For You (The Shore Book 2)

by S. E. Brown

  “Hi. I’m sorry to wake you.” There was worry in her voice.

  “It’s alright. What’s wrong?” He shifted his body to a sitting position causing Madison to wake.

  “The alarm went off again.”

  “Shit, really?”

  Madison mouthed, “Who is it?”

  “Erin,” he said quietly.

  “Declan, the police found Ty there.”

  “Damn it,” he sighed, running his hand over his face.

  “What do you want to do?” Erin asked.

  “I can head to the gym but it’s going to take me a couple hours to get there.”

  “A couple hours? Where are you?”

  “Madison and I are at the shore. I have the plane, but I need to drop her back at Cody’s to get her car.”

  “That’s right! You failed to fill in some of those details last night.”

  “You’ll have to wait until later.”

  Madison raised an eyebrow hearing only Declan’s side of the conversation.

  “Are you going to press charges?”

  “I need to talk to him first. I want to understand what the hell happened before I make any decisions. Are they still at the gym?”

  “Yeh, I’m on my way there now. But if you want to talk to him, my guess is they’ll make him wait at the police station.”

  “I really don’t want that to happen, but maybe it’ll scare him a little. Show him he can’t do this shit.”

  “Chris is here so he can stay with Ike. I’ll head to the gym until you get there, okay?”

  “Yeh. Text me if they keep him at the gym otherwise I’ll head straight to the station.”

  “Okay.”

  “Alright, let me get outta here. Text me if there’s anything else.”

  “Okay. Fly safe.”

  Declan disconnected the call and looked to Madison.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “The alarm went off again.”

  “Sounds like it wasn’t a false alarm this time.”

  “No.” Declan paused for a second then pressed a quick kiss to Madison’s lips before he got out of bed. He dressed as he explained. “There’s this kid, Ty. He’s one of those kids that had a really shitty childhood with a dad that was killed when he was young and a mom strung out on drugs. He’s been trying to do the right things, trying to live the right way. Erin, Aidan and I have been helping him the best we could, figuring out a place for him to stay, giving him money when he needed it, and he basically had carte blanche at the gym to train.

  “When the cops went to the gym this morning, Ty was there. I’m not sure what he was doing, but I’m going to find out.”

  “Do you think he set it off?”

  Declan sighed, “I don’t know.” He walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

  Madison got up from the bed and put on her clothes. By the time she was done, Declan opened the door again.

  “Do you want to stay here and sleep? The sun isn’t even up yet. Ryan could come get you later and bring you to your car.”

  “No,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I need to head back and deal with work anyway. Getting an early start wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

  “I’m sorry.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips.

  “Why are you sorry?”

  “I had other ideas for how to wake you up. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

  She grinned as she tightened her arms around him. “Don’t worry. There will be other opportunities.”

  “Promise?”

  Madison nodded. “Thank you for coming here last night.”

  “Thank you for what you did last night,” he grinned. “I owe you one.”

  With a smile on her lips, Madison shook her head. “Let’s not start keeping score, okay?”

  “Deal,” he winked.

  “Come on, we’d better get going.”

  Declan led them back to the garage and instead of sliding on his leather, he grabbed the keys to the Wrangler and opened the garage door.

  Madison laughed as she remembered the conversation about his toys from the night before.

  “I guess I’ve seen them all now, right?” she asked, pointing to the Wrangler.

  “Well, except for the Camaro. And the plane,” he winked.

  “Right,” she chuckled, shaking her head.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Declan called the FBO where he kept his plane and requested they get it ready for flight. He had let them know he’d likely be there only a handful of hours, but hadn’t expected to leave quite so early.

  The drive to Ryan and Cody’s house seemed to take less time than it had the night before as he absently ran his thumb over Madison’s knuckles and thought about Ty.

  Why was he at the gym this early in the morning?

  He knew the kid was worried about his mom being released, but he also knew, without a doubt, the last place Ty wanted to end up was in jail. He’d seen too many of his buddies with the wrong people doing the wrong things. Declan and Erin had made it clear they would do what they could to help him stay away from all of that. Ty had seemed relieved.

  Then why was he there?

  Was he sleeping there?

  The thought made Declan’s stomach drop. It made sense. The first false alarm, not being able to find anyone entering the gym on the video tapes, seeing Ty at the gym so early in the morning.

  “Will you call me when you land?” Madison broke his train of thought as they pulled into Ryan’s driveway.

  Declan nodded with a soft smile. “It should take me about two hours to get there, depending on where they are with the prep.”

  “How long have you had your license anyway?”

