Avenging Angel (Pounding Hearts 5)

“Me,” I say with a sigh.

I fucking hate the name, but it’s stuck with me through the years, whether I wanted it to or not.

“Yeah, he called himself the Angel of Death one time when he was doing a promo,” Casey helpfully adds from my side.

Bree starts smirking. “Really? That’s kind of… corny.”

“I know, I know. As soon as I said it, I knew I fucked up. Now that’s the ring name I’ve been given,” I say, then

try to get back on topic. “What’s going on, Bree?”

“I… I had it all planned out on how I would explain what happened..” she says before biting her lip.

“But?” I ask.

“But it all sounds like excuses, like a pity party,” she says.

“What’s the real reason then?” I ask and cross my arms across my chest like I’m trying to protect my heart from the abuse it’s already sustained.

She takes a deep breath, steeling herself, before saying, “That guy that pushed me outside the gym… Well, he was my ex-boyfriend… and my dad really wanted me to marry him. Wanted me to marry him so bad he tried to blackmail me into it…”

She launches into a story that sounds like something straight out of a soap opera, and the way she keeps glancing at Casey, I know I’m probably only getting half of it. And shit, I probably wouldn’t believe it if it was coming out of anyone else’s mouth.

But I do because it’s coming out of hers.

When she finally finishes, my arms slide down to my sides on their own accord.

Well, fuck. That’s not exactly what I was expecting.

“So why didn’t you tell me all this?” I ask as I take a step forward, my hands reaching out this time to take both of hers.

“Because he has a lot of power and money, and he threatened you both. He told me he would ruin you with the pictures he had of you and get Casey sent to his mom,” she says before she suddenly looks mortified, like she let out a secret.

Casey starts shaking his head. “No way, he can’t do that.”

“He can!” she insists with tears in her eyes. “He’s the fucking governor. He has so many connections and so much money from my stepmother… he can hurt you both with a snap of his fucking fingers.”

Shaking my head, I frown at her. “He couldn’t do that, Bree.”

Tears start falling from her eyes. “He can. He has all the pictures and he got a private investigator…”

Reaching up, I brush away her tears and pull her tightly to my chest. “Casey, is it okay if I tell her?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Casey looks from me to Bree. “I don’t care, it’s not even a thing in my life.”

“Tell me what?” Bree asks as she clutches at my chest, her fingers wrapped tightly in my shirt.

“His mom overdosed on heroine three years back and died,” I say, and hug her tightly to me.

“Yeah, the only mom I have is Emmett. He’s my mommy dearest!” Casey says, but I can tell he’s a little shaken from all this heavy shit going on.

Pulling Casey into our hug, I wrap my arms around them both tightly. “Your dad sounds like a douchebag, but he couldn’t have done anything to me or Casey.”

“But… But… he had pictures and he knew things… He had pictures of you passed out in your yard,” she continues to argue but her voice is growing weaker.

“Seriously?” Casey asks from inside the hug.

He’s squirming around but I’m not letting either of them go just yet.