Chapter 18
Bayne
I walk into my home to hear my brother shouting at Kitt. I tear through the foyer and kitchen, finding them in the living room.
They’re standing in the middle of the carpet, dangerously close to one another shouting, but I’m too enraged at what I’m seeing to even hear the words they’re saying.
Eamon and I agreed he would stay away until I told him otherwise. And her, she’s a grown woman. She should know better than to answer the door while I’m away. Anyone could have come in. I knew I should never have left the house, never should have taken my eyes off of her.
“What the hell is going on here?” I demand, my tone as always deeper and more threatening than I mean for it to be. “Why are you two standing so close?”
Or do I? Have I been here before?
They look over their shoulders at me in unison. Shocked. Caught in the act. What act, exactly, I’m not entirely sure.
I trust my brother implicitly, but my messed-up brain fucks me over. Seeing them there, together, the closeness, my heart rate skyrockets. A flash of a red door, a plaid couch, my girl lying there, my dad on top of her. I see red, like the door, anger raging inside of me.
I grab my brother by the front collar of his shirt, pulling him close. “What are you doing here, Eamon? I told you to stay away.”
Holding him tight, I stare at her. “And why the hell did you let someone in.”
Double her weight and strength, the look she gives me still instantly makes me loosen my hold on his collar. Hands on her hips, brows narrow, she reads me the riot act. “It’s your brother! Put him down. Now!”
I look at Eamon.
He shrugs, giving me those damn innocent pup eyes. “I was just helping you out. DI Collins was heading here. I followed him.”
“Collins? What was Collins doing here?” I let him go, taking a step back.
Running a hand through my hair, I force myself to take a breath. To make the red door, the plaid couch, her purple face go away. Eamon’s not my enemy. I trust him with my life. “Sorry, brother. I shouldna grabbed you like that.”
“Darn right, you shouldn’t!” Kitty Cat actually shakes a finger at me, looking at me with all kinds of disapproval, ready to pull her pretty claws out. “We were just running lines.”
“What’s that mean?” I ask.
“Nothing.” Eamon shakes his head, shoving papers into the pocket of his denim jacket.
She moves toward me, her tone dripping with disappointment. I feel guilty and don’t even know what I’ve done. This girl—the hold she has on me. Fuck.
She says, “He’s interested in acting, Bayne. And he’s really, really good.”
“Acting?” I’ve never heard this before. “I had no idea.”
Fishermen, horse traders, builders. Bayne men work with their hands, working the land, the animals, the seas. Sure, a few of us might pick up a fiddle or cello now and then, playing it at a wedding or down the pub, but acting…
I stare at my baby brother like I’m seeing him for the first time.
Hollywood smile. Angles in a handsome face. Such bright, enthusiastic energy that you’re incapable of not giving him your attention.
“Well, let me hear it.” I sink down onto the couch, crossing my ankle over my thigh. “Let me see what you’ve got.”
Eamon gives me a long look, like he’s not going to perform for me, but eventually his good nature overtakes his Bayne genes, as per usual. He pulls the papers from his pocket.
“Fine. But laugh and I’ll cut you.” He’s half joking.
“Easy, lad,” I warn.
Ten minutes later I’m enthralled in some ridiculous space fantasy. Their two characters have the strangest names.
The plot is shit.
But Eamon… I can’t take my eyes off him.
He’s incredible.
They reach the part I walked in on. They’re having an argument that looks like it’s heading to a kiss. My cue. I fly up from the couch, sidling between them to congratulate my brother.
“You’re so talented, Eamon. I had no idea.” I give him a brief hug, then release him with a hard pat on his back to make up for the moment of softness.
“Isn’t he?” Kitt’s glowing, staring at him like he’s already a star.
Eamon shakes his head. “Stop it, you two. You’re gonna blow my head up bigger than it already is.”
Kitt says, “I should take you back to LA with me when I go. I’m certain you could get signed with an agency. Get some auditions.”
He could be a star, couldn’t he? What if he could make it in films? The places they tape are far, far away from the problems of our island.
A new, vibrant life for my golden boy.
“Stay for dinner,” Kitt says to Eamon. “I’m marinating steaks.”
My stomach growls.
“No. I’ve got to get back.” Eamon gives Kitt a quick peck on the cheek. “But I’ll see you both at my birthday party.”
“You know Kitt can’t come,” I say.
Eamon eyes me as he breezes past me. “Walk me out?”
“Sure.” I look at Kitt. “Be right back.”
“I’ll start dinner.” She offers me a soft smile, our earlier tension gone.
Outside with the door closed, I ask Eamon, “What did Collins want? And why didn’t you call me when you heard he was heading this way?”
“I knew you’d follow him and make it obvious that you were. Further incriminating yourself. I just popped up, telling him I was stopping in for a cuppa. He left right after.”
I can’t deny the boy is right. “What did he say?” I ask.
