After the Rain (The Callahans) Read online

  “You don’t have to say anything else,” his voice said, softly.

  “I need to.” She breathed in deeply, quickly letting go of his hand and swiping at the tears that had spilled down her cheeks. She knew she had to finish the story before she lost her nerve.

  “He forced me into his car. He had a knife at my throat the whole time. He drove me somewhere—I’m not sure where, but it was dark.” She shook her head. “He attacked me. I tried so hard to get away—to fight him. But it was no use. The harder I fought, the more he hurt me. So finally, I just gave up and let him do it.”

  9

  This time, Trey didn’t mask his reaction. He let out a vile curse. He’d known she’d been raped. It was there on her face the night she’d had the panic attack. And he’d had a bad feeling the attack had been brutal. But he’d imagined nothing of the magnitude she was talking about. She’d been fourteen years old! Practically a baby.

  “I told you that you wouldn’t want to hear it. I told you it was ugly.”

  He swore again. “Kylie, you couldn’t have done anything to stop it. You were just a kid.” He wanted to touch her but he knew she wouldn’t welcome the contact. Not in the state she was in. The demon she was finally battling was brutal and she needed to face it on her own. He waited while she forced air in and out of her lungs.

  “Have you ever felt like you were going to die?” The question came out in a solemn whisper.

  “I’ve had some bad situations,” he admitted, dangling his hands between his knees again. “I’ve been shot twice. Stabbed once.”

  She sniffled, still avoiding his gaze. “Were you scared?”

  “I don’t remember thinking much at the time. I blacked out with both gunshots and beat the shit out of the guy who stabbed me.” He smiled halfway when she looked at him to see if he was serious. “I was scared, Montana. There’s nothing wrong with fear.”

  She slowly reached up and gripped the shoulder of her tank top, carefully moving the material down so he could see an ugly line of scar tissue that ran from her shoulder blade across her chest. “I have three of these. This isn’t the worst one.”

  He felt an overwhelming sense of anger toward the monster who had hunted down the fourteen-year-old child she had been and taken away her innocence. Instead of showing his anger to her, he sat up straight. “Want to see mine?”

  She sniffled again, and let her shirt fall back into place. After a moment, she nodded.

  He reached for the shoulder holster, removing it briskly and setting it on the ground beside them. He pulled his T-shirt up and pointed to a round scar on his abdomen. “That was the first gunshot. Fortunately, it missed all my important organs.” He let the shirt fall and pulled the collar aside, tossing his sunglasses on the ground next to his gun. He watched her view the round pucker on his shoulder, in awe. “This was the second gunshot; a clean exit through the back of my shoulder. Unpleasant though. I didn’t get help for a while on that one.”

  “Do you want to hear the rest of it?”

  He heard the softly spoken words and immediately his shirt snapped back into place and he dropped his hands to his lap. The truth was, he didn’t want to hear any more. With every word she spoke, he began to realize exactly why she was the way she was. It bothered him as a man and it bothered him as a cop. But he knew she needed to get it out. “If you want to tell me about it.”

  She finally met his gaze. “When it was over he dumped me on the side of the road in a ditch.”

  He inhaled, painfully. “I’m sorry, baby.” He knew the words were lame, yet they were all he had to offer her.

  “I was glad he let me go. I remember being unable to move at first and thinking I would die at any minute. I knew I was cut up and I knew I’d lost a lot of blood….” She shook her head. “But there was this damned voice inside me that told me to get up, so I did.” She shivered, her hands reaching up to rub her arms. “I pulled myself out of that ditch and I crawled as far as I could, before I finally passed out. When I woke up, I was in the hospital.”

  He knew he shouldn’t, but he had to ask. “Were you able to identify the guy?”

  She hesitated, and he knew the answer before she said it.

