Indelible by Jove Belle Read Free Book Online

simply would not change. Angie was determined not to take her focus away from Oliver, and Luna looked too good in leather to be interested in playing house. And she couldn’t forget Luna’s possessive girlfriend, who made it clear she didn’t plan to share.
    Angie tried not to watch Luna for the rest of the game, but couldn’t help but notice when the game ended and Luna walked toward the parking lot with Ruby wrapped around her. They looked good together.
    Angie was sure she and Luna would look better.

Chapter Four

    Wednesday, July 29

    Oliver dropped a staggering number of bags on the couch in a clump. Jack patted Oliver on the shoulder and went into the kitchen. If total packages were the meter used to judge a trip to the mall, theirs had been successful.
    “You should see what Grandpa got me.” Oliver’s eyes were bright. Recently, he’d spent far too much time with a sullen pout on his face, and Angie was grateful for the change of attitude. She prayed it wasn’t fleeting.
    She sat in the vacant armchair next to the sofa. “Show me.”
    Oliver proudly displayed his treasures—a DVD, a video game, one pair of already torn jeans, several T-shirts, and, oddly enough, a cookie recipe book. Angie had a mixed reaction to her father and son’s shared shopping. One part of her—the mature, mommy part—was excited for her son. How nice that he had such a good time with his grandfather. The other part—the shallow, petty part—was jealous that Oliver had shared yet another moment with her father that Angie had never experienced. Jack had never taken Angie shopping at the mall, or anywhere else, when she was Oliver’s age.
    All her clothes when she was younger came either from Goodwill or the Methodist church. Her father didn’t attend services there, yet the members somehow felt a strange obligation to clothe his child. When she got old enough to work, she did. After that she bought her own outfits. She spent many Saturday nights babysitting so she could afford the perfect outfit for the prom.
    Prom. God, what a disaster. That’s the night she finally said yes to Oliver’s father. The first and last time. It was enough to confirm that she was far more interested in her best friend, Lisa, than in her boyfriend. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how she looked at it—Oliver arrived the requisite nine months later. A lesbian teenage mom. As if her life wasn’t complicated enough with an absentee mother and a father constantly searching for the perfect high. She’d been scrambling to make up for that one night ever since.
    “Need help carrying all this to your room?”
    Oliver kissed her cheek. “No, Mom, I got it.”
    Moments like that melted Angie a little. She loved the glimpses of the sweet boy he was before surly demons took over his personality. Perhaps he would eventually grow out of this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde stage.
    Angie heard knocking at the kitchen door, then Tori called, “Yoo-hoo, anybody home?” For some reason Tori got a kick out of greeting them like a yokel, which always made Angie smile.
    “In here.”
    Oliver scooped up his packages and headed toward his bedroom as Tori entered the room.
    “What’s that?”
    “Massive loot from my trip to the mall with Grandpa,” Oliver answered with a devious smile.
    “Score.” Tori bumped knuckles with him around his shopping bags before he retreated to his room and closed the door. She settled on the couch, her feet crossed at the ankle and resting on the coffee table.
    That drove Angie nuts. “What are you doing here?”
    “I’m happy to see you, too.” Tori tried to glare, but still smiled.
    “Get your feet off my table and then I’ll be happy.”
    Tori left her feet where they were. “I want you to go somewhere with me.”
    “Where?” They had to be at work in two hours, so they didn’t have much time for errands.
    “Coraggio.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you need to get laid and there’s a certain tall, dark, and