He eyes me. “You’ll be needing to ask Kitt for all the details. I only got the tail end of things. I heard him asking her something about a roommate back at her college in California. Saying she didn’t come home one night when a boy died.”
“Strange.”
“Aye.” He nods, that shock of hair falling over his eye. “I was wishing I’d heard the rest of the conversation, but then he turned onto Clive. You should have seen her handle him. The detective tried to shame her into spilling her guts, but she told Collins she didn’t owe nobody nothing, then I stepped in and shooed him off.”
“If Collins knew to look for her here, then he knows it was the Kings who were involved,” I say.
“Of course he does,” Eamon says. “Who else would it be? A gang of puffins united in their cause to take back the land?”
Ignoring his youthful antics, I fill him in on what I did prior to returning home. “I’m glad you’re here. I needed to tell you something. I told the brothers about her, just before I left the big house. Told them all.”
His face darkens for a moment, thinking of his nemesis. “Even old Jonjo?”
“Yes, Eamon. Your big brother even managed to get ol’ Jonjo the shark to lay off the scent of her blood.”
“Good!” His face positively lights up. “So, she can come to my birthday party.”
“That’s your first thought? I just told you the Kings know that the one witness to our crime is right here on the island, and you want to bring her to your party?”
“What? She’s lovely. The boys are going to love her!”
There’ll be no boys “loving” her under my watchful eye. “Slow down with that kind of talk.”
“You know they’ll know enough to be respectful.” He eyes me. “Except for old Jonjo. You make sure he’s got other plans that night. I don’t want him anywhere near my party.”
“Will do.” I’ve been breaking up fights between those two boys since they were wee ones. “I can handle Jonjo.”
“But bring Kitt, please. She needs to be introduced to some good Scottish culture and nothing says Scotland like the Hobgoblin. And the Burnes boys are bringing their instruments down from the Highlands to play us a tune.” He gives me a naughty wink. “Maybe she’ll even give you a dance.”
“Enough.”
He keeps going. “Now that our Kitty Cat is out of the bag, can I invite Fiona and Carol Ann? She’d love to see them.”
“OurKitty Cat?” I cross my arms over my chest. “Didn’t the way I stormed up in here tell you that she’s not to be shared?”
“What do you mean?” Mischief flashes in my brother’s eyes. “Is she your woman now?”
“No.” I shake my head. “You’re talking nonsense. I just don’t want anyone thinking they can have her because of the tender position she’s in.”
“If I am, then I guess you won’t be minding if a Burnes boy were to ask her to dance? Spencer, one of the interns, was smitten with her. Told Cal all about her.” He leans against the frame of the door, his stance casual and fluid in comparison to the stone wall that is my current pose. “Cal said he’d never met an American girl before.”
“Callum, you say?”
“Yeah. Cal.”
Callum Burnes is cocky ‘cause he’s too good-looking for his own good, sporting a long beard, beads woven into the ends of it, bringing it down into a long point like he’s back in the Viking days. My own nemesis from school.
“Sure,” I agree. “He’ll have a dance with her.”
“Alright. I’ll tell Spence?—”
“I wasn’t finished.”
“Aye. Didn’t mean to interrupt you.” Eamon shoves his hands into his jacket pockets.
“Callum Burnes can have his dance with Kitt,” I say. “Dancing right over my dead body. ‘Cause that’s the only way a Burnes boy is going to get his hands on our Kitty Cat, as you call her.”
“What about a Bayne boy? Maybe I’d fancy a dance.” The teasing light sparkles in his gaze. Knowing me better than anyone else on this earth, he can sense my boundaries.
And he would never, ever cross them.
“You’re a funny kid. You know that?” I shove him toward his wee blue Volkswagen Jetta. “Now get out of here before I box your ears.”
When I get back in the house the kitchen’s already filled with the warm scent of good food cooking. How she makes searing a steak look sexy, I’ve no idea.
Focusing on business, I ignore her figure. “I need to talk to you. About Collins and what he was here for.”
“Oh, that?” She waves the tongs she’s cooking with in the air. “Just a little misunderstanding from back home.”
“A little misunderstanding? Last I checked, Detective Investigators don’t just go wandering over to people’s homes to ask about wee misunderstandings that happened on the other side of God’s green earth.” I stare at her. “Someone from California must have contacted him. Someone important.”
“Hmm,” she says, focusing her attention on the steaks in her pan.
I move in closer, determined to get the truth from her. “Tell me exactly why he was here.”
“I will tell you. Can’t we just have a nice dinner first? Please?” She glances up at me, pleading with those big brown eyes.
How do you say no to a woman with eyes like those?
“Fine. But I want every word out of you.” I grab plates to set the table. “It smells amazing.”
My stomach takes over, the good meal dulling my anger. The girl can cook. She’s quiet at dinner, barely touching her food. Seeing how much I’m enjoying the meal, she plops her uneaten steak on my plate.
I cut off a few small bites, shoveling them back onto hers. “You need to eat. Have that at least.”
