay back after fixing her covers. “But if I fall asleep, take the blame, it’s yours.”
She was humoring me. With narrowed eyes, I considered her, and then I got onto the bed, lying beside her.
“I really thought you would let me sleep,” she said quietly.
“No, you didn’t.”
Angel laughed quietly as she lay back and closed her eyes. “No, I didn’t. Alright, psycho, ask me.”
“Tell me about Will.”
She turned her head to look at me in question, but when I merely looked back at her, she turned away again and closed her eyes. “Will? Um . . . nice guy. Good lawyer, has a little sister. Does pro bono work, likes basketball.”
“Fuck him?”
“No, Onyx. I did not fuck him.”
“Did he want you to?”
“I’m quietly confident he did not.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Onyx, he’s gay, this isn’t Will,” she said with a sigh. “Is that it? Can I sleep?”
“No.” Turning on my side, I looked at her. “He friends with any of your ex-boyfriends?”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t have thought so,” she said with a groan. “And don’t tell me you and your friends haven’t already checked out my past.”
“Friends? You mean my band of merry fucking psychos?”
