Page 11 of Angel

‘She’s in the wind,’ I proffered with a grim twist of my lips.

Elsa huffed and marched to the window, fumbling in her bag for a vape, which she sucked deep and long, her body telegraphing her vexation.

‘Where did she go?’ Reese demanded, staring down at me, both hands clutching the head of his walking stick.

I shrugged. ‘No idea.’

‘This is a disaster,’ Reese growled. ‘We’ve relatives from England, guests from Saudi and Europe, plus a slew of business associates at this wedding. Why didn’t you go after her?’

Perhaps because I was so tired of chasing after and rescuing Evangeline, even though my love for her, or was it obsessiveness, consumed me.

This time, I had no strength for it.

The door opened wider as my family filed into the cramped room.

My father, Drew Forrest, strode in, his face wreathed in concern for me.

He was tall, with his jaw clenched, reaching out to hug me with hands stained with the honest dirt of his landscaping business.

He was a dark-haired, broad-shouldered man of average height.

His weather-beaten skin was tan and lined from decades of hard labor, from his hooked nose to his square, callused fingers.

He wore a well-fitted suit I bought for him, but he seemed uncomfortable in it.

Beside him came my mother, Amelia, her face wreathed with concern.

She was prepossessing in a rose-gold pantsuit.

My younger sisters, Marnie and Claire, followed in their bridesmaids’ gowns.

They were carbon copies of each other: petite, with soft olive skin, brown hair, small button noses, grey, smoky eyes like mine, and slim silhouettes.

My family rushed to me, and I rose with relief, letting them fold me into their embrace.

They hugged me before pulling their gaze away from me with worry.

‘The entire wedding party is talking,’ Marnie whispered to me. ‘One of our fellow maids, a friend of Evangeline’s, said she saw her get into a car and disappear. She hasn’t come back. The venue is wild with rumors she’s -.’

Marnie stopped after a pointed look from my mother.

‘Let’s name it what it is,’ I growled, stepping away from them.

Flinging out my arms with a bitter smirk on my face, I called out to the room.

‘She left me, she fuckin’ jilted me.’

I bent over and began to laugh uncontrollably, losing my shit.

Jude strode to me and placed a sinewy hand on my shaking shoulders and squeezed.

‘Calm down, brother, right freakin’ now,’ he hissed in my ear, short-circuiting my panic.

I straightened with a deep breath as our gazes met and he jerked his chin and shook his head, warning me not to combust under present company.

Elsa shot me a quick, strained glance with a quick flick up of her sunglasses; Reese grunted, his face peeved; my parents sighed, and everyone else gaped at me.

Just then, a lissome figure slipped into the room.