“A risk of what?” he asked, confused.
She stopped and turned to him. “Of getting my heart crushed. That you wouldn’t feel the same and there was no hope of anything ever happening between you and me.”
“It was,” he said, feeling that familiar sting to his heart he’d been feeling all these weeks. “And there isn’t any hope. Doesn’t matter that you never considered it a relationship. He called you his girl. That’s all it takes for anything more between us to be impossible now.”
She started walking again, and neither said a word as they reached the end of the building where Isaiah wouldn’t turn because he feared someone might be looking down from the balcony rail again. “Kelli?” he said, and she slowed but didn’t turn to face him. “It’s not that I didn’t feel anything; it’s just that I can’t—not anymore.”
Standing still for a moment, she said nothing. Then finally she nodded and continued to walk around the building and out of sight.
Isaiah took the long walk to the back entrance of the restaurant. He’d been out there with her for at least fifteen minutes, and he knew his brother would have questions. The moment he walked back into the private patio where his brothers and Addison were, he wasn’t too surprised to see Nathan already on his feet and headed for the doorway.
“Where’s Kelli?” Nathan asked when she didn’t walk in with Isaiah.
On his way back, he thought about who’d be so important to her that she’d leave in the middle of a date without saying good-bye. So he gave Nathan his spiel about Kelli having gotten a call about her mother being in an accident—that she’d been very upset and had to leave immediately.
It sounded about right until Nathan pulled his phone out. “Her mom’s dead.”
Isaiah nearly felt faint as all eyes were on him now, and he thought quickly. “I don’t know, man. Step-mom maybe?”
Of course, Nathan would counter that her dad had a new girlfriend every few months and she hated every single one of them. “And she was upset?”
Isaiah had already walked back to his seat and downed his entire drink before responding. “Yeah, she was.” At least he didn’t have to lie about that.
A few minutes later it seemed this issue was finally going to be done with. Nathan left her a message asking her to call him and canceled her food. She called him back, and he took the call outside. When he walked back in he peered at Isaiah.
“Did she say anything else to you before she left?
Isaiah stared at him for a moment, wondering if he should just come clean, but he didn’t want to get into this here in front of AJ and Addison, so he shook his head. “Just to tell you she’d explain later. Why?”
“She broke things off.”
It was tough to see his brother looking hurt—confused. But then he had to remember, according to Kelli, there wasn’t much to break off. Nathan likely meant she’d broken off the exclusivity his brother had talked about demanding on their way there. As hard as it was to know he was the reason his brother just got dumped, he was glad it was over. He even took a couple of shots with his brother in seeming solidarity to his getting dumped. Only he needed to calm his own aching heart.
It just didn’t seem fair. He’d finally met a girl who made him feel the things he’d only heard about in love songs and movies. Now because of this fucked detail she was off limits forever. But at least they could move on. The nightmare was over.
Nathan’s phone rang again and he stood up. AJ, who’d already expressed his dislike for Kelli ever since the last time Nathan had brought her around because he’d picked up on something “shady” about her, regarded Nathan with a soured expression. “That her?”
Nathan nodded and rushed out. Of course, his short-tempered youngest brother had plenty to say about Nathan’s annoying girlfriend the moment he was out of the room. But Isaiah knew he’d have plenty to say once Nathan was back too. AJ had never been one to hold anything back. Isaiah warned him to keep to himself what he might be thinking or he might be swallowing his words if Kelli was suddenly back in Nathan’s life.
“I ain’t swallowing shit,” AJ said, and Isaiah expected no less from the guy, just another reason why anything between him and Kelli would be beyond uncomfortable, even if things never got any more serious between Nathan and Kelli. Then Nathan walked back in with a smile.
“Don’t tell me?” AJ asked, as disgusted as he’d been earlier. “You’re back together.”
“No,” Nathan said. “But she did say she made a hasty decision because she was upset about her mom.”
