Page 42 of Avenging Kelly

“Let’s start again. Do you know anything about Miguel Montero?” Quinn asked.

I gave up. If I went to prison for the rest of my fucking life, then so be it. If they had me, then they didn’t have Kelly, and the best part was that those girls were safe.

“Yes. You should have found him secured to the water pipes in the men’s room at Dare Ya. I zip tied him there because we were trying to find out information on Rick Fleming and the girls he was pimping.”

The door opened, and a man walked in. He was damn young with a cheesy grin on his baby face. “You’ll excuse us while I talk with my client, yes.” It wasn’t a request.

“You’re who?” Quinn asked.

“I’m Ryder Haas. I’m Mr. St. Michael’s lawyer.”

I’d never seen the man in my life, but fuck if I’d turn him down.

* * *

Ninety minutes.

Ryder Haas, Esquire—a prodigy as far as I could figure out—had me out of those zip-ties and the hospital conference room in an hour and a half. For his age, he carried himself with an authority I’d never seen from a baby lawyer. I wasn’t too arrogant to have him represent me, he did a mighty fine job. I did, however, need a little more information from him and how he came to be there for me.

“How did you end up being my lawyer? Do I know a friend of yours?” I asked Ryder after the cops released me.

It had been fucking comical to watch Mr. Haas spouting statues and subsections and all kinds of violations of my civil rights as I sat there. The kid was a fucking savant, and Quinn and Jong knew when they’d been bested. I had to admit, they’d been gracious in the loss and had left without threats or bullshit.

“Your brother called me,” Ryder told me, which was a relief.

I chuckled. “How on earth do you know Dallas?”

The guy’s face turned a bright pink. “Like the start of any good story, one night in Vegas… But I’ve worked with him since then on bail recovery in San Francisco for one of my clients. He’s actually a great guy, and we parted as friends. He called me to ask if I’d do him a favor and fly down, and I owed him. What the fuck did you do to get mixed up in this shit? Minors being prostituted, one of them the granddaughter of a Las Vegas casino owner. That girl’s been missing for almost six months and was being used while she was held for ransom? Is that right?”

“I honestly wish I could explain it, but you’d be tied up longer than I bet you’d want to be. Can I go?” I asked him, grateful Officer Jong had cut the zip-ties off of me before he and Sergeant Quinn left.

“Yeah, of course, but I need your phone number. They’ll call me if they have any follow-up questions, so I might need to contact you, if that’s okay.”

I nodded as I handed him one of my business cards. “Sure, Mr. Haas. Thanks for coming to my rescue. Call me if you need anything more. I gotta go find my boyfriend.”

The baby man’s face fell a little at the news I had a boyfriend, but then he grinned and snapped his fingers. “Just my luck… He’s at the Residence Inn with a few of your friends who were hell bent on being here to fight for you until I talked them down. I promised I’d drop you off, so let’s go.”

* * *

Kelly was pacing on the sidewalk outside the extended-stay hotel where Haas had pulled into the parking lot to drop me off. “Thanks, again.”

I offered my hand to shake, and the young man took it, giving me a sexy smirk. “If things don’t work out…”

The door of the car was ripped open, and Kelly pulled me out of there as if I were a rag doll, sealing our lips together like one of those going-off-to-war photos everyone’s seen in magazines and newspapers. I melted into his arms, and I knew I was home. I couldn’t imagine being away from him ever again.

I pulled back for a second and looked into his whiskey brown eyes. “I missed you, too. Are you okay? Were you able to get our stuff from Marianna’s?”

Of course I knew he’d need to shoot up in the morning. I’d figure out how to get him off that shit if it killed me.

“Duke brought it all over, including your weapon. He and Ace are in town, along with Casper. I told them they have two hours to talk to us, and then we’re kicking them out. We’ve been too busy worrying about everybody else to worry about us,” Kelly whispered.

I kissed his warm lips again. “Oh, I agree.”

I heard Ryder drive away, but I didn’t turn to look. The beautiful man in front of me had all of my attention.

“Mateo and Shep are taking turns looking after Mia and Daisy in Queens. The Gambler said someone was after the two of them, and she claimed Mia promised to give Daisy to someone and then walked back the deal. The whole thing is a fucking mess. I…”

I took Kelly’s gorgeous face in my hands. “Slow down. Let’s take it one step at a time. I love you. You love me. We figure shit out together, right?”

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