Out of Control (7 page)

He slammed out of his truck and stalked into the house. The open door swung in the breeze. Every light in Sean's path towards the fridge had been flipped on and left burning. A murmur of voices from the back porch indicated that Miles, their protégé, student and future employee, was out there too, helping suck down Davy's beer.

He slapped the porch door open. “The next time you pull a shit parking job like that in my driveway, I'm slashing all your tires.”

Sean froze in the act of lifting the bottle to his lips. “Shoot, Davy, that would be really counterproductive of you, being as how it would take that much longer for me to move my truck and park it according to your rigid specifications.”

“The delay would be worth it if I actually managed to make an impression in your thick skull, smart-ass.”

Miles put his beer down and got awkwardly to his feet. “Uh…should I, like, go? I'll go take the bus, if this is a bad time—”

“Sit down, Miles,” Sean said. “This is business as usual.”

Miles dropped back into his chair and hunched down into his habitual vulture shape of which they were both trying to break him.

Sean studied his brother, a frown between his eyes. “You've got that puckered-butt, hollow-eyed look of a guy who hasn't gotten laid in months. For God's sake, grab a beer, and chill. We brought Chinese.”

“I already ate.”

“Where?” Sean demanded. “You haven't gone out in ages.”

Davy let the screen door slam loudly as he grabbed a beer out of the fridge. As a rule, he didn't rely on chemicals to change his state of consciousness. Fuck it. He put the beer back, grabbed a glass, and pulled out his emergency bottle of single malt.

Sean was still waiting for an answer to his question when Davy stretched out in one of his deck chairs. His eyebrows quirked when he saw the whiskey in Davy's hand. “Mr. Pure, imbibing strong spirits? How depraved. So? Where did you eat? With who? Let's have it.”

He inhaled, and braced himself. “Margot Vetter.”

Sean's dimples came and went as he struggled not to grin. “Oh! Awesome. Guess we're going to have to start calling before we drop by. It's about time, man. I was starting to worry about—”

“Why didn't you tell me about the stalker?”

Sean blinked. “From the tone of your voice, I take it you haven't gotten lucky yet. Guess we can't all be as slick as I am at seduction.”

“Focus,” Davy snarled. “Just answer the goddamn question.”

“I didn't want to give you a chance to think it to death,” Sean said bluntly. “And I thought it would be a hell of a lot more effective if she asked you in person. Dewy eyes, long lashes going blinkety-blink? Full, trembling lips? Heaving bosom? And it was, wasn't it?” He studied his brother, and repeated in a sharper tone. “Wasn't it?”

Davy studied his brother over the rim of his glass. “Just how well do you know her, anyway?”

Sean's tilted green eyes were unusually cool. He waited a very long time to reply. “You mean, have I put the moves on her?”

Davy waited to inhale. Seconds ticked by. Miles looked worried.

Sean stretched out his long legs and propped his boots up on the porch railing. “I tried, sure. Any straight guy with a pulse would try. Except for you, of course, but we all know that you're, ah, special. She just wasn't into me. It's like when I got that crush on my high school French teacher. She just sort of pats me on the head while I pant and drool.” His shrug was elaborately casual. “I think it's you she likes.”

Davy's chest jerked in a convulsion that vaguely resembled laughter. “Hah. Not.”

“Really. I've seen her scoping you. God knows why a woman would prefer your charms to mine, but babes are unfathomable.”

“Stop busting my balls,” Davy growled. “What did she tell you?”

Sean heaved the heavy sigh he always affected when Davy refused to play along with his bullshit. “I ran into her in the parking lot the other day. She'd locked her keys into her car. She was crying.”

Davy was taken aback at the thought of Margot crying. “Her? Over car keys?”

“I thought it was weird, too. She looks like the type that would kick the tires and yell at the car. Anyhow, I galloped to the rescue with my Slim Jim, but when I got the car open, she just gave me this blank look, not responding to my devastating charm. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, ‘Oh, nothing,' you know the way women do when they're about to go sit in the dark and eat a half gallon of ice cream?”

