by Amy Saunders
"Figures," he said, huffing. "Selfish..." Kyle's mouth formed a hard line.
Belinda was glad her features were hidden in the shadows. After a few minutes of looking menacing, Kyle sighed and shrugged, muttering something about how it was too late now.
"You know it was dangerous just walking in here," he said more cheerfully. "I could have been naked."
Belinda rolled her eyes. "Your missing boat is a bigger concern right now."
Kyle frowned. "The police probably think I'm lying about that too."
"Are you?" Belinda asked sadly. She felt better knowing Kyle had been trying to protect her, but she wished he'd told her what was going on a long time ago. It might have made things easier. Or even safer for them both on some level.
Kyle leaned back, observing her from a distance. "I'm sorry to put you through all of this, Bels. You put up with me, you always have, and you even pretend like you like me."
"Sometimes."
"Sometimes." He gave her a crooked smile. "But you're my constant, you know? And I'm glad you've been here through all of this."
"Me too." Belinda sighed. "The police probably do think you're lying about Mark's boat, which is why we need to find it."
"Bels, I did lie to the police."
Belinda blanched. "About not knowing about the boat?"
"No. Well, not exactly. About the day Mark died. I told that detective that I wasn't there because our grandmother died."
Belinda paused. "Which one?"
Kyle looked up at the ceiling. "I didn't think that far."
Belinda humphed. Well that explained why Jonas asked her the real reason why Kyle wasn't around when Mark died. "Russell Carmichael will be devastated."
"Carmichael? He's still alive?"
"And chasing Nana."
Kyle guffawed. "I bet she makes his life interesting."
"You have no idea. But he keeps coming back for more." She picked up a stray napkin on the counter and started twisting it. "So now that we know Mark was already dead before the supposed accident, we definitely need to find the boat. When was the last time you saw it?"
Kyle thought about it. "Not long after I put it in storage. You know how I was at that point. I couldn't stand the sight of it."
"Who would have known where you kept it?"
Kyle raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Anyone, I guess. I didn't try to keep it a secret."
"Where was it? Was it locked up?"
Kyle shrugged. "It wasn't like I had Bennett Tate guarding the place. I didn't think it was that big of a deal at the time."
Belinda sighed, her eyes watering up. The boat could answer so many questions. About Jeff's murder, of course, but especially all the questions she'd had about Mark for so long.
Kyle pursed his lips. "New topic. I saw you packed up the hutch."
Belinda blinked back her tears. "I see you didn't pack up your stuff."
Kyle flashed his naughty-and-I-know-it smile. "Oops."
"Yeah, big oops when the demolition guys show up to rip up the carpet and find your dirty underwear on the floor."
"I do not keep dirty underwear on the floor."
"How would you know? There could be some hidden under all of your other clothes."
"For your information, I know exactly where everything is."
"That must be why you can't find your wallet on a weekly basis."
Kyle snorted. "You have an unfair advantage in this argument."
"Because I know you so well?"
"Because we shared a crib once and you know how to mind meld."
Belinda grinned. "And yet, I still can't control you."
"You've never really tried." Kyle stroked his chin absently. "Bar glasses."
Belinda glanced back at him, resisting the urge to run home to pack. "Excuse me?"
"You've been stressing over the wedding shower present thing, so that's my two cents. Bar glasses."
"Like the ones Mom and Dad own?"
"Yeah, like those."
Impressive. "That's not a half-bad idea, bro."
"I am good for something."
She smiled. "You're good for a lot of things."
Kyle straightened up, putting a finger to his lips as she was about to say something else. Belinda held perfectly still. They had a visitor.
Chapter 18
Belinda panicked as the boat most definitely rocked. Had someone followed her there? She'd been careful and walked from a good distance to the marina, but if she had a stalker who was not Jeff and not dead then...
Kyle whipped open the door, shining the flashlight right in Bennett's eyes. Bennett faltered backward and toward the edge of the swim platform, losing his balance and half-falling, half-hopping into the water. Kyle caught him by his jacket and dragged him up and onto the boat, helping him to his feet, and looked back into the darkness. "Octopus warthog."
