After the Storm (2 page)

She was so surprised that she couldn’t do anything more than nod.

As Sean stalked away, she stared in bewilderment after him.

He actually acted like he . . .
cared
.

CHAPTER 2

EVE
looked up from the tattered, worn couch where Cammie was finally sleeping, sprawled across Eve’s lap when Travis walked in the door of the dilapidated one-bedroom trailer they rented.

“Is she any better?” Travis asked anxiously as he walked over to the couch.

Eve ran a hand over Cammie’s forehead, a motion she’d repeated several times over the last hours.

“Her fever is down a little,” Eve said in a low voice. “I’m so worried. We can’t take her to the hospital or even a doctor. It’s too risky. But I can’t get her fever to break no matter what I do.”

Travis’s expression darkened with the same worry and fatigue Eve felt herself. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out three twenty-dollar bills.

“I know it’s not much,” he said. “But I’m going in tomorrow morning for a few hours too. The lady who hired me is really nice. She even bought me lunch.”

Eve took the money, tears burning her eyelids. She swallowed hard, determined to remain strong and not allow Travis to see how scared and worried she was. But he knew.

“I hate that you have to work,” she said fiercely. “As soon as Cammie is better, I’ll find work. I promise.”

Travis’s nostrils flared. “No. Cammie needs you. I’ll do whatever I can. If I can’t get in enough hours at the hardware store, I’ll find something else. I don’t want you to worry, Evie. I’ll take care of us. I swear it.”

Eve patted the space on the couch beside her and then wrapped an arm around her younger brother when he sat.

“I love you. We’ll get through this, Trav. I promise. We’ll find a way to stay together and be safe.”

He hugged her back, holding and squeezing, offering her the comfort she offered him.

“We’ll make it, Evie. We’ll never have to go back to that bastard. I’ll protect you and Cammie both. I won’t let him hurt you again.”

Eve cupped his cheek, feeling the slight bristle of the first growth of beard on his jaw. He was so young. Far too young to be saddled with so much responsibility. It should be her taking care of Travis and Cammie. She should have never left them with their father. It was a decision she’d regret for the rest of her life, even though she’d had no other choice. But thank God, she’d gotten them out when she did. Before Walt Breckenridge could act on his sick fantasies.

It had been bad enough that he’d put the moves on Eve after her mother died, but when he’d turned his attention on Cammie . . . Sweet, darling four-year-old Cammie. Eve shuddered, sick at heart, nausea rolling in her stomach when she imagined Cammie’s father trying to molest her.

She wished she had killed him. That she’d found a way to kill him. She would have gladly gone to jail for the rest of her life if it meant Cammie and Travis were safe. They’d been lucky to escape with their own lives. But Eve wasn’t a fool. Walt wouldn’t give up so easily.

Already she was a wanted woman. Walt had filed kidnapping charges and had painted Eve as an emotionally unstable person who needed constant supervision and psychiatric care. No one would believe Eve. Because Walt was wealthy. He wielded a lot of power and influence. He had far-reaching connections that ensured he could get away with murder. He
had
gotten away with murder.

Dover, Tennessee, seemed a lifetime away from where they’d fled from the West Coast. It was a small, quiet town nestled close to Kentucky Lake. It was here she’d sought refuge after running for the last several months. She hadn’t intended to stay even this long, but Cammie was sick and they needed money. And a plan. Where to go next. What to do. How to survive.

She couldn’t afford to let her guard down even for a minute. No matter how safe it seemed here, how secluded and out of the way, she couldn’t depend on not being found here. Which meant that she needed to keep moving.

It was no way to live. It wasn’t the life she wanted for her siblings. She wanted better for them. Wanted Cammie to have all the things a normal four-year-old should. And Travis . . . He needed to be in school. He excelled. Made good grades. Was a natural-born athlete. He could easily get an academic or athletic scholarship. But that was now impossible. She couldn’t put him in school, and she hadn’t the tools or the knowledge to homeschool him.

