by SUE FINEMAN
“I’m sick of being treated this way, Brent. If you’re not following me, you’re calling me and swearing at me. I don’t want you around when you’re like this.”
He shoved her so hard she fell back on the bed. Stunned, all she could do was stare at him. At that moment, she knew it was only a matter of time before he hurt her. If he thought she’d do what he wanted out of fear, he was dead wrong, because she was more angry than scared. How dare he come into her apartment like this and push her around?
“Get the hell out of my apartment and don’t come back without an invitation.”
She had to distance herself from Brent and his jealous rages before he started hitting her. And he would. That wasn’t a playful shove. Not even close.
Brent stood by the bed, hands fisted, glaring at her for several seconds before he stomped out of the apartment and slammed the door so hard the windows rattled.
Shaking with fear and anger, Julie jumped off the bed and shoved a kitchen chair under the doorknob. Then she called Lucky Locksmiths. She had to keep Brent out of her apartment until she figured out how to safely break it off.
The locksmith, a smiling, white-haired gentleman she’d used before in her business, re-keyed the locks an hour later. She resented Brent for making it necessary. If he barged into her apartment again, she’d call the police, even if it meant looking for another job. If the real estate market didn’t pick up soon, she might have to do that anyway.
Real estate wasn’t a normal eight to five job, and in spite of the upsetting scene with Brent, she had to make a few phone calls. If she didn’t scare up more business soon, she’d have to borrow money from her father again, and she hated doing that.
Several minutes and several phone calls later, the phone rang. Thinking it was a return call from a client, she didn’t check the caller ID before picking it up.
“Are you ready to go out to dinner now?” Brent didn’t sound quite as angry.
“I’m not going out with you.”
“Then I’ll come over.”
“No.” He was the last person she wanted in her apartment.
“Then meet me tomorrow. We’ll have a nice dinner and talk.”
They needed to talk about ending their relationship, if he’d listen to her this time. Telling him to get lost in a public place might be safer than telling him in private. “Sippin Sally’s?” The bar was crowded on Fridays, so if Brent hit her there, she’d have witnesses.
“I hate that dive.”
She liked the friendly bar, but it wasn’t the kind of upscale place Brent liked. With his trust fund, he could afford to go anywhere he wanted. She couldn’t, and she couldn’t afford to buy gas if she wasn’t using it for business. “Sippin Sally’s is on my way home from the office.”
“Yes, all right. Sippin Sally’s at five. We’ll have a drink and then go out for dinner.”
They wouldn’t make it to dinner. She intended to end it at the bar.
<>
Friday afternoon, Andy parked in front of Sippin Sally’s and pulled off his tie. The parking lot in front of the barn-like structure was half empty at five-thirty. In another hour or so, the place would be packed.
He wandered inside to wait for Charlie. The jukebox played a mournful country tune, a couple played pool and flirted off to the side, and half the tables were already filled. Charlie liked sitting at the bar, where he could see and be seen, but Andy found a table and sat down.
A pretty blonde at the bar looked over and smiled. She looked vaguely familiar. Probably one of Charlie’s women.
The woman walked over. “Andrew Kane?”
He stood. “Yes. Do I know you?”
“Julianne Tandry. Julie. You designed a house for my parents last year.”
He’d only met her once, when her mother brought her to the office. She was stunning, with honey blond hair spilling over her shoulders. Her soft green sweater brought out the color of her eyes.
“Of course. It’s good to see you again, Julie. Would you like to sit down?”
“Just for a minute. I’m supposed to meet someone, but he’s late.”
“My brother is late, too, as usual.” They met here every Friday after work, and although Charlie didn’t have a job, he always managed to be late.
Andy pulled out a chair, and she sat down.
“How are your parents?” Andy had found her father difficult to work with, but not as difficult as her mother. Arnold and Olivia Tandry had been satisfied with the finished product, a luxurious craftsman style home just outside the city, but the project hadn’t been an easy one. Olivia wanted the best of everything in her new home, and Arnold wanted to pare the cost down to a more manageable level. Finding a compromise took time and patience.
