Page 11 of Coming Home to You
“This is Rockport Chief of Police, Finn O’Loughlin, asshole,” the voice says.“Your brother.”
I pull the phone away from my ear and see the caller ID with Finn’s name across it.I’d thought I’d be happy to hear from anyone as long as they got me away from Miranda.Obviously this is the only exception.“What do you want?”I ask, not bothering to hide my annoyance.
“Oh, Pop and I are fine by the way,” he says, his voice just as annoyed.“I trust the big hotshot detective is his usual couldn’t-give-a-fuck-about-anyone-else, self?”
“Fucking hell,” I mutter.“What do you want, Finn?I don’t have time for this bullshit.”
I hear a car door slam through the phone and the background noises fade as though he’s just gotten into a car.“I’m calling to let you know that the woman you love is in trouble, dickhead.I know you don’t give a shit about anyone else, but you might be interested to know that someone certainly gives a shit about your girl, and not in the good way either.”
“What?”I ask, my whole body freezing.
“Oh now you’re listening, huh?”
“Just cut the crap, Finn and tell me what the fuck is going on,” I say, my stomach clenching at the thought that Kelsey could be in trouble.
My brother exhales deeply and I can’t help but wonder if this really is serious.Even though I’ve told myself every day for the last ten years that Kelsey and I are over, that I’d moved on and wasn’t going to think about her anymore, I knew I was completely full of shit.There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think about her, there probably wasn’t a week that went by that I didn’t look at that damn photo album I had of us.And she was sure as shit the image I conjured up every time I jacked off in the shower, regardless of how sick that idea was.Christ, at this rate, I was fucking kidding myself if I ever thought I was getting over this woman.
“Beck, are you listening to me?”Finn asks, interrupting my trip down memory lane.
“Sorry,” I say, shaking my head.“I missed that.”
“I said, Kelsey has gone and gotten herself a stalker.At first it was just harmless stuff, watching her when she was out, maybe following her a little more than was considered normal.Then he started turning up at work, at all hours, threatening her when she wouldn’t take him back.We served up a restraining order, but apparently that didn’t deter him much because tonight he turned up at her place and physically assaulted her…”
“What the fuck!”I shout down the phone.“And what the hell have you been doing all this time?Why don’t you arrest the fucking asshole, actually do your job, Finn?”
I hear what sounds like a hand punching the dash and I know it was a dick thing to say.I’m about to apologize when my brother speaks.“Don’t you fucking start, asshole,” he says.“You lost any right to tell me how to run this town when you decided to fuck off to the city.”
“Finn…” I say.
“Shut it, Beck,” he says, not letting me speak.“I’m only calling you now because I know Kelsey’s never gotten over you, despite how much she tries to pretend she has.And if you have any fucking feelings left for her, which at this point I seriously doubt, you’ll call her and check that she’s okay.Maybe suggest she take a little vacation while we try and track down the fucker who’s messing with her.”
I let out a deep breath.Finn has no idea what I still feel for Kelsey.How would he; we’ve barely spoken in three years, ever since Pop retired and took over the pub.And I sure as shit don’t act like I still care for her, leaving Rockport and never going back was a pretty good indication of that.But it’s all a big fucking lie.A lie I’ve been telling myself every day for the last ten years and which has now just become really fucking obvious.Of course I still care about her, I’ve never stopped loving her.
“You still there?”Finn says, and I can hear the exhaustion in his voice.
“Yeah,” I say.“And look, I’m sorry for what I said before.I didn’t mean to suggest you weren’t doing everything you can.”If it’s one thing I do know, it’s that my brother is a good cop.We’d both been brought up by a family of cops, our dad, granddad and even great-granddad doing the same job.And even though we disagreed about a lot of things, doing the job properly was something we all felt the same way about.If it’s one thing the O’Loughlin’s were, it was good fucking cops.After me, I couldn’t think of a better person to look after Kelsey, than Finn.
“I’m sitting outside her house right now,” my brother says.“I’ve got my deputies out looking for him and as soon as we find him, he’ll be charged.I don’t think she’s going to be in danger much longer, but it probably wouldn’t hurt if she took a little vacation until I’m sure.”
Suddenly memories of the victim from a week ago flash before my eyes, making me feel sick.I’m in danger of losing my beers as I start to imagine Kelsey’s stalker following the same path.Hadn’t Jane’s started off as innocent spying and occasionally following her?And look how that had turned out.Jane was dead and lying in a freezer at the morgue, raped and strangled while her ex-boyfriend was spending the night in jail.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter, knowing there is no avoiding what I know I need to do.
“So you’ll call her?”Finn asks.
I shake my head, even though he can’t see me.“No,” I say, my jaw clenched.
“Jesus christ, Beck, can you for once…”
“I’m coming home,” I say, the words forced out as though even I can’t believe I’m saying them.
“What?”
“I said, I’m coming home,” I repeat, knowing there’s no escaping the fact that I finally have a reason to go back to Rockport.
Fuck.
Chapter Five