  “No.” She wiped her cheeks again, taking a deep breath. “The cops showed me picture after picture but it didn’t do any good. I was face down half of the time and the other half I was too delirious to see.” She hiccupped again, her eyes staring straight ahead at the now setting sun. “I wouldn’t leave the house after that and I wouldn’t talk to anyone—not for two years. My mom had to home school me and doctors had to come to the house to see me. Faye used to come over after school and bring musical tapes and stuff with her. She would talk and I’d just sit there and stare off into space. Then one day I started talking again. I stood up and walked out the front door as though nothing had ever happened. I buried all the anxiety inside of me. It would come out at night in my dreams, which you saw first-hand, but I never ever talked about it with anyone.” She looked at him, nearly cracking his heart down the middle with the hopeless look in her eyes. “Until now.”

  “It’s good that you talked about it. It’s been eating at you for a long time.”

  “Yeah, I know.” She rubbed her arms again so he moved closer to her, attempting to block the breeze. He thought she might move away, but she didn’t. So they sat there, arms and legs touching, and watched the sunset in silence.

  When the orange circle had completely disappeared onto the other side of the horizon, he finally spoke. “Sometimes bad things happen to good people, Montana. It wasn’t your fault and you have no reason to be ashamed.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “Deep inside, I know that. I just have this problem with intimacy. That part of it makes me ashamed.”

  “So maybe I can help you with that.” He knew he was taking a big step, but at the same time, he wanted to. There was something about this girl that had climbed into his soul and taken hold of his heart, from almost the first moment he’d seen her. He’d tried denying it to Faye and he’d tried denying it to himself. There didn’t seem to be any obvious reason to deny it anymore.

  She looked over at him, her bloodshot, blue eyes narrowed. “No one else has been able to.”

  Their eyes remained locked and before he could stop it, his fingers reached up and brushed against her face, softly. “Maybe you just haven’t had the right guy until now.”

  Color flooded her cheeks, but she didn’t turn away. Not even when he lowered his mouth to hers, barely brushing her lips before pulling away to see her reaction. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut and that was all the encouragement he needed. His mouth came down a little more aggressively this time. He reached behind her, his hand tangling in her hair as he deepened the kiss, his tongue gently moving through her parted lips. He anticipated her tensing up, but she didn’t. She melted against him, her small hand reaching up and grasping the front of his shirt.

  He was instantly turned on beyond belief, which was not a good thing, considering her history. He pulled back, letting out a breath as he swore. “This is probably a very bad idea.”

  Her hand dropped from his chest, abruptly. “Probably.”

  “I’ve got baggage of my own, Kylie. My ex was a miserable excuse for a wife.” He’d never really admitted that fact to anyone besides his family before. He’d never cared enough to.

  “So maybe I can help you too.”

  He studied the sincerity in those eyes. She was beautiful. So different from Shayna—so different from any other woman he’d ever known. “And if it doesn’t work out?” he finally dared to ask.

  “I don’t know,” she said, honestly.

  The sound of Trey’s cell phone chirping from his belt interrupted their discussion. Checking the ID, he grimaced. It was Faye. That was when he realized that the clock read nine PM. He was nearly two hours late for the party. “I think I’m in trouble,” he said, not bothering to answer the call.

  She looked at him, confused.

>   “Faye had a party planned for you at the grill tonight. She invited a bunch of people so you could meet everyone around here.” He grimaced as the phone chirped again. “Crap, she’s pissed.”

  “I don’t feel much like being around people right now. Can we just sit for a while?”

  He pushed the mute button on his phone and shoved it back into his belt clip. “It’s getting kind of cold, Montana. Maybe we should head back.”

  She looked at him unsurely. “Maybe we can sit a little closer together and keep warm. I just want to watch the sky for a little longer.”

  There was no way he was going to reject her. He scooted in behind her, careful about giving her a little space, while cautiously wrapping his arms over hers to ward off the cold. When she leaned back against his chest, her head just under his chin, he knew he’d made some progress. She wasn’t scared of him anymore.

  “Thank you,” she said, quietly.

  “For what?”

  “For being here—and for caring.”

  He tightened his grip on her a little, his fingers finding hers and entwining with them. “Yeah, baby. You’re welcome.”

