After the Rain (The Callahans) (18 page)

Looking up at her assailant, she saw that he was bleeding now. She’d managed to cut his face, but only enough to annoy him. She backed up into the hallway, desperate to find a safe place to hide. There really wasn’t any. She was trapped.

He walked out into the hallway, clearly intent on cornering her.

“I think you’d better leave, Matty.”

Kylie heard the female voice and turned toward it. Shayna stood in the living room, a small, silver pistol pointed in the direction of her husband.

“I should have known you were here. Lying bitch.” He walked toward her. She fired one shot. Then another.

Trey sped up to the house and screeched to a halt, jumping out of his rig as quickly as he could. He saw the crowd gathered outside his guesthouse and his heart stopped. All he knew for sure was what Cia had told him over the radio. There had been a disturbance at the farm—specifically, at his guesthouse.

He headed toward Dusty, who stood with Joe, and to his severe irritation, Shayna. Two of his deputies were standing just inside the door of his house.

“What the hell’s going on?” he demanded, looking from Dusty to Joe. “What happened?”

“Matt Clyde showed up here this morning looking for her,” Dusty said, quietly, indicating Shayna. “She wasn’t here.”

Trey looked at Shayna. She was shaking like a leaf, clearly in shock. Then it dawned on him. Shayna may not have been here, but Kylie had been. His heart stopped beating for a moment. “Where is Kylie?”

“She’s inside, man,” Dusty told him. “I’m not sure what happened. From what Shayna told us, she came down here and took a couple of shots at Matt. We heard them and came running. I think we scared him off.”

Trey pushed passed them and entered the house. There were several shards of broken glass from the shattered front window. He saw Faye in the hallway and headed for her.

“She’s in there, Trey. One of your deputies is questioning her.”

Trey looked through the bedroom doorway. Kylie sat on the bed wrapped in a blanket. Her hair hung in wet swirls around her face. She was shaking uncontrollably.

He swore and walked toward her. When she saw him, she jumped up. “Trey?” The word came out on a hiccup.

He felt shear relief that she was okay. At least she
looked
okay. He pulled her up against him, wrapping her tightly in his arms, and breathed in her scent.

She started to cry. He immediately saw red. Someone was going to pay for this. After a moment, he set her away from him and examined her closer. “Where are you hurt?”

She sniffled, pulling the blanket around herself tightly. That was when he realized she didn’t have anything on but a towel underneath. He felt his blood begin to boil. “Do you need an ambulance?” The words came out very quietly and he watched her gaze narrow in what almost looked like fear.

“No…No ambulance. I don’t want to go to the hospital. I’m just a little shaken up, that’s all.”

He tossed a look at Faye. She shrugged her shoulders.

“We have an EMT out here. You want me to send her in?” a deputy asked, poking his head into the room. Trey nodded absently, his eyes on Kylie’s again. He was trying to read her. At that moment, she was closed off.

“I don’t need to be—”

“Let her look you over,” Trey said, firmly. “I’ll be right outside the door.”

She looked as though she wanted to protest but she relented when he nodded at her.

“I’ll stay in here with her,” Faye offered.

Trey stepped aside when the EMT came into the room. He backed into the hallway and found Dusty and Joey standing there, along with two of his men from the department.

“Did she shoot him? You said she took some shots.”

Dusty shook his head. “She missed. At least she thinks she did.”

Trey looked over Dusty’s shoulder to where Shayna sat in a chair, chewing on her nails. Immediately he saw red again. For the first time in his life, he wanted to hit a woman. He wanted to kill her. “This is all your fault.” He said the words quietly, doing his best to keep control of his temper.

Shayna stood up, defensively. “I was coming back to get my stuff!”

“You shouldn’t have been here in the first place. You’ve put my entire family in danger.” He was so mad he could hardly see straight. “If he hurt her, I’m going to take you apart.” Trey stepped toward her but Dusty’s hand pushed him back.

“We’re all upset right now. Just calm down.”

Trey shoved Dusty’s hand off. “I told her to fucking leave two days ago! She shouldn’t have ever been here!”

“I get that, man. I know.” Dusty forced his brother to look into his eyes. “We have other things to worry about here. Let it go.”