One day. It was a vow she made on a daily basis. One day they’d have a normal existence and Travis would have the education he deserved and Cammie would grow up a happy, secure child not having to worry that her own father would abuse her.

“Evie, are you okay?”

Travis’s worried question shook her from her thoughts. She glanced up to see that he was staring intently at her. It was obvious he’d said something to her before that she’d missed, being so deep in her thoughts. She forced a smile and nodded.

“I’m fine, Trav. And the money will help. I need to buy more medicine for Cammie and we need food. As soon as she is better, I’ll be more comfortable leaving her with you so I can work. I don’t want you working so much. You need to be exposed as little as possible.”

“You’re the one who’s wanted,” Travis said fiercely. “It’s you who should stay out of sight. They wouldn’t arrest me. They’d just try to return me to that asshole. If they catch you, you’ll go to jail. I won’t let that happen.”

She smiled again, stroking a hand over Cammie’s hot, dry cheek. Cammie stirred slightly and then opened bleary, fever-dulled eyes.

“Trav?” she asked sleepily.

Travis’s entire expression softened. “I’m here. How are you feeling?”

“Better now that you and Evie are both here. I don’t like it when you go away.”

Eve and Travis exchanged stricken looks. Cammie was deathly afraid of being separated from Eve and Travis. It broke Eve’s heart that this child had so much to fear in life. That someone who should have taken absolute care of her had betrayed her in the worst way.

“I had to work,” Travis said in a gentle tone. “We need money so we can get you medicine to make you better. And food! How does a hot meal sound to you? Maybe some soup?”

Cammie wrinkled her nose. “I’m tired of soup.”

Eve’s chest tightened. Soup was all they could afford. They existed on cheap foods. Ramen noodles. Canned soups. Sandwich meat and bread.

“Tell you what,” Travis said, leaning over Eve so Cammie could better see him. “I’m working again tomorrow and there’s this really great sandwich shop just a few doors down. If you’re feeling up to a solid meal, I’ll bring you home a burger tomorrow. They’re really good. I had one today.”

Cammie’s face lit up. “That sounds yummy. Thanks, Trav.”

“You’re welcome. Now I want you to rest and get better, okay?”

Cammie nodded and closed her eyes, snuggling more firmly into Eve’s side.

“Do you want me to go out and get her medicine?” Travis asked in a low voice.

“Yes. We need acetaminophen and ibuprofen. I’ve been alternating between the two. And she needs something for her cough. Maybe some liquid cold medicine. Get the off brand. Whatever is cheapest. We have enough food to last until tomorrow. After you come home from work, I’ll run out and get some food while you stay with Cammie. For now, just get the medicine from the pharmacy and come right back.”

Travis nodded and then squeezed Eve’s hand. “It’s going to be okay, Evie.”

She squeezed back, praying with her entire heart that she wasn’t lying. “I know it will.”

CHAPTER 3

DONOVAN
Kelly glanced over at his dad’s hardware store as he drove by. It was a habit all his brothers had of taking a look when they were in the area just to make sure everything was as it should be.

He braked hard when he saw Rusty’s Jeep parked out front. Executing a quick U-turn, he drove back and pulled in beside her vehicle. The “Closed” sign was up but a light was on inside.

Frank Kelly never worked on Sundays. No one who worked for them did either. Why on earth would Rusty be here? She hadn’t been in church this morning. Not that he himself went often. But he’d let his mom drag him out since KGI was be-tween missions and things were quiet on the home front.

An unusual occurrence to be sure. There was always something going on. But after completing the last mission two weeks earlier with the new team composed of Nathan, Joe, Swanny, Skylar and Zane—or Edge, as he’d been named back when he was an MMA fighter—nothing new had come up.

