CHAPTER 30

Sarah lay there, tracing the engraving on the chain around Angel's neck with her fingers. She glanced at her wrist and smiled at the charm bracelet. She'd taken it off and refused to even look at it the entire time they were broken up. She almost mailed it to him, when she'd lost all hope. Something in her heart wouldn't let her, and she was glad now she hadn't.

After a week of being back together, they still couldn't get their fill of each other. Angel had made sure he closed the restaurant every night ever since, and Sarah was right there with him each night. She wondered if his parents had any idea of the things they did in that back room.

Angel lifted himself up on his elbow and played with her hair. "How'd you get so close?" He stared in her eyes. "You and Syd?"

Ever since they'd been back together, Sarah made it a point to keep any talk of Sydney to a minimum, and up until now, Angel really hadn't asked too much. She knew once the dust settled it would be coming, and now here it was. She had prepared herself. She wasn't keeping anything from him againâno matter how uncomfortable.

"Well, I told you we moved a lot when I was little. So I never had any friends. As soon as I made them, I had to leave them. By the time we moved to Flagstaff, I'd given up making friends. Then Syd befriended me," she smiled, remembering. "He didn't have any friends either, though he didn't admit it at first. He was really chubby."

"Sydney was fat?" Angel seemed amused by that.

Sarah smiled, trying not to roll her eyes. "Yes, he got pretty big in middle school. I just never made many other friends 'cause I wasn't sure how long we were gonna be there. Then my mom told me her job was made permanent and we were staying put. By then, Syd and I had already gotten pretty close. Since my mom was always gone, I spent a lot of time at his place. It became my home away from home, and his family treated me like their own."

Angel's eyebrow lifted. "And he never made a move?"

Sarah shook her head. "Never. Like I said, he was real heavy for a while there and very self-conscious about it, and I was self-conscious about my teeth."

"Your teeth? You have beautiful teeth."

"Yeah, now, after three years of braces. They were a crooked mess before. So me and Syd were a couple of self-conscious misfits who leaned on each other for years." She smiled again, thinking of the memories. Angel was staring at her, so she went on. "Anyway, middle school is when I started nagging him about losing weight. That's when I started running. It all began to get him to lose weight. We started to run every day; that's when my love for running began. By high school, he'd lost so much weight. Then he stretched and that really helped. We joined the track team together, and now you'd never even know he was so heavy."

Angel chuckled. "Yeah, I would've never guessed he was a fat ass."

Sarah frowned but was glad Angel wasn't being uptight about it. Angel leaned over and kissed her sweetly. It amazed her how happy it made her just being with him.

He kissed her some more, and then it came, "Babe, I know he's your friend. And I'm gonna try my damnedest to be as understanding about this as I can, but I need to know everything. I can't have you keeping things from me again, especially when it comes to him. So if he ever calls you, I don't need to know everything you two talk about. I just don't want you keeping it from me."

He must've seen something in her expression or felt her tense up because he stopped then asked, "What?"

"You want me to tell you every time he calls?"

Angel's eyes narrowed. "How often does he call, Sarah?"

Just like that, the complete honesty thing went out the window. Sarah knew it was wrong, but with that look in his eyes and the tone of his voice, there was no way the truth was going fly here. Telling him their calls were daily was out of the question. "It's not just him doing the calling every time, but we talk a few times a week."

Sarah saw Angel trying to stay poised. He rolled his neck like he always did as if that would somehow release the tension. As far as she knew, it never worked.

"I'll work on it," she added quickly.

"What does that mean? I'll work on it? Is it really that big a sacrifice?"

"No, but you just don't understand."

"I'm trying to." He lay his head back, putting his hand behind his head.

Sarah lifted herself onto her elbow. "Is once a week too much?"

He stared at her but said nothing, and now it was her turn to do the kissing. She leaned over and pecked his lips then kissed the dimple that formed on his cheek with his furrowed expression.

He put his free hand behind her neck. "Sarah, babe, I don't want you to think I'm being insensitive. I get he's your longtime friend and all. It's just gonna take me some time to get used to this."

Sarah kissed him a little longer this time. "I know it is. We'll make this work. We have to 'cause I don't want to be apart from you ever again."

Angel smiled and pulled her to him with both arms now. "I love hearing you say stuff like that." He kissed her long and deep then stopped to add. "And yeah, I wanna know every time you talk to him."

Sarah was just going to have to cut down on the talks with Sydney because lying to Angel was a thing of the past. She wouldn't be making that mistake again.

