In the Eye of the Storm (2 page)

Rolling his eyes heavenward, he walked over and tapped on the window.

When she rolled it down, she was glowering at him again. “Go ahead, laugh.”

“I’m not laughing,” he said, keeping a straight face. “You’re dangerous. Do you even have a licen a breakfast fit for a king.ing the BAse?”

“Very funny.” She opened the car door, nearly hitting him in the process, and jumped out of her rig a second time. They both walked around to the back of her SUV and surveyed the damage. This time it was significant. Her entire back door was caved in.

“You should have quit while you were ahead,” he said, backing up and folding his arms over his chest. “Perhaps we
should
call the police now. I believe you’ve damaged city property.”

She let out an expletive and stomped back to her car. She jumped in and started the engine, this time managing to put the SUV into gear and move it, without slamming into something. She sped off with a screech.

Shaking his head, Beau climbed into his own truck and backed up, this time being careful to check all his mirrors, just in case she came back for some reason. When he was sure the coast was clear, he headed out onto the avenue and turned toward his brother’s house.

It took him only a few minutes to locate the nicely landscaped neighborhood, only a few miles from the center of the city. Elm trees lined the street on both sides. Beau checked his notes for the house number. He found it seconds later and pulled up in front of the small bungalow.

Small
was an understatement. It looked like a tiny cracker box. Was his brother that hard up for money? He didn’t imagine so. Trey was a saver. He’d had a lot of money put away when he’d moved to Montana to be with Kylie. He had a good job now. Not only that, Kylie worked as a first grade teacher.

Maybe they liked small. It was probably very little maintenance, he decided.

Its size aside, the one-story house was attractive enough, with white paint and dark colored trim. The yard was well manicured and full of shrubbery and trees.

Climbing out of the truck, Beau looked around the dark street. It was fairly quiet, given the time of night. There were still lights on here and there but the majority of the neighborhood was dark. Beau looked up at his brother’s house again. It too, was dark. There was no truck in the driveway and Beau knew Trey had purchased a black Dodge Ram, much the same as the one Beau owned, shortly after he’d moved here. Trey tended to do a lot of shift work. It was possible his brother was on the job. He headed up the walk, eventually hesitating at the sound of a man’s voice coming from the side of Trey and Kylie’s house.

Curiosity had him prowling across the grass to investigate. He found a man on his hands and knees, peering into a thicket of Trey and Kylie’s shrubs.

“Mittens, damn you!” the man said irritably.

“What are you doing?” Beau asked, and watched as the guy nearly jumped out of his skin.

“I’m looking for my cat. What does it look like I’m doing?” The man jumped up quickly, his eyes narrowed. “You’re not Trey.”

“I’m his brother. Who’re you?”

“I’m Richard Melzo. I live next door. I didn’t see you at the wedding.” His last words almost sounded like an accusation.

“I wasn’t there,” Beau said, folding his arms over his chest. This guy couldn’t possibly think Beau wasn’t Trey’s brother. They looked a lot alike, besides the difference in their eye color; Trey’s were blue, Beau’s were brown.

“Nobody mentid warned her the night before that he wasn

“Should they have?” Who did this guy think he was? Beau couldn’t help wondering just what kind of neighborhood Trey had moved into. Where Beau lived, there were fences between each house.
Miles
of fences. He’d never even met his neighbors.

Richard frowned and did his best to stare Beau down, even though he was several inches shorter and probably sixty pounds lighter.

“They didn’t know I was coming,” Beau relented, his eyes catching a glimpse of a gray blur flying across his feet.

“Mittens!” Richard took off after the cat, apparently satisfied that Beau wasn’t a serial killer.

Naturally, the creature headed down the lawn and straight for Beau’s truck. It leaped up into the air and landed on his newly waxed hood. He winced, figuring that was probably going to leave a mark.

“Mittens, down!” Richard demanded, reaching for the damned thing. He managed to get it by the tail and drag it toward him, finally capturing it in his grasp. Beau winced again as the little beast let out a yowl. This was why he would never own a cat. At least he guessed it was a cat.

He frowned as Richard headed back across the lawn toward his house, without another word. Obviously Riverdale, Montana was going to be hell on his beloved vehicle. First the crazy woman with the SUV and now this.

