Made for You

by Cheyenne McCray

  Isaac’s head swung as he turned his attention from Kelley to Jill who now appeared on her knees in front of him.

  He dropped the belt and an iron fire poker was now in his hand.

  Darrell’s laugh echoed in the background.

  Isaac brought the iron poker down—

  Kelley woke up with a scream, sitting bolt upright in her dark bedroom as she fought against her sheets that were twisted around her like heavy ropes.

  Heart thundering, she breathed in harsh gasps as she came to her senses. It was just a dream… Only a dream… Except that Jill and Laura really were dead.

  Kelley’s stomach felt sick as she touched her chin where Isaac had split the skin with the belt buckle. But there was only the pale thin scar left over from that day. The last day he’d ever beaten her because she’d fled that same night.

  And he’d murdered her mother the very next morning.

  A tear rolled down Kelley’s cheek, over the fingers that still touched the scar. She could almost feel the burning pain from when the belt buckle had sliced her skin. But it meant nothing. She’d give any amount of pain, any amount of scars, to have her mother back.

  With a deep, shuddering breath, she moved her fingers away from her cheek. When she glanced at the clock she saw that it was just after two a.m. She pushed away the tangled sheets and slid back down into bed, beneath her bedspread. She lay on her side, her head resting on her pillow.

  She didn’t want to sleep… Didn’t want to see her mother’s and Laura’s dead faces again. For hours, she lay awake and stared into the darkness, trying to banish the images of Laura being murdered and Isaac starting to swing the iron poker at her mother’s head.

  Still in her nightgown, Kelley walked down the hall from the kitchen where she’d just nibbled on some toast for breakfast while drinking down a big mug of coffee. She passed her home office as she headed to her bedroom where she was going to change into the clothes she planned on wearing today.

  She was so tired…she hadn’t been able to sleep since the night Laura was murdered. Like last night, every other night she’d also been having nightmares. Her father and Darrell Taynor went in and out of her dreams, her mother’s and Laura’s dead faces burned into her mind.

  The guilt that weighed so heavily on her would likely never go away and she’d have to live with it. Finding the man who had abducted Belle was something she had to do.

  Her cell phone rang in her pocket and she pulled it out to see that it was Reese. Ever since her grandmother had stopped by, she’d been dreading hearing from the old woman again.

  It was with some relief that she said, “What’s up, Reese?”

  “Checking in on my favorite partner,” he said. “What are you up to?”

  “I’m going to the shooting range in half an hour.” Kelley paused in the middle of her bedroom. “The doc let me out of my sling yesterday and I want to get some practice in with my left hand.”

  “Damn it, Petrova.” He sounded irritated. “You need to be resting your shoulder.”

  “Just try and stop me.” Her tone was probably a little waspish, but she didn’t care. She hated this feeling of being coddled. “Tell me about the Taynor case.”

  He ignored her request. “How are you getting to the range?”

  She frowned. “Nikki is going to drop me off and then she’ll pick me up when I’m finished.”

  “Call her and tell her I’m taking you.” Reese said the words like it was an order. “It’s my day off, and I need to get some time in on the range. I’ll see you in thirty.”

  Kelley opened her mouth to tell him that she didn’t need him watching over her, which was exactly what he was doing, but he’d disconnected the call. She held her phone out and glared at it. Grudgingly, she called Nikki and told her she didn’t need a ride after all. Nikki made a crack about hot detective partners and Kelley almost hung up on her. But there was no arguing that she was right—Reese was damned hot.

  As she got ready to go, she let her hair fall loosely because her shoulder still hurt too much to pull her hair into a ponytail. She dressed in a white scoop-necked T-shirt, her favorite soft and comfortable faded jeans, socks, and sturdy leather shoes. She stuffed her wallet with her credentials, cash, and credit cards in one pocket, shoved her keys in another, and then put on small silver earrings.

