by Susan Hayes
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Mom.” Ben spoke before she could, and Kelly felt his words hit her like a blow. Why wouldn’t he want his mother coming to Urban Paws?
“What’s wrong with my clinic?” Kelly asked, surprised by Ben’s reaction.
Ben turned and looked at her with confusion. “Nothing’s wrong with Urban Paws. I mean, I take Chase there, don’t I? But it’s not exactly a safe neighborhood. You did just get robbed, and today when I was coming to pick you up I saw a bunch of the local troublemakers hanging around outside.”
Meg seemed to sense trouble was brewing, because she stood up and came around to give Ben a kiss on the cheek. “I’m going to go check up on your father and brother. If I leave them to their own devices they’ll be playing until midnight.” She patted Kelly’s shoulder. “I hope we see you again soon, Kelly. You make house calls, right? Casper and I will just find an excuse to have you over for coffee and a checkup soon.”
Once she was gone, Kelly turned to Ben again. “Was that necessary? I know the area isn’t the greatest, but I would never put your mother in harm’s way. If it were that dangerous, I wouldn’t walk to work most days.”
“It is that dangerous, and I want you to stop.”
“What?” Kelly stared at Ben. He hadn’t seriously just told her to stop walking to work, had he?
“You’re walking those streets after eleven o’clock at night sometimes. I know you are. It’s not safe. You have a car, and there’s room for you to park behind the clinic. You don’t need to walk. You’re taking chances with your safety and I don’t like it.” His brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed just a little, as if he was disciplining a wayward child, instead of speaking to a grown woman.
Kelly’s spine straightened and she looked straight into his eyes. “I can’t tell if this is worry or if you’ve just decided that you’re in charge of my life, but you can’t start telling me what I can and cannot do.”
“Of course I’m worried about you. It’s my job to keep you safe! You have no idea how bad things can get, Kelly. I’m a cop, I know. I don’t get to turn that off. Not ever. I know that part of town has a lot of criminal activity. What are you going to do if they go after you next time they rob the clinic? What happens when they pull a knife or a gun on you and I’m not there to stop it? I’m telling you, no more walking to work.”
“And I’m telling you, that’s not how this is going to work. You can’t just arbitrarily start making up rules I have to follow. If something happens, I’ll deal with it. I managed just fine before you came along, Benjamin Wilde, and I will continue to do so long after you’re gone.”
He flinched. “What do you mean, after I’m gone?”
She didn’t bother to acknowledge his question. There was more she needed to say first.
“I’m a grown woman, Ben. I’ve taken self-defense classes. I carry pepper spray, I use common sense. Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean you are suddenly in charge of my life. A life you know very little about if you believe I can’t take care of myself and have no idea what’s out there.”
“I’m not just making up random rules for the hell of it. I’m trying to keep you safe! That’s my job, damn it! And you’d make it a lot easier for me to do my job if you would just do what I tell you. When it comes to your safety, I know what’s best for you, Kelly.”
“You did not just say that to me. You couldn’t have.” Kelly got to her feet and immediately stepped away from the table, avoiding his hand as he reached out to stop her.
“Kelly, wait. Where are you going?”
“I’m going home. You just insulted my judgment and tried to tell me how to live my life. My life, Ben. Not yours. My choices. And right now it’s my choice to go home.”
Kelly turned and fled. She pushed her way through the crowed, muttering apologies along the way. Her heart hurt and his last words rang in her head, repeating over and over. Had she made a mistake? Did she know Ben at all? When she yanked open the door to make her escape, she slammed into someone and started to apologize again, only to be cut off.
“Hey, Kelly! Sorry I’m late for dinn— What’s up?” Tag was staring down at her with concern.
“Just get me out of here, Tag, and I’ll tell you.”
Chapter Seven
“When he breaks my nose for getting involved, I’m coming to you to have it reset,” Tag informed her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, propelling her down the street.
“Is he always like that? Telling people what they should do? I used to think the caveman thing was cute, but it’s not. It’s…its…infuriating!”