The new team was working out really well. Better than Donovan could have hoped for, given the length of time the team had been together. With the other two team leaders now married, thoroughly domesticated and enjoying fatherhood, the new team had taken up a lot of the slack while the other two teams had taken fewer missions.

He got out of his truck, but before he could even walk to the door, Rusty hurried out to meet him. He frowned at her expression. She looked . . . guilty. And while in the beginning he—and his brothers—had reservations about Rusty, she’d proven herself in the years since. She’d become a responsible young lady who was doing well in college and was extremely loyal to his parents. She was, in fact, an absolute member of the Kelly family.

“What’s up?” Donovan asked, looking beyond to the door that was ajar. “Dad never opens on Sundays. Is there a problem? Do you need help with something?”

Rusty grimaced, took a deep breath and then glanced back in the direction of the hardware store.

“Look, can we talk a minute out here? Preferably down the street a bit?”

Donovan’s brows furrowed at the anxious note in her voice. “Sure.”

“Let me tell Travis I’ll be right back, okay?”

Donovan’s brows shot upward. “Travis? Who the hell is Travis? Is he your boyfriend? And if so, what the hell are y’all doing in Dad’s store on a Sunday?”

She sighed and shook her head. “Just give me a sec and I’ll explain.”

Before he could argue further, she hurried back and disappeared through the door to the store. Barely a few seconds later, she came back out, locked the door behind her and then strode in Donovan’s direction.

She motioned him down toward the sandwich store two doors down and he followed, wondering what the hell she was up to now. They hadn’t had any trouble from Rusty since high school. She was only a year from graduating college and he couldn’t imagine her fucking that all up now.

She stopped and then turned, surveying the area as if worried someone would overhear what she was about to tell him.

She shoved her hands in her pockets and sighed again. “I was going to call Nathan, but you’re here now, so maybe . . .”

She trailed off, hesitating. It made sense that if she had a problem she’d call Nathan. Of all the Kelly brothers, she was closest to him because he’d been more accepting of her from the very start. But since then he and all his brothers had made it clear to her that she was family and that they looked out for family. She should be able to call
any
of them. Not just Nathan.

“Rusty, if you need help, you can call any of us. You do know that, right?”

She nodded. “I do. I just wasn’t sure how to handle this and Nathan is less likely to freak out on me.”

“Shit. What have you done now?”

“I haven’t done anything!” she said indignantly. “Well, not exactly.”

“What does ‘not exactly’ mean?” he asked dryly.

She glanced back over her shoulder again and then heaved her shoulders in resignation. “I sort of hired someone to work part time at the hardware store.”

“Sort of? Either you did or you didn’t. And why didn’t I know anything about this? I spoke to Dad earlier and I’m sure he would have mentioned it. So my next question is, does Dad know about this new employee?”

“No,” she muttered. “I haven’t gotten around to telling him yet. But I wasn’t planning to keep it from him! I only just hired the kid yesterday. I’ll pay him out of my own pocket if Frank doesn’t want to hire him.”

Donovan studied Rusty intently. “You said
kid
. And you sound very passionate about this kid. Mind telling me the whole story?”

“I was going to call Nathan. I said that. I want to follow him home after he gets off.”

Donovan blinked. “You want to do what?”

“He’s in some kind of trouble, Van. I can see it. You don’t understand. It’s like looking at myself when I was that age. He’s scared shitless and he’s hungry and needs the money. He says he doesn’t have parents. Just two sisters he looks out for. Now that’s a hell of a lot of responsibility for a fifteen-year-old kid. I’m worried about him. I wanted to check this family of his out. Make sure he’s not in any danger. But I’m not stupid. I wasn’t planning to go alone. I was going to ask Nathan to go with me. And now you’re here,” she finished lamely.

“And you want me to follow this kid with you to where he lives. What then? Do we just say, ‘Oh, hi! Just wanted to make sure you weren’t being chained in a basement’?”

She shook her head, but her shoulders had relaxed and a smile flirted with the corners of her lips.