  “A couple years. It’s just easier to fly between the gyms than drive,” he shrugged.

  Declan put the car in park and got out. He grabbed Madison’s few items from the back seat and met her at the rear of the Wrangler.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist. “I think Ryan was right.”

  Declan cocked his head in question.

  “You are definitely an onion.” She grinned and leaned in to kiss him. “Fly safely, okay?”

  “I will. You drive carefully.”

  “I will.” Madison smiled and leaned in for another kiss.

  Declan waited as Madison got into her car and drove away. He would have rather flown her back with him, but knew she needed to have her car in the city.

  Maybe I can take her away for a weekend in the mountains.

  He smiled at the thought and got into his car. He definitely wanted to spend as much time with her as he could. Erin would be coming back to the gym soon which meant he wouldn’t be managing for her anymore.

  The question was, would he be going back to the shore?

  Shaking the thought from his mind, he turned out of the driveway and dialed Aidan’s number.

  “This better be important,” Aidan answered in a quiet, gruff tone.

  “Erin just called. The alarm went off at the gym this morning and the security company called her. Ty was there.”

  “Okay.” Aidan didn’t seem too concerned.

  “Aidan, we need to find out if he’s been staying at the home. What if he’s been crashing at the gym?”

  “Have you seen any evidence?”

  “No, but a couple weeks ago the alarm went off and we couldn’t see anyone on the tapes. Whatever, or whoever, set it off must have been inside the building.”

  “Shit.”

  “Exactly. I’m not sure how this will hurt him trying to stay at the home with his mom’s release.”

  “You on the way to the gym?”

  “I am, but I’m at the shore. I’m on my way to the plane now.”

  “Alright. It’s still early, but let me make some calls. I should have some information by the time you land.”

  “Thanks. I’ll call you when I’m back in town.”

  By the time Declan pulled into the hangar, the crew had his pl
ane pushed back and the gas line was connected.

  The nice thing about having homes in all three locations was there was very little he had to cart back and forth. He grabbed his small bag and walked toward the plane.

  “Morning. We almost ready to go?”

  “Just about. Another ten minutes and you should be ready for wheels up.”

  “Perfect. Thanks for getting her ready so early.”

  “No problem, Mr. Healy.”

  Declan set his bag down and went about completing his pre-flight checklist. By the time he was finished, the plane was fueled and ready to go.

  Before turning his phone off, he sent a quick text to Erin.

  Declan: I’m about to take off. Be there in a bit.

  He began his flight rituals, talking with the tower, taxiing to the runway, and getting clearance for take-off. The plane was only a two-engine prop so thankfully he didn’t have to file any flight plans. He would have liked to have gotten a bigger plane, but he liked that he could basically come and go as he wanted, and he wasn’t required to have a co-pilot with him.

  Within fifteen minutes he was airborne and nearly at cruising altitude. It would take just shy of two hours to get to Charlotte, so he sat back and got comfortable.

  Chapter 24

  As Declan got into his Challenger he powered on his phone. A moment later it dinged with a text.

  Erin: They took Ty to the station. I couldn’t convince them to let him wait at the gym. Call me after you talk to him.

  Declan sighed. It wasn’t what he wanted, but maybe it was the best thing. If Ty was sure he didn’t want to have that kind of life, maybe spending some time at the station would do some good. Scare him straight.

  He shot off a response to Erin before he called Madison.

  Declan: Just got in my car. I’ll be at the station shortly.

  He pulled out of the hangar and dialed his phone.

  “Hey, stranger,” Madison answered.

  “Hey. How’s the drive?”

  “A lot longer than your flight. You’re there already?”

  Declan chuckled. “Told you it was easier flying back and forth than it was driving.”

  “Shit, I still have about five hours to go!”

  “You do? You should be about two hours in by now.”

  “I would be if I hadn’t stopped to watch the sunrise. I passed by one of the walk-overs in the dunes just as the sun was about to break the horizon and couldn’t resist.”

  “Ahh. So it’s your own fault then,” he teased.

  “Sometimes you’ve got to take advantage of the view. Stop and smell the roses, ya know?”

  “I do know. I just wish I’d been there to watch it with you.”

  “Me, too. Next time?”

  “Sure, right after you wake me up like you were thinking this morning.”

  “First, it better not be that long until I can wake you like that. Second, I’m not sure we’d make it out of bed.”

  “Touché.”

  Declan laughed.

  “Do you know anything more yet?” Madison changed the subject to Ty. Five hours in a car was a lot of time to think, and spending that time envisioning Declan waking her up with his mouth would have made for a very long drive.

