Angel was one hard-headed chick. If her father could not convince her to get out of that house, he couldn't. They argued for two hours straight about her leaving with him but she refused. He was getting a headache. He needed a drink. He needed an aspirin. He needed to take a puff and he hadn't smoked marijuana in years. She was taking him there.

"Ang, all I'm saying is, how can I protect you here? He has a gun, he breaks in...I have no weapon. You think we just talk a crazy mother fucker down?"

"I can't keep running scared."

"I ain't scared of the dude, I just know you don't battle with a crazy motherfucker unarmed. At least come with me back to my spot for I can get another piece."

"No! Don't bring a gun into my house!"

Hook threw up his arms in despair. So she planned to just sit in the house, wait for him to come, and start capping?

"Look, if you're not leaving, for whatever reason, I'm staying here with you. Can we go to my place together while I grab some things?"

"I don't want you to do that for me. You're close to work in the city and-"

"Ang, we can keep arguing about this or we can just do this? My fuckin' head killing me and I ain't ate nothing yet. You hungry babe?"

"You know I'm hungry. I'll warm up some of the barbecue..."

"Naw, come on, let's just go pick up some drive-thru. We have to go to my place, grab some stuff and then get some groceries. And I'm tired right now."

"This will be over soon, after the divorce and the settlement-"

"You think?"

"Yes. He just wants to try and break me, and once he sees he hasn't he'll move on. Jared said he was out on a date with someone else, so obviously he's over me."

"That doesn't mean a damn thing," he said, grabbing her car keys. "Come on, let's go."

He made sure Angel set the alarm and double-checked it, then they went into the garage to get her car. He pulled out and made sure the dude was not lurking near then rolled off. They stopped and got Mickey Ds and ate in the car while they drove to his place in silence. He was supposed to go to work today but had to deal with this.

He packed enough of his things for a week. If he had to stay longer he would just stop by and get more stuff. This was a crazy situation. He could have just stayed away after she kicked him to the curb the last time, but no, something about her kept drawing him back to her.

"Hook, I need to talk to you about something," she said, while she watched him pack.

"Yeah, baby."

"Umm, there were some things I haven't told you about."

"What things?"

"Things...about my relationship with Matthew."

He turned to look at her and gave her his full attention. What now?

"I uh...remember when I said he cheated on me?"

"Yeah."

"Well...he cheated on me because I cheated on him first."

Well, damn!

"Do I really wanna know why you didn't tell me this off jump? Angel, stop fucking lying and tell me what the real deal is?"

She walked over and sat on his bed.

"Um, while I was in college, freshman year, I became involved with someone I shouldn't have. Things got real crazy. Then I met Matthew and started a relationship with him, and didn't end my previous relationship. I didn't want to marry Matthew, I got pressured to marry Matthew."

"Who pressured you to do that? Your parents?"

"Yes. I had to either end my previous relationship or marry Matthew. I married Matthew and I still was seeing...my professor."

"What?"

He knew he was not hearing this woman right. She was having an affair with her college professor, then married Matthew anyway? She was still fucking her teacher and married the psycho. Okay, no wonder he was so fucked up.

"He was older, he was married. I was young and stupid."

"Angel, this is fucking insane!"

"I know, I'm sorry, I should have told you. I really tried with Matthew. And he loved me and gave me everything I wanted and more, but...I still did what I did...so he started cheating on me."

"Did he really hit you then?"

"Yes! I told you the truth. I didn't tell a lie Hook, I just...was not honest about our relationship."

"And this professor. Where is he now?"

"I haven't seen him in months."

"Months! We've been together for months. You fucking him while we been fucking?"

"No! I mean, not since I met you. After Matthew left, yeah."

This shit wasn't adding up right. It was one thing to be cheated on, another to be the cheater. Once a cheater, always a cheater. Angel...that name did not fit her at all. She had to be a devil in disguise with a pretty ass face. Now he was questioning anything she ever said to him.

A liar and a cheater, how was he supposed to trust this woman?

"Hook, please look at me. I'm telling you the truth. I haven't done anything with anyone else but you."

She got up and hugged him, but he could not hug her back. He was upset, frustrated, confused, betrayed...yet, he could not pull away from her.

"Come on, let's go," he said, grabbing his bag.

He put his things in her ride and they got in the car. He had no words for her. He was letting everything sink in. Fine ass women with all these problems and insecurities. He had to fall for them. His Captain Save 'Em cape flying in the sky like the Batman beacon. The chicks with the problems knew how to find his ass. Angel may be more problematic than she was worth.

"Hook, are you going to talk to me?"

"What store do you want to go to for food? You like Dierberg's, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

They stopped to do grocery shopping and he planned meals out in his head and put things in the cart, while Angel just threw random things in.

"You still want to teach me how to cook?"

"You need to learn."

"What will you teach me? Can we make that pasta you cooked for me the first time?"

"Yeah," he said.

Angel grabbed several bottles of wine. He grabbed a case of beer, some vodka, and the best Hennessy they had. Dealing with her ass, he was going to need a constant drink that hit hard.

They got back to her place and put the things away. He started in on making dinner but was not in the mood to teach her.

"So do you measure the water you boil or just put it in? Do you salt the water? How long do you boil for? Do you add anything else to the water?"

