Dr. Hemming responded with a low chuckle that shot right through Alex’s body and into his cock. What was it about that voice?
“Mmmm. You said it, I didn’t. We have to take a short break, and then I’ll take another call. Stay with us. This is Angel After Dark on KKIS FM.” Alex could hear the smile behind her words, and he pictured those red lips on the poster in the other room. He texted a response to his friend.
Like steel. You are such a motherfucker!
Don’t want to say I told you so… but… I told you so.
Yeah, yeah. Give it a rest or I’ll come over there and beat your sorry ass.
LOL!
While the commercials played, Alex went into the other room, refilled his drink, and paused to look out at the city lights before walking over and picking up the picture. He fought with himself for a minute or two until he went back to the bedroom and grabbed his phone. Probably not the smartest decision he’d ever made, but he wanted to speak to this woman, now silently hoping that incredible voice was truly spilling out of that gorgeous mouth on the poster. His fingers lightly outlined the image. Would she be as responsive as she looked? As delicious as she sounded? His cock hardened at the thought, and he tugged at the front of his boxer briefs in protest, unbelieving that he’d be so affected without so much as a glance at her.
Someone called in with some sappy dedication, and while the song played, Alex wrote down the number that Angel had announced before the music began. He was nervous for some inexplicable reason that he couldn’t put his finger on, and it pissed him off, but not enough to change his mind. He never got nervous. Especially when it came to women, and never due to one that he hadn’t even laid eyes on. At this point, he didn’t know what he was doing or what he was trying to accomplish, he only knew that he wanted to learn more.
Darian is clearly into her, so it makes no sense that he’s taunting me like this. He thought as he dialed the number. One thing Alex was sure of, if he was interested after speaking to her, he wouldn’t be letting Darian’s sensibilities interfere with getting what he wanted, friend or not. He should have kept his damned mouth shut.
“KKIS, you’re calling Angel After Dark. What is your comment?” A younger, less sultry voice asked the question and Alex hesitated.
“Are you Dr. Hemming?” he asked.
“No, sir. I’m Chris, her assistant. I screen the calls and decide which ones to put through to Angel. Will you tell me what you’re calling about, please?”
Angel. There was that name again. He wondered what her voice would sound like saying his own.
“Sure. I want to give her some perspective on a caller from last week. I’m the other half of the situation, and I wondered if her response would be different if she had both sides of the story. She told my girlfriend to dump me.”
“Really? Yes, I’m sure she’ll want this call. You’ll need to turn down your radio or the feedback will hurt everyone’s ears. Please hold.”
“Line 2, Angel.” Christina’s voice flowed through the intercom on the other side of the glass and Angel glanced at her. She was fanning her face with her hand in mock drama. “This guy sounds hot.”
Angel huffed, thinking about the half a dozen DJs at this station who had amazing voices along with pot guts and thinning hair. At least it was a man. This will be a nice change of pace.
“He said he was the other half of a call you had last week. Should be interesting.”
“What’s his name?”
“He wouldn’t say. He said his name wasn’t important.”
The commercial break ended and she leaned forward to click the appropriate icons needed on her computer screen.
“Hello, this is Angeline. Do you have a confession?”
“You could say that…”
Angel’s back stiffened at the sound of the caller’s voice. Something in the silky tone told her to be on guard, and her eyes shot to the other side of the desk where Darian was seated. Something flashed across his face that she couldn’t read, and he tossed the cell phone he’d been using to text down on top of the desk. Angel bristled in her seat and picked up a pen, nervously tapping it on the legal pad in front of her.
“Yes, and what is your name?”
“Names don’t matter. I liked your response to the last caller. It was… unexpected.”
“Yes, well, I’m glad you were entertained. Christina tells me that you are party to a previous call?”
“Mmmm, yes,” he said smoothly, but not exactly giving anything away. Jesus, his voice was amazing and Christina was all grins on the other side of the glass, mouthing I told you so and wagging her eyebrows up and down for emphasis.
Angel’s own eyebrows shot up at the other girl, and a small smile graced her bowed mouth. Darian was frozen in place, one arm crossed over his chest supporting the other, which left that hand to support his jaw. He was all dressed up, and Angel was surprised he was even at the station this late. She knew what she was doing and didn’t need him to babysit during the show anymore.
“Well? Are you going to tell me?” Her tone held the slightest bit of annoyance, and the man on the other end laughed softly. He was enjoying making her work for it.
“She called and told you that I was, let me see… selfish and made her feel, I think the word was, invisible.”
Angel sat back in her chair and adjusted the microphone attached to her headset. No wonder Darian was acting like a scorpion crawled up his ass.
“Ah, yes. Whitney, right?”
“Good memory.”
“And I take it that you don’t agree with her assumption, right, Alex?”
There was silence for three seconds, and Angel smiled in satisfaction, realizing it meant he caught that she knew the name he didn’t want to share. Darian was watching intently and he shook his head slightly, but Angel wasn’t sure why and she wasn’t in a position to ask him.
“Good memory, but no. Our relationship wasn’t like that. Not even from the start. She mislead you, I’m afraid, Miss Hemming, so your advice to dump my ass was hardly warranted,” he said calmly. A little too calmly. Apparently, Whitney told the truth when she said he didn’t care about her.
“Mmmm, it’s Doctor Hemming, but you can call me Angel. I don’t remember telling her to dump your ah… you, at all. I told her to talk to you.”
“Whatever you said, the effect was the same. It hardly matters since it was already over as far as I was concerned. In effect, you did me a favor. She’s still calling me, begging, by the way.”
Angel rolled her eyes in disdain at the caller’s smugness and Darian’s face split into a brilliant smile, his white teeth flashing brightly in the dark room. A likely story. “So, if it wasn’t like that, then what was it like? From your perspective, I mean?”
“Mutual convenience, nothing more,” he answered shortly. “I’m a very busy man, and I don’t have time for romance. She wanted someone to pay the bills, and I wanted safe sex on a regular basis, so it worked well for all concerned.”
“It sounds very cold and business-like, Alex. Whitney didn’t share that opinion, as you know. Do you see how she may have felt like a kept woman?”
He laughed out loud. “That was what she wanted, to be kept! I never treated her like a whore, and I didn’t screw around. We were a couple, but we both went into it with clear expectations. It was simple.”
“Clearly, things changed over time, though. From what she said, she wanted more.”