  By the time they headed back down the hill and toward the bar, it was after ten. Trey’s phone had continued ringing and Kylie knew Faye was infuriated, not that she could blame her. She had obviously gone to a lot of trouble to set up this party and Kylie had forced Trey to blow her off.

  Trey climbed off the motorcycle after they pulled in and parked at the grill. He rolled his eyes as his phone chirped again. “She’s persistent.”

  Kylie smiled at that, snuggling deeper into the sweatshirt Trey had pulled from a compartment on the bike. “She always has been. I won’t let her yell at you.”

  He chuckled at that. “I’m a big boy. I can handle Faye.”

  “Is that right?” an irritated female voice said from behind them.

  Trey and Kylie both grinned as they turned around. They were caught. Faye stood, her hands on her hips, just outside the entrance to the bar. She had a frown on her face as she glared from Trey to Kylie and then back again. “You promised.”

  “I didn’t promise anything,” Trey cleared up immediately. “And I got her here, didn’t I?”

  Faye tapped her watch, irritably. “Three hours late.”

  “It wasn’t his fault,” Kylie said, quickly. “We were talking and I wanted to stay.”

  Faye narrowed her gaze, surprised. “Where were you?”

  “Watching the sunset,” Kylie said, simply, a smile on her face. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

  Faye looked up at Trey again. He looked away. Faye’s frown grew more pronounced. “I was worried.”

  “You usually are,” Trey told her. “You knew she was with me. I’m the sheriff for cryin’ out loud—and your fiancé’s brother.”

  “I thought you were working tonight,” Faye reminded him, though her frown lessened somewhat.

  “I have my phone.”

  “One wouldn’t know it by how often you actually answer it.”

  Trey didn’t bother touching that one.

  “I’m sorry, Faye. It was my fault. We were talking. I kind of unloaded on him.” Kylie walked over and gave her friend a hug, surprising Faye, to say the least. “Don’t be mad.”

  “I’m…..not,” Faye said, looking quizzically at Trey over Kylie’s shoulder. He just shrugged, standing up straight and twirling his keys around his finger.

  “I need to check in at the office. You got things from here?”

  Kylie turned, a little disappointed that he was taking off so quickly. “Are you coming back?”

  Trey looked a little uneasy as he glanced from Kylie to Faye and then back again. “Yeah, sure,” he finally said, though his face said otherwise. “I just need to check in with Cia and make sure everything’s alright.”

  “You can’t do rounds on a hog,” Faye said, pointedly.

  “Don’t worry about me,” he said, tightly. “I’ll see you later.”

  Kylie knew her expression fell slightly and she worked at making a quick recovery. “Thanks for the ride.” She looked at him a moment longer, wondering what had turned him cold all of the sudden. He’d been so caring and gentle up on the hill. He turned, obviously avoiding her gaze.

  “Okay then,” she finally said and let Faye tug her away from him and into the bar.

  10

  Trey stood outside the bar, his indecision eating at him. He knew Kylie had to be irritated with him. He’d seen the question in her eyes when he’d bailed on her earlier. He’d been abrupt and cold. He wasn’t sure exactly why, except that Faye’s mother hen routine had eaten at him. Kylie was fragile with her mental state. She’d been hurt in the worst way a man could hurt a woman and he wasn’t sure he was up for the challenge of dealing with that kind of emotion.

  On the other hand, he was attracted to her in an intense way. Just sitting with her and staring out at the sky, he’d been content. He probably would have sat there with her all night if she’d asked. And that scared him. He wasn’t used to having feelings like this. He’d experienced plenty of lust and attraction in his life. He loved women, after all. He’d always been able to have his share at his beckon call. He dated for a while, then walked away. So why was this one getting under his skin?

  He leaned against his bike for a moment, almost wishing he’d checked in at the station and gone home. He’d pretty much planned to do just that. Unfortunately, those eyes had made their way into his head again. Those damned sad, blue eyes, large and round and full of sincerity. Shit. He knew he was falling for her and he wanted to fight it.

