In the Eye of the Storm

by Jennifer Hayden

  “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.

  Sighing, he noticed his Glock on the nightstand and reached over and shoved it into the top drawer. He wasn’t ready to talk to Trey about his unruly fan yet. He kept hoping Detective Mumford was going to call him with news of the lunatic’s capture. Of course, it would help if they even had an ID on the guy.

  Sitting up, Beau rubbed his eyes. He could hear voices coming from the front of the house. Trey was likely ho abruptly.

  dime. It was time to face his big brother. The truth was, A

  “It’s about freaking time you woke up.” Trey stood in the doorway, a cup of coffee in his hand. He walked in and offered the cup to Beau, who took it happily, before standing up and shaking his brother’s hand. Trey gave him a quick hug, which basically consisted of a hearty slap on the back. “Where the hell have you been?”

  Beau took a long sip of coffee, enjoying the heat of it as it slid down his throat. “Here and there,” he finally said. “Look at you, all ready for combat.”

  “I just got back,” Trey said absently, oblivious to the police issue SWAT uniform he had on. “Sting situation across town. So how long are you staying?”

  “I don’t know yet. For a while. I’m anxious to hear how married life is treating my big brother.”

  “It’s treating me good. You should try it.”

  Beau couldn’t stop the horrified look from crossing his features. “Not a chance.”

  “Come and eat. Kylie made us breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, the works.” Trey headed out into the living room and went to work removing his layers of clothing. Kylie stood in the doorway to the kitchen, a spatula in her hand. She smiled when she saw Beau.

  “I told you he’d be excited to see you.”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Trey asked, tossing his boots on the floor and standing up.

  “I figured you were pissed about the wedding thing,” Beau said, watching his brother’s eyes for signs of anger. There was a flicker of emotion, but not much. Trey only shrugged his shoulders.

  “I assume you had your reasons for not being there. You’ll tell me about them sooner or later.”

  Beau remained silent. He knew Trey could read his mind. He would be patient for now. Sooner or later, he would want answers. Beau would cross that bridge when he came to it.

  They all sat down to a breakfast fit for a king.

  “I was going to get up and cook for you guys. I lazed out and didn’t make it up soon enough.” Beau loaded his plate full of eggs and grabbed a couple of pancakes.

  “I’m usually up by seven,” Kylie said. “Habit. I can’t even sleep in on weekends.”

  “I’m not much of a late sleeper either. That is unless I have a call like I did last night.” Trey took a large swallow of orange juice. “My shifts vary though. I work a lot of nights.”

  “You actually have police work to keep you busy around here?”

  Trey grinned in mid-chew. “Believe it or not, yes. There are people who sell drugs in Montana.”

  “Place looks dead to me.”

  “You haven’t been here long enough. Every city has its pond scum.”

  He supposed that was true enough.

  “So did you tell him?” Trey asked, glancing casually at his wife, who shook her head, then looked at Beau and smiled.

  “You’re going to be an uncle again.”

  He swallowed his food before he looked from her to Trey and then back again. “W abruptly.

  diow! You guys? That’s great!” He stood and walked over to Kylie, leaning over to give her a hug. “When did you find out?”

  “A couple of months ago. We wanted to get through the first few months before we told anyone. We just told Dusty and Faye last night.”

  Beau slapped his brother on the back again. “Congratulations!”

  “Thanks,” Trey said, just as excited as Kylie. He set his napkin down and met Beau’s gaze. “You haven’t even seen Lucas yet, have you?”

  Beau sat back down. “Not yet.” He avoided eye contact with either of them and went back to his breakfast.

  “He’s a cute little guy. He looks a lot like Dusty. I have pictures if you want to see them later,” Kylie offered.

  “I’d like that,” was all he said.

  “So what are you two going to do today?” Kylie looked from Beau to Trey.

  “I need a nap,” Trey admitted, rubbing his stubbly cheeks wearily. “But then maybe we can grab a few beers and do some catching up. I have the day off today.”