“Beau?” In all the commotion, he hadn’t heard the front door to Trey and Kylie’s house open. He looked up to see Kylie standing on the front porch in a pair of loose pajama pants and a tank top. He had obviously woken her.

“It’s me,” he confirmed sheepishly and headed for the porch. “I know it’s late. I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t know you were coming,” she said, offering him a hug, which he took happily. He hadn’t seen Kylie in almost a year. Hell, he hadn’t seen his brother in nearly that long either.

“You look exhausted, come on in.” She motioned him through the front door. “Trey isn’t here right now. He got a SWAT call a few hours ago.”

“I should have called first. I wasn’t certain when I was going to hit town.”

“How long are you staying?” she asked, turning a light on in the living room.

“I’m not sure. I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants lately.” He looked Kylie over closely. There was something different about her but he couldn’t put his finger on what. She was attractive—blonde and blue eyed. She was a little slip of a thing that probably didn’t even weigh a hundred pounds. His six-foot-two frame towered over her. She had her hair pulled up in a ponytail and her face was free of make-up. Maybe that was the difference. The times he’d seen her before, she’d been all dolled up with make-up and nice clothes.

“I have coffee in the kitchen. Do you want some?”

“No thanks. I just drank a Coke on the way over here. That’s going to keep me awake enough.”

“Well get your things then,” she said, smiling. “I’ll show you the guest room. We’ve been waiting for someone to use it again. Nobody’s been to visit here since Faye and Dusty brought Lucas four months ago.” that she couldonhe was

Lucas.
Beau hadn’t even seen his nephew yet and the kid was almost a year old now. This was another reason his family had to be pissed at him. He turned to his sister-in-law. “Listen, Kylie, I don’t want to put you guys out.”

“You’re not,” she said sincerely. “Trey will be ecstatic to see you.”

Somehow, Beau doubted that. The last conversation they’d had, had been three months earlier, just before the wedding. Trey had asked Beau to be his best man and Beau had turned him down. Security around him had been tighter than a drum back then and he hadn’t wanted his family involved in the mess. Needless to say, Trey had been pissed. The conversation had not ended well. They’d talked periodically since then but things were strained between them, which was something Beau intended to fix, now that he was here.

“Stop standing there like that and go get your stuff,” Kylie ordered.

Too tired to argue, he headed outside to retrieve his bag from the truck. He noticed Richard Melzo was standing on his porch, staring over at him. The guy was a busy body, that was obvious.
Perfect.

He locked up his truck and headed back into the house, ignoring the neighbor altogether. “Your neighbor doesn’t like me much,” he said, stepping into the house and shutting the front door. He clicked the lock into place out of habit.

“Richard?” Kylie looked surprised. “When did you meet him?”

“He was outside digging through your shrubs for a creature named Mittens.”

Kylie grinned. “Mittens is a cat.”

“Yeah, I saw the paw prints on the hood of my truck.” Beau set his bag down inside the guest room. It had a king-sized bed.
Thank God.

“Trey made sure the bed was big enough for you guys, don’t worry,” Kylie said, reading his mind.

“I’ve spent a lot of nights in doubles and queens. My legs hate me in the morning,” he admitted.

“I can see why. Trey’s the same way.” She looked around the room thoughtfully. “There are towels in the bathroom across the hall. Do you need anything else?”

“Not a thing. Go back to bed. You have school tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Tomorrow’s Saturday, Beau.” She gave him a knowing smile. “Life on the road is a big blur for you, isn’t it?”

He couldn’t argue with that. One day blended right in with another.

“Okay. Well holler if you need anything. Don’t be alarmed if you hear Trey come in later on. Who knows how long he’ll be?”

Beau watched her leave. After he heard her door shut from down the hall, he pulled his duffel bag open and dug through it. The object he was looking for was at the bottom oe:flow:0001?mi

2

Kate Nyland frowned as she stared into her cup of coffee. This morning was not beginning any better than last night had ended. First, she had stubbed her toe on the way to the bathroom, after tripping over the pair of shoes she’d left in the middle of the floor the night before. Then she’d limped out to get the morning paper, only to find that the wretched paper boy had tossed it behind the shrubs again. The little creep never managed to hit the front porch. For God’ sake, how hard could it be to hit a target that big?