They made love again, and then Angel took Sarah home without another word about Sydney.

~*~

Angel's heart almost stopped when Sarah called him crying. He couldn't make out a word she was saying. But then he heard her laugh in the midst of all the crying. "She's getting out the day after tomorrow!"

For weeks, they'd been waiting on the date, and finally Sarah's mom was being released from jail. Angel couldn't be happier. Sarah's mom would be there for her during the coach's trial.

"I told you, baby, believe." It was late in the evening and a school night, but they still stayed up and talked. At first, Sarah had the insane idea that she was going to Arizona alone to pick up her mom like she had when they were broken up. There was no way Angel was going to let that happen.

Sarah's aunt couldn't take the day off on such short notice, so Angel made arrangements and drove Sarah himself. Her mom wasn't being released until late in the afternoon, and Sarah suggested they stop at Sydney's to visit for a little bit, saying Sydney had invited them. Angel wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but for Sarah's sake, he pretended to be fine with it.

When they reached Syd's place, Sarah turned to him. "You sure you're okay with this?"

Not really, but he may as well get it over with. As far as he was concerned, Sarah was a part of his life for good now, so if Sydney was part of hers, he had to get used to this. "Yep, I'm good."

She leaned over and kissed him before getting out of the car. Angel walked around and met her at the sidewalk. Sydney was already standing on his porch with a blond girl.

He met them at the bottom of the porch steps, greeted Angel first, and introduced him to his girlfriend, Carina. Then he turned and greeted Sarah.

"I missed you, Lynni."

Sarah let go of Angel's hand to hug him. "I missed you too."

Angel watched as Sydney embraced her long and hard. "God, you look good."

He focused on not grinding his teeth too hard and tried not to frown. Sydney looked up and met Angel's eyes even as he still held Sarah. "I guess happiness'll do that to you, huh?"

Sydney's mom made them lunch, and they ate in the backyard under the patio. Sarah and Sydney talked about the track team she'd left behind in Arizona, and she filled him in on the details of her mother's early release. Angel glanced at Carina who, like him, hadn't said very much, and he wondered if she was as unsettled about their relationship as he was.

They didn't stay too long, and Angel guessed it was because Sarah sensed his discomfort, even though he did his best to try not to cringe every time Sydney called her Lynni.

Sydney hugged her just as hard when he said goodbye. This time Angel turned away casually, not wanting to see the way Syd's hands caressed her back. He was thankful neither professed their love for one another, or he may have snapped.

Sarah squeezed his hand as they drove away. "Thank you for that. I know that couldn't have been easy." She brought his hand to her mouth and kissed it.

"Why does he call you Lynni?" Angel didn't want her to think he was angry, but he couldn't help asking.

She shrugged. "From the moment I met him and I introduced myself as Sarah Lynn, his first remark was, 'You look more like a Lynn than a Sarah.' After a while it turned into Lynni." She kissed his hand again. "Does that bother you?"

Angel decided to just be honest. "I hate it."

Sarah laughed. "Why?"

He turned to look at her brilliant green eyes staring at him. "Sounds too damn sweet."

Sarah told him about her mom not liking it either, but after years of trying to correct him, she'd given up. Sarah was Lynni to Sydney and always would be. Great.

When they got to the women's detention center, they were still early. Sarah's mom wasn't done being prepped and handling paper work. They sat on a cold hard bench in the lobby. Sarah leaned against Angel, and he put his arm around her. He could tell she was anxious, and he kissed the top of her head. "Almost done, sweetheart."

She nodded. A good hour later, her mom finally walked out, and they stood up. Angel was surprised at the lack of resemblance. Her mom's hair was light brown, and she had very dark eyes. The one thing that she did have was Sarah's smile.

Sarah rushed to her and hugged her. After holding each other for a few minutes, Sarah turned to introduce her to Angel.

Angel reached out to shake her hand, but her mother hugged him hard instead. When she pulled away, she examined him thoroughly. "She was right, kid. You are a doll."

"Never been called that before," Angel smiled.

He took the bags her mother carried, and Sarah's mom locked her arm in his then locked the other in Sarah's arm. All three began the walk down the corridor. "So what do you say, kids? Let's forget the past and go start our new lives in California."

Angel and Sarah glanced at each other and smiled. Yeah, Angel liked the sound of that.

Again (Fate #4) *Sydney's story!* is available on pre-order now!

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