Free Loving Angel (A Divisa Novel Book 4) by J.L. Weil Page B

inclined. It was a heady power, and the thing was, she hated using it.
    “I’m about to—” I started to say, before I was rudely cut off.
    Angel kicked me in the shin and covered my gripe by clearing her throat. “So, Emma, do you like your room?”
    Angel and Lexi were bunking together. I had my own room, being the only guy. And the final bedroom was given to Emma. I refused to let either of the two people I cared about sleep in the same room with her. I also reinforced the lock on their bedroom door yesterday when we got here. You never know when the hunter might lose her mind and go completely mental.
    Emma’s watchful emerald eyes were honed in on me as if she knew what I’d been thinking. “Compared to some of the places I’ve stayed, this is like the Hilton.”
    Awkward.
    None of us really knew, except maybe Travis, the torment Emma had endured at the hands of her own father. He had kidnapped her for God’s sake. That was extreme, even for my standards. What kind of nightmares she’d suffered while held captive by her asshole father was anyone’s guess, but I had a good imagination. Appallingly, it made me have just the teeniest empathy for Emma.
    I still didn’t trust her.
    Taking a sip of my black coffee, I pretended that I had no idea what she was talking about as Angel struggled for a response. How did you follow a comment like that? We all had parental issues, but none of us wanted to talk about it. What a house of misfits.
    Angel pleaded with me with her eyes, looking to me to ease the mounting discomfort. I leaned back, crossing my ankles, and cradled my cup. She had opened this can of worms. It’s all you, babe.
    She narrowed her eyes in a sarcastic thanks-for-nothing glare.
    Lexi breezed into the kitchen, grabbing a banana. “What did I miss?”
    My cousin always had such impeccable timing. Thank goodness. The uncomfortable level was at epic proportions.
    “Nothing. Just the two love birds attempting to christen the kitchen counters,” Emma said dryly.
    Angel’s pretty little mouth dropped.
    My cousin made a scrunchy face. “Ew. TMI. I swear the two of them are like rabbits,” she said to Emma as if Angel and I were invisible.
    “Hello,” Angel called. “We’re still here. And nothing happened.”
    Emma opened her mouth to bless us with another condescending comeback, except her expression contorted in pain and she grimaced, her hand flying to her temple.
    “Hey. You okay?” Angel asked, concern lacing her words.
    Emma kept her head hung, rubbing the side of her head with one hand and the other braced on the counter for support. “Yeah. It’s just a headache. I’ve been getting them a lot lately. Stupid allergies.”
    Allergies my ass.
    The hunter and I were going to have words, and until then, I was keeping a close eye on her, like stank on skunk.
    Angel and I shared a look. Shit was going to get real. I could tell by the worry that crossed her face, she was thinking about doing something utterly stupid. She bit the inside of her cheek, and I knew I was going to have to save her from herself.
    There were consequences for scrambling people’s memories. The more you meddled in someone’s mind, the greater the irreparable damage. If we weren’t careful, we could end up screwing Emma far more than she already was. And Emma’s mental state was questionable as is. Dig too deep and you might set off a machine with a no kill switch. That was a chance I wasn’t willing to take.
    For Angel as well as Travis.
    If I could help it, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Travis didn’t suffer the anguish of losing the girl he loved a third time. I felt a sense of obligation to Travis and Emma’s tumultuous relationship. Travis and I were just at a place were things felt normal again. How could I jeopardize that? I had promised him that I would look out for her. Why did I always have to make the hard decisions? Angel and Travis might not like it, but even at the expense of her