Salsa Nights

by Salsa Nights (lit)

  Before Brad came to a full stop behind the building, Dale was jumping out of the truck. He prayed the fire was only in the front, and Isabel was safe in the back.

  “You get Isabel. I’ll get the motherfucker.” Brad pulled his gun out from where he kept it under his seat.

  Dale didn’t break stride, running shoulder first into the back door, tackling it open. Acrid smoke curled out, instantly filling their lungs. Wood crackled, and they could hear the flames in the front quickly dance toward them along the wooden attic beams.

  “Help!” Brad heard Isabel’s blood-curdling scream from his far right.

  Oh, thank God and the heavens above. He couldn’t see her in the dark room through the thick gray smoke, but he saw Dale run in that direction. Please find her.

  Brad was suddenly slammed to the ground, falling on his back and losing his gun. He threw his hips up to upset the man, then rolled on top of him. He punched the man twice in the face, drawing blood.

  The man pulled his legs up, wrapped them around Brad’s upper arms, and brought him down on the floor. Brad struggled to his feet but didn’t have time to dodge the attacker as he came barreling toward him. He was thrown back against the wall, getting the wind knocked out of him.

  Brad pummeled the man’s kidneys, delivering one blow after another, until he was on his knees. Once down, Brad kicked him square in the face. The man fell back, and Brad, not done, grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him for another round.

  The roaring fire began lighting the back room, throwing an eerie glow on the men. Brad cocked his arm again, and stopped cold. The man was looking at him, grinning. But the eyes. Those damn eyes. What the hell?

  * * * *

  Dale rushed to Isabel who was yanking on her own arm with the other and starting to cough.

  “Dale, my arm, Help me”

  “Fuck,” he barked, quickly scanning the cuffs and the pole, testing the ends that were drilled into the wall. He pulled hard, but the metal wouldn’t budge.

  “Please, go. Get out of here!” Isabel screamed at him, clawing at his straining arms and shoulders.

  Then he heard an ominous rumbling overhead. He looked up and saw elegant ribbons of fire roll across the wooden ceiling beams, dangerously near the steel beams keeping Isabel prisoner. When the first wooden beam exploded into glowing pieces, he slammed Isabel against the wall and felt her arm tug and her body push against him.

  He looked down to see a couple of beams had hit the rack with enough force to snap it from the wall brackets. Sending a quick prayer of thanks, he set to work. He slid the cuff down the pole, and once free, grabbed Isabel’s hand and led her toward the door.

  Every poisonous breath he took brought more incessant coughing. The smoke stung his eyes and burned his lungs. The front of the school was blazing while flames shot into the back room. He couldn’t see Brad, damn. The ceiling was burning and flames curled around things stacked against the walls. It was an inferno, and he prayed they would all find their way out.

  Then he heard the sound again. In the next second, he had Isabel under his body as a beam crashed on him and he felt a thousand white-hot lashes across his back.

  Amazingly, he felt no pain as he got to his knees, just the quick sting of something falling on him. Isabel was coughing and had shut her eyes, so he gripped her arm and guided her outside while dodging the falling debris erupting in raging flames all around them.

  * * * *

  The man grinned cruelly up at Brad, and then Brad heard the cocking of a gun. Throwing himself quickly to the side, the gun went off, and Brad kicked the weapon out of the man’s hand. Brad then reached for his own gun but when he stood, the man had disappeared. Shit. He couldn’t see Dale so he quickly decided to run outside and see if they were safe.

  Morning light blinded him, and fire truck sirens screamed from the road.

  “Brad!” Isabel shouted. Brad blinked the burning smoke from his eyes and found them.

  Dale lay facedown on the ground, and Isabel knelt beside him. Brad’s heart stopped.

  “Oh, God.” Brad ran to his best friend, his brother, and dropped on his knees beside Isabel. “Dale. Talk to me, man.” He saw the charred shirt and burned skin on the back of his hands.

