In the Eye of the Storm (17 page)

“It’ll be okay, man. We’ll do this and go straight to the airport.”

“I want her on a separate flight,” Beau said quietly, so that Kate couldn’t hear him. He looked Tommy in the eye. “She’s going back to Montana by herself. My brother will be there at the airport to take care of her.”

Tommy looked surprised. “Are you sure? Maybe you should stick this out with her.”

“I’m going back to Texas. If this bastard wants to play with me, he’s going to have to follow me there. I’m done with this. I’m going to wait there until he shows up and I’m going to kill him.”

Tommy’s eyes grew wide. “You’re talking crazy now, Beau. Just calm down and let the cops do their jobs.”

“Do their jobs? You mean like they have for the past year and a half while this bastard has tortured the hell out of me?” Beau shook his head. “No way. I’m done. My family is at risk now. My girl is at risk. No more.” Beau didn’t realize how much he meant the words until they were out of his mouth. He knew he was in love with Kate. He also knew there was nothing he could do about that. He wasn’t good for her. His lifestyle never they were gonhe was would be. As much as it pained him to realize that, he knew he had to.

Tommy could only nod his understanding. “If that’s what you want. I’ll make sure she gets back to Montana safely.”

Ten minutes later, Beau put on his game face and joined his fellow players. For an hour, they signed autographs and took pictures. Occasionally, someone wanted a hug or a kiss, which Beau usually gave out freely enough. Today, the police stepped in and stopped any contact that boiled down to more than a handshake. Beau felt bad about the disappointed looks he received, yet there was nothing he could do about things. For all he knew, his stalker was one of these people. He had no choice but to keep them all at an arm’s length.

When the event was over, he was more than relieved. He knew he had to find Kate and say goodbye. He was dreading the moment when he would have to look into her eyes and do exactly what Kylie had warned her he would do;
break her heart.

After her confession the night before, he’d agonized over things. He’d come damned close to admitting his own feelings to her. And then he’d received Tommy’s call. The minute Patrick Longwell had died, so had his chances of having a real relationship with Kate. He would never be safe and neither would she.

Stepping into the backroom, away from the still crowded storefront, he looked around. Kate remained sitting where he’d left her earlier. He indicated over her head to Tommy, that he was heading out. Tommy nodded.

He walked over and crouched down in front of her. “We need to talk. Come downstairs with me.”

“I already heard what you said to Tommy. You don’t need to explain anything.”

He winced. She was avoiding his gaze, yet he could see the pain in her eyes. “Kate—”

“Just forget it, Beau. I know why you’re doing what you’re doing. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I get it. You think you’re keeping me safe.”

“I’m doing what I think is best,” he said softly. “Don’t be like this.”

“I told you last night I knew what was coming when this trip was over. Let’s just forget the theatrics and end it now. No strings.”

“Damn it, Kate—”

She stood up, looking over her shoulder at Tommy. “I’m ready to go when you are.”

Tommy looked at Beau questioningly.

“I’m sorry,” Beau said, for lack of anything better.

She didn’t speak, she just turned around and walked away.

The plane ride home to Montana was the longest plane ride of Kate’s life. Tommy had left her at the terminal. Once she’d been ushered onto the plane, she’d been left alone to wallow in her misery. Her heart was literally shattered. She’d expected this outcome, but she hadn’t expected the pain to be so severe. All the pep talks she’d given herself hadn’t done her a bit of good. She’d fallen in love with Beau Callahan anyway, and he’d broken her heart.

Over the past thirty years, she’d had a broken heart or two. None of them compared to the pain she was feeling right now.

Curling up in her seat, she shut her eyes and let the emotion eat at her from the inside out. She was determined not to cry. There were people they were found onhe was around—people who were probably already staring at her oddly, due to the commotion surrounding her boarding of the plane and all the security in her midst.

She supposed some of the pictures of her and Beau had probably surfaced. That would account for some of the whispering she was hearing. For the first time since she’d met Beau, she realized what it was like to be him for a moment. People looked at you as though they knew you—talked about you like they were your friends. But they were nothing but strangers. Strangers, who like Beau said, just wanted a piece of him.