Bennett's eyebrows shot up. "What?"
Belinda appeared in the doorway, thrilled and relieved to see it was Bennett. "It's a twin thing. We have a safe and danger word code system."
"So w–what would y–you have said if she was in t–trouble?"
Kyle cupped his hands around his mouth. "Run!"
Belinda took Bennett's hand, leading him inside where it was warmer. If she wanted him to get over his biases and date her, she couldn't lose him to hypothermia because of her brother and his stupid flashlight. "Are you all right?"
"I c–can o–only see w–white dots," he stammered out after his ice water bath, "but o–other than that I'm just g–great."
Belinda snatched a towel out of Kyle's hands and started patting down Bennett's face and head. He was even hotter when he was wet. "So, Kyle's here."
Bennett smiled wryly. "I g–got that p–part."
"And Bels is here, and now you're here." Kyle folded his arms. "Anybody else coming that you know of?"
Belinda shot him a look. "What are you doing here?"
"I went to see you at V–Victoria's, but you were gone, and her h–husband thought you'd be h–here." Bennett looked around, taking in what he could in the dark. "You k–know, when D–Dan said 'boat,' I had s–something a tad s–smaller pop into my h–head."
Belinda stood back, ignoring for the moment that Bennett had been searching for her. She would savor that and analyze what it meant later. "Dan thought of the boat? Just like that?"
"Great," Kyle snarled. "So Dan thinks of the boat, but it takes you a week."
"Kyle, it did not take me a week. Honestly, I didn't think it would be back from the Caribbean or wherever they sent it this winter yet."
"But I'm not on that one, I'm on this one."
"Well, I forgot about this one. Temporarily. Anyway," Belinda turned back to Bennett, his eyes darting between the two of them curiously. "Dan thought of this?" Questions painted his face, but he would have to wait to get the scoop on the boats after this was over.
"You can join Victoria in reaming the poor guy out for it later, but I came to warn you that I may know who's behind your assaults." Heat started to reenter his body, especially with Belinda wrapping him up in the towel. It was like being wrapped up in a pelt, and it smelled faintly like the beach, the way Belinda did.
Belinda glanced at Kyle. "Lily Devore?" she said sheepishly.
Bennett rubbed his eyes. "Please tell me I did not just lose my eyesight for nothing."
Belinda got closer to him, examining both of his eyes rimmed with dark circles. She almost reached up and traced the bone underneath, but held back. "What did you find?"
Bennett explained what he saw on Trebor's footage, and how he thought it was Lily watching the accident. Possibly even recording it with her phone. Belinda and Kyle looked at each other somberly.
"It's common knowledge she hates your guts," Kyle said, but there was no humor in his voice.
"She certainly made that plain at the museum." Belinda knew Lily was crazy, but this was taking it to a whole new level.
Bennett nodded. "Lily did say you two had un
finished business."
"Meaning she hasn't killed me yet?"
Kyle snorted. "I wouldn't be shocked, would you?"
"All right," Bennett said, folding the towel and handing it back to Belinda. "I'll call Jonas first thing tomorrow." He turned toward the door.
"Are you leaving already?" Belinda blinked her doe eyes at him. "There's safety in numbers."
"You are safe." He glanced at Kyle.
"Not me. You." She wasn't the one about to walk out into the darkness alone.
"Me?" Bennett almost laughed, but her face was so serious.
"Kyle's in all this trouble because of me, why not you? I think you should stay here tonight with us."
Bennett arched his eyebrows. She didn't make it sound like a suggestion.
"He's not sleeping with me," Kyle said.
Belinda rolled her eyes. "We can each have our own stateroom, Kyle. Honestly." She didn't wait for Bennett to agree or seem remotely interested in his opinion, but walked to the landing in front of the stairs and stared at him. "Well, come on. The rooms are down here. Kyle will get you some dry clothes." She looked at Kyle to make sure he heard her command and trotted away.
Kyle smirked at Bennett. "Welcome to my world."