  Dale groaned, struggling to open his eyes. “What took you so damn long?” Dale asked weakly.

  Brad breathed a small sigh of relief. If he was talking, he’d be all right. He had to be.

  * * * *

  Isabel leaned over Dale, stroking his chocolate hair. He’d saved her life and now lay here, burned, and in so much pain it was killing her. He’d covered her face with his hands since his head had fallen against her shoulder. She now looked at the marks on the backs of those large hands and realized the pain he’d saved her face.

  Something caught her eye, and she looked toward the burning building to her right. A man limped slowly toward them, grotesquely burned. Eric raised his hand, and she saw him take aim. She screamed. God, no please.

  Brad whipped around, gun in hand. Bullets popped, and Brad fell, beside her. No. Isabel looked up to see her brother laugh.

  No, no, this isn’t happening.

  “Take it,” Brad said, his voice surprisingly calm, and she glanced down as he pushed something toward her.

  No, she couldn’t. This was her brother. But he was stepping closer. She circled her fingers around the handle and lifted the heavy weapon. She aimed it. Her brother smiled. She found his chest. She saw her mother, Gina, Leyna, and her grandfather’s caring eyes. Eric raised his gun again.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered and fired. Over and over, she pulled back on the tight trigger until her brother lay on the ground.

  She dropped the gun aside and found the bleeding hole on the left side of Brad’s abdomen. Gently, she put pressure on it with her hand and gazed into his gorgeous blue eyes.

  “Brad. Please,” she whispered, caressing his smoke-stained face.

  Slowly, he raised a hand toward her. She took it and brought it to her cheek. He brushed his fingers across her trembling lips. It had quickly become a gesture she’d come to need from him.

  “I’ve loved you so long,” Brad whispered, struggling to breathe.

  Isabel’s eyes watered, and she turned to Dale. He hadn’t moved, and his eyes were closed. “I love you. Please, you can’t leave me, too,” she told him, fighting the lump in her burning throat.

  A sweet smile touched his lips. “My princess.”

  His eyes fluttered closed, and his hand went limp in hers. No. No.

  People in uniform gathered around them. She looked at Dale and floated her hand over his hair. Chocolate. She brought her eyes back to Brad. For once, his lips were relaxed, his eyes soft. He was peaceful.

  “I never had a chance to tell you that I love you both,” she whispered.

  Sobs raked her body, and Isabel wasn’t aware of her screams until someone carried her away.

  Chapter Twenty

  Isabel sat on her heels. Thunder boomed from a distance, announcing the arrival of a storm. The smell of rain swirled in the breeze that flowed around her, fluttering her hair.

  Her fingers brushed over each petal in the bouquet of fresh flowers. The butterfly pin rested neatly against the gray headstone. She grazed her hand over his name, tears slipping down her face.

  “I love you, Grandpa. Te quiero. Thank you for choosing them.”

  It pained her greatly that she’d lost precious time with her grandfather before he died. But she’d forgiven her father, and she’d forgiven herself. Somehow she knew that he watched over her. He knew she loved him.

  Nik waited under the palm tree. She fell in step alongside Isabel. Slipping her arm through her friend’s, Isabel rested her head against Nik’s arm.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?” Nik asked.

  Isabel sighed. “For flying here the day of the fire. For staying with me at the hospital. For being here now.”

  Nik snorted. “You’re closer than a
sister, so stop thanking me.”

  Isabel smiled. “Are we ready for tomorrow?”

  “Yup. The studio in Orlando will be ready for us, and we’re all sharing a comfortable efficiency until the night before the big day. I made the hotel reservations for two nights, just to make sure we all get plenty of sleep after celebrating our first-place win,” Nik told her, wiggling her eyebrows.

  Her friend was a lifesaver. She’d contacted a friend who owned a jazz and ballet dance studio in the same city as the championships. They had free use of one dance floor for the next three weeks. With only three couples competing, they didn’t need any more space.

  “You’re the best,” Isabel told her, squeezing her arm.