“I hadn’t gotten that far in my plan yet. I was hoping Nathan would have an idea. I can’t explain it, Van. I hurt for this kid and I only just met him yesterday. You’d like him. He’s quiet. Very respectful and he’s obviously protective of his sisters. I just want to see if there is anything I can do to help.”

Donovan’s heart softened at the earnestness in her eyes and her impassioned speech. And the hell of it was, he had a huge soft spot for women and kids. Especially kids. It ate at his gut to think of a fifteen-year-old boy living hand to mouth, working part time in a hardware store to support two sisters. Where the hell were his parents?

“I’ll go with you,” he finally said. “But, Rusty, you’re going to do it my way and you’re going to listen to everything I tell you. Got it? Which means you stay behind me at all times, and if I tell you to cut and run or to get down, then you better do exactly that. We have no idea what kind of situation we’re walking into, so I expect you to pay attention.”

She nodded vigorously. “There’s another thing, Van. And I don’t know how to do it without being pushy.”

“You? Pushy?” he mocked.

She rolled her eyes but laughed. “Okay, yeah, I can be pushy. But this is for a good cause! The kid is hungry. And if he’s hungry I can only assume his sisters are as hungry as he is. I bought him a burger for lunch yesterday and he scarfed it down in about three bites. So today I got a burger for him, but he didn’t eat it. He didn’t want me to know he hadn’t eaten it. He hid it and is saving it. My guess is he’s bringing it home for his sisters to eat. And that kills me, Van. I was that hungry once. It’s why I broke into your parents’ house. I was starving and would have risked jail just to have something to eat. I don’t want that to be this kid. I want to bring them food. I have to do something. I can’t just stand by, knowing what I know and seeing what I see and do nothing.”

Donovan slung his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest for a hug. “You’re a good kid, Rusty.”

She elbowed him. “I’m not a kid anymore!”

He chuckled. “No, you’re not. You’re a young lady now. I forget that sometimes. Hard to believe so many years have passed since you were adopted into the Kelly clan.”

“They’ve been the best years,” she said softly.

“Okay, so here’s what I propose. We follow the kid home. See what his situation is. Then we can figure out how to get them what they need. I can do some checking on him and his sisters.”

“Thanks, Van. This means a lot to me.”

“No problem. Just do me a favor, okay? In the future, call me or call someone
before
you make a decision like this. It may have worked out this time and the kid may not mean any harm, but there’s no guarantee the next time won’t be different. I don’t want you getting hurt, Rusty. You can always call me or anyone else in the family.”

She smiled. “Having so many older brothers is kind of cool, you know?”

He rolled his eyes. “And I think having older brothers is a pain in the ass.”

“That’s because Sam and Garrett
are
pains in the ass,” she said with a laugh.

“Very true. Okay, so what time are you setting the kid loose? And I don’t see a car so I’m assuming he lives close enough to walk?”

“I have no idea. He didn’t exactly fill out an official application, so I don’t know his address. And no, he doesn’t have a car and no one drops him off or picks him up. Don’t know how far he lives, but he’s definitely been walking.”

“Could be hard to tail him without him knowing it if he’s on foot,” Donovan said dubiously.

Rusty grimaced. “Yeah, he watches his back. It’s why I know he’s scared shitless and is in some kind of trouble. I mean, most kids walk around oblivious. Especially in a small town like this. They walk like they don’t have a care in the world. This kid? He walks like he expects someone to jump out at him at every turn. He’s very cautious. Constantly looking around.”

“You’ve been watching this kid pretty closely.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been trying to figure out how to approach him. I’ve gone back and forth in my mind about how to do this. I would just ask him straight out, but that would spook him. Been there, done that. If anyone had come out like that to me, I’d have been gone in a shot. I didn’t trust anyone, and I don’t imagine he does either.”

“I know you had a rough life,” Donovan said softly. “It’s pretty damn awesome that you’re wanting to help this boy out.”

