Page 55 of Avenging Kelly

Before I could say anything more to convince him to stay, Orr hurried through the sliding door and did a swan dive off the balcony of London’s apartment.

I was too stunned to move for a few minutes, but then I ran to the door to see that the damn idiot hadn’t broken his neck. When I looked down, the guy was nowhere to be seen.

22

LONDON

I ran up the fucking stairs with my gun drawn, Casper having caught up to me and hurrying behind, ready to support me in whatever we were met with in my apartment. I was going to kill whoever the fuck I’d heard on the phone. I didn’t appreciate what they’d said, and I’d make my feelings known in a way that made me feel better.

When I burst through the apartment door, I saw Kelly sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. His handgun and a butterfly knife were resting in front of him as he frantically scribbled on a pad.

“Where is that asshole? Who was he?” I barked at Kelly as I did a quick scan of the room.

Casper ran into me because I stopped in the doorway without warning, and after he looked around, he chuckled and stepped around me.

“He jumped off the balcony and took off.”

I walked over to Kelly and turned his head to look into my eyes. He was frantic, which wasn’t good. Whatever that shit was that he pumped into his body had him going, so I pulled him up and took him into my arms. “I love you. We’ll get through this.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Kelly stared into my eyes, and I could see he was sincere. I still had to know who he was talking to.

“Please, tell me who it was,” I nearly begged.

“Here are the facts as best I can recall. He talked pretty fast. Oh, hi Casper,” Kelly greeted, nonplussed as he tore off a few sheets of paper with the world’s tiniest printing on it. He stood and kissed my cheek as he handed the papers to me.

I scanned the paper, trying to make heads or tails of it—what I could read, anyway.

The Alliance—US businessmen; Russian Bratva; Mexican Cartel

Operation Jackpot—Team One: kills terrorists; Team Two: kills competition; Team Three: shadow ops to follow Team Two and kill them if they don’t do their jobs

Mangello Crime Family—?? Who the hell are they?

I stopped reading when I saw the magic words Mangello Crime Family. How the hell did Kelly hear about the Mangellos? Were those pricks in the US to take Dyl and Searcy?

“Okay, talk us through this. Casper, take a seat.” I hurried to my bedroom and grabbed my laptop, bringing it back to the kitchen for Casper to use. All he had with him was his gun.

After I logged into my computer, I handed it to Casper and turned my attention to Kelly, calming myself so as not to yell at him. My heart was finally slowing down after I did a quick scan of his sexy body to check for visible blood, so thankful when I saw none.

“I made a list of the drugs that guy mentioned. Who the fuck… Wait. Let’s get to that later. I’m going to call Ryan and give him—”

“Ryan… your boyfriend, Ryan? Yeah, don’t look so surprised, Dallas told me about him. I don’t appreciate you including him in my fucking business.” Kelly was nearly shouting, and his eyes were squinted in rage. I needed to diffuse the situation quickly.

“Ex-boyfriend, Kelly, and I wish you’d asked me about him instead of listening to Dallas. It was over a long time ago.”

My voice was controlled but angry. I couldn’t help myself. My brother and I would have a conversation about him divulging my history without my permission, but there were more important things to deal with at the moment.

“Fine.” His face had a hardened expression I didn’t like, but we had more important fish to fry.

“This is all I’ll say about Ryan. He’s an egotistical jerk who believes that anyone who he favors with his affection is lucky and should look the other way when he steps outside the relationship for a stranger to fuck. I hope for the sake of his current spouse that he’s changed, but I highly doubt it. I will never think cheating is okay. I won’t be in a relationship where there’s not mutual respect and fidelity.”

I was firm in my boundaries for any romantic relationship I had after Ryan, and I probably should have mentioned it to Kelly sooner. I hoped to fuck that the mood swings went away after he was off whatever drugs The Gambler had him addicted to.

I stared at him for a moment before I asked, “Okay, so how do you know about the Mangello Crime Family?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Casper’s head pop up at my question.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Kelly was doing breathing exercises, which was something I’d noticed he was prone to do when he was upset. The tension on his face eased, and he stared at me for a moment before reaching his hand out to take mine.

“The guy you heard on the phone was Jeremy Orr. You might not recognize the name. He—”

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