“They’re happy with the house. It’s absolutely beautiful, thanks to you.”
Charlie breezed through the door and glanced around. Andy waved to him. “My brother, Charlie.”
Her smile slipped away. “Charlie Kane is your brother?”
“My twin brother. Do you know him?” If she’d dated him, no matter how attracted Andy was, he’d back away right now. He didn’t date the same women Charlie dated.
“I know of him. He dated my cousin. When she started to get serious, he dumped her like a piece of trash.” She picked up her drink, said, “Excuse me,” and walked back to the bar.
Charlie dropped into the chair she’d just left. Staring at Julie’s back, he asked, “Was it something I said?”
“Apparently you dumped her cousin.”
“Oh, yeah? Who’s her cousin?”
“I have no idea. You’re late.”
Charlie shrugged. “So? You got something better to do, go do it.”
The waitress walked over with two beers and flirted with Charlie. As soon as she left, Andy said, “Why do I bother going out with you?”
Charlie glanced over at him. “Jealous of my popularity with women?”
“You call that popularity? When Julie saw you, she couldn’t leave fast enough.”
After sipping his beer, Charlie asked, “When is the last time you got some?”
“None of your damn business.”
Charlie slapped the table and nearly spilled the beer. “Just as I thought. You need a woman.”
They’d had this discussion before, and Andy didn’t want to have it again. To Charlie, every problem a guy ever had could be solved with sex. Andy threw some money on the table and walked out the door, leaving his brother sitting alone at the table.
Maybe he did need a woman, but he wasn’t about to admit it to Charlie.
Andy walked out to his car and opened the door, but he didn’t get in. “Damn!” If he left now, Charlie would hit on Julie, and he couldn’t let that happen. He wasn’t about to give Julie to his irresponsible brother.
He slammed the car door and walked back toward the bar.
<>
Julie sat at the bar with her wine. Brent was over a half-hour late, and she wasn’t waiting much longer. He was the most inconsiderate man she knew.
A man stood at her left elbow. Charlie Kane. Why couldn’t he be more like his brother? Andrew had class, while Charlie was a low-life womanizer. He broke Susan’s heart when he left her. Maybe underneath, Andrew Kane was just like his brother. Aside from his longish hair, he presented a polished, professional image, but there was more to a man than his image. She’d learned that lesson the hard way.
Charlie cleared his throat. “I’d like to apologize for coming in at the wrong time. I can assure you my brother is nothing like me. Our sister calls Andy ‘the good twin.’”
She twisted around to look up at him. “Apology accepted.” Nice looking guy, with his black hair and gray eyes, but not as good looking as his brother. She wanted to ask him what his sister called him, but she didn’t want to start a conversation. She didn’t want anything to do with Susan’s ex-boyfriend.
“Are you here alone?”
“I was just leaving.” She finished her wine and dr
opped some money on the bar. When she stood to leave, Charlie was still standing there.
A familiar voice asked, “Is this your new boyfriend, Julie?”
She whipped around and saw Brent standing behind her, his blue eyes flashing with anger. When had he come in?
Brent’s hand closed around her arm so tightly, she winced. “Ow! Let go of me.”
“We’re leaving,” Brent said through clenched teeth.
Her heart pounded with fear. “You’re hurting me. Let go.”
Charlie stepped closer. “You heard the lady. Let go of her.”
Brent shoved her against the bar so hard it knocked her breath away. He swung at Charlie, but Charlie ducked and punched Brent on the chin. Brent shook it off and hit Charlie in the stomach, bringing a muffled “Oomph.” Poor Charlie. Womanizer or not, he didn’t deserve this.
Before Julie could move away from the bar, Brent grabbed her arm and yanked her toward the door.
She struggled, but couldn’t break his hold. The harder she fought, the tighter his grip. Panic bubbled into her throat and she kicked at him. “Let go of me, Brent!”