When the plane landed in Montana, Kate was thankful to depart the aircraft. Trey was waiting for her at the terminal, as promised. He took one look at her face and swore.

“I’m sorry, Kate.” He gave her a hug that she didn’t return. She was still determined to hold on to her last shred of dignity and not cry—especially in front of Trey Callahan.

“Can we just go home?” she asked softly. “It was a long flight and I’m beat.”

“Sure thing. Kylie wanted to come meet the plane but I didn’t think it was a good idea, what with everything going on.” He led her to the baggage claim, where they picked up her things. Ten minutes later, they were in his truck heading down the freeway. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine, Trey. Don’t use kid gloves on me. I knew what I was getting into when I went to bed with him.”

Trey had the decency to wince and swore again. “This isn’t entirely his fault.”

She really wasn’t in the mood to hear him defend his brother and she found herself scowling.

“Okay, I know you’re upset and you have a right to be. But for what it’s worth, he’s scared for you. Someone is dead, Kate. This freak isn’t messing around anymore. It could have been you. Do you get that?”

The realization that he was right slapped her in the face. She let out a wheezy breath. “I can’t do this right now, Trey. I just can’t.”

“You should have told him how you feel.”

The words caught her off guard and she finally met his gaze. “I did tell him.”

Trey looked surprised, his blue eyes narrowed. “You did?”

“I told him I’m in love wi’d known

17

Christmas came and went. New Years followed. Beau spent the holidays alone on his Texas ranch, a case of beer at his feet and his Glock at his side.

It hadn’t been easy keeping his family away, but eventually he’d gotten his point across that he wanted to be alone. The more people he involved in his life, the worse things got. He had to deal with this situation on his own now. It was the only way.

Unfortunately, as was usual with his stalker, the bastard had fallen off the radar again. It they weree d into her driveway had been nearly three weeks since Patrick Longwell’s death. The man had been buried in a private ceremony back in L.A. that Beau hadn’t even been able to attend, due to the media circus surrounding him.

He was damned tired of what his existence had become.

Hearing his phone ring, he grimaced. He knew it was probably one of his brothers or his sister. He got a dose of Callahan lecture daily from one of them or another. Dusty and Elle wanted him to come to Callahan. Trey wanted him back in Montana. Joey was the only one who seemed to accept Beau’s decision to stay where he was. He’d offered to come and stay with Beau but Beau had turned him down. He wasn’t willing to put anyone else close to him at risk.

Checking the caller ID on his cell, he grimaced. It was Trey. As close as he was to his older brother, he was not in the mood for any more crap right now. He let the call go to his voicemail.

Immediately the phone rang again.

“What do you want?” he growled into the receiver, realizing Trey would call him all night if he kept ignoring him.

“Get off your high horse. You’re starting to piss me off,” Trey snapped. “I’ve been calling you for days. The only thing that’s kept me from jumping on a plane and coming down there is the fact that my wife is five months pregnant and I can’t leave her here alone.”

“I don’t need you to come here, big brother. I’m fine.” Beau scratched at his stubbly face. It reminded him that he needed a shave. It had been a while since he’d bothered. His hair was too long too. He sure as hell didn’t look like one of Celeb Weekly’s sexiest men alive now.

“So everything’s quiet there?”

“As a tomb,” Beau said, and took a long swig of beer.

“Are you drunk?”

“Not yet,” Beau answered. “But I’m working on it.”

“Don’t do this to yourself. This has gone on long enough. When are you going to care enough about yourself to fight back, instead of running away?”

The words annoyed him and Beau scowled. “Mind your own business, Trey. I don’t need you mothering me.”

“This is my business. You’ve made quite a mess of things. And while I realize that some of this isn’t your fault, there is a portion of it that is. She doesn’t deserve this from you.”

Knowing who he was talking about, Beau snapped his eyes shut and blocked out the pain that shot through his heart. He didn’t want to talk about Kate. He’d worked harder than hell over the past few weeks to get her out of his system.