After eventually retrieving the paper, she’d settled down to read it, only to find out it was the paper from the day before. Today’s paper was likely still under the hydrangea somewhere. Perhaps a pack of ants were reading it.

Scowling, she slammed the paper closed and reached for the phone. She would call Kylie. Maybe her friend would want to go to the flea market today. She knew Trey had been paged to go on a SWAT call the night before. It was likely he’d spend the day sleeping. Girl time was always a pick me up.

Kylie answered on the first ring.

“What’s new?” Kate asked, trying to sound cheery.

“Not much. What are you up so early for?”

Kate looked at the clock. It was eight AM. “I couldn’t sleep. I had a rough night.”

“Is everything okay?”

Hearing the concern in her friend’s voice, she forced herself to buck up. “Everything’s fine. I got into a little fender bender when I ran into the market last night. Some jerk backed into me.”

“Are you okay?” Kylie asked, clearly concerned.

“Oh I’m fine. My car’s a little worse for the wear.” Kate took a sip of coffee. “You wouldn’t believe the creep that hit me. What a Neanderthal.”

“That stinks,” Kylie said sympathetically. “Is there a lot of damage?”

“Oh yeah. It will probably cost me a fortune.”

“Didn’t you call the police? His insurance should pay for it.”

Kate inwardly groaned as she remembered the events of the night before. The Neanderthal’s insurance wouldn’t likely pay for the damage she’d done to her own car when she’d backed into that telephone pole. She decided to keep that little tidbit to herself. “We didn’t involve the police. To be honest with you, I couldn’t prove I wasn’t somewhat at fault. He offered me cash and I turned it down. He was an ass and I just wanted him to go away.”

“I’m sorry. What a terrible way to end your night.”

“Yes, well, it’s par for the course. My date sucked.”

“I was going to ask you about that. What happened?”

Kate grimaced, thinking about Wick Meyers. Speaking of Neanderthals. “He was an octopus. A
boring
octopus at that. He also has a thing for liver and onions.” The smell was still permeating her nostrils.

Kylie laughed at that. “That’s too bad. I thought Richard said he was a good guy.”

“Why I ever listen to Richard Melzo is beyond me. Never let a gay guy pick out your date. I think Wick might be gay too.”

“You just said he was an octopus,” Kylie reminded her.

“Yes, well, maybe he’s putting on a good act so people won’t know he’s gay.”

“You’re crazy,” Kylie said, still laughing. Kate heard a commotion in the background. “I’ll tell you later,” Kylie said, probably talking to her husband.

“Don’t tell him later. I don’t want to get ribbed about my evening from hell.”

“He already heard half of what you said,” Kylie said, giggling.

Kate rolled her eyes, but smiled. The truth was, hearing the happiness in her friend’s voice warmed her heart. Kylie had been through hell in her life. She’d been sexually assaulted as a young teenager. For years, she’d suffered emotional and psychological stress. Then she’d met Trey Callahan and her life had changed in so many ways, all for the better. The guy treated her like a queen. After their initial mere toleration of each other, he and Kate had grown pretty close too. He was like the brother she’d never had. Not only that, he had hot friends, two of whom she had attempted to date. Both men were cops and the relationships hadn’t gone far. Kate was not cut out to be a police officer’s wife. She was beginning to think she wasn’t cut out to be
anyone’s
wife.

“When you’re done fondling your husband I thought we could go to the flea market.”

Kylie stopped giggling. “That sounds like fun. You want me to pick you up since your car’s a mess?”

“I’ll drive over,” Kate said. “I was hoping maybe Trey could fix it so my tailgate will at least open.”

“Okay, I’ll see you in a while then.”

Kate hung up the phone, irritated with herself for being such a moron the night before. Wick had flustered her and she had a feeling she likely had been barreling through the parking lot, just the way Mr. Neanderthal had told her she was. It was irritating to be wrong.

Oh well, there was nothing she could do about it now. Getting up from the table, she dumped out her coffee and headed for the shower.

Beau opened his eyes wearily, the bright light coming through the window nearly blinding him. It was morning, obviously. He glanced at the wrist watch he always wore on his right wrist. Ten o’clock. Crap, he’d intended to be up early. He’d planned on making breakfast for everyone. Mamaw, his grandmother, had taught him his way around a kitchen at a young age. Being on the road most of the time, he didn’t get a lot of opportunity to cook anymore.