Four Flames for Angela

Chapter Twelve

Alvin walked over to his truck and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he knew it wasn’t right. He watched as the man appeared ready to hit the small woman.

He couldn’t hear what was being said, but he could tell the man raised his voice and his hand to the woman. There was no reason for that.

Rock and his brothers needed to know what was going on. They were supposed to be meeting him at the woman’s home, but he wasn’t sure how soon they were coming.

He made his phone call quickly and gave his men instructions before going back up on the porch to check on the woman again.

She was still sitting where he’d left her and looked like she was in shock. “Come over here, honey, and sit down.” He helped her to a seat and called to one of his helpers to bring him a bottle of water.

“I’m fine. Really. You don’t need to bother with me,” Angie said, taking the water from his hands and looking at it.

Alvin took the bottle from her and opened it. He held it to her mouth. “Drink. It will help.”

Angie took a couple of swallows of water and thanked him.

“I called Rock. He and the others are on their way. They should be here in a few minutes. Try and relax.”

“Okay. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Angie said and stared at the bottle of water on her hand.

Alvin wished he knew what to do to help the woman. She looked so lost and sad.

It seemed like hours but was only a few minutes before Rock and his brothers pulled up. “What’s going on?”

Alvin hadn’t told them much over the phone, just that they needed to get there soon. He explained what he’d seen and what he’d done for Angie. Then he left Angie to her men while he finished supervising the unloading of the materials he’d brought to fix Angie’s porch.

Rock shook Alvin’s hand and turned to his brothers. “I’ll go up first so we don’t overwhelm her. You guys come up one by one.”

The others nodded and Rock ran up the steps.

“Hey, beautiful. What’s going on?” he asked as he took both of Angie’s hands in his. She was shaking.

He picked up the water bottle that was sitting beside her. “Can you drink a little of this?”

He watched as she took another sip of water. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“Thomas was here,” Angie answered with a shaky voice and looked deep into his eyes.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Angie’s voice was shaky, and Rock pulled her into his arms.

“Let us hold you. Do you want to go in the house and talk?” River asked, standing behind Rock.

Angie nodded, and Rock picked her up and carried her through the open door Sawyer was holding.

Rock sat in the big comfy chair Angie usually sat in and settled her on his lap.

“Was Thomas after money again?” River asked

“Yes. He won’t believe me that it’s gone. He got mad when I told him it was used to pay the bills. The lawyer paid all the bills and sent me the little bit that was left. Even if I gave him half of that he wouldn’t be happy with it. It’s a small amount, a few thousand dollars, and I’m sure he wants more than that.”

Hunter draped a blanket over her and Rock. She was still shaking.

River headed into the kitchen to make a cup of hot tea.

Sawyer sat on the arm of the chair and brushed a strand of hair out of Angie’s eyes.

/> Hunter stood in front of the chair, arms crossed over his chest. “There should be something we can do! Maybe we can get a restraining order against him so that he can’t contact you.”