  “I know,” Nik replied, and Isabel heard the smile in her voice. “So, have you decided?”

  Isabel straightened as they reached her car.

  She nodded, taking a deep breath. “Yes. I’m taking a vacation after Orlando and starting someplace new. Not here. Not now.”

  Nik raised a brow and leaned against the door. “So you’re running away from them,” she said, disappointed.

  Isabel scoffed. “No. I’m moving on.”

  “Brad told you he loves you,” Nik reminded her needlessly.

  “But Dale didn’t. I can’t choose one. I won’t.” She shook her head, gazing out at the ducks crossing the small pond at one end of the cemetery.

  “Isa, maybe he just didn’t get the chance to tell you. Regardless, you can’t leave without telling them how you feel.”

  But she had. For three days and three nights, she held their hands in the hospital and told them over and over. But they slept. Drugged for the pain, they had been unaware of all the times she cried, of each time she told them she’d loved them since she was a child. She hadn’t been able to stay past the third night when they were becoming more lucid. They’d ask questions she just wasn’t prepared to answer. What if they’d made her choose?

  The few times they opened their eyes and ate what they could, she smiled at them and made them more comfortable. Yet, she held back. What if Dale didn’t feel the same? What if Brad didn’t understand that she was in love with both of them? What if he rejected her after she confessed her true feelings? And what if Dale did love her, but they wouldn’t share her?

  These men were alphas. They could have sex with the same woman, the dominance over her being paramount to their control. But share the woman they both loved? She wasn’t sure they could, and she wouldn’t tell them both that she was in love with both. Certainly she refused to see them fight over her. She wouldn’t be the end of their two-decade friendship.

  She sighed again, feeling as melancholy as she had the day she packed her bags and left their house. Devin had helped her since he was bringing Brad home from the hospital that day. He’d only stayed one week. Dale needed two more weeks with therapy.

  “I have to, Nik. I won’t come between them. Come on. Let’s go before this storm’s on top of us.” She hopped in her car, waiting for Nik to get in beside her.

  It was better this way. They could move on, and she’d find a place to start her life over. Devin had given her the title to the building, which had been under her name the whole time, after Brad told him where to find it. She’d sadly traced the butterfly sketch with her fingers. She’d accept the loss and take the insurance money someplace far. New. Away from the childhood memories. From the loves of her life.

  And maybe someday she’d convince herself that she had made the right decision after all.

  * * * *

  “Senator Mitchell, sit back and take a look at the screen, please.” Brad switched the TV on and leaned back against his desk. The image of the senator appeared on the plasma TV, receiving a very thorough blowjob from a very pretty blonde. He grinned smugly as he watched the senator’s face turn white.

  “How’d you--what--” Senator Mitchell stammered, coming to his feet.

  “A friend from the strip club gave me a copy. So kind of him. I wonder what your constituents, and your wife, would say about you frequenting a gentleman’s club and receiving sloppy fellatio from an eighteen-year-old stripper called Bambi,” Brad said, tilting his head and pulling his eyebrows together.

  The senator shook with shame and fury, and Brad guessed the pathetic maggot was feeling defeated “You wouldn’t,” he said, his voice cracking.

  Brad smiled. “I would, senator. You or your boys come back into this club or anywhere near my house, and this will be on national TV within the hour. Now get out.”

  Devin smiled widely, showing his perfect white teeth, as he held the door open, then slammed it after the slimy politician left.

  “It’s good to have friends,” Devin observed, standing in the middle of the office.

  Brad grinned. “Yes, it is. And it’s a good thing people who blackmail are so predictable in having other bad habits.” He grabbed a bottle of Disaronno from the bar and filled a glass on the way back to his desk.

  His friend took a step closer. “I told you I was at your house when Isabel was leaving,” he started.