  When she was dressed, she slid on a belt and a holster with her Glock. Trying not to jar her shoulder, she carefully shrugged into a sapphire blue blouse to cover her service weapon. She walked past her treadmill that she kept in her bedroom. It was frustrating not to be able to go jogging in the mornings. The treadmill just wasn’t the same, but she was still using it to help keep in shape.

  The doorbell rang and she headed from her bedroom to the living room. She opened the front door to see Reese on her doorstep. A flutter went through her belly for the first time ever with him. It was different from the warm, squishy feeling in her belly she’d gotten when he’d cooked dinner for her. Even compared to how sexy he was the other night, she never remembered him looking so good as he did right now. He wore a black Stetson, an open western shirt over a black T-shirt, Wrangler jeans, and black boots. He had a day’s growth of stubble and his blue eyes were studying her in a way that made her feel like he was seeing her in the same way—as something more than just a partner.

  But then it could have been her imagination or wishful thinking. Treading those waters was dangerous, something she had to keep reminding herself.

  “Ready?” He gave her a smile that made her insides do funny things that they shouldn’t be doing.

  “Yes.” She nodded as she patted her holstered Glock. “Let’s get to the range. I can’t wait to shoot something.”

  He gave her a grin. “That’s the partner I know and love.”

  Even though she wasn’t wearing a sling now, she still needed to baby her shoulder, so she let him help her up into the truck.

  As he drove to the shooting range, she drilled him about the Taynor case. “Has the case progressed at all?” When he frowned at her question, she knew it had. “There’s something you’ve found,” she stated.

  Reese gave a slow nod. “All of the leads have ended up in dead ends until yesterday.” He hesitated as Kelley sat straighter in her seat. “We’re pretty sure that Taynor has ties to a drug cartel in southern Arizona.”

  Her eyes widened. “And you didn’t tell me?”

  “I wasn’t certain until today.” Reese explained what had gone down with Bill Dickey and Stan Driscoll yesterday. “It wasn’t until this morning that Dickey finally caved in and gave us what we needed to know about Taynor and the drug smuggling ring he’s involved with.”

  “I want in on this, Reese,” she said and could hear the stubbornness in her own voice. “For all we know, since he has ties to a cartel, he could be across the line with that little girl.”

  “It’s possible.” By Reese’s expression, she could tell that he was as frustrated as she was. “But we had a damned good lead from a snitch that he was still here locally,” Reese said. “Taynor must have left not long before we got to the house where he was stashing drugs and cash. So as far as we know, he’s still in Prescott. Our snitch told us there’s something in the works, which is the only reason why Taynor hasn’t left town yet.”

  She shook her head. “How has he eluded us for so long?”

  Reese glanced from the road to her. “I think there’s a good chance he was prepared for something to go down and found a place to hide out until things cool off. He may have planned on kidnapping Belle all along.”

  “Damn him,” Kelley said through gritted teeth.

  She frowned. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier, but something important just occurred to me.”

  “It could have been the concussion that made you forget,” he said. “So what did you remember?”

  “During a conversation I had with Laura, she mentioned a foster brother.” Kelley frowned. Usually she recalled conversations
easily, but this one wasn’t coming to her as clearly as normal. “This foster brother was bad news and he’d scared her when he’d come around.”

  Reese’s brow furrowed. “When we checked out Taynor’s background we saw that he’d been in the foster care system in Phoenix, but nothing came up about a foster brother who Taynor had been heavily involved with.”

  Kelley tilted her head to the side. “At the time, Laura hadn’t wanted to go to the police and file a report because she was not only scared of Taynor but of his foster brother, too.” Kelley pushed strands of hair behind her ear. “She was afraid that either one of them would kill her if they were arrested and let go for any reason.”

  “Do you remember the foster brother’s name?” Reese asked.

  For a moment Kelley thought about it. Her jaw ached from clenching it so tightly as she mentally dug for the information. “I’ve never had a problem with my memory.” She wanted to scream in frustration. It seemed that the more she tried to think of it, the more her brain caused it to elude her.

  “Hey.” Reese glanced at her. “Concussions can take some time to heal. Be patient with yourself.”