“I thought her mom was dead?” AJ countered.
“It’s her grandma, but she’s always called her mom.” Nathan turned to Isaiah and picked up the shot the waitress had brought in while he was on the phone. “I didn’t know that.”
Nathan proceeded to explain that Kelli had said she’d been under a lot of stress lately and had a lot to deal with right now. Just as Isaiah was considering telling him the truth before this went on any longer, he read the text that came through from Kelli.
I only called him back because I felt bad about the previous call ending so abruptly. But you can rest assured this nicer call, now that I’ve calmed, will be the last time you and him hear from me. I promise.
Isaiah read it again before picking up his shot and interrupting the argument that’d begun to erupt between his brothers, since, as usual, AJ was incapable of keeping his thoughts to himself. AJ even grilled Nathan about a guy who’d called her the last time she’d been over at their place. Nathan had called her on it, asking who he was and they’d all heard. Only they’d walked away and no one had heard the rest of their conversation.
“Raymond’s one of her brothers,” Nathan said, his face souring further. “I didn’t know you were taking notes. She has two others, Ron and Rick. Write that shit down so you don’t forget.”
Of course, even that didn’t make AJ back off. He started to go on about Kelli being wishy-washy.
“How about a toast?” Isaiah lifted his shot glass in the air before AJ could finish.
Thankfully, Addison, who’d obviously begun to feel uncomfortable with the heated discussion between AJ and Nathan, picked up her glass immediately. Outwardly, he toasted to them getting together for the weekend, something they didn’t do often anymore. Inwardly, it was a bittersweet toast to Kelli’s final good-bye.
Chapter 5: Accidents?
Kelli
For the second time that week Kelli got the feeling she was being followed. She arrived at her apartment with the eerie sensation that someone had been in her apartment. She knew it was only because of what was going on with her father. But as she’d done her entire life, she refused to walk around looking over her shoulder. It’s why her mother had tried so hard all her life to shelter her from her father's business.
Just because her father was having issues with his “business associates” she was supposed to live in fear? He’d pissed off the wrong people. He’d crossed the wrong person—not Kelli. So why should she have to change her life the way he was suggesting? Already she’d made a huge sacrifice because of this ongoing issue with her father’s business associates. Why should she have to sacrifice everything else she’d worked so hard for? Her entire life she’d done everything on the straight and narrow because she refused to get stuck in the vicious cycle her poor mom had been enslaved to. If she’d walked away from it, her father would’ve used all his powers to make sure he’d gotten full custody of Kelli.
When Kelli had finally walked away—threatened her father that she’d disappear forever if he didn’t just let her live her life outside of his dealings—he’d assured her as long as she didn't disappear from his life he wouldn’t get her involved. Now. by no fault of her own, she was involved. Because of his shady dealings, his entire family had been threatened—including Kelli.
Ever since he’d called her a few months ago to warn her she may need to go into hiding, she’d been walking around doing the very things she’d vowed to ne
ver do—peeking over her shoulder, questioning every restricted number that called her phone, and walking into her apartment cautiously. And the hardest of all was that she denied herself the possibility of something she had no doubt now would’ve been wonderful.
Every time she thought about it now she got choked up. This was so unfair. Her mom had been right about one thing. This was not a lifestyle Kelli should ever want a part of or get used to. So Kelli refused to give into it. Her father had talked about sending his most vulnerable child away. She was the most vulnerable because she was the youngest and the only girl. Her estranged brothers had been happily living in her father’s corrupt world long before Kelli had ever been born.
Ironically, that gave her a little peace of mind. Since she’d sooner leave town and start a new life than allow her father to put one of his goons on Kelli-babysitting duty, she was certain her father had given her brothers orders to keep an eye on her. If that were the case, they were taking turns watching her on the down low.
