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 never 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 several 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.
Isaiah’s curiosity was instantly piqued as to why Kelli had agreed to be here tonight when he was certain Nathan mentioned all his siblings would be there—including Isaiah, despite his recent accident.
Like in Los Angeles, he did everything in his power to not look her way. The only thing that had Isaiah breathing a little easier, and he didn’t even understand why, was that Nathan introduced her to everyone in their circle who hadn’t met her yet as his friend Kelli—not his girl.
Thankfully, the crowd they were standing with grew quickly. A lot of the other guys on AJ’s team gathered around when they realized AJ’s injured brother was there. They all had questions and well-wishes for a speedy recovery. But despite the welcome distraction of having to give his account of the accident, his eyes would inevitably wander back to Kelli when she wasn’t looking his way.
Lola commented on how she’d heard of the accident—on the radio—how she’d nearly died because, since none of his siblings knew she and Isaiah were seeing each other now, no one knew to call her.
His eyes were on Kelli again. Once again he took advantage of her attention on someone else. She was sizing up Lola. In the next instant, she whispered something in Nathan’s ear and walked away. Isaiah watched her, wondering if she were making her exit again. AJ was quick to ask the very thing Isaiah was thinking—if she was leaving—but Nathan said she wasn’t. Supposedly, she was just using the ladies’ room like she’d said in Los Angeles.
For a moment, all thoughts of Kelli were interrupted with a sudden commotion several feet away. Somehow AJ had made his way across the room and, in very “Rage” like fashion, was in some guy’s face. His brother appeared ready to swing. Fortunately, Nathan was there already, along with other players trying to calm AJ down, and he and the other guy were quickly separated. As expected, with his hot-tempered brother, it took a while to calm him, and he was surrounded by too many for Isaiah and his crutches to try to get to him. Between Addison and her dad, they seemed to have it under control now. So instead, Isaiah took advantage of the distraction, excusing himself with Lola so he could use the men’s room.
He’d seen where they were on their way in, so he took a different way around, hoping he’d catch Kelli and find out what the hell was her problem. Why was she still doing this? As much as his heart enjoyed indulging in the sight of her, this had to stop.
The moment he spotted her he called out for her, glancing around to make sure none of his siblings were within earshot. He motioned for her to head to one of the banquet room entrances off to the side and out of sight of anyone walking by the bigger room. To his relief, she headed in that direction, and he hurried along as fast as he could on his crutches.
Once they were where he was certain no one could see them, he leaned against the doorway, annoyed at the dull ache in his heart just from being this close to her again. “Why are you here?”
Kelli glanced around, suddenly appearing a little anxious. “Nathan came into the salon the other day. He seemed a little tense, different”—she shrugged—“which was understandable given the way things ended in Los Angeles. But I wasn’t sure if he knew yet . . . about you and me. So as much as I wanted to ask about your accident, how you were doing, I was afraid to even bring you up.”
“It’s been on all the news channels. I was injured, but I’ll live. Now why are you really here?”
She glanced around before taking a deep breath. “I’m really not like this. I swear to you. I know you want nothing to do with me and—”
“So why are you here?” he asked, losing patience because the longer he stood there eyeing her, the harder it was to accept he could never get involved with her again.