Taste for Trouble (Blake Brothers Trilogy)

by Sey, Susan

  “I’m about to do something relatively illegal.” Drew turned flat eyes on him. “Plausible deniability would suggest you take a quick walk.”

  James blinked. “What?”

  Audrey threaded her arm through his. “Walking!” She dragged him to the window overlooking the driveway. “What a pretty day. Look at the view, will you?”

  He glanced over his shoulder at Drew’s dark, bent head and wondered when his baby brother had moved beyond geek territory and into hacker land. Wondered what else he’d missed, because he was starting to think he’d missed plenty lately. Enough to drive three of the most important people in his life into hiding. Christ. Some instincts.

  A printer hummed to life in the corner and James leapt for it. The pages were hot, the information bare-bones, and James scanned it avidly. He read it a second time more slowly, while his stomach knotted with horror and disgust. While his heart wept with pity.

  Losing his parents had been the shittiest thing life had ever thrown at James, and it was the gold standard by which he judged all life’s shittiness. The shittiness Bel had survived hadn’t even been on his radar. He handed the papers silently to Audrey, and met Drew’s sad, patient eyes.

  “How the hell did this happen?” he asked. Drew shrugged.

  “Kids land in the system for all kinds of non-criminal reasons,” Audrey said quietly. “Your parents take a walk and there’s no family to step up? Hello, juvie.”

  He glanced at Audrey, at the cold anger in her eyes. A pang of sick dismay edged up his throat. “Is that what happened to Jillian?” he asked. “A stint in juvie?”

  “No.” Her smile was faint but fierce. “Jillian has family. She has me.”

  “Lucky kid.” He worked up a smile. “But what about foster families for those who aren’t?”

  “There aren’t nearly enough of them, particularly not those willing to take on older kids like Bel would have been.”

  “But why would she need fostering in the first place?” he asked, while sick anger churned inside him. “Vivi might not have been a first rate mom but, God, she’s alive, isn’t she? I can’t imagine that she’d have abandoned her own—”

  “Of course you can’t.” Audrey handed the papers back. “People with normal moms seldom can.”

  He accepted that in silence, and rage prickled at the edges of his mind.

  “Academic records,” Drew said quietly. “Coming right up.”

  James didn’t bother to ask how the hell he’d managed that one. He was too busy fighting the urge to break something. Because while breaking shit would be a righteous outlet for the rage boiling inside him, it wouldn’t help him think. And he needed to think. Slowly, coldly, rationally. Because he simply could not grasp the idea of Bel—his beautiful, gentle Bel who made homes everywhere she went—living in a concrete dungeon like the one where they’d just taught those hard-eyed girls to bake.

  Especially when her mother was damn well alive.

  He flashed back to Bel’s disappearing act at the girls’ school, and a bunch of puzzle pieces fell into place. Kate had known. That canny bitch had known. She’d sent Bel there on purpose, same as she’d invited Vivi last night. She’d buried her landmines for maximum possible damage, but his girl had grit. Bel had walked right through with a strength and courage he could hardly imagine. A strength and courage he’d betrayed.

  He didn’t deserve a second swing. He knew that. But he was going to take one anyway. Or die trying.

  Four hours later, James was still very much alive and no closer to locating Bel. Bob and Will were still in the wind, too. He rubbed a palm over the banging emptiness inside him and decided to name it hunger. It was pushing noon and he hadn’t eaten since the night before. He could probably do with a sandwich or something. He doubted it would fix whatever was wrong inside him but it was something to do. And he desperately needed something to do.

  “Hey, why don’t I get us something to eat?” He leapt to his feet with an abruptness that had Jillian in the window seat glancing up from her book with a startled frown. He dug his keys out of his pocket. “I’ll just run into town—”

  “Are you kidding?” Audrey said. “You saw the fridge. We have enough leftovers from last night to feed a small army. It would be a crime to go buy more food.”

  “Oh.” He forced a smile. “Right.”

  Of course the kitchen was full of food. Bel wouldn’t have left it any other way. She’d made his kitchen the heart of his house—full of light and color, good food and laughter. And now—food or no food—it was empty as hell. And he couldn’t face that.