  She shook her head, still thinking about the conversation with Laura. The name finally came to Kelley and she blew out her breath. “Johnny Rocha.” She gave a mirthless laugh. “His friends called him Johnny Rocket, but she wasn’t sure why.”

  “Probably has something to do with drugs,” Reese said, looking thoughtful.

  She nodded. “I think the next step is to track down Taynor’s foster brother.”

  “I’ll get hold of John and see if he can start in on it.” Reese pulled his phone out of his holster and pressed a speed dial number before holding the phone to his ear.

  Kelley listened as he spoke with John but wasn’t sure what John said when Reese spoke with him.

  When Reese ended the call and stuffed his phone into its holster, he said, “John isn’t on duty but he said he’d get on the lead as soon as he gets in.”

  Kelley pushed her hair behind her one of her ears and looked out the window. She wondered if her concussion had anything to do with her having a hard time sleeping as well as having affected her memory.

  She turned back to Reese. “Why don’t we see what we can find out now?”

  “Don’t worry.” Reese looked at the road then his eyes met hers. “We’re going to find Taynor and Belle.”

  She just nodded. Finding the little girl was something Kelley intended to do, even if she hadn’t been cleared to go back to work. She’d had enough of sitting on the sidelines.

  Twenty minutes later, Kelley had earmuffs on, her Glock unholstered, standing at the firing point in the indoor shooting range. Reese stood behind her with his own earmuffs on, watching her. She squared off, aiming at the target, using her left hand. Because her right shoulder hurt so much, she was having a hard time with a two-handed grip, but she was determined.

  The first target she imagined was her father. She did fairly well, but not acceptable as far as she was concerned—maybe it was the fact that no matter how much she hated her father, and how much he deserved it, she wouldn’t shoot the bastard. She reeled it in and discarded the target before sending another one out.

  Still using her left hand she pictured Taynor as the second target. Her anger magnified when she thought of him, her focus sharpening. When she finished, she pressed the button to bring the target toward her and took off her earmuffs. She tried not to grimace from the pain in her shoulder. It might not have been the smartest idea to come to the range today, but she didn’t want to admit it.

  Reese took off his earmuffs too, and shook his head when the target reached them. Her shots were grouped so close around the heart that the bullets had left one big hole.

  “Damn, Petrova.” Reese took down the target. “I knew you’re a great shot with your right. Never knew you could shoot so well left-handed.”

  Kelley put a new clip in her Glock as she looked at Reese. “I was at the top in my class in the academy.”

  “Can’t say that I’m surprised.” Reese nodded to her gun. “If you had something lighter, it might hurt your shoulder less.”

  She shrugged then winced because of the pain it caused. “I’d like to get one of the newer lighter Glocks. Maybe down the road.”

  Reese sent a fresh target out and drew his Glock from his shoulder holster. He put his earmuffs back on and squared off with the target.

  Kelley holstered her Glock and covered her ears with the muffs again. She watched as Reese took his turn. When he was finished and reeled the target back in, she studied the target and said, “Not bad.”

  He looked at the grouping that wasn’t quite as tight as Kelley’s. “Yeah, but you kicked my butt today. And you did it with an injury.”

  They continued practicing but Kelley had to call it quits after her third round. “I think I may have slightly overdone it.”

  He didn’t give her a hard time like she’d expected. Instead, he put his hand on her good shoulder. “How about a big, greasy burger?”

  She grinned. “And an ice-cold beer.”

  “The Highlander it is,” he said.

  Chapter 7

  As he drove, Reese frowned to himself as he saw Kelley grimace when she thought he wasn’t looking. Maybe overdoing it today would teach her not to be so stubborn in the future. He mentally shook his head. As if that was going to happen.

  He parked in front of the Highlander Bar when they reached it. He knew better than to open car doors for her, but with her injury he figured that was an exception. She already had the truck door open when he went around to the passenger side. Considering how high his truck was and the fact that she was petite, she needed his help now.