Andy blocked their way. “What’s going on?”
Charlie said, “That jerk is trying to kidnap your woman.”
“Let go of the lady,” Andy said. “Now!”
“Get the hell out of the way.” Brent tried to push Andy aside, but Andy punched Brent in the face. Brent flew back and hit a table and then the floor, pulling Julie down with him. A glass broke and her arm came down on the broken glass. The pain snatched her breath away.
Brent rolled to his side, spit blood on the floor, and moaned, but he didn’t get up.
Andy helped Julie to her feet. “You okay?”
She cupped her injured arm. “I cut my arm.”
Andy pulled a clean handkerchief from his back pocket and handed it to her. She held it over her bleeding arm. Brent stayed on the floor, moaning and holding his face. Julie couldn’t summon any sympathy.
“Thanks for helping me get away from him.”
“I wouldn’t trust any woman with him tonight.”
“I don’t want to be with him tonight or any other night. Do you hear me, Brent? It’s over. I don’t ever want to see you again. No more phone calls, no more following me, and no more breaking into my apartment. If you bother me again, I’ll call the police.” She should have called them yesterday, when he broke into her apartment and pushed her down.
Julie’s arm, especially her elbow, hurt like the dickens, and she’d have a big bruise on her other arm. Her eyes clouded with tears, but she blinked them back, unwilling to cry in front of all these people. Everyone in the place stared at her, probably wondering why on earth anyone would fight over her.
“I appreciate your help, Andy. I hope you didn’t hurt your hand.”
He flexed his hand. “It’s all right.”
Holding her head up, Julie walked back to the bar, thanked Charlie, and grabbed her purse. While Andy stood over Brent, she escaped to her car, but her hands shook too hard to drive. She couldn’t go home anyway. Brent would probably break the door down. She could go to her parents’ house, but she didn’t want to involve them. Dad would have a stroke if he knew how Brent had been treating her, and if Mom saw the blood on her sweater, she’d explode. The cashmere sweater had been a birthday gift. She’d only had it a week.
Andy walked over to Julie’s car, and she rolled the window down.
“The police are on the way,” he said. “They’ll want a statement from you.”
“I don’t want to go back inside.” She was too humiliated to face anyone in there.
“Then we’ll wait right here. Are you sure you’re all right?”
“You mean aside from my arm and my ego?”
He smiled. Oh, yeah, this guy was better looking than his brother. When he smiled, his brown eyes sparkled, and she wanted to take him home and run her fingers through his wavy hair. But she couldn’t go home unless the police took Brent to jail, and Andy probably had a girlfriend. Not that she was looking for another man tonight.
If the police report ended up in the newspaper and her name was mentioned, what would it do to her real estate business? She might have to move to Cleveland, where nobody knew her. If Brent wouldn’t leave her alone, she might have to leave town anyway.
Her arm burned and her sweater sleeve felt sticky with blood. She needed to clean the wound and put a bandage on it.
Andy stood beside her car until the police arrived with the paramedics. Patrons streamed out of the bar, probably people who didn’t want to get involved, not that he could blame them. He dreaded telling his father he and Charlie had gotten into a bar fight. Dad would take one look at Julie and assume they’d been fighting over her. Not that she wasn’t worth fighting over, but that wasn’t the way things went down.
He walked over and told the officer what had happened inside. “The woman he tried to drag out of the bar is sitting in her car. Julianne Tandry. She’s shaken and her arm is injured.”
While a paramedic checked out Julie’s injuries and the officer took her statement, Andy walked inside the bar to check on Charlie. He sat at the bar with a cute female officer, and the way she laughed, their conversation wasn’t all about business. No surprise there.
On his way out, Andy glanced at the man on the floor. The bastard would probably sue him for breaking his ugly nose.
Outside, Andy heard Julie tell the paramedic, “I’m not going to the hospital. I can’t afford it.”
“I’ll cover it,” said Andy.
“You definitely need stitches,” said the paramedic.