Trey swore, ramming his fist into the wall. He counted to ten and then turned to one of his deputies. “Take her somewhere and question her.”

“Where, sir?” the deputy asked.

“I don’t give a shit! Anywhere! As far away from me as possible.”

The deputy backed up and motioned for Shayna to follow him. Trey struggled to breathe normally. He finally looked up at Dusty. “If he raped her, I’m going to find him and I’m going to kill him.”

“If he raped her, I’ll help you.”

19

Kylie gave the porch swing a good shove and stared out at the moonlight. Hours had gone by since the incident that morning. Lunch and dinner had come and gone. Trey’s men had spent the day scouring the land surrounding the farm to make sure Matt Clyde was gone. It appeared he was, for the moment anyway. It also appeared that Shayna might have hit her husband with a bullet after all. There were blood trails leading away from the house and into the woods. Unfortunately, they stopped not far from the farm.

She had spent the morning with a young EMT, at Trey’s insistence, and half the day with his deputies being questioned about the incident. At this point, she wanted to forget it. The sight of Matt Clyde and his huge tree trunk arms was enough to make her skin crawl again.

She wished Trey would come home. Shortly after noon, he had headed into town and had not returned since. She knew he was in on the search for Matt. Heck, everyone in town was. Dusty had been gone for hours too. Joe had stayed behind with a shotgun and Faye. They were all playing the waiting game now.

She looked up at the sky. There was an angry black haze over the clouds. The wind was picking up at a quick pace. A storm was coming, Faye had told them earlier. A doozie, if the weatherman was right. It didn’t rain around here often, but when it did, it was bad.

“You should come inside; it’s getting nasty out here.” Faye walked out onto the porch, pulling a shawl around her arms. “The guys are on their way back. They haven’t found him yet.”

Kylie couldn’t hide her disappointment. “If he’s injured, he can’t be far.”

“He may be dead,” Faye said, sitting down next to Kylie on the swing. “Depends on where Shayna hit him.”

“Maybe someone has helped him by giving him shelter.”

“It’s possible. But the Callahans are well known around here. Well liked. Not too many people would cross them.”

“I can’t help but feel sorry for Shayna,” Kylie said, knowing the words were not going to go over well. She was right.

“She’s a stupid, spoiled little girl, Kylie. Her parents babied her and then Trey babied her. They all created this monster. Hell, she screwed them all over.” Faye’s expression drew tight. “And now she’s screwing up those poor little children. That’s the real bitch of all this.”

“No one asks to be beaten.”

“Maybe not, but cheating on your husband repeatedly is likely to make him a little angry, don’t you think?”

“Trey never hit her. Most men don’t hit, even for that.”

“Yes, well, perhaps Trey should have hit her. She certainly had it coming. She slept with his best friend, you know.”

No, she hadn’t known that. She had known there was cheating but nobody had mentioned with whom. “I didn’t know that.”

“His name is Danny. He lives on the reservation. He still comes around sometimes, trying to make amends with Trey. It always ends badly. It takes a lot to get Trey to lose his temper. The sight of Danny Redfeather does it instantly.

“Redfeather. Isn’t that Leo’s last name?”

“Danny is Leo’s brother,” Faye said, watching as the wind chimes above them begin to tinkle in the wind.

“That’s got to be hard for Leo.”

“He and Trey made a pact after it happened. They just don’t talk about Danny.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Some people don’t have any loyalty, Kyle. Paul’s in good company.”

“How could Shayna do that to him?” Kylie didn’t understand how anyone could cheat on a man like Trey Callahan.

“Because she got bored. Trey and Shayna got married and moved to the city because she couldn’t take the boredom here. Like Dusty told you before, she wanted to be a model. She had big Hollywood dreams. She had Trey working on one of the most dangerous police forces in the country. Even that wasn’t enough for her. I take it he hasn’t told you any of this.”

Kylie shrugged. “Some of it. I’m embarrassed to say most of the talking we’ve done has been about me.”

“I probably shouldn’t air his dirty laundry, Ky. But he’s a good guy and I know you like him a lot. And I can tell he likes you. When I questioned you before it’s because I know you have both been hurt badly. I wouldn’t want to see either of you hurt again.”

“I wouldn’t want to hurt him either, Faye. I know we’ve only known each other a few weeks but I care about him. More than I ever have about anyone else.”

