“Will be taken care of,” Cole finished the sentence for him.
“Not without me talking to her first.”
Cole stared at him. “You’re only gonna make the situation worse.”
The officer folded his arms. “Take it or leave it.”
Cole blew out a breath, and shook his head. His eyes slid to Angel. Time to find out which way she was gonna roll. “Okay. Fine.”
They walked back over to her.
“Angel, this is Sheriff Starks. He wants to ask you a few questions,” Cole explained.
She saw the look Cole was giving her, and knew she better not say the wrong thing. She nodded. “Okay.” Then she tipped her head to Sheriff Starks. “Officer.”
“Ma’am.” He tipped his head in return. “You want to tell me what happened?”
Angel’s eyes darted to Cole.
Starks didn’t miss the exchange.
“I, uh, I met this guy. Turns out he was kind of an asshole. Cole, he, uh, persuaded him that our relationship was over. Got me away from him. I owe him for that.”
Starks looked from her to Cole. He asked her, “That’s it? That’s all you’re gonna tell me?”
She shrugged, “That’s all there was to it. Thanks for getting the cuffs off me. It’s kind of embarrassing. The asshole lost the keys. I guess that was a stupid idea. You know how these sex games are. Sometimes you don’t think it through.”
Cole fought back a laugh, and Starks glared at him.
“Everything’s fine now. Really,” she insisted.
“You’re sure you don’t want me to see you get home?”
Cole stepped in. “I’ll get her home.” He held up his hand, as if taking a pledge. “Boy Scouts honor.”
Starks scoffed. “You were never a Boy Scout.”
Cole smiled.
“I’ll be fine,” Angel assured him.
Starks threw his hands up, turning to walk away. But before he did, he leaned in close to Cole’s ear, and Angel heard him whisper, “I hope to God one day you come across a woman that ain’t gonna cover for your ass.” Then he glared Cole in the eyes, turned, and walked away.
Cole watched him get in his cruiser and pull out, and then he turned to Angel, his eyes studying her face. “You did real good, babe.”
Angel was watching Starks drive away. “He looks kind of like a weasel, doesn’t he?”
Cole tried to hide his grin. “Yeah, but he’s our weasel, so it’s all good, darlin’.”
The corner of her mouth pulled up in the barest of smiles.
“Sex games, huh? Sounds like fun,” he teased, with a wink.
She raised her eyebrows, giving him a look.
“I’m kidding,” he smiled. “Come on.” He put his arm around her neck, and led her across the lot toward the entrance to the building. Some of the guys called to him. He raised his arm in greeting, but kept on walking. He held the door for Angel, and followed her inside.
She looked around as Cole took her hand, and pulled her along. She trailed behind him. The place had obviously once housed some type of manufacturing operation, but all the machinery was long gone. Angel could still see the open industrial type duct work hanging form the ceiling. The floor was cement and the walls were brick, the top half of which were old, multi-paned, factory style windows. They were covered in years of dirt and grime. There was a pool table on the left, and some tables and chairs scattered about. Some old, ratty sofas lined the far left wall, and a bar was set up on the right. It was dimly lit, and deserted.
Cole let go of her hand, and walked behind the bar. He bent into a cooler, and pulled out a couple of cans of soda. Then he came back around, took her hand, and led her through the room, up a flight of metal stairs to a second floor, and down a dark hallway.
They passed several doors. Angel guessed they must have been the offices of whatever business used to occupy the building. They were the old fashioned kind of doors with frosted glass at the top half. There was still gold lettering on them, indicating whose office they had once been. She read the doors as they passed. Purchasing. Production. Engineering. Accounting. President. Cole stopped at the last door on the right, and taking out a set of keys, he unlocked the deadbolt. The gold lettering read, Vice President.
When they stepped inside, Angel realized it was now set up as a bedroom, of sorts. There was a full size bed against the exposed brick on