Kingsman: The Devil's Gamble

Chapter One

...Approximately 15 years later...

* * * * * *

"How's the Las Vegas Establishment going?" I asked Whiskey as I walked into the room and took a seat oddly close to him.

He rubbed the front of his forehead with his hand, seemingly frustrated by what was going on with that.

We'd been on the run from the "real" Balor Devlin for two years now. Ever since we found out that the person we killed—the man we thought was Balor—wasn't actually the real deal and just a clone, we'd been on the run, trying to stay alive and fighting back whenever it was possible. For two years, we went off the radar and kept away from anyone we thought worked for Balor.

Since then, Whiskey and I have grown closer than ever.

And even though I haven't got the chance to take Whiskey back home to meet my parents, I have no doubt that my momma and daddy would love him unconditionally like another one of their sons.

Despite being on the run, Whiskey and I kept trying to do some work other than running for our lives. That work—establishing one of our first casino fronts for the Statesman Agency—had been going like shit lately, in my opinion.

"About as good as dog shit, sugar," he answered with a sigh. "We're trying to do everything we can to establish this casino front without being detected by the general public and Balor, out of all people."

"And I assume you exhausted all your options?" I asked in a concerned tone, sitting on one of the tables in the secret database room.

He nodded solemnly. "Yep. Sure have."

"You can't be too hard on yourself," I said. "I mean, the best we can do right now is fight to survive."

Noticing my leg bouncing up and down, Whiskey decided that it was best to place one of his hands on my thigh, enacting a sign of comfort and support.

"I just feel like I ain't doin' enough, sugar," he added. "After all, you wanted this first casino front to be established as soon as possible, and with everything going on between us and Balor, I just—-I just don't know if I can—"

"Whiskey, right now, I could care less about getting that casino front fully established," I interrupted. "All I'm worried about is fighting to stay alive right now."

He chuckled enough to show his shiny, beautiful white teeth. It definitely made my heart warm when I saw his face. His beautiful face. Seeing that wonderful smile made me think of one of the many things my daddy would tell me all the time:

One day, you're gonna find yourself a man who loves you more than anything in this world. And when you do, don't you dare let him go. Because it's too long of a damn ride to fall back into love, and once you lose that opportunity to be in love...you may never get another chance.

I already completed the first few steps, which was to find a man and fall for him...and I sure did fall for Whiskey. Hard. Everything about him is something that I love. His eyes, his laugh, his personality...he was everything I could ask for in a guy.

Granted, he did come into my life at the most unexpected time.

And I'm not complaining about it. It's just—I wasn't really expecting to love anyone so soon after Devin's death. When Whiskey first entered my life, my heart was still gravely shattered over what happened with my twin, and I was struggling with how to deal with the grief. Luckily, Whiskey helped me deal with the realization that my twin was dead and wasn't coming back, and I'm grateful for him for doing that.