~ * ~
Belinda heard talking and thought it must be Victoria and Dan. But then it sounded like two Dans. Er, two men. Kyle...Kyle and Bennett. Kyle and Bennett! Belinda's eyes opened with a start. It was light out. Sort of. She checked the clock and buried back under the covers until she heard a rap on her door. She didn't answer, hoping he would just go away, but then the door clicked open.
"I could be naked," she grumbled from under the comforter.
"Want me to go get Bennett?"
Belinda glared though she couldn't see him through the fabric.
"I don't like being up this early either," Kyle said, "but we need to leave before it gets later and people show up for work, etcetera."
Belinda peeked out of her cocoon. "We're leaving?"
Belinda dressed and met the two guys in the main deck living area. It felt weird to have actual light after being in the dark for so long. She wandered over, not feeling even close to awake. She'd managed to get dressed and put her hair up, but she wasn't so sure she could communicate yet. Her only real thoughts involved coffee.
Bennett handed Belinda his computer tablet without even saying good morning. "Now about this extra guest at Stellan's party. Look through those photos and see if anyone's a match."
Oh, wonderful. He was a morning person. Belinda stared at the faces for an absurd amount of time before any of them registered, and handed the tablet back to him. "He's not there." She flopped onto the couch. If they weren't getting coffee, she wasn't holding her own weight yet.
Kyle glanced from Belinda to Bennett. "Who are we talking about?"
"I saw a guy posing as a security worker at the party."
"We don't know that," Bennett said.
"I do."
Bennett's eyes glimmered.
Belinda turned to Kyle. "He was a beefy guy with a cue ball head and a big nose."
"Wait, wait, wait," Kyle said, planting his palms on the counter. "Kind of short but stocky? Not a lick of hair."
Belinda nodded.
Kyle snapped his fingers. "That's your stalker."
Belinda and Bennett exchanged looks. His mind was cranking. She could see it. And so was hers, but it was moving in a completely random direction.
"Weimaraners!" she blurted out, then wanted to sink through the floor. She would pay for that by having to explain.
Bennett just looked at her quizzically. "Is that relevant to something we were talking about?"
Belinda flushed. "Oh, no. It's just those funny little dogs that are famous now. Well, I guess they're not really little dogs, but, you know..." Bennett's quizzical expression deepened. "I just remembered their name is all. It's one of those things...I couldn't think of the name the other day and it keeps bugging me." She shrugged, hoping to look indifferent. "Now it won't because I remembered." Maybe she should just open the oven door and crawl inside.
"Do you like them? Weimaraners."
"No, not particularly."
Bennett's eyes lightened. "Do things you don't particularly like usually bug you?"
Belinda caught Kyle's smirk from the corner of her eye. "Um...sometimes." Bennett's lip turned up. Well, at least she was amusing him. "Something reminded me of them and it's just annoying when you can't remember."
Bennett seemed satisfied with that and moved on. "So I'll plan to meet up with Jonas today, and the two of you lie low at home."
Belinda nodded at Bennett's advice, so relieved she escaped having to admit to Bennett that the color of his eyes sometimes reminded her of the dogs. "You think we should keep Kyle's reappearance quiet?" Belinda glanced from Bennett to Kyle, his face wrinkled up in thought.
"Yes, I do."
Kyle folded his arms. "I agree. It could be a tactical advantage for us."
Belinda sighed. "Can we eat first?"
Kyle laughed, his eyes brightening. "Catch a murderer or eat breakfast? Bels' chooses breakfast."
Belinda punched his arm, but she was happy to hear him laugh. "If you're going to drag me from my cozy bed at this hour, you're going to feed me, okay?"
Kyle opened his mouth to say something, but Belinda cut him off. "Do you prefer French toast or pancakes?" Belinda said to Bennett. He raised his eyebrows. "We have the stuff to make either so it's up to you."
Bennett nodded. "I like pancakes."
"Pancakes it is then." Belinda flashed a smile. Then her eyes darkened as they settled on Kyle. "You are calling Mom and Dad today." Kyle's mouth gaped. "No. Excuses." Belinda raised her nose up and glided toward the door.