“Actually, Sean, I've don't know that I've ever inspired a woman to eat a half-gallon of ice cream,” Davy said, with rigid patience.

Sean rolled his eyes. “Little do you know. You just don't pay attention. Anyhow, I coaxed it out of her. The burglary, the dead dog, yuck. It sounded creepy, so I told her to talk to you. I know you're phasing out the P.I. stuff, but she's scared. Broke, too, but you're not hurting for money, and it'll keep you from getting bored and stealing hubcaps on the street until we get our business launched. You could hold off on billing her. Or better yet, do it pro bono. That would be righteous and studly of you. Women dig that.”

Davy regarded his brother with slitted eyes. “Are you trying to fix me up? Don't.”

Sean looked disgusted. “Self-absorbed prick. You think this is all about you. I was just trying to make Margot stop crying. She's afraid this sick fuck is going to hurt her little dog.”

“Great,” Davy said sourly. “Heart-wrenching.”

“Yeah, actually. It is.” Sean scowled at him as he took another swig of beer. “And what if I was trying to fix you up? What's the crime? You're not making discernible progress on your own. You haven't shown signs of life since the Ice Princess gave you the boot. The chick with the blonde bun who never let her hair down, what was her name?”

Davy winced. “Beth. She wanted a ring.”

Sean pantomimed wiping sweat from his brow. “Thank God you bailed. I always felt like I had my foot shoved into my mouth when that woman was around. Oh, and speaking of girlfriends, I talked to Connor. He said it's in your best interests to bring a date to the wedding, because Erin's got a flock of man-eating bridesmaids, and Erin's mama likes to matchmake. If you go alone they'll be unleashed upon you. A tornado of jewel-toned taffeta. Watch out. They see you in a tux, man? You're dead meat.”

Davy hissed in dismay. He'd deliberately avoided thinking about his brother Connor's impending wedding, but it was bearing down on him now like a runaway train. “Fuck me. You bringing someone?”

Sean's grin was gleeful and wicked. “Hell, no. Bring 'em on, six, eight, ten at a time. My idea of paradise. Marooned on the lost planet of horny bridesmaids. Yum.”

“Cindy's gonna be a bridesmaid, too,” Miles volunteered. “She's wearing red. She's awesome in red. That's why I'm crashing at Sean's condo tonight, because Cindy has an appointment with the dressmaker for a final fitting tomorrow at eight in the morning. And I'm driving her.”

Davy and Sean exchanged pained glances. Miles's hopeless devotion to their future sister-in-law's younger sister Cindy made them both nervous, but all they could do was to build up the kid's muscles, reflexes and self-esteem, and hope to God that his brain would eventually trail along behind.

Davy sipped his whiskey and let it burn down his throat. “Bridesmaids are bad news,” he reflected. “Beth was a bridesmaid at her cousin's wedding. It was right after that she got all intense about commitment. Women start tossing back the champagne and thinking about the big M, and whammo, you're in a world of hurt.”

“You should think about the big M yourself,” Sean said. “You have to do your duty by the family DNA. You're not getting any younger.”

Davy closed his eyes. “Connor's got it covered. They're probably procreating already, the way those two go at it.”

The silence that followed suggested that Sean had the same quiet ambivalence about their brother's wedding that he had. Not that they weren't happy for Connor. He was so far gone in love with his bride-to-be, he was practically incapable of coherent speech.

Which was fine. Great. Extreme, out of control happiness was exactly what they wanted for their brother. But the thought of the wedding left him with a dull pang of loss. Connor was moving into a new phase of life. Leaving his brothers behind. It made him feel vaguely restless and empty, when he thought about it, so he tried hard not to.

Stupid, yes, and selfish. They loved Erin. She was perfect for Connor. Smart, brave, pretty, sweet. She'd shown her quality in that crazy thing that went down with Novak a few months ago. She'd earned her membership to the McCloud clan a thousand times over.