“I can see that.” Faye met her friend’s gaze. “They spent three horrendous years in Los Angeles. He did everything he could to make her happy. Spoiled her literally rotten. But he also worked a lot. She got bored and cheated. Not once, but twice. So finally he gave up and came home.”

“Without her,” Kylie figured out.

“Yes, without her. But that was short lived.” Faye shook her head, sadly. “She showed up not two weeks later, claiming she was pregnant. Naturally, he questioned whether the child was even his but she managed to convince him it was. So he gave her another chance, but told her he wouldn’t go back to Los Angeles. They moved into a small house on the reservation, not far from Mamaw and his mother. He got on with the reservation police where Danny was already on board. They became partners. Five months into the pregnancy they found out they were having a girl. Things looked like they were going fine. Then one night Trey went out with Dusty—a boy’s night out type of thing. They’d had quite a bit to drink. Dusty brought Trey home and they found Shayna and Danny in bed together.”

Kylie winced. She could only imagine how hard it must have been for Trey to walk in on a situation like that.

“It was bad. Trey went ballistic. He nearly killed Danny. Shayna freaked out and ran off. Later that night she got into a car accident and the baby died.”

Kylie felt moisture fill her eyes. “I had no idea.”

“Yes, well, no one really talks about it. Trey divorced Shayna right after that and got on with the sheriff’s department. For a long time, he wouldn’t step foot on the reservation. I think a lot of it was because he was afraid he’d kill Danny if he saw him again.”

“I don’t blame him.”

“Yeah, me either. Shayna moved away to LA again. We didn’t hear anything about her for a while. Soon enough she started calling Trey and the games began. They’ve been going on ever since. I think half the reason he talks to her at all is because he feels guilty about his reaction to her and Danny. I think he feels like he caused the baby to die.”

“That’s ridiculous. She’s the one who was cheating.”

“Yes, well, things got pretty ugly that night. He said some pretty terrible things that I think he feels caused her to run. He blamed himself for a long time.”

“How does he even know for sure that the baby was his?”

“He doesn’t,” Faye said, smiling sadly. “You’ve found yourself a good, caring guy, Kylie—if you can figure out a way to hang onto him. He’s a little slippery now, thanks to Shayna. But I can tell he cares about you.”

Kylie thought that over. She cared about him too. A lot.

As if on cue, several vehicles came down the lane at once. The last one, Kylie noted, was Trey’s rig. She instantly felt better knowing he was finally home, at least for now. He was safe.

Dusty climbed out of his truck. Leo and Elle climbed out of a vehicle behind them. Lastly, Trey stepped out of his. They all looked exhausted.

Kylie stood up and made her way to the front porch steps.

“Are you okay?” Elle asked, reaching her first and giving her a hug. “When Trey told me what happened I was pretty freaked out. What an awful man.”

“I’m okay,” Kylie answered for the hundredth time that day, hugging Elle in return.

“Well I wouldn’t be,” Elle said, stepping back.

“I’m starved,” Dusty said, stepping up on to the porch. “Any dinner left?”

“I made a big pot of spaghetti,” Faye said, leading them all into the house. When Trey reached the porch, he sighed, his tired eyes studying Kylie’s face closely. “Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine.”

He was quiet a moment. “I’m sorry you’ve had such a rough couple of days. Not much of a vacation.”

“I’m fine, Trey,” she repeated and stepped toward him, hooking her fingers through his belt loops. “I came a long way today, believe it or not. I fought back. I’m kind of proud of myself for that. The idea of lying down and cowering crossed my mind, but I didn’t do that. I fought him.”

He smiled halfway, lifting a finger and reaching up to tap it against her nose, affectionately. “That’s my girl.”

The words warmed her and she leaned into him. Everything was better when he was holding her in his arms.

“There’s a storm coming,” he said, after a moment, stepping back a little. “I need to help the guys batten down the hatches. Secure the horses and stuff.”

“I can help.”

“It’s going to get nasty out here. Just go on in and I’ll be in later. I can’t stay in the guesthouse tonight. Window’s busted out.”

She could see there was something different about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on what. He was more aloof than he had been earlier—more distant. It bothered her but she nodded and stepped away from him.