  “Sounds good. I have some calls to make this morning anyway.” He would also have to take a look at his bumper now that it was daylight. It was likely that there were more than a few scratches on it after the incident the night before.

  “Well Kate’s on her way over so I’m going to go shower.” Kylie got up and turned toward the hallway. Trey’s hand snaked out and snatched her, pulling her over and into his lap for a quick kiss. “You’re not going to try and push the Richard thing again, are you, baby?”

  Kylie looked at her husband crossly. “I don’t get your thing about Richard?”

  “Are you talking about the gay guy next door?” Beau asked, setting down his fork. “Now there’s a busybody if ever I’ve seen one.”

  Trey just grinned and Kylie slugged him and got up off his lap.

  When she was gone, Beau looked at his brother sheepishly. “What did I say?”

  “She doesn’t think Richard is gay. She keeps trying to set him up with Kate.” Trey took another gulp of coffee, still amused.

  “He’s definitely gay,” Beau agreed. “Who’s Kate?”

  “She’s Kylie’s friend from school. She’s a teacher too. She’s a firecracker, but you’ll get used to her. So how’d you manage to meet Richard already?”

  “He was outside last night looking for his cat.”

  Trey grinned again. “Ah, you met Mittens too then.”

  Beau scowled. “No, Mittens met the hood of my truck and yowled like a fucking banshee. I’m going to be buffing scratches from the hood for hours.”

  “Yeah, Mittens is a bastard cat. He doesn’t get out very often but when he does I usually get my gun out.”

  Beau grinned at that idea. “I’ll remember that.”

  Hearing a knock on the front door, Trey got up and went to open it.

  “Don’t start with me,” a female voice said, from the other side of the screen door. “I’m very emotional this mor a breakfking. i just ning and I might say something I’ll regret later.”

  Beau heard Trey chuckle. “You mean like you did yesterday and the day before that—and the day before that....” His voice trailed off.

  “Oh get out of the way and let me in. It’s cold outside.”

  Beau’s eyes narrowed. There was something familiar about that voice, though he couldn’t put his finger on what.

  When Trey stepped aside and the woman came into the house, Beau realized that his day was not going to get off to a good start. Ms. Reckless Driver herself stood in the foyer, pulling off a pair of leather gloves
and breathing erratically, her cheeks red from the cold outside. When her gaze landed on Beau, her expression was blank—at first. Then she frowned and let out a vial curse. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” Beau said at the same time. He stood up abruptly.

  “I don’t believe this,” she snapped. The woman had a mutinous glare on her face now. He almost found it amusing. This couldn’t be Kylie’s friend. Could it?

  “You guys want to tell me what’s going on?” Trey asked, clearly confused.

  “He hit my damned car last night.”

  “She rambasted my truck last night.”

  They both spoke at the same time again.

  Trey didn’t say anything for a moment, then suddenly his face broke into a grin. “You’re shitting me.”

  “No, I am not the type who shits people, Officer Callahan. Arrest this man.” Kate glared at Trey and then Beau, completely serious.

  Beau almost laughed at that. She was clearly insane.

  Trey continued to grin. “On what grounds?”

  “Reckless driving, of course. Endangering others. Hell, for being stupid, I don’t care!” Kate exploded before their eyes.

  “You’re the one who backed into the telephone pole,” Beau reminded her. “You’re the one endangering others.” Beau looked at his brother seriously. “You should probably consider charging her with damaging city property.”

  Obviously enjoying this, Trey continued to watch them both.

  “This is not funny!” Kate snapped. “Is this how you serve the citizens of this county?”

  “I’m in narcotics, Kate. Find some drugs on him and I’ll arrest him,” Trey said, struggling to keep a straight face.

  “I don’t believe this.” Kate glared up at Beau. “Just what are you doing here anyway?”

  “He’s my brother.” Trey sobered and met her gaze. “Beau Callahan, Kate Nyland.”

  “You are not Beau Callahan,” Kate said.

  The hand Beau had been about to offer her stayed at his side. This woman was certifiable.

  “I’ve seen Beau Callahan on television,” she went on. “And he looks nothing like you.”