Page 3 of I'm Not in Love (I Promise)

When I deem the area safe, I twist the handle on the shining knob and it turns smoothly, opening without a sound. It's either my lucky day or shit’s about to get really bad. I’d bet on the latter…Lady Luck never liked me much.

The house smells like wood polish and cigarette smoke. I imagine a disgruntled housekeeper working diligently to keep the place tidy and cursing under her breath at the owner's refusal to smoke outside.

Who lives here with you, Angel?

A protective bubble expands in my gut at the thought of another man laying hands on her.Find Jasper first, then get a better look at her.

The sitting room lies dark and deserted. An unnatural quiet that has my hair standing on end. Parties shouldn’t be this quiet. Keeping to the walls, I make my way past the sitting room and down a narrow hallway lined with expensive looking artwork, only stopping when I finally hear voices and the faint notes of music.

Around the corner, the hallway opens up to a large kitchen and open living area. Her bedroom must be down that hallway to the right. That’s not where I need to focus at the moment.

My eyes adjust to the light as I roam them over the assortment of people in the room. All older, well dressed men and a few younger women. Jasper’s nowhere to be seen.

I squeeze my palm tight enough that my short nails leave half-moon divots in my skin. Fucking loser from Palm Cove probably gave us bogus information. I told Jasper he reeked of desperation. That’s how mistakes are made. How people are easily played a fool.

I watch the suits for a few minutes, listening for any bit of relevant information. Glasses clink, high-pitched laughterrings from a drunk woman’s lips, jokes about so-and-so’s golf handicap are thrown around. This has to be the wrong fucking house. These people are about as menacing as a senior sewing circle. But where the hell is Jasper?

During the next round of drunken laughter I use the noise buffer to creep around the corner in search of the staircase. The worn wooden floorboards creak beneath my feet as I grip the handle of my gun in anticipation. Just as I spot the stairs, one of the men says a name.Brennan.I whip around, holding my breath to listen in.

“Too bad Brennan’s traveling. I haven’t seen him since the last dinner party. When was that?”

“Must be at least a year ago,” another man answers. “That was a night to remember.” Laughter follows clinking glasses.

I fight the urge to turn my earpiece back on and let Leon know what I’d just heard, but a thump from upstairs draws my attention away.Jasper.With blood rushing in my ears and my gun still gripped in my palm, I make my way up the stairs as quietly as possible.

A second thud echoes down the hallway, followed by a groan. I pass a few closed doors, but I don’t give a damn what’s behind them. The only door I want is downstairs—her’s.

“Fuuuck.” There’s no mistaking Jasper’s voice.

Without another thought, I whip the door open, pointing my gun forward. Jasper locks eyes with me and all at once I take in the room.Motherfucker.Is he seriously getting blown right now?I’ll kill him.

The woman starts to pull away, probably sensing me behind her, but Jasper grips her blonde hair tightly to keep her head in place. She moans around his cock, upping her pace as Jasper lets out a hissed groan.

Narrowing my eyes, I motion with my gun toward the door and mouth, “Let’s go.” We need to get the fuck out of here. He widens his eyes and gestures for me to leave.

“Almost there,” he groans, more to me than to the woman stuffed full of his cock. “I’m so close.”

He’s lucky I don’t shoot him in the dick.

I slip out of the room before I do even worse than that and turn my earpiece back on. “Found him and I swear on my mother’s grave that I’m going to kill that idiot.”

“Do I want to know?” Leon answers in an irritated tone.

“Honestly, no. I’m getting out of here. Jasper’s on his own. Meet you around the corner in ten.”

“Good. I was just about to create a diversion and come looking for you.”

“No need.” I start back the way I came, letting my pulse slow down to a normal pace. I notice small details in the hallway that I hadn’t before. A table with framed photos. A large vase filled with dried flowers. Heavy drapes hanging over the window down the hall. That smell of wood polish still lingers in the air.

Jasper sneaks out from the door down the hall as my foot hits the first step. I let out a quiet scoff, ignoring him, and make my way down the stairs against the noises of heated conversation.

“Bro, wait up,” Jasper says through gritted teeth. I pretend he’s not there, conjuring a picture of my angel’s face in my mind so I don’t lose my shit. “Come on, Damon, you’re being a dick.”

Jas may have three inches and a good thirty pounds on me, but that doesn’t stop me from yanking him against the wall and getting in his face. “I’m being a dick? You compromised us for a blowjob from a drunken woman.”

“She mauled me. Literally followed me when I went to take a piss. What the fuck was I supposed to do?”

I narrow my gaze and shake my head. “Let’s get out of here. It’s not important.”

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