Tag chuckled as he guided her toward a bright red, vintage Chevy Impala, and Kelly couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “You drive a muscle car? Really?”
He went around and opened the passenger side door for her. “Yes, I do. Now don’t go hurting Tiffany’s feelings. Hop in and you can tell me where I’m taking you.”
“Tiffany?”
“We’re going to have a conversation about this now? I’m pretty sure that’s my big brother who just blew through the front door of the bar like a thunderstorm with legs. Unless you want to have round two of whatever fight you two are having right here on the street, you should get your cute ass in the car.”
Kelly risked a glance out the windshield as she settled herself in the seat, and saw Ben heading straight for them, wrapped in a storm cloud of fury. “Shit!”
“I’m so getting my ass kicked for this,” Tag groaned as he turned over the car’s engine and started nosing out into traffic. They gunned it into a gap just as Ben caught up to them, and Kelly felt like she left half her heart torn and bleeding on the ground at his feet as they drove away. He looked hurt and confused as well as angry.
Good. That makes two of us.
Her phone started to ring and Kelly turned it off as soon as she saw it was Ben calling. She wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.
“Okay, we’re clear. So where are we going, what happened back there, and how much trouble am I in with my family for coming to the rescue?”
She gave Tag the address and took a minute to gather her thoughts before answering his other question. “Ben decided that we’ve been dating long enough he gets a say in my life. No, actually, he decided it was time to start telling me what to do. He informed me he doesn’t like me walking to work because it’s too dangerous. Like I’m some kind of helpless babe in the woods who doesn’t know how to take care of herself. Then he tells me he knows what’s best for me, and I should just listen to him and do what he says! And that was after he told your mother she shouldn’t come to my clinic because it’s too dangerous!”
Tag cleared his throat before responding. “Well, he is a cop. And uh…I mean, the clinic did get robbed, and the address you gave me isn’t exactly in the land of kittens and rainbows. Maybe he’s got a point about it being a bit dangerous?”
“Of course it’s a bit dangerous. But it’s not like there’s a knife fight every ten feet or a horde of criminals lurking in every shadow. I’m not an idiot, I’m careful.”
“No, you’re not an idiot.” Tag glanced over at her. “What you are, is dating a cop. Or, were dating? Did you two break up? You didn’t, did you? Because that would suck. He’s totally gone over you, Kelly. I mean it. We’ve never seen him like this. So please tell me this is just a fight.”
“This is just a fight…I think. It’s too soon to say for sure. There’s no way I’m going to stay with someone who doesn’t respect me enough to let me make my own decisions. And what are you talking about? You guys have a new date every week. I’ve heard you talking.”
Tag snickered. “Yeah, we’re all legends in our own minds, but not Benji. He doesn’t date much. Or smile much. Or do anything besides go to work and fix up that old house. At least he didn’t until he started seeing you. He’s the most relaxed and happy I’ve seen him in years. It’s not that he doesn’t respect you, it’s just…he’s not great with the whole communication thing.”<
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“He wasn’t relaxed tonight!” she argued. “He was being an alpha jackass.”
“That’s the cop thing I mentioned earlier. Being a cop isn’t just a job, it’s a calling. Like the priesthood, only with better uniforms and worse hours. We see things we can’t forget, no matter how much we want to. There’s a cost the soul has to pay for doing this job. You stop trusting people, and when you walk down the street you don’t see ordinary people just going about their lives. You start seeing potential suspects, outstanding warrants, future victims, and the darkness that lives inside every single person you cross paths with. It’s not you he doesn’t trust. It’s everyone else. And the alpha thing is sort of part of the deal too. Ben just got carried away, but it’s only because he cares about you.”
“If it makes you see the world that way, why do you do it?” Kelly asked, trying to understand.
“Like I said, it’s a calling. Benji and Dave are cops because they can’t imagine being anything else. Even with the sacrifices.”
“You said Ben and Dave. What about you?”