  “How about Jillian and I see what we can rustle up?” Audrey said quickly. James figured his poker face could use some work. “You should stay here in case...Well, in case.” Now it was her turn to force a smile. Nice.

  “Fine,” James said. “Thanks.”

  “Come on, Jillian,” she said. “Let’s go see about lunch.”

  The door swished shut behind them and he was right back to where he’d started. Desperate to take action, no action to take. Fuck.

  He laced his fingers behind his head and started pacing the perimeter. He was going to wear a track in the floor at this rate.

  Drew shot him a sympathetic glance. “Have you tried her cell?”

  “Every half hour since dawn.” James reached the corner and hung a left. Headed for the next corner. “Complete with increasingly pathetic messages.”

  “Okay, that should probably stop.” Drew went back to his screen. “We’re going to find her and you’ll get a chance to make your case face to face. Meantime? Let’s not get into restraining order territory.”

  James stopped pacing, dug his fingers into his hair and gripped his scalp. “Drew, I was such an ass last night.”

  “Kind of our specialty, bro.”

  James dragged his hands down his face, blew out a breath. “That shit’s got to change.”

  “Okay.”

  “We have to change, Drew.” He frowned into space, struck. “You, me, Will? We’ve got to pull our shit together.”

  “Right.”

  “We’ve been boys long enough. Been a hell of a run, but it’s time to grow up.”

  “Wait, what?” Drew finally looked up from his monitor, startled. “You fell in love so we have to grow up?”

  “This is some brave new territory for the Blake boys,” James mused, continuing to pace. “But Bel deserves better than—” He waved an arm that took in the Wii and the massive couch, the beer fridge and the computer guts. “—well, than this.”

  “What’s wrong with this?” Drew looked around. “I like our this.”

  James continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “Better than us, that’s for sure. The drinking, the fighting, the suspensions, the scenes—”

  “Hey, don’t blame your shit on us. Bel was cool with me and Will. She didn’t blow town until you got all judgy on her family situation.”

  James scowled, ashamed. “Well, that might’ve been, you know, the last straw but—”

  “And telling me and Will you loved her before you told her?” Drew snorted. “What kind of asshole does that?”

  He jammed his hands in his pockets, mortified. “How do you know I didn’t tell her?”

  “Please. I saw her face in the kitchen last night when Will outed you.” He sent James a beatific smile. “She looked like you’d rapped her on the melon with that meat mallet of hers. No wonder she left.”

  “Oh, hell.” James dropped his head. “I have got to stop fucking this up.”

  “Well, sure.” Drew shrugged. “She’s a peach, our Bel. You want to deserve her, you’d better man up.”

  “But how?”

  “How what?”

  “How do I man up?”

  Drew blinked. “You’re asking me?”

  James threw out helpless hands. “Bob was my first choice. Then Will, maybe. But since they’re both in the fucking wind? Yeah. You.” Fear and love tangled messily together inside him and he rolled his s
houlders, trying to settle it all. “I love her, Drew. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to be what she needs, and it’s pure killing me. So if you have an idea, I wish you’d lay it on me.”

  “Huh.” Drew leaned back in his chair and linked his fingers thoughtfully behind his head. “You’re serious.”

  “Yeah.” James shoved his hands into his pockets again and shrugged miserably. “I am.”

  “Well, shit.”

  “I know, right?”

  The door flew open—hard enough to bang the wall—and Audrey appeared. “Hey, guys.” Her smile was big, bright and furious. “Look what I found in the kitchen.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Drew looked at her empty hands. “Not lunch,” he said dolefully.

  “No.” Audrey’s smile was a vicious slice of fury. “Not lunch.” She stepped into the room, folded her arms and aimed all that malevolence at the threshold. “I found your stupid brother.”

  Will appeared in the doorway, wary and rangy in jeans and a button-down shirt. He looked tired and thin, and not precisely happy to be there. James vaulted over the couch and pelted toward the door. Will’s hands jerked up automatically, half-curled, then dropped. It was like his nervous system said fight, his conscience said don’t, and Will himself was reaching for his better angels. By the time James hit the door, Will’s hands were up again, but open and empty this time.

