I reached in for a limb like a lucky dip and yanked out a body. I got a glaring Gabriella. “Control your woman, cara de verga!” she snapped, shrugging free of my grip.
“What did you call me?”
Mitch’s lips twitched. “She called you a dickface.”
“Nice,” I muttered.
“I told you to wait,” she snapped, brushing hair from her eyes impatiently.
I turned to grab Grace from the pile when Kelly’s arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Blood smeared along her arm and across her cheek from the melee as he pulled her back.
“Babe, stop,” he growled when Grace struggled.
“Let me go, asshole!”
My eyes narrowed. I left Morgan bleeding on the floor for Travis to deal with. I snatched Grace from Kelly’s hold, nudged her behind me, cocked back a fist, and slammed it in my brother’s face.
Kelly stumbled backwards, his hands flying to his nose. “Ow, fuck,” he hissed.
I clenched and unclenched my fist, trying to relieve the throbbing burn in my knuckles before I went for round two. My brother had a hard fucking face. “That’s for taking Grace,” I snarled.
He came back at me hard and fast, clipping me in the jaw. I sucked in a breath. The punch packed a hell of a lot of power, surprising me. “That’s for leaving me,” he snarled back.
From my peripheral vision, I saw Grace step forward and then snap backwards like a rubber band. I turned my head. Travis held her. “Let them punch it out, Grace.”
“Are you kidding? Look at them,” I heard her say as I turned back, fury taking over the pain of Kelly’s punch. “They’ve got muscles on their muscles. They’ll kill each other.”
“No they won’t,” I heard Travis reassure her as I tackled my brother and we crashed to the ground, breaking the side table by the couch when we landed. I reared back for another punch and Kelly grabbed me in a headlock. “See? They’re hugging it out already,” he added soothingly.
I landed a fist in Kelly’s ribs.
“Oomphf,” he huffed.
“That’s for calling Grace babe. She’s not, nor will she ever be, your babe.”
Kelly grappled and managed to roll me over, landing a blow to my right eye. It jarred from the impact, blinding me. I shook my head, feeling it swell instantly. “That’s for never coming back when I needed you.”
I reared up, headbutting him in the face hard. He snapped backwards, toppling off me. Shifting up on my knees, I loomed over him. “That’s for setting me up for murder!” I yelled.
“Es suficiente!” Gabriella grabbed my shirt by the neckline and I heard it tear. “That’s enough!”
“You!” She pointed at my brother. “You are under arrest for the kidnapping of Grace Paterson.”
Kelly’s jaw ticked, but he nodded once, stoically. “Fair enough.”
“No!” Grace blurted out as I got to my feet, breathing hard and ignoring the ache from where the round of bullets hit my chest. I looked around, noting that Mitch, Morgan, and Bingo were no longer there. Mitch must have taken them out while I was fighting with Kelly.
“You can’t,” Grace added when the room fell silent.
Gabriella planted her hands on her hips, a frown marring her brow. “Why not?”
Grace looked at me before shifting her eyes to my brother. “Because he saved my life.”
Surprise flashed across Kelly’s face, but he didn’t say a word.
“Slim?” I reached out, taking her hand. Threading our fingers together, I drew her towards me. “You want to explain?”
She looked to Kelly and he nodded imperceptibly.
“Morgan arranged a hit on me. It was supposed to go down last night.” My nostrils flared but I kept quiet, letting her speak. “Kelly found out and told her he’d take care of it himself. Only he had no intention of carrying it out. He just made it look like I was dead. He was going to keep me here, safe, until he could talk to Bingo and let him know what Morgan had planned. But somehow she found out what Kelly did and turned up just before you all did.”
“If you had just come to me,” I growled at Kelly, “I could’ve taken care of it!”
“Like you did all those years ago?” he sneered.
“Christ, Kelly.” I let go of Grace’s hand and took a step forward. “You set me up for fucking murder!”
“It was only temporary for fuck’s sake!” he yelled, exasperated. “It’s not like they could keep you for long without a dead body. It kept you outta my fuckin’ hair so I could deal with the situation. You keep stickin’ your nose into shit and causing trouble. We had that Janie Berg case handled and you had to go stick your hands in it. Then you kept askin’ questions about our parents and you wouldn’t leave it alone. Why wouldn’t you leave it the fuck alone? This is all your fuckin fault!” he shouted, jabbing a finger at me.