“I’m not going to be a cop much longer, Kelly. Didn’t Ben tell you?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“I used to work undercover. A buy went bad. Someone who shouldn’t have been there recognized me and gave me up to the bad guys. Long story short, I got shot a couple of times. I’m on medical leave right now, but the doctor doesn’t think I’ll ever be back to one hundred percent again.”
“You got shot?” Kelly felt a sick twist in her stomach as the pieces started to click into place.
“Shot me and left me for dead, yep. Now you’re getting it. I got shot because an addict I used as a source a few years back blew my cover in hopes of scoring free drugs.” Tag’s voice lowered a little. “It was only a few blocks away from your clinic. So you can understand why my big brother is a bit overprotective of the people he cares about these days.”
Kelly sighed. “He should have told me.”
He rolled his eyes at her. “Yeah, because we Wilde’s are all about sharing our feelings. At least once month we all get together for a group hug session too.”
The giggle was out of her mouth before she could stop it, and that tiny bit of laughter helped her let go of the anger and hurt she’d been feeling.
“That’s better. Now, are you going to tell me why you reacted like that? I get that big brother had a serious case of foot-in-mouth disease tonight, but that doesn’t really explain why you’re in my car and not back at the bar. Not that I’m complaining. I mean, I’m already going to get hit for this, so you know…you could make this worth my while. I am the good-looking one, after all.” He grinned and waggled his brows at her.
“Sorry, Tag. You’re adorable, but I think I’m still taken. At least, I hope I am.”
“There’s no accounting for taste,” he said, sighing dramatically. “And of course you’re still taken. Benji is not that easy to get rid of. Trust me, we’ve tried.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes while Kelly struggled to work out what had happened with Ben, and why she’d reacted the way she had.
“So, are you going to tell me what’s up?”
There wasn’t any way to sugarcoat it, so Kelly didn’t bother to try. “My little sister’s a recovering addict. After our parents died, I threw myself into my work and hid from the world. I hid so well that Jenny didn’t have anyone to turn to, so she found her own way to cope. I didn’t even know there was a problem until I got a call at three in the morning. It was an emergency room doctor in Chicago telling me that Jenny had overdosed.”
“Shit. I’m sorry, Kelly.”
“It’s okay. Things worked out. But after that call I drove to Chicago from Peoria only to discover she’d checked herself out of the hospital and vanished. I moved back here and started looking for her in the last place anyone had seen her. It took me two months to find her and another month to get her to agree to let me help her. During that period, I spent a lot of time on the streets and in some pretty harsh places, talking to people you or Ben would likely arrest on sight.”
Tag groaned. “You went looking for her, all by yourself. No wonder you didn’t take kindly to him getting all protective of you and telling you what to do.”
“I can take care of myself. I want a boyfriend, not a bodyguard. He shouldn’t have started ordering me around.”
“Welcome to dating a cop. We’re bossy. It comes with the uniform. Just give it some time, you two will figure it out. Now, how’s your sister doing these days?”
“She’s doing better. Much better. I had to hire a private investigator to help find her, but we did it. Now she’s recovering in a halfway house in Colorado.”
“You haven’t told my brother any of this, have you?”
“No, not yet. I guess I didn’t want to scare him off.”
“Scare him off? Not fucking likely. You’ve got my brother wrapped around your little finger. He’s not going anywhere, Kelly.” Tag’s expression turned serious. “Truth is, I’m pretty sure he’s in love with you. So go easy on him when you see him again. I hear love makes you do stupid things. Like start issuing orders.”
“It’s only been a few weeks. No one falls in love in a few weeks.” Kelly was arguing, but her heart beat a little faster at the thought that Ben might be looking for the same thing she was: A future together. That is, if she hadn’t just made a complete hash of things.
“Dad proposed to Mom on their second date. They got married a month later and never looked back. It does happen, Kelly. You’ve only known Ben a little more than a month, but I’ve known him my whole life. Trust me, he’s falling for you. Just don’t ever tell him I said so.”