“Okay.” She pops one into her mouth, chewing delicately.
When we’re done, she goes to clear the plates. I grab her hand to stop her. “Sit.”
She looks down at me, unsure.
“Sit. Now.”
She slips back into her chair. “Where do I begin?”
“At the beginning.”
I had a friend in college. Lilly. She had a boyfriend. We didn’t hang out as much once she started dating him.”
“Why not?”
“He was kind of controlling. I didn’t like him. He would ask her to do stuff for him. Stuff that could have gotten him into trouble, but he risked her instead. She couldn’t see that. I tried to tell her once that if he loved her, he wouldn’t put her in that position. He would do it for himself.
“I was supposed to meet her at a party. I was so excited she’d reached out. But just as I got out of my Uber, I got this strange text from her, telling me to meet her at the side yard of the house.
“Her boyfriend was there. On the ground. Unresponsive. The drugs he’d made her buy him had been laced. They killed him.”
“Why would the cops be looking for you?”
“Lilly disappeared on me. I was feeling for a pulse, doing CPR. It didn’t work. He was already gone. But I tried anyway. When I looked up from his body, she was gone.”
“Your friend left you there? Alone?”
She shrugs. “I guess she didn’t want to be there when the cops came. Didn’t want to get into trouble. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t stand the thought of talking to the police alone. I think I was in shock. I’d never seen a dead body. It was cold and breathing into his mouth… I ran home to my mom to get help.”
“And then what happened.”
For the first time since she started her story, she looks up at me. “She told me to stay home. That it would ruin Lilly’s life and mine if we told. She burned my clothes. We found this internship here. And we waited for things to blow over.”
“But they aren’t.”
She shakes her head, dark hair falling around her face. “Apparently not. A cop from my county contacted Collins, looking for me. Collins apparently knew I was here, I don’t know how, but he did. He was questioning me when Eamon came up.”
“Eamon did the right thing. But you never should have answered that door.”
“I would have called you when I heard the knock,” she says. “If I’d had my phone. I want it back.”
“No. Hell no.” I rake a hand through my hair. “I’ve told the boys you’re here. Now I can stay home with you. Keep an eye on you till we figure all this out.”
She mulls over the information before saying, “You told?”
“Aye.” I nod. “It was best for everyone.”
Her eyes light from within. “So now I can see Fiona and Carol Ann again?”
“I don’t know.” I push back my chair. “I’ve only just told the Kings. Give me time to sort it out.”
She flies out of her seat, clinging to my arm. “I want to see them. I want to go back to work. I have something I need to talk to the professor about and I know Fiona and Carol Ann will want to see me.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know if that’s safe.”
“You’re a big, strong man. Surely you can figure it out. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to see people, to go out again—” She stops talking, giving me a curious stare. “Unless.”
“Unless what?” I say.
Her gaze hardens. “Unless you want to keep me here. For no other reason that just to control me.”
“Why would I do that?” I ask.
“I have no idea.” She crosses her arms over her chest in defiance. “But it sounds like something a man like you might do.”
“Man like me,” I say. “What does that mean?”
“You know. Controlling. Dangerous. Violent.” Her eyes narrow at me. “A man who thinks the laws don’t apply to him.”
Throwing stones after the story she’s just told me? “Look who’s talking.”
She’s one tough cookie, turning my jab back on me. “I just told you a painful story and you’re going to throw it back in my face? That’s something a man with control issues would do. You can’t keep me here against my will any longer.”
I take a step closer, towering over her. “Want to make a bet? You don’t step out that door,” I point to the locked front door, “until I say it’s safe.”
Straightening her spine, she stands tall. “But if everyone knows I’m here, what’s the problem? By now they should know I’m not going to talk.”
“All they know is that you’ve spoken to police. Twice. Once of your own accord. And even though I trust every Bayne-blooded man to do as I ask, I’m not there with the Burnes clan yet.” I stare her down. “I don’t know what they’d do to you.”
Finally, she looks away, staring down at the floor. “All the more reason to give me my phone. If you truly care about my safety.”
Anger boils in me. “When will you finally see that everything I do, I do to keep you safe! From the moment I brought you to that cottage, warned you to keep your mouth shut, to bringing you here?—”
Her gaze snaps back up to meet mine. “You could have sent me back to LA. Like everyone thought you did.”
“Out of my sight? You think our enemies can’t use a plane? How out of touch are you? Jesus. I swear you have absolutely no natural inclination for keeping yourself safe. There’s a whole big world out there you need to be concerned with.”
She says something else, mumbling about it being my fault and it pisses me off so much I don’t know what to do other than make her shut up. She’s not hearing my point. I just want her to stop talking.
I grab her in my arms and kiss her.
Hard.
For a moment she freezes in my arms. But I don’t stop. I force my tongue into her mouth, swiping against hers. She melts into me.
And I know—now that I’ve crossed that line and kissed her…
I can’t stop.