No, Erin wasn't the problem. It was just going to be…different.

Sean blew out a sharp sigh, like he was shoving away unwelcome feelings, too. “I just had a brilliant idea. Bring Margot. She'll create a force field to protect you. And she'll add to the scenery, big-time.”

“Forget it,” he growled. “Not happening. Lost cause.”

“How come?” Sean demanded.

Davy gritted his teeth. “Drop it, OK?”

Sean's eyes narrowed. “Oh, Christ. Don't tell me, let me guess. You flubbed it, didn't you? I dropped a golden opportunity in your lap, and you blew it. You chump. No wonder you never get laid.”

Davy stared at the lights that gleamed on the dark, rippling surface of the lake, declining to rise to the bait. He had nothing to say for himself. He hadn't shared the results of Margot's background check with his brother. Her mysterious secrets were none of Sean's business.

Of course, by that token, they were none of Davy's business, either. He brushed that unhelpful thought aside. “Don't you have someplace to go tonight?” he asked. “Some girl or other?”

“Miles and I might grab an action flick at the viddy store,” Sean said. “I'm experiencing a brief, restful lull from my usual erotic activities. Keeping myself pure until the wedding.”

“It's only two more days,” was Davy's dour observation.

“A fucking eternity,” Sean said. “I want to be charged up for the bridesmaids. Mow me down, ladies. Use me up. Wring me dry.”

“I don't know about the viddy,” Miles said doubtfully. “I've got to get up really early. I have to—”

“Be Cindy Riggs's personal slave, gofer, tutor, chauffeur, yeah. We know,” Davy cut in.

Miles rocked back in his chair, his eyes wide and startled behind his round glasses. “No way! We're just good friends. She didn't have a ride to her fitting, so I told her—”

“I've seen how good a friend she is.” Davy mimicked Cindy's light, breathy voice. “‘
Miles, do you like my new push-up bra? Miles, would you help me with my zipper? Miles, would you do my calculus homework? Miles, who should I go out with, Rob, Rick or Randy?'
”

Miles's mouth set into a hard, angry line. “It's not like that.”

Sean cleared his throat in the silence that followed. “Uh…maybe Miles and I should hit the road. You sound like you need a serious time out. We'll take the Chinese with us, if you don't want it.”

“Yeah.” Miles sprang to his feet. “Let's go. Like, right now.”

Davy lifted his glass in silent apology as Sean and Miles left. Waves lapped rhythmically at the pebble beach below the porch in the silence they left in their wake. Usually it was a restful, meditative sound. Tonight, it struck him as soggy, depressing. Repetitive.

He was ashamed of himself. He had no right to criticize poor feckless Miles. He'd done stupider things himself for a woman. Would've done them again tonight, in fact. All night long, if Margot had let him.

The evening ticked by, impossibly slow. He wandered from room to room, discarding books and magazines. He surfed the net, the tube, but nothing was remotely interesting. It all seemed empty. The silence was so thick, it clogged his brain, but any music he put on irked him.

Evening stretched into an endless night. He finally wandered into the bedroom and dragged his jeans off to give his relentless boner some air. He sprawled out on the bed, but instead of sleep, he slid right into a series of erotic waking dreams about Margot. Kinky stuff, charged with anger and power games. Struggling against ropes, staring up into her bright eyes as she taunted him, showed him how helpless he was.

Very weird. He wondered what the hell that was about. Bondage games had never remotely entered his mind in terms of bed play. That was for bored people who needed to shock dulled senses to life. And God knows he went to great lengths in his life to avoid feeling helpless.

There was nothing dull about his senses. The dream memory of writhing beneath her beautiful body was vivid to the point of pain. He covered his face with one hand and gripped his stone-hard cock with a growl of frustration. There was no reasoning with his hard-on tonight, with the memory of her slim, strong shoulders beneath his hands so fresh in his mind. The fine texture of the skin on her neck. The look on her face, when she was thinking about letting him take her to bed.