A Kingpin Love Affair: The Complete series(26)
“Jared.” Huh?
“Jared. We fell asleep on the couch.” Isabella’s sleep filled voice met my ears, causing me to sit up startled. After spending the day at the shooting range and having lunch together, we came home to relax and watch some TV. Apparently, it meant taking a nap, too. Even worse than all of this was the things I had been dreaming about.
“Jared,” Isabella said my name sternly. “Your phone’s ringing.” I turned my attention to her catching the look on her face. It all but said, is he right in the head? Hell, I didn’t even know if I was all here. Shaking my head as if to get the dream and the effect it had over my body out of my mind, I plucked my phone off the coffee table.
I sighed and watched Isabella disappear to give me privacy. Motherf*cking Alzerro King the caller ID read. Rolling my eyes, I hit the green answer key.
“Sometimes I think you just like being a douche bag.” Those were the first words out of his mouth. Not a hello, how are you this fine evening—just straight to the point bullshit.
“Did you just call to insult me or what?” I asked annoyed, voice groggy with sleep. Had I known it was anything less than an emergency, I wouldn’t have answered. He had a life, a good one at that, he needed to worry less about me and focus more on his family.
“Not really. I actually called you because I have some intel and I needed to let you know. I also just felt like calling you. You know, making up for lost time.” I could hear the humor in his voice.
“Cut the bullshit, Alzerro. You know how I get about jokes and shit like that. I don’t have the time for this.” Of course, I was getting frustrated right off the bat. Between my day dreaming about Isabella and the fact I hadn’t f*cked anyone in over a week, I was close to losing my shit on whoever might piss me off even the slightest bit.
“They know she’s here. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when they’re going to make an attack. Hell, at this moment, I’m not sure if they know your exact location or just the places you frequent but you need to be ready.” He went from funny and joking to serious and business-like so fast, I had gotten whiplash from the change in his attitude.
That was the thing about Agent King per se—you never knew if he was going to break your neck or cause you to bust your gut in laughter.
“She’s being cared for… and protected in the best way possible. You know I wouldn’t let anything happen. ” I kept my voice low, not wanting Isabella to overhear me. She was just in the other room after all.
“Good. These men don’t mess around Jared. They’ll kill you both before they let you leave with her. They’re as bad as I was in my prime days.” I snorted, covering my laughter.
“Yeah, before you started driving a minivan and toting Gia back and forth to ballerina class?” Radio silence formed on the other side of the line, which just caused another snort of laughter to escape.
“Asshole. That’s what you are. You don’t want anyone to joke with you, but yet you turn around and do it to someone else. You’re lucky.”
“Why is that?” I tested him, trying to get a rise out of him.
“Because if you weren’t my childhood friend and brother-in-law, I would’ve already had the barrel of my gun pressed against your skull.” Gun. That one word brought me back to the current situation, to the immediate danger that we were in. What he said caused something inside of me to wake up. It caused a reminder to go off inside my head. I was supposed to be protecting Isabella. They generally knew where she was, and if they knew that much, it wouldn’t take long for them to find out who she was with, pinpointing our exact location.
“Thanks for the heads up. I’ll keep my eyes wide open. Anything I feel you need to know, I’ll call you.” I hung up the phone, a sudden anger filling me.
Isabella was fragile, like glass. Her past was about to collide with my present, and I wondered if either of us would be able to walk away from this unscathed.
“Who was that?” she asked coming back into the living room. As she watched me curiously, I wondered if she could see through my ulterior motives. I tried to smile, to act unfazed, but I couldn’t. For a brief moment, I thought about lying to her but changed my mind knowing that she had the right to know what was taking place… After all, this was her life.
“Agent King. He wanted to check in on you.” Fuck. I was lying. Yet, there was no way for me to go about telling her that her life could be in danger. That today could be the final nail in her coffin.
She smiled softly. “Yeah, he’s a nice guy. His wife, your sister, is nice, too, and Gia.” Her smile seemed to grow bigger. “She is so adorable. How blessed you are to have such a lovely family.”
There it was. The kick to the gut. The one that ruined it all for me and reminded me exactly why I shouldn’t have the feelings I was having. She wouldn’t understand what I was going through, not even if I told her or tried to explain it.
I allowed the air to grow thick with tension, not saying anything because honestly, what was I to say. Creases formed across her brow as she began to chew on her bottom lip. She was worried, concerned even.
“I didn’t mean it in an offensive way…” Her voice trailed off. I was past listening. I had allowed her to get under my skin. I had allowed her touch, smell, and even her taste to invade my mind, taking over the parts of my body that made all the logical choices.