  “James, hey. Listen, I—”

  He grabbed Will by the scruff of the neck and hauled him into his arms. Squeezed the ever-living hell out of him and laughed in relief. Will had come back. His family wasn’t complete—never would be without Bel beside him—but it was one hell of a lot better than it had been two minutes ago. He pulled back to grin at his wayward brother. “Hey yourself, bro.”

  Will arched one brow. “That’s it? Just hey? No where the hell have you been, you asshole?”

  “Nope.” James clapped him on the shoulder. “You’ll tell me that when you’re ready, I imagine. Meanwhile, I’m just happy to see your ugly face.”

  “But if it’ll make you feel better?” Audrey stepped up and punched Will’s shoulder, hard. “Where have you been, you asshole?”

  “Ow.” He rubbed his shoulder and scowled at her. “Why are you hitting me?”

  “We needed you here!” She hit him again. (Ow. More scowling.) “Do you have any idea what’s been going on here this morning? Bel’s gone! Gone, you jerk! And poor James is beating himself up thinking it’s all his fault but your hands aren’t exactly clean where Bel’s concerned, and you know it. So instead of running off without a word like a whiny-pants jerk wad—”

  “Whiny-pants jerk wad.” Drew rolled the words around his mouth like a professional wine taster. “Nice.”

  “—you should have been here for him. For us! But no, not you. You were too busy doing God knows what with God knows who, probably putting down whole bottles of expensive God knows what the whole time! So if he—” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder at James, who took an automatic step back. Audrey had some temper on her and James was a prudent man. “—can find the grace to forgive you, you can pony up some goddamn gratitude!”

  “You’re right.” Will put up those hands again. “Okay, you’re right. I’m not going to argue. I deserve that.”

  Audrey frowned. “Well, of course you do.” But it was muttered, half-hearted.

  “And if you’ll give me a few minutes, I’ll explain everything. Where I’ve been, why I went, why I’m going back.”

  “Going back?” James frowned. “But you just—”

  He shifted that gaze to James. “I can tell you about Bel, too, though I don’t know as much on that score.”

  “You’ve talked to Bel?” Hope exploded almost painfully within him and he grabbed Will’s arm. “Where is she? What did she say? Is she all right? Did she—”

  Will gripped James’ shoulder. “She’s fine. Pissed at you and unhappy in general but fine. She’s why I’m fine—or going to be—and she’s why I’m here.” He nodded toward the couch. “Sit down and I’ll tell you everything I know.”

  James and Drew headed for the couch but Audrey hesitated in the doorway.

  “You, too, Audrey.” Will smiled at her. James gaped. It had been years since Will had smiled and it hadn’t felt like a weapon. “You deserve to hear this, too.”

  “Oh, but—” She glanced toward the door.

  “Jillian’s fine. She’s in her room with one of Drew’s e-readers.”

  “Uh oh.” Drew sat forward. “Which one?”

  Audrey tensed. “The blue one. The mini-tablet?”

  “Okay.” Drew smiled. “That’s fine, then. Porn’s on the red one.”

  She stared for a moment. “Right. I’ll remember that.” She sank onto the couch with a muttered Lord Almighty.

  Drew turned his attention back to Will. “All right. Lay it on us.”

  “So Bob called me last night.” Will tucked the tips of his fingers into the pockets of his jeans and faced them over the coffee table. “Late last night. Well after Audrey and Drew made sure I was in bed like a good boy.” James’ brows lifted. The words were right, the twisted smile was as usual, but he had the feeling Will wasn’t mocking anybody but himself. And that was unusual. But impatience prodded him with sharp fingers so he filed it away for chewing over later. “He made me an offer.”

  “What was it?” Drew was big on audience participation.

  “His agency.”

  “What?” Audrey’s eyes went huge.

  Drew said, “He wants to give you the agency?”

  “Hell, no. He wants to sell me the agency. Apparently he’s retiring, effective immediately—”

  “Yeah, we heard,” James murmured.

  “—and wanted to sell the agency. Wondered if I was interested.”

  “Just the agency?” Audrey leaned forward, eyes narrowed. “Or is he giving you the client list, too?”