She was all up on him while he was trying to simply boil a pot of water. That shouldn't be something he had to teach her how to do. What the hell did her parents do to her she did not know how to boil water?

"Ang, how about you just sit over there and just watch okay. I can cook a lot faster if I just do this."

"Okay, but," she kissed on his neck. "You're so sexy when you're so serious about your cooking. It's turning me all the way on."

Her hand slid down to the front of his pants, but he moved it away.

"Ang, come on, can you not..."

"You're mad at me. If you need to talk about this some more, talk to me Hook, don't just shut me out."

"What do you want me to say, Angel? Why couldn't you tell me the truth from the jump? Because you know what you did is fucked up!"

"I didn't want you to treat me the way you're treating me now!"

He moved away from her, grabbing things from the refrigerator. He did not want to talk about it. If he kept talking about it, he just got madder.

"Okay, I get it," Angel said, backing away. "I'll give you some time...when you're ready to talk...ask me anything."

She walked out of the kitchen. He felt better cooking without her in there. He made the mostaccioli and a salad and garlic bread. She had changed into a tank top and little shorts showing all her sexy legs and the thigh meat. He wanted to bite her inner thigh and lick...

No, he was not going there with her.

He looked away from her as he took up a large serving for himself. It was not near dinner time, but he was hungry and exhausted from the long day.

"Wow Hook! You made enough to feed an army! What are we going to do with all this food? And we still have barbecue."

"Oh, it'll get eaten," he said, pouring himself a glass of wine. He sat at the kitchen bar on a stool and dig into his food, not waiting on Angel.

Angel snapped pictures of the food, texted someone, then put her phone down and made herself a plate. She sat at the bar beside him and they ate without saying a word to each other. They were nearly done when the doorbell rang.

"If that mother fucker-"

"No, no, it's not Matthew. I texted Jared to come over. That you cooked and we had plenty," Angel said getting up from the table.

Still, he walked to the door with her.

"Girl! You texted at the right time! I am starve-ing! We were just about to go out to eat and...oh, this is Braxton. You don't mind?" Jared said, motioning toward the guy next to him.

"No, the more the merrier," she said, letting them in. "You get to taste Hook's food. I know I brag about him all the time."

"Hey Jared, what's up," Hook said, giving him a fist bump. "What's up man," he said to his date.

"I met Braxton the night you two met, at the Better Family Life Gala when you rescued this damsel in distress."

Maybe they had better luck in their relationship than he was having with Angel. He had two baby mommas and he'd never gone through this much drama.

"Braxton, nice to finally meet you," Angel said hugging him.

"You too. Jared filled me in on all the stuff you're going through with your ex. Met him at Kobe's, and he's handsome, so you have taste, but he lost you, he needs to move on."

"Come on, let's eat!" Jared said.

After they all ate, they went downstairs to the family room to watch a movie on the big screen. Jared and Braxton cuddled up, but Hook was not in a cuddling mood. Angel laid her head on his shoulder, but that was it. He was either going to get over this or leave her crazy ass. He had not made that decision yet.

When the guys were ready to leave, he walked them to the door.

"Hey Jared, let me ask you, you went to college with Angel. Y'all even dated. Did you know about...the professor?"

"Ooo! So she told you?"

"What's the deal with that?"

"Well, let's just say...we didn't just break up because I was gay. He was why."

"That's fucked up. And y'all still friends?"

"Look, Angel is a lot of things, and comes with a lot of baggage, but she is...complex, and you need to be patient with her. She does care for you. And it's different than when she was with Matthew...and the man I shall never say his name."

"What's his name?"

"Bye Hook," Jared said and left.

His body felt like he'd gone a round in the gym lifting heavyweights. He had not been this tired from not doing any work ever. Physically, he just needed a moment to rest. Mentally his brain was drained. Emotionally, his heart felt like a sledgehammer hit it.

He was getting ready for bed when Angel came over to him and pressed her warm body close to him.

"Thanks for being here with me Hook. I do feel safer with you here."

"We would be safer at my place."

"I'm telling you, he's not going to do anything."

Now that he knew the whole story, things made a little more sense. He still was a psycho mother fucker, and just like the movies, they never went away.

Angel started kissing him all over his face and rubbing her hands all over his body. It felt really good and he got hard as hell quick. She wrapped her arms around his neck and those long legs around his waist. He was a man, with a sexy woman all over him. He forgot what he was upset about.

He lay her back on the bed as her lips met his and they kissed. He wanted to be buried inside her, fucking her brains out but all that kept going through his head was:

"She's a cheater! She's a cheater! She's a cheater!"

He pulled back from her.

"Babe, I'm not in the mood tonight," he said, sitting up.

"But Hook-"

"I'm tired. Can I just...lay my head down, go to sleep."

He got in the bed and under the covers. Angel sat there a moment before she got in bed beside him. She just lay there, and he felt her body heat radiating on him. Even though he was tired, and not in the mood, he wanted her. He knew he was going to get over this.

He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him, kissing her.

"Goodnight."

A/N: Angel is a mess! I don't do cheaters, point blank period, so Hook is better than me for not just running away. Ready to meet her mother? She is...quite the character.

XOXO
Kimberly