“I shouldn’t even tell you this because she wouldn’t want you to know, but she’s in trouble, Beau.”

Beau sobered somewhat. “What do you mean, she’s in trouble?”

“I’m not sure exactly what’s going through her head but she’s missed quite a bit of school. She spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve alone. She has completely shut Kylie out. Richard’s the only one she’s let in her house and even he’s having trouble getting to the bottom of what’s going on.” Trey paused. “To put it bluntly for you, Beau, you fucked this up, now fix it.”

Beau grimaced, blowing a painful breath they wereon

“You can. You’re running scared like you always do. I seem to remember you saying something like this to me when Kylie and I broke up way back when. Take your own advice, little brother.”

“I’m not good for her, Trey. My lifestyle and her—” He shook his head, frustrated. “It’s just not meant to be.”

“You didn’t give it an honest try. You walked away before you could.”

“You know why I walked away.”

“She’s no safer here without you. This guy could pop up anywhere, at any given time.”

Beau had convinced himself that that wasn’t likely, even though he knew his brother was probably right. “I can’t fix this,” he finally repeated and disconnected the phone. It rang again, and this time he ignored it.

Kate lay in her bed, trying to block the throbbing in her head out. Her stomach was roiling again. She’d already been sick twice that day. Richard had called—insisted he was coming over to take care of her. She’d begged him not to. Of course he hadn’t listened. He was bustling around her kitchen right now warming up some soup.

It had been a week since she’d been at school. She knew her kids had to miss her and she missed them. That fact only depressed her more and she buried her head in her pillow.

“Here, try to get something in your stomach and it will probably feel better.” Richard leaned over and set the TV tray next to her on the bed. Then he sat down and reached a hand for her forehead. “You’re not hot.”

“So?” she grumbled.

He sighed, and she knew what he was going to say before he said it. “How long have you known?”

She ignored him.

“Kate, don’t bullshit me. I can see what’s going on here. I thought you took a test and it was negative.”

Kate felt the tears seep from her eyes and she tried to blink them away. “I did take a test. It was negative. Beau saw it too. I thought everything was okay.”

“But it’s not,” he figured out.

She eventually shook her head wearily. “I never got my period so I took another test. It was positive.”

Richard sighed. He reached over and moved the TV tray, setting it down on the floor next to the bed. Then he lay back next to her and held out his arms.

Tired of dealing with everything on her own, Kate scooted into them and let herself have a good cry. She had been in a state of denial for two weeks now, ever since the first bout of morning sickness that she’d had—ever since she’d taken the second pregnancy test.

“You need to call him,” Richard said gently.

“I can’t,” she sniffled.

“Why not?” he demanded. “Because you’re too proud to? I know it’s not that you’re afraid he’s going to turn his back on you. He already told you he’d never do that.”

“He’s already turned his back on me.”

“He doesn’t know about this, Kate. You can’t judge him when he doesn’t know the truth.” they wereuc b” “

Kate buried her nose in Richard’s chest, thankful that he was always there for her, even when she probably didn’t deserve it. “He won’t know how to deal with this. He’s on the road six months out of the year. When he’s not on the road, he’s too busy being a
brand.”

“What are you talking about?” Richard asked, backing up and looking down into her face. “You’re not making any sense.”

“He’s Beau Callahan, Richard. He’s not some guy I met in a bar, or a guy that works at the local phone company.
He’s Beau Callahan.
I have nothing to offer him.”

“You have
his child,
Kate. And I think you’re selling him short, by the way. The Beau Callahan I met and spent time with was not a
brand.
He was a normal guy who swings a hard bat for a living. So what if people know who he is? So what if he’s on television or in magazines? What does all that really matter if you love him?”

“Because he doesn’t love me.” The words came out in a hiccup.

“That’s where I think you’re wrong. I’m pretty good at reading people and I saw it in his eyes. You want to know when?”

She hiccupped, finally calming down enough to look him in the eye. “When?”

“When you were standing in the front yard of Trey and Kylie’s house, arguing over whose fault the car accident was.”

She thought that over, surprised. “We hardly knew each other then.”