“It’ll be all right. Put a tight bandage on it.”
“I’ll take her to the hospital,” said Andy. She opened her mouth to protest, and he slowly shook his head. “I caused your injury when I hit what’s-his-name in there, so I’ll pay for the stitches.”
“But—”
“Woman, will you let me help you?”
Any other woman he knew would be bawling her eyes out by now. His arms itched to hold her and comfort her, but after what she’d been through tonight, she’d probably slap him silly if he touched her.
Andy’s father stood nearby, talking with one of the officers. Someone must have called him. Dad had run for mayor last year and, in spite of Charlie’s public escapades, won the election in a landslide. The family would undoubtedly have some unwanted publicity over this incident, but nobody could have predicted what happened tonight.
Dad walked over. “I can’t believe you got into a bar fight. Charlie, yes, but not you.”
“It’s my fault,” said Julie. “They were helping me.”
“It wasn’t your fault. It was…” Andy motioned to the bar. “Who did I hit?”
“Brent Bosch. His father owns River Valley Realty. I work there.”
“You’re a real estate agent?”
“Yes, but Bob probably won’t want me working there after tonight.”
Dad cocked his head. “Is Brent an agent, too?”
“He was until his license expired. We have to take ongoing training to renew our real estate licenses, and Brent didn’t take any. He wasn’t working anyway. He’s been spending all his time following me, calling me, breaking into my apartment, and making a general nuisance of himself.”
“That’s called stalking,” said Dad, “and it’s illegal.” He motioned to one of the officers. “Andy is taking Julie to the hospital to get stitches in her arm. Have someone meet her there to take her statement.”
“We have her statement about what happened tonight.”
“There’s a history of stalking here. Did you get that?”
“No, sir. I’ll take care of it myself.”
Sometimes Dad forgot he was no longer in charge of the police in River Valley. He’d held the job as chief for many years before his retirement last year.
The paramedic finished bandaging Julie’s elbow, and Andy drove her to the hospital. He hadn’t realized she’d bee
n hurt badly enough to need stitches, and he felt responsible for her pain. Instead of punching the man, he should have found another way to stop him from dragging Julie out of there.
<>
The emergency room nurse helped Julie take her sweater off and put a hospital gown on. “Did you know you had a bruise on your other arm?”
“Yes. Brent was playing cave man, trying to drag me out of the bar. He thinks he owns me.”
“Is Brent the guy who brought you in, the cute one with the wavy brown hair?”
“No, that’s Andy Kane. Brent wouldn’t let go of me, so Andy slugged him.” She sighed. “If I thought I could hit him hard enough to deck him, I would have done it myself.” When Brent was angry, he was as strong as a horse.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” the nurse asked.
“My ego is bruised, but I don’t think you can fix that.”
The nurse smiled. “At least your sense of humor is intact. You’ll need stitches in this arm, especially by the elbow.”
“Can’t you just bandage it?”
“It won’t heal right without stitches. Every time you bend your arm, it’ll break open.”
The nurse washed Julie’s arm, gently cleaning off the blood around the wound. “The doctor will be in soon, and there’s a police officer outside who wants to speak with you. I’ll send him in.”
Julie sat on the exam table, waiting for the doctor, when Andy pushed the curtain back and walked in with the police officer she’d spoken with outside the bar. The officer took her statement about Brent’s behavior over the past two or three months, then took pictures of her injuries. She hoped they’d arrest Brent and lock him in jail, where he couldn’t bother her again, but she doubted it would happen. She hadn’t been documenting the stalking incidents or notifying the police when it happened, so except for what Brent had done tonight, the police had no real evidence against him.
After the officer left, Andy sat beside the exam table. “The nurse said you needed someone to hold your hand while the doctor stitched you up. I volunteered.”
“My hero. I’ve never had stitches.”
“I have, mostly because of Charlie. Living with him was like taking survival training.”
That wasn’t surprising, given what Susan had told her about Charlie. “Are you really twins?”
