Angel Falling Read Online Free PDF Page B

the past decade, it had always been us against the world. He needed me and couldn’t leave. Yesterday he was faced with the fear that he may have lost me.
    It was the first real brush with death either of us had experienced. We’d dealt with jealous and jilted lovers before, and the occasional death threat from companies I’d taken over in the past, but nothing so acute or specifically life-threatening as this. Had Hank not jumped in front me, that metal pipe would have gone straight through my heart.
    I traced the circular bruise just above my left breast. The purple and black area spread across my chest, covering about a three-to four-inch area. I was lucky the end of the pipe that pierced through Hank only left me with the bruise from a much smaller impact.
    “Does it hurt?” He broke the silence first. His eyes scanned my entire body, probably making sure there weren’t any other marks marring me. If it was anyone else, I’d have covered up. Ollie had seen me naked more times than my mother had. I stopped caring about modesty with him back in college when he started to dress me, then completely when we lived together until he’d gotten with Dean.
    “Yes. Not as much as it could have.” I took a healthy sip of wine, the berry and plum flavors rushed over my tongue and warmed my belly.
    “God, Aspen. I could have lost you.” Tears filled his big brown doe eyes.
    “But you didn’t. And you won’t.” I reached out a wet hand and clasped his. “We’re best friends. We’re in it for the long haul. It’s always been you and me, Ollie.” I smiled to reassure him.
    “It won’t always be that way. One day you’re going to meet a man, fall in love and have babies, and I’ll be a long-forgotten friend.” He was having a pity party for one and there wasn’t a lot I could do about it.
    “You’re right. One day I hope to find a man I can share my life and bed with.” My pointed look wasn’t lost on him.
    Had he not been gay, I still wouldn’t have been attracted to him. I liked tall, large men who were sure of themselves. Ollie was more like a female than a male, though I’d never tell him that. There wasn’t another man I could hold a platonic conversation with while lying completely exposed in a bathtub. My body wasn’t perfect but I worked hard to stay in shape. I’d been told I had a beautiful body by several men in the past. I spent countless hours in my home gym to ensure a fit form. Overall, my self-image was not one of my insecurities.
    “Just because I want to have a man in my life doesn’t mean I’m going to get rid of the one I already have. You’re my best friend, my only true friend. You know everything about me and love me anyway. No one could take your place.” I tipped my head over to force him to look at me. “Besides, who’s going to pick out my clothes and do my hair?”
    We both laughed and a bright smile broke across his face. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to save you.” Ah, so now we get to the real problem. He wanted to be my one and only savior.
    “I’m not, because that would mean that I could have lost you. That, I wouldn’t have survived.” Tears welled up but I tried not to let them fall. It had been a really emotional couple days. “I love you and all your pieces.”
    “Me too. All your pieces.” He stood up and clinked his glass with mine. Then he downed the wine in a couple gulps. I smiled. Waste not, want not. “I’m going to head home and cuddle up with Dean tonight. You okay?” He leaned down on one knee and brought his forehead to mine. He rubbed our foreheads together.
    “I am. Now go, Dean already hates me. Go home to him.”
    He nodded and headed to the door. “Oh, and Aspen?”
    “Yes?” I sighed and leaned my head back, forcing myself to relax and enjoy the water slipping around tense muscles.
    His gaze scanned my body from head to toe. “Your body has never looked better. Hank’s going to enjoy the hell out of it.”
    My jaw dropped