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Chapter 39

A perfect match

The bruised man rested on his back. The king-size bed did little to ease his sore muscles.

"My darling," Angel's voice causes green eyes to flicker. "Rest, my sweetheart."

She had put him on the bed after realizing the extent of the jealous tirade.

"Your Angel has an injury too. I have a limp from that stomp or whatever you call it." She moves from the sitting position next to him. "You must have been a hell of a secret agent." She grins. "You were the American James Bond. You are so handsome. Female agents did not have a chance with you." A smirk arises on her expression. "When, I think of all the women you had sex with." She deeply inhales.
I want to kill them all." Exhaling brings a relaxed look to her face.

"I now realize, you would never betray out love. I was being silly. Those women came uninvited to see you." Her fingers graze his cheek. "It's just that you are so beautiful. And so manly." She bends toward his lips. "I know how difficult it is not to kiss you." Joe cringes as her lips press his.

"I promise after I kill Ryn, this will all be over. Tia will be buried never to reappear."

She stands to gaze at his semi-conscious condition. It is hard not to touch his cheek. The look of soft silk-like tanned skin on a pretty face is difficult to resist, even with a growth of a day's beard.

"I feel so angry. Angry at myself." She bends again to kiss the large discoloration on the side of his neck. "How could I do this to you?" An enraged expression appears. "It is her fault. I promise, when she is dead," Angel bites a lower lip. "We will travel the world. That money I have hidden in Germany will buy us anything we want." Kneeling down along side of the bed, "and when we blow it all, as you say."

Angel refers to a stash of Euros and English pounds adding up to over a million American dollars, stolen from the Russians.

Her facial muscles ease from the tense expression felt at the realization of his injuries, "we will live on that government pension. More than enough to start a little family." She whispers in his ear. "My time to conceive will be in less than a month. That is why she must die soon." The talkative woman straightens up. "Darling, I will be the perfect little wife and mother. Tia will be no more. It will be Joe and his adoring wife, Angel." She giggles. "And our little baby Joey." The soft spoken woman puts slender fingers to her lips. "I know it will be a boy. A son for my man." Turning to leave for the dining area to order an early dinner for the room, she throws a kiss and says, "we are a perfect match."

The still torso under white bedsheets inhales as green eyes stare at the ceiling.

"This is too much. I'm gonna kill…that damn Ryn on my own to stop this." He struggles to speak, only to surrender back to the semi-conscious state. His mind wanders. Wanders to a time his subconscious identifies as the turning point in his life. The point in time that led him to the present. To be badly beaten and in love with a monster.

Ten years ago

The little canteen on Reilley Road a stone's throw from 1st Special Forces Command Headquarters often featured men with Green Berets. Wives or sweethearts would share a brief moment with their partners before another long deployment.

The couple sitting in the booth near the front window possessed expressions different than the other young lovers in the establishment.

"I don't understand. What have I done to deserve this?" Sgt. Torello sat in jungle camouflage across from his wife of seven years.

"That's the problem, you don't understand what you've done. Or will always do." Maria Torello spoke in a strong yet low tone. She waited for his return from a training mission in the Philippines to set her future ex-husband straight.

"Explain," his voice snaps the reply.

"You are never with the family. And," the petite brunette puts up a dainty palm. "And I am not talkin' about these deployments or whatever they are." She refuses to pause. It is something that has been locked inside the attractive twenty-seven year old for some time. "When you are home, all you do is disappear. It's like you don't want to be with us."

"I love you and the kids. You are wrong, really way off." He looks at her and then stares at the Fort Bragg traffic driving along the diner.

"Love? Do you know what that means? You have two young daughters and all you do is…just…disappear. You spend no time with them. Me? The hell with me." Her eyes begin to water. "They think daddy is overseas. Overseas all the time. Even when you are home." Maria takes a breath. "They are too small to realize that you are just avoiding them…or me…or what."

"Ok, fine…" He exhales. "I'll take them somewhere tomorrow. Wait," he sits up. "All of us. I'll be home for at least three months. We can," he flashes a smile, "reconnect."

"No!" her volume causes a few patrons to turn in their direction. "Listen," in a much lower register. "I've given you chance after the chance."
She waves off his attempt to speak.

"Do you know I had a private detective follow you last time you returned from Afghanistan?"

Joe's mouth is open at the statement.

"I thought you were with some high school cheerleader." She chuckles through tears. "Or some GoGo-dancer from Brag Blvd." She wipes her face with trembling fingers. "You know the things I found out convinced me we had nothing left."

"What?!" Now it is Joe causing people to stare. "I never screwed around on you. Never!"

"That's right. That's what he found." She needs to take a breath in order to finish. "His report said you would go to a bar. Girls would come up to you. You'd ignore them. You would go to a park. You would do anything to be alone." With a torn voice. "You weren't even with the guys in your team. One of them saw me at the PX and asked me, 'where is Joe?' Once he's home we never see him." I saved face by smiling and nodding, when he said I must chain you to the bed when he's home."

The young paratrooper remained silent. "I think finding out you weren't screwing around made it worse." She moves to leave the booth.

"Joe, someday you will meet the perfect woman. I mean you are a great looking guy." She sniffles through her speech. "But that's not your problem. I hope you wise up. I love you and always will. I don't want you to die alone." She snorts a laugh.

"Find someone as bizarre as you are. You'll be a perfect match." She adds as his head is turned toward the window.

"Goodbye Joe."

"Wake-up sleepy head." Angel's voice breaks the vision's hold on him.

"You looked restless. What were you thinking?" She puts the Styrofoam packages down on the night table. Moving to his side she rubs a firm hand on his chest.

"My sweet Joe, what were you thinking about? Please tell me?"

"I was just thinking about what a perfect match we are." He exhales over a soft smile.

Angel pulls the bedsheet down and exposes his nude form.

"You will not need to move, my darling. Shh!"

She moves her cheek along his upper body and then slides downward. A head of ashey beige blond hair buries itself between his legs.

Note to reader:

I hope you are drawn into the development of an explosive situation.

We have Ben, questioning Ryn's decision about Maddie having his baby. Hope dislikes Maddie's position in her parent's bed, and their attraction to the same man is not helping this situation..

And of course, that man's relationship with Angel (AKA Tia.)

Hope to hear from you.

GJ