Tag snagged a parking spot and insisted on walking her to the front door of her building. It was the first time she noticed that he had a faint limp. Nothing you would really notice unless you were looking for it. He’d gotten hurt doing the same job that Ben did every night. Hurt by the same people who had taken advantage of her sister.
She had a lot to think about.
* * * *
What the hell went wrong tonight?
That was the question Ben had been asking himself since Kelly had left the bar in tears and driven off with Tag. She wasn’t answering her phone and neither was his brother. He was going to kill him the next time they crossed paths. Who did he think he was, running off with Kelly like that? Where the hell were they? He knew Kelly wouldn’t do anything with Tag, but he trusted his overgrown little brother about as far as he could throw him.
When he’d gone back inside, Mom had clearly wanted to talk, but Ben wasn’t in the mood for a mother to son chat. He’d paid the bill and headed home.
How had they gone from him being about to offer Kelly a key to his place, to her leaving in tears in his brother’s car? The whole night had gone off the rails the second he’d tried to explain to Kelly how much he worried about her walking around that neighborhood. He was pretty sure he’d just failed “Couples Communication 101,” but he wasn’t even sure what had happened.
“Do you understand women, boy?” He glanced down at Chase, who was sprawled out beside him on the couch. The damned dog had been dejected since discovering Ben hadn’t brought Kelly home with him.
That makes two of us, buddy.
When his cell phone rang he pounced on it, frowning when he saw Tag’s name appear on the caller ID. “Where’s Kelly? Is she okay?”
“And hello to you too,” Tag drawled.
“Fuck you. You drove off with my girlfriend tonight. You don’t deserve a hello.”
“And you chased us down like a rabid grizzly bear. Anyone ever tell you your people skills suck? Kelly’s fine. I just dropped her off at home. You know, that apartment building in the really dangerous part of town.”
Fuck. She’d told him about the fight. Wonderful. “You know as well as I do that’s not a great neighborhood.”
“I also know better than to order around a grown woman who went
to school for so long that she has half the alphabet after her name. “
“Yeah. I’ll admit that wasn’t my finest moment. Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. Hurt and more than a little pissed at you, but fine. I called because there’s something you need to know.”
“If you tried anything…” Ben growled and Tag barked with laughter.
“I’m trying to do you a favor here, bro. Quit insulting me.”
“Sorry. I’m not exactly having my best day here. So, what is it you think I need to know? Other than the fact I fucked up and need to make things right.”
By the time Tag had filled him in on everything he knew about Kelly’s sister and what Kelly had gone through to find her again, Ben was pacing the length of his hallway and swearing every third step. He thanked Tag and hung up, then stood in the middle of the floor and stared at his phone. He needed to fix the mess he’d just made, and for that he was going to need a plan.
“Chase, c’mon buddy. We’re going shopping.”
Chapter Eight
It was late when Kelly finally picked up the phone and called Ben. She’d spent the time since Tag had dropped her off thinking about everything, especially what he’d told her about what it meant to be a police officer. It had never occurred to her what it would be like to see the worst in people day after day.
Had Ben been wrong when he tried to tell her what to do? Yes. But Kelly knew she wasn’t blameless. If she hadn’t been so focused on enjoying the moment because she was convinced they couldn’t possibly have a future, she would have been more open with Ben. He’d have known about Jenny’s battle with drugs and the real reason Kelly had moved into the area. And maybe he would have told her about what it was like to do his job so that when he told her he was worried about her, she would have better understood what he was trying to say instead of picking a fight.
Too many could haves, should haves, and maybes. Kelly wanted to do better. She needed to do better. Tag was right, love didn’t appear on a schedule. In her case, it had slipped in without her even recognizing it. Not until tonight. She finally stopped listening to the voices that whispered that nothing this good could possibly last, and really thought about how she felt about Ben. The answer was there, in her heart, just waiting for her to see it. Maybe Ben was in love with her and maybe he wasn’t. It didn’t matter, because she was already falling in love with him.