The thought made her relax a bit, and she walked into her bedroom less cautiously than she’d walked into her apartment. As it should be, the coast was clear. She smirked, thinking about how silly she’d been the last few days. So her father owed a few people money. His silent partners were claiming to have been cut from one of the biggest deals her dad had ever made. What did any of that have to do with her?
Grabbing her robe, she stepped into her bathroom and started up the shower. She could use a nice long hot one. She’d had too much on her mind lately and today had been particularly draining. She smiled as she undressed, watching the steam begin to fill the bathroom.
The smile was quickly replaced with a frown when she realized she’d left the new body wash she’d bought in the front room. Reaching for the robe, she put it on and let the water continue to run. The whole bathroom was already steaming up, and she smiled once again. She could hardly wait to step into the heavenly shower.
Then her heart nearly stopped when she heard them: footsteps outside her bathroom door. Holding her breath, she listened for more. There was nothing, not a sound. Could she have imagined them?
She stood there for what felt like the longest few minutes of her life with her heart at her throat. She had to have been imagining them. Placing a very cautious hand on the doorknob, she listened closely for any sound. Still she heard nothing and she began to relax.
“Get it together girl,” she muttered as she turned the knob ever so gradually.
Peeking out into the hallway, she looked both ways and nothing. Finally, she exhaled, shaking her head, and walked out across the hall and into her front room but froze again when she saw the door to her apartment wide open. Someone grabbed her and placed his hand over her mouth before she could scream.
He dragged her down the hall to the bedroom, squeezing her mouth when she tried to scream. “Shut your fucking mouth or you die,” he hissed in her ear.
When they reached her bedroom, something came over her. She could either fight or be raped in the next few minutes. She’d rather die than let that happen. She struggled, trying to get loose. His slapping her across the face made her see stars, but it only worked to enrage her further. Her arms flayed around frantically, and he landed a few more blows on her, cussing and struggling to regain control. For a moment, she thought he was letting her go until the animal pistol-whipped her on the side of the face and everything went black.
~*~
Isaiah
A call came in for a four-alarm fire at an apartment building in midtown San Diego. Isaiah was leading the four-man ventilation crew on the rooftop. He’d double-checked that they had everything they needed and moved swiftly so they could get the roof ventilated in several spots and then get everyone down so the grounds crew could do its job. Cutting the first rectangular hole went smoothly, except the fire that ripped through it did so with a lot more force than they’d expected.
“Alright, we gotta move fast,” he yelled, waiting for the other three to move past the hole and set up for the second one.
He heard a popping noise as he began to walk across the roof; then his chief’s voice came through his earpiece. “Romero, get your crew down now! Something exploded in one of the apartments. We don’t know what it is, but it’s just below you guys. Abort the ventilation. Leave everything up there and run. That’s an order.”
“Roger that,” Isaiah said, feeling his already pumping adrenaline take a sudden spike as he began yelling out the orders. “Drop everything and let’s go. Abort! Abort!”
Not wanting to leave his crew, he waited for them to pass him before following them quickly. Kendricks, the last of the three, had just passed him when they heard the explosion, and the roof around the ventilation they’d just made gave. Isaiah didn’t even get a chance to yelp when he was sucked into what felt like a hellhole. He landed on his back, getting the wind knocked out of him, then felt the weight of the world on him, and everything went black.
~~~
At first, they feared a neck or spinal cord injury, maybe even a serious head injury. So it was a blessing that, except for his leg being broken in several places and a few fractured ribs, he was going to be fine. Isaiah was grateful. The fall he took could’ve been so much worse, something his brother AJ kept reminding him. Of course, the guy was at it again with his nagging about the job he’d offered Isaiah managing his finances.
“It’s a full time job, Sai. There’d be no more need for you to keep putting yourself in danger. You and Nathan could handle it together, and both of you could quit being firefighters.”