  “No, just that they took him to the police station. I’m headed there now.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Just drive carefully and let me know when you get home, okay?”

  “I will.

  Declan pulled into the parking lot next to the station and turned off the engine. Ty was a minor, and he wasn’t even sure if the police would let him talk to him, but he had to try. He needed to understand just what the hell was going on.

  He walked in and made his way to the reception desk.

  “May I help you?”

  “Your officers responded to an alarm going off at the gym on College Street this morning. I’m the owner, Declan Healy. Is it possible to speak to the officer in charge?”

  “One moment, please.”

  The sergeant looked up something on his computer then dialed a number. “A Mr. Healy is here to see you.” He nodded and hung up the phone and looked back to Declan. “Lt. Carlson will be right with you.”

  “Thank you.” Declan stood back from the desk and waited until he saw the same officer approach him that had walked through the gym with him just a couple weeks before.

  “Mr. Healy.” The officer offered his hand.

  “Lt. Carlson. Thanks for taking the time to meet with me.” Declan accepted his hand and shook it.

  “Not a problem. Come with me.”

  Lt. Carlson led Declan behind the reception desk to his workspace in the back of the room. Declan chuckled to himself at how much the room resembled the police bullpens he had seen on TV.

  “Have a seat,” the lieutenant offered.

  “Thanks. I understand you found Ty at the gym this morning.”

  “We did. Just as officers arrived on scene, they saw,” he shuffled the papers on his desk looking for something, “Tyler Johnson leaving the building.”

  “Erin Simons, the gym’s manager and my sister, said you brought Ty to the station. Is he still here?”

  “He is. Ms. Simons mentioned you would like to speak with him. Since he is a minor and we wouldn’t allow him to stay at your business, she requested he be detained here.”

  “About him being a minor … would I be able to speak with him?”

  “It’s unorthodox, but yes, we’ll allow it. My understanding is you and Ms. Simons have been keeping a close eye on him while his mother has been incarcerated.”

  Declan nodded. “Apparently not as close as we thought.”

  “Teenagers are tough. I have two at home.” It was the first time Lt. Carlson had managed to crack the tiniest bit of a smile. The man was all business.

  “May I speak with Ty?”

  “Of course, but before you do, I want to lay out the situation. Unless he confesses to breaking into the gym, we have no proof and nothing to hold him on. While we caught him coming out, there is no evidence he broke in. Ms. Simons gave us copies of your surveillance tapes, but we were unable to find any footage of him, or anyone else, illegally entering the premises.”

  “I’m beginning to think he didn’t break in. My hunch is he was staying there.”

  “Did you or Ms. Simons give him permission to do so?”

  Declan shook his head in response. “I know I didn’t, and I’m pretty sure Erin didn’t either.”

  “That, too, is against the law, Mr. Healy. If we find that situation to be true, you do have measures you can take against Mr. Johnson.”

  “Can I talk to him before we go through all of that? He’s really a good kid, I just think he got messed up with something. Like Erin told you, we’ve been keeping an eye on him. Hell, we even worked with the State to get him into the home where he’s been staying. We were working on a petition to allow him to stay there because his mother is being released.” Declan looked at his watch. “Shit, that’s today.”

  “I see.”

  “Will this have any impact on that petition?”

  “Quite frankly, I’m not sure. It will likely depend on what Mr. Johnson explains to you and whether or not you press any charges.”

  Declan nodded.

  “I’ll take you to see him now.”

  “Thank you.”

  Declan followed Lt. Carlson to a small waiting room. The lieutenant opened the door and Declan walked in. Ty was sitting quietly on the couch, his expression somber and afraid.

  Declan turned to the lieutenant. “Is it okay if I talk with him alone?”

  He looked from Declan to Ty, then back to Declan. “Sure. I’ll be right outside.” He closed the door behind him.

  Declan reached for the chair across from Ty and sat down. “Are you okay?”

  Ty nodded in response, his movements small.

  “You want to tell me what happened this morning?” Declan’s voice wa
s calm with an edge of persistence.

  Ty looked at Declan for a moment then lowered his eyes to the desk. “The cops saw me coming out of the gym.”

  “I understand that. Why were you at the gym so early?”

  Ty continued to look at the desk and wouldn’t answer the question.

  “Ty?”

  When he still didn’t answer, Declan started to lose his patience. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what happened, Ty. Why were you at the gym so early?”

  This time he looked up at Declan but still didn’t say anything. It seemed as though he was trying to choose his words carefully.

  “Ty -” His name came out as a growl.