  “Oh, the whole thing, bait and tackle. Reasonable pricing.” His lips twisted again. “But there were conditions.”

  “Aren’t there always?” Drew grinned. “But I’ve seen you negotiate a contract. You eat conditions for breakfast. You clean conditions’ clock! You take conditions to the—”

  “I accepted them both as-is.”

  Drew’s mouth dropped open. Audrey frowned. James said, “There were only two?”

  Will nodded. “Only two.”

  “What were they?”

  “Number one? The sale doesn’t go through until I get out of rehab.”

  “Rehab?” Now Drew’s eyes went huge.

  “Thirty days, in patient.”

  Drew considered that. “I don’t know, Will. You drink a fair bit but rehab?”

  “Yes, rehab,” Audrey snapped. “It’s where you go when drinking moves beyond a hobby and into a lifestyle. Now shut up.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  James hadn’t shifted his gaze from Will. He didn’t know how Will felt about rehab but if he was willing to do it in order to make this move, then fine. His decision. Wouldn’t hurt Will a bit to lay off the drink, and everybody knew it.

  But he hadn’t mentioned the second condition yet, and James had an idea he was gathering his courage. So he waited.

  Will said, “Bob even had a rehab facility in mind already, some place he’s sent clients before. Evidently, when you’re in the business of making multi-millionaires out of twenty-year-olds, you develop resources that way.” He shrugged. “I filled out the paperwork this morning. I check in tonight.”

  “That’s wonderful, Will.” For once, Audrey sounded absolutely sincere.

  “I fucking hate everything about it.”

  “But you’re going.”

  “Oh, I’m going, all right.” He huffed out a short laugh and dropped his head. “She didn’t leave me a choice.”

  “She?” James’ stomach dipped suddenly.

  “Bel.” Will lifted his head and met James’ eyes straight up. “Evidently, it was her idea.�
�

  “Of course it was,” Audrey murmured. “That girl is something else.”

  “No kidding.” Drew’s tone was awed. “I’ve been tempted to kiss her in the kitchen myself. Nobody scrambles an egg like Bel. Glad I remembered myself now.” He whistled. “Rehab, Jesus.”

  “What, you think this is some kind of petty revenge?” She made a disgusted noise. “This isn’t for her. It’s for him.” She jerked her chin at Will. “You think he was Bob’s first choice to buy his agency? Please. Bel’s just made Will the world’s prettiest bed, not that he deserves it. All she’s asking is that he lie down in it sober.”

  Will’s head stayed down and James imagined he was concentrating all his energy on leashing that sharp tongue of his. Will was a stubborn bastard but he wasn’t stupid. Audrey had a point.

  “Hey, where is this place?” James asked. Rehab was one thing—likely a very good thing—but he didn’t want Will disappearing again. “Will we be allowed to visit?”

  Will gave a jerky shrug. “Not for the first week, I don’t think. But after that, sure. It’s in Virginia. Not too far. Pretty country.”

  “Okay.” He sat back, but his hand crept to his heart, to the hollowness still banging away there. “All right. Now for God’s sake, what’s the second condition?”

  Will paused, and James’ heart banged harder. “The second condition is that I pass along a message and extract a promise.”

  “A promise?”

  “Yeah. To Bob.”

  “God.” James scrubbed both hands through his hair and put his elbows on his knees. Drew’s hand found his shoulder, gave it a bracing squeeze. “Okay, I’m ready. Hit me. What’s the message?”

  “It’s not word-for-word,” Will warned him. “So don’t try to read between the lines or anything. Bob said to tell you that Bel’s sorry she left without saying goodbye but she’ll be back.”

  “She’s coming back?” James shot to his feet. “Oh, thank Christ. When?”

  “Christmas.” Will rocked back on his heels. “Bob’s launching some new venture—” He put the words in finger quotes. “—and he’s apparently hired Bel as his personal assistant.” He threw up a flat hand. “Don’t ask me what or where it is because I have no idea. Bob didn’t say and I didn’t ask. I only know that they’ll be on-site with it until Christmas at which point they’ll come home and Bel will come see you.”