Kyle's eyes held a twinkle as he passed Bennett. "You can't say I didn't warn you."
They split up to hike to their vehicles and return to Belinda's house. Kyle started the engine of her car. He would have to reclaim his Jeep. There was no way he was taking off alone with her car. "Why didn't I get a vote on what we have for breakfast?"
"Because you're not the guest."
Kyle smirked. "I like how you just glossed over the whole asking him to come over part and skipped right to what he's eating."
"I did ask him."
"Oh, sure. 'Pancakes or French toast?'" Kyle affected a woman's voice, and a poor one at that in Belinda's opinion. "'Pancakes it is, big boy. You're coming over whether you want to or not.'"
Belinda jabbed his shoulder.
"Ow! I'm driving."
"And I'm being hospitable."
"You're holding Bennett hostage and force-feeding him pancakes." She pinched his arm this time, hard. "Ow!"
"Do you think he didn't want to come over?" Belinda wanted to smack her forehead. She never really gave Bennett a chance to say.
Kyle snorted. "He wants to come over. I bet he's been dreaming about your pancakes for days." He grinned wickedly, dodging Belinda's swing at his arm.
"Seriously, Kyle. Do you think he didn't want to come over?"
"Well, I'm not in his head, but I get the feeling he would have just said he wasn't coming over if he didn't want to, so I think you're safe."
"Do you mean that? If you're lying, just come out and say it now and spare yourself the pain later."
"Yes, I mean that. He let you ugly cry on his shirt, he hunted you down when he thought you were in danger, and stayed here last night at your command. There is every indication that he does indeed want to eat your pancakes."
She frowned. "It's too bad he didn't say French toast."
"You could have just rolled with the whole commanding thing you were doing back there and told him he was eating French toast. At our house. Shirtless. Ow!"
Belinda grinned. At Kyle's pain, of course, but she had to admit she didn't mind his last suggestion either. Not. One. Bit.
While Bennett reconvened with Jonas and Kyle hid out at home, Belinda and Victoria detoured a few bl
ocks up from the downtown to shop for a wedding gift. After a lot of eyelash batting and smiling and filling the stomachs of the men in her life with delicious homemade food, she managed to convince her protectors to let her go shop. She was ordered not to leave Victoria's side, and they were to stay in sight of other people at all times. Jonas failed to mention it, but they also had eyes on them.
"Do they have to be crystal?" Victoria said, checking out the price of one glass.
"No, that's just what my parents have." Belinda tried to focus on the glasses, but she kept gazing right through them, her mind a million miles away. "Now so carefully packed away that I don't remember where I put them."
Victoria laughed. "Just don't tell your mom that."
Belinda smirked at the conversation Kyle had had with her parents earlier. She mostly heard "yes, ma'am" and half-finished words on his end. "No worries there. At least they won't be looking for them anytime soon."
"They're too busy getting busy on a cruise."
Belinda made a face. "Unnecessary visual information." Belinda picked up a glass off the shelf, weighing it in her hand. "These are nice."
"Too nice. Look at the tag."
"Oh." Belinda set it back down and moved forward in the aisle. "How hard is it to find bar glasses that aren't chintzy but not extravagant?"
"Pretty hard." Victoria pointed at another shelf with a few more options. Her eyes gleamed as she held a glass under the lights. "These."
Belinda took it from her hand, rolling it over, watching the colors in the glass shift. She met Victoria's eyes and nodded enthusiastically. "They're perfect, Vix. And the price?"
"Perfect."
They gave each other a high five and Belinda admired them while the shop owner wrapped each glass in tissue paper and placed them in a box. The shop door rang and Belinda glanced up to see Lily stalk in. Belinda glanced around, but there was no place to run or hide and Lily was blocking the only exit.
"What are you doing here?" Lily said angrily. Her black hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. Belinda thought her face would benefit from a more relaxed hairstyle.
Belinda folded her arms. "Buying my cousin a wedding present. You?"