Her cheeks went pink, but her eyes gleamed with happiness over his praise.

“I need to get back so he doesn’t get antsy. If you could hang around, I planned to let him work thirty more minutes. I’m paying him in cash and I’m going to intentionally short him a twenty. He won’t say anything. I know that much. He’ll take whatever I give him and be grateful. But it will give us an excuse to follow him to his house. I can tell him I shorted him and we can check out his living conditions.”

Donovan gave her a rueful smile. “You’ve got a quick mind, kiddo. I swear you could take over the running of KGI and probably rule the world one day.”

She grinned cheekily. “I wouldn’t turn down a tech geek job with you guys. Then I could play on Hoss.”

Donovan scowled. “Hoss is mine. No one touches him but me. Besides, I’m not letting you anywhere near our computers. You’d hack into them in thirty seconds.”

“I can’t help it if my tech skills are superior to yours,” she said loftily.

“Oh, good Lord,” he muttered. “That’s one hell of an ego you’ve got. I’m the geek in the Kelly family, thank you very much. The really hot, intelligent geek women are powerless to resist.”

Rusty burst into laughter. “And you talk about
my
ego?”

He grinned and then pushed her toward the hardware store. “Go take care of the kid. I’ll park a block down and watch when he comes out. If you’ll hightail it down to my truck, we can follow him and see what happens.”

“Thanks, Van. You’re the best!”

“I expect you to remember that,” he said dryly.

She hurried off with a wave, and Donovan walked back to his truck to move it farther down the street. He couldn’t believe he’d just been roped into this craziness, but he also knew that he couldn’t just look the other way and pretend ignorance. If this kid truly was in trouble and needed help, he couldn’t ignore that. He hated to think of any child bearing so much responsibility at such a young age and worse, going hungry.

His pet charities were all about helping disadvantaged children, homeless and hungry children, and the majority of his financial support went to shelters for abused women. He’d cofounded a foundation to give support and financial help to women getting out of abusive relationships. His family didn’t even know about it. Not that they would object in any way. The Kellys as a whole gave back a lot financially and by taking on missions that aided women and children without receiving a cent in compensation.

He just hadn’t wanted to make a big deal of his foundation, so he’d funded and set it up with two women who oversaw day-to-day operations and gave him a heads-up when they ran up against a woman who needed more than just financial help. In those cases, KGI took on the mission whether it was to rescue a kidnapped child or to get a woman out of an unhealthy situation. They funded her new life and gave her the opportunity to start over in a place they felt was safe.

His brothers knew of his weakness when it came to taking missions involving children or women, and they were more than happy to lend assistance in any way they could. They gave him shit about his soft spot, but they were every bit as determined as Donovan was to right wrongs against victims.

Hell, the Kelly wives were survivors in their own right and kick-ass women to boot. His brothers were lucky sons of bitches, as were the team leaders, Rio and Steele. They’d all met their women in less-than-ideal situations, but they’d fallen hard and fast, and Donovan envied their connection to their wives. He wanted that. One day. He wasn’t in a hurry. It would happen when it happened. But he wanted a family of his own. A wife. Children. To be a bigger part in a family that was his alone.

For now, he played the doting uncle to Charlotte, his oldest brother’s daughter, and to his younger brother Ethan’s twin boys. And now Rio had a thirteen-year-old daughter and Steele was the proud new father of a daughter. The world was changing around him, and yet he was seemingly standing still. Same routine. Same job. Every day.

He couldn’t complain about his love life. He had sex. But he wasn’t into cheap thrills or getting laid just to get a piece of ass. He respected women far too much to indulge in meaningless one-night stands. As a result, his relationships were few and far between, and he hadn’t fucked his way through countless women. And he was okay with that. When the day came that he met the one, he wanted to be able to tell her that he hadn’t been some man whore. He wanted her to know that she was special. For that matter, he wanted it to be special for him as well.