Isaiah refused, for now anyway. He was still holding out hope that his knee injury—the second one in less than a year—would recover enough so he wouldn’t be put on permanent light duty. The last time he was on temporary light duty he seriously considered quitting his dream job. Isaiah had known it all his life. He could never take a job sitting behind a desk. He had to be out and about—on the move. He’d always been a hands-on kind of guy. Permanent light duty could mean having to make the hardest decision of his life. But he’d cross that bridge when he got to it. For now, he was hopeful he’d make a full recovery and be back in the swing of things in a few weeks—couple of months tops.
It had only been two weeks since the accident, and Isaiah was already sick of lying around being coddled. The ridiculous round-the-clock nurse AJ had hired hadn’t even lasted a couple of days before Isaiah let her go. Now he struggled to get his tuxedo pants on over the splint on his leg. He could barely stand without his crutches, but he’d be damned if he were staying in bed like the invalid everyone was making him out to be.
No one was pleased about him insisting he could still make his brother’s ESPY awards tonight—least of all AJ. For such a hard ass, his youngest brother worried more than any of them about all his siblings. The guy had a heart of gold, always had, and he meant well, but Isaiah was done lying around. Not only would he make this thing tonight, he had a date.
Lola was the physical therapist he’d met almost a year ago when he first injured his knee. They’d dated off and on since. It wasn’t until just after he’d gotten back from Los Angeles the weekend he’d said his final good-bye to Kelli that he’d run into Lola again. It was an infuriating reminder that what he’d felt for Kelli after just one weekend was so much more than anything he’d ever felt for anyone else.
Still, Lola was a good distraction. They’d gone on a few more dates, and while he wasn’t in any way getting serious with her, she was by far the closest of any of the girls he’d ever dated that he’d consider bringing around his family. All his siblings would be there tonight. Since they’d met her at the hospital when she’d come by to see him, they knew of her already. No need to be introducing anyone new tonight.
Thoughts of Kelli flooded his mind again. He’d gotten a few concerned texts from her after his accident had made the local headlines. Once the media got wind that he was AJ “Rage” Romero’s brother, the headlines went national. Not only had severa
l firefighters been injured, AJ was a baseball superstar now. The Padres had the best record that year and were predicted to win the World Series. AJ was all over the headlines for one reason or another. Even his family members made the news. So leaving the hospital had been madness with all the cameras and news vans waiting outside to get the exclusive shot of him. Isaiah didn’t know how his hotheaded brother did it, but after only a few blinding shots from the cameras just outside the hospital, if it weren’t for his injured knee, he might’ve shoved a camera or two up some of those photographers’ asses.
Since it appeared any romantic relationship between Nathan and Kelli was really over, Isaiah had opted not to tell anybody about his past with her. It seemed uncalled for now, but he could only hope this time it was for real.
Of course, Isaiah hadn’t answered or returned Kelli’s calls, and again he’d refused to read past the text previews before deleting her messages. He couldn’t allow himself to get caught up with her. Now that he knew how she felt, it’d be too easy to if he read any of her texts.
It wasn’t happening.
If she were really concerned, she could ask Nathan. The way Nathan made it sound they still kept in touch; he just hadn’t been out with her in a while. So Isaiah thought it best to leave well enough alone. Her tears in Los Angeles hadn’t been forgotten. The last thing Isaiah needed was to give her hope that anything between them might be feasible, despite the fact that, even after all this time, he still barely went a few days without dwelling on what could’ve been. It was just another reason why he shouldn’t respond to her. He needed to forget about her.
After getting into the specially tailored tux that would accommodate his leg splint, Isaiah was out of the house in the car taking him and Lola to the show. They’d only been at the pre-show’s cocktail party for a few minutes when his breath caught. Unbelievably, he spotted Kelli walking in with Nathan. It was impossible to keep his eyes off her. She looked absolutely stunning in her elegant gown. But it made him feel like a total dick to be ogling his brother’s girl that way. Didn’t matter that Isaiah had already had his way with her in every way imaginable. It still felt wrong, damn it.