  When they walked into the bar, Reese squinted in the dimness. It was the middle of the afternoon so the place wasn’t as busy as it would be in a couple of hours. Reese nodded to a couple of guys he knew before he and Kelley took a high top. After they were seated at the table, Sophie, a waitress with a short skirt and a low-cut blouse, took their order for two cheeseburgers with everything on them, as well as home fries and two Heinekens.

  As the waitress walked away, Reese turned to look at Kelley. He’d always thought his partner was pretty, but it was as if he was seeing her in a new light. She was beautiful with her blonde hair loose around her face, her blue eyes so thoughtful looking, and her gentle curves. He wanted to touch those curves, to run his fingers through her silky hair and to kiss her soft lips.

  “What’s wrong?” She looked at him with her head tilted to the side.

  He shook his head. “How’s your shoulder?”

  “A bit sore,” Kelley admitted. Her face seemed a little pale and strained, but she still looked damned beautiful.

  He knew better than to say anything like, “I told you so.” Instead, he just nodded. “Give it a week or so and you’ll be doing a lot better.”

  She frowned. “Patience has never been my strong suit.”

  “I noticed.” He couldn’t help a little smile.

  She looked around. “Like why isn’t my cheeseburger here already?”

  He laughed. “Because you just ordered, honey.”

  They both froze and looked at each other. He didn’t know whether to apologize for calling his partner “honey” or to just let it ride.

  “Saved by the beer,” he muttered as Sophie arrived with their bottles of Heineken.

  Kelley laughed. She had such a sexy laugh that it made his gut tighten.

  Both bottles were already open and Reese took a long pull of his. He needed to get his head on straight when it came to Kelley, and he needed to do it now.

  When Kelley set her beer bottle down, she gave him a thoughtful look. “It’s our anniversary next weekend.”

  Reese raised an eyebrow. “Anniversary?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re a man who forgets special dates.” She wore a teasing smile.

  For the life of him he didn’t know what she was talking about. �
��Uh—”

  “What happened to your deductive skills?” She shook her head. “It’s a sad day when you forget our anniversary. We’ve been partners for two years this Sunday.”

  Reese blew out his breath. Of course. “I didn’t forget. I’ve just had my mind on the Taynor case.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh.”

  “We’ll go out to celebrate.” He gave her a quick grin. He knew where her heart was. “Your shoulder should be better by then.”

  With a laugh she said, “It’s a date.” Her eyes widened and she held up her hands. “Not a real date.”

  “Of course not,” he said, amused.

  She grinned. “Can’t wait.”

  By the time they left the Highlander it was dark. When they reached Kelley’s home, Reese went to the passenger side and helped her out of the truck. He found himself wanting to hold her hand but released it as soon as her feet were firmly on the ground.

  “Come in for a beer,” she said as he walked her up to the door.

  Reason warred within him, telling him that he shouldn’t. But something deep inside him didn’t want the day to end. “Sounds good,” he said, shoving reason straight out the door.

  Once they were inside, Kelley pointed to the sofa. “Have a seat. I’ll grab the beer and be right back.”

  He gave a nod and seated himself on the sofa. A few minutes later and she reappeared with two green bottles of Heineken. She handed a bottle to him then set hers on the coffee table. He watched with a raised brow as she slipped out of the blue shirt she’d worn over her white T-shirt and tossed the shirt over the back of a chair. She unholstered her Glock and put the weapon into a drawer in the entryway table.

  When she was finished, she sat on the couch a couple of feet from him. She faced him with her knees bent and her legs tucked under her.

  His gut tightened as he watched her. “How’s your shoulder?”

  “I had some ibuprofen with me and I took it earlier.” She rested the elbow of her good arm on the back of the sofa and studied him. “Right now I feel pretty good.”

  A part of him knew that it was a real bad idea to be sitting so close to her the way he was feeling right now. He drank from his beer bottle but his eyes never left hers. She looked so damned beautiful with her hair a little tousled, her blue eyes darkening with what looked like desire. Her lips parted and he thought he saw a hitch in her breathing.