7 years earlier

It was 3am on a Thursday and Ana was in a deep sleep after a long day of studying for finals followed by drinks with Mark. While it seemed like a good idea at the time she had quickly come to regret it once she was finally home but at least she was alone and able to simply change, take her makeup off and jump into bed about 2 hours earlier.

But her sleep was disturbed as she jumped up in bed after hearing large thumping on her door, followed by the sound of someone slurring out her name loudly.

"What the actual fuck?" She stumbled out of bed, slowly walking down the stairs and to the front door. The closer she got the more the sounds coming from the other side sounded like Angel calling for her help.

"Angel?" She yelled through the door, confused and still half asleep.

"Ana! Oh come on let me in, please? I need your help!" He yelled back.

Grunting, Ana turned the light on and finally opened her door and was met with a very drunk Angel staring back at her, leaning against the door frame. He was in his prospect cut with a sleeveless flannel underneath and was sporting quite a few bruises and cuts to his face. His right eye was also slightly swollen.

"Oh my god, Angel what happened? Are you okay?" Ana asked instantly, bridging the gap between them as she walked up to him and placed a hand on his cheek.

Looking down at her, Angel couldn't help but lean down and place a soft kiss to her forward, something he'd only ever have the courage to do when he was drunk. And something Ana would only let Angel get away with when he was drunk.

"Ah just a bit banged up, some stuff with the Mayans went south… it's kay though, you should see the other guy," Angel answered chuckling, despite the pain he was in he was now grinning from seeing Ana, she could always brighten up his mood.

Grabbing his hand, Ana pulled Angel into the hallway and closed the door behind them while Angel got a proper look at her. He realised he'd woken her up, her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail and she was only in shorts and a singlet, with no bra on Angel could see her gorgeous round breasts perfectly and he couldn't help but stare. Noticing, an embarrassed Ana quickly crossed her arms over her chest to try hide them, but little did she realise it only helped Angel more. She had no makeup on but her tanned olive skin was fresh and glowing, she was as beautiful as ever. But Angel could tell she was also extremely irritated to be woken up.

"Shit I'm sorry you were sleeping, weren't you?" Angel slurred, bringing one hand to his forehead as if the time had just dawned on him.

Rolling her eyes, Ana simply grabbed Angel's left hand and led him to the kitchen. "Well it was 3am… but I'm awake now so I might as well help bandage you up, right?' Ana said over her shoulder while Angel admired her from behind. Entering her kitchen, Ana sat Angel down at the table as he took his cut off while she went to grab her first aid kit from atop her fridge, a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and a wet cloth.

"I mean if I don't who will right?" She replied back snarkily. She walked over to Angel and placed the kit on the table before dragging another chair over and sitting across from him, so close their knees were now touching. She placed his hands on her lap and then the frozen food across them to help the swelling.

She then went to work on his face, grabbing the wet cloth and slowly touching it to his cuts, cleaning each one slowly. During this whole exchange Angel simply stared at her, his hands placed firmly on her bare thighs, the warmth from them counteracting the cold.

"Thank you," Angel said softly, seeing a smile fight its way onto Ana's face. Looking directly into his eyes, Ana put the cloth down and just stared at Angel.

"Angel what are you doing? How many times is this going to happen?"

Dropping his head down in shame, Angel nodded as he looked down at his hands. "I know… I'm sorry I don't mean to but"

Placing her hand on his chin, Ana cut him off as she brought his face back up to meet his eyes with hers. "I'm not talking about waking me up for help Angel, I'm talking about the fights in general. Seriously soon enough it's going to be much worse than this and then what? You can't keep putting yourself in danger. And for what?"

"For the club!" He said seriously.

"And what's the club done for you Angel? All I see is it gets you in more and more fights. More and more danger" Ana said, genuinely confused as to why Angel would subject himself to such pain, why he would subject her and his father to watching it.

"Brothers! Family… with EZ in prison I just. It's given me something to do, people to hang with, fight for, live for. People to have my back." Angel said solemnly, his eyes watering despite him trying his hardest to remain tough. This is as much reason as he'd ever given to Ana about why he was joining the MC and she was finally understanding. With EZ gone Angel didn't have a little brother to look out for, his relationship with his dad was strained at the best of times and the club gave him that loyalty and sense of family he'd been missing. Ana was angry for not realising it on her own. She chalked it up to Angel being impulsive and self-destructive, but it was about him being alone.