  Brad froze at the sound of her name. She’d come to see them in the hospital, but he barely remembered her telling him she was leaving. He remembered very little, actually. If he closed his eyes, he could see her beautiful, caring eyes watching over him. He could feel the warmth of her lips on his cheek a couple of times. And he could still hear her soft giggles when he’d made faces at the tasteless hospital food she fed him.

  He sat, taking a long drink of Isabel’s favorite liqueur and allowed the slow heat to pour down his throat. “Yes?”

  “I asked her what was next for her. She said she had to get her students ready for their championship. It’s tomorrow in Orlando. I took the liberty of informing Calli she’ll be in charge for the next few nights and I booked a room for you and Dale where Isabel’s staying, in case you need more time to persuade her. Papers are on your desk.”

  Two printed confirmation e-mails lay tucked next to his computer keyboard. He raised a brow and eyed his bouncer. “Oh? Anything else?”

  “Yes. The morning the sleazy politician spoke with Isabel, he implied you and Dale hit women. She said she never once believed him.”

  Brad rose to his feet, anger ricocheting up his spine. “Why didn’t you tell me before the senator came here?”

  Devin gave him an amused grin. “What? And watch you open up that wound and then go to jail? Sorry, boss. I hoped you’d be working on healing so you could go win her back.”

  He shook his head, exasperated at his very dear, very loyal friend. “How is it that you got more out of her in less time than I did?”

  Devin raised a brow. “Well, I’d like to say my charm works with all the ladies, but yours is immune to it. Actually, I believe she opened up to me because sometimes it’s easier to trust someone you’re not in love with. It poses a lesser risk of getting hurt.”

  Brad humphed. “I only wish I could believe she loves us both, my friend. That’s just too complicated.”

  “I wasn’t talking about her. You’ve been so upset that she left you that you haven’t stopped to wonder why. Did it occur to you that she loves you and Dale, but you never trusted her enough to tell her that you both love her and you can both have her? What reason did you give her to stay when she’s worried about tearing your friendship apart?”

  Brad opened his mouth, then closed it. He hung his head, angry at himself. Shit. “How do you know all of this?” he asked quietly.

  “Your job the past few years has been to watch over Isabel. My job has been to watch over Club Lava and you and Dale.”

  Brad raised his head and met Devin’s steady gaze, seeing him in a new light. He had a hell of a lot of respect for the man. With a short nod, Devin walked out, leaving him alone in his dim office.

  He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. She hadn’t believed the senator’s lie. She worried about coming between him and Dale. And he’d been so worried about himself, he hadn’t seen wh
at she must have been going through.

  Brad shot to his feet and hurried out of the club. Damn it, she loved him and Dale. She left because she was in love with them and wouldn’t choose. He chuckled as he jumped in his Hummer and peeled out to the highway. All this fucking time she wanted them both and didn’t know she could have them. Oh, she could have them until the day he died in her arms.

  She’d been through so much the few days she spent with them. From suffering the death of two friends, to a near drowning, to facing her half brother and having to kill him herself. And she’d lost her studio which, for her, meant everything. And she’d still fallen in love with them!

  He flipped his cell phone open and dialed the speed dial number.

  Dale answered. “How did it go with the asshole?” he asked, referring to the senator.

  Brad laughed again. “I’ll tell you about it while we pack.”

  “Well, it’s about time. Otherwise, I would have gone by myself to see Isabel,” his friend countered.

  As usual, Dale beat him to the punch line. “How did you know? You just ruined my moment.”

  Dale chuckled. “I have faith in you, man. You just needed time. So you’re ready to convince her she can have us both?”

  Brad inhaled deeply, feeling alive, strong. And happier than he’d felt his whole life. “I’ll shout it if I have to, man.”

  “You’re sure she loves us?” Dale asked seriously.

  His lips turned up at the corners. “I’ll tell you more when I get home. But if I’m wrong, we can always throw her over our shoulders and bring her home.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “See you in the morning,” Isabel shouted over her shoulder at Nik and inserted her room key in the slot. At the green light, an exhausted Isabel walked into her hotel room and headed straight to a hot shower.