  “She’s having fun. You should come in.”

  He looked up to see Dusty standing outside the doors to the bar.

  “Faye said you were being a dick,” he added.

  Trey chuckled at that, not able to deny the accusation. Then, thinking of Kylie, he grew serious. “She’s got a lot of baggage, Dust.”

  “Yeah. You have a little of your own too. We all do.” Dusty stepped closer, eyeing his brother, curiously. “You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”

  Trey didn’t bother to dignify that with a response.

  “So what are you going to do about it?”

  Trey shook his head, then finally shrugged his shoulders.

  “You could at least come inside and hang out a while. Faye wouldn’t be so mad at you then.”

  “Faye’s always mad at someone. It’s part of her charm.”

  Dusty grinned at that. “Yeah. But everyone is having a great time. Elle’s blitzed. Joe’s got Kylie well on her way.” Dusty raised a brow. “It’s probably in your best interest if you go in there and stake your claim.”

  “I don’t have a claim, Dustin.”

  “You want Joey moving in on her?”

  No, he didn’t. But he didn’t say that out loud. He thought things over for a moment, then let out a sigh and stepped away from his bike. He couldn’t just walk away without saying goodbye. She deserved more than that after the honesty she’d showed him earlier.

  He and Dusty entered the bar, which was jam-packed with people. Everyone in town was there. He was not in the mood for a crowd and he frowned.

  “Faye doesn’t do things half way,” Dusty observed. “Get a beer and loosen up.”

  He didn’t want a beer but he followed his brother to the bar anyway. Faye was behind it, filling drink orders by the dozens. When she saw him, she gave him a knowing smile. “I knew you’d be back,” she called over the sound of loud music and voices. He followed her gaze to the middle of the dance floor where Elle was doing some dance or another, while trying to teach Kylie the moves.

  “I’m warning you, she has two left feet. Don’t let it change your mind about her.” Faye grinned at him. He didn’t acknowledge the remark, just took the beer she offered him and kept watching the girls dance. Kylie was laughing, her head thrown back and her hands clasped together in front of her. It reminded him of the afternoon they had spent splashing around in
the lake. Those were the only two times since he had met her that she had let go and allowed herself to have fun. She became a different person when she managed to let her guard down.

  “How much has she had?” he finally asked Faye, who shrugged.

  “Enough, probably. She’s not much of a drinker.” Faye followed his gaze. “It’s nice to see her laugh.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. He watched as Elle did a spin, tugging Kylie with her. The girls landed on the floor in a fit of giggles.

  “Uh oh,” Faye said.

  Trey rolled his eyes. He’d seen his sister like this a few times before. She didn’t get out much, but when she did, she did up the town in style. He set his beer down and headed for the dance floor, when it was apparent that neither girl was getting up on her own. When he reached them, he leaned down to Kylie’s ear. “Do you realize you are about to get trampled?”

  She looked up, obviously surprised to see him.

  “Whas up, big brother?” Elle said on a slurred hiccup and then burst into a fit of laughter.

  “Jeeze, how much have you had?” Leo asked, stepping up to the scene and reaching for his wife.

  “She’s obviously had enough,” Trey said, reaching down for Kylie. “Okay, up you go.” He pulled her to her feet and she staggered a bit.

  “You came back. I thought you went home without me.” She grinned up at him, widely. “Did you do your rounds with your pig?”

  He had to crack a smile at that. “That’s hog, baby.”

  She frowned. “Did you tell me that?”

  “What hog?” Elle wanted to know. “Your bike? Oooohh, let’s go for a ride.”

  “Hell no,” Leo said, stepping up and taking hold of Elle’s arm. Something tells me we are gonna have a long night. Let’s go.” He all but dragged Elle from the dance floor.

  “We could dance. Elle taught me all kinds of cool moves.” Kylie did a twirl for him, nearly knocking a couple down in the process.

  “Oops,” she said, trying to stifle a laugh.