Feeling guilty, Ana moved so quickly Angel didn't even realised she'd done it but she now had her hands around his neck and pulled him into a hug, their hands leaning against one another. Angel wasted no time in dropping the peas and wrapping his hands around Ana's back, with his legs now free he moved them apart and pulled her closer to him so she was practically in his lap.

"Ummm… not that I'm complaining but what's this for?" Angel asked as he held on to Ana tightly, not wanting to let her go.

Ana laughed against Angel, making him feel her whole body move as she did before she moved her head away to look at him. Their hands still wrapped firmly around each other. "For being honest. I get it now Angel," she said staring into Angel's eyes, their faces mere inches apart.

This is my chance, Angel thought. I could kiss her right now. All I need is one kiss for her to see. Angel was internally debating with himself as to whether now was the time to make his move. But rather than take advantage of Ana's kindness he simply pulled her in for another long hug. This will have to do for now, he thought.

As much as he wanted to kiss her, Angel wanted it to be because Ana wanted it, not because he pushed it on her. He didn't want her pushing him away and feeling like he was just forcing himself on her. He wanted her to love him too.

Breaking apart after what felt like a sweet eternity, Ana placed both hands on either side of Angel's face, surveying it. She then gave him the frozen peas. "Keep this on your eye for a bit, it's starting to swell pretty bad. And you can stay on the couch tonight, you're not riding home which reminds me why the fuck did you ride here DRUNK?!" Ana asked, her worry for Angel now replaced with anger.

Pushing his chair back, Angel wasn't ready for a fight. "Hey I was sobering up okay, and it wasn't far… I mean, I may have stumbled a few times but no one got hurt." Angel said as he stood up, trying to avoid Ana's stare.

"This time… seriously Angel next time just call me okay?" Ana asked, concern returning to her face.

"Okay," Angel said after a pause. He moved closer to her again before stepping back again, not wanting to get too close for fear of doing something impulsive. "Thank you, Ana."

"Anytime," Ana said as she got up from her chair. "Now come on, I'll get you some blankets and a pillow and one of Mark's t-shirts to sleep in tonight," she began before earning a laugh from Angel.

"Ha! Don't worry about the shirt, a blanket and pillow are all I need," Angel said, not wanting to take a single thing from the boyfriend he'd only met twice, but already detested.

Rolling her eyes, Ana walked down the hall to the cupboard as Angel went into the living room. When she came back with a fresh blanket and pillow Angel was standing there in just his low-ride jeans. He'd already kicked his shoes off and threw his flannel on the floor. Completely shirtless, Ana was taken aback, in all these years she'd never seen Angel shirtless before and she'd be lying to herself if she tried to say it wasn't a sight to see. With his chest adorned with tattoos, and his abs and toned arms on display, Ana didn't know where to look.

Suddenly shy and awkward, Ana slowly walked over to the couch and placed the blanket and pillow down, trying not to make eye contact with Angel who had noticed her reaction and couldn't help the smirk on his face.

"Something wrong Ana?" He asked cheekily.

"Hmm?" She responded, looking up at him doe eyed, a blush on her cheeks. "Nope, nope nothing wrong. So um cool that's sorted… I'm gonna go to bed."

"Yeah no worries… thanks again Ana," Angel said, closing the gap between them and placing a soft kiss on her cheek, sending her cheeks into an ever deeper red.

Not knowing what else to say, Ana simply smiled and nodded at Angel before practically running out of the room and up the stairs. When she finally made it into her room and fell onto her bed, burying her face into her pillow to try shake off whatever it was she was feeling.

Meanwhile downstairs, Angel couldn't help but go to bed with a smile, because he just realised that maybe his feelings weren't so one sided after all.

Author's note – And there is chapter 6 and out first flashback! Hope you guys enjoyed it, I want to pepper this story with a few here and there and I thought now was a good time to bring the first one in.

Please let me know what you think and how you think the story is going. As always your thoughts are incredibly important and help me shape the story, so please don't feel like I don't take them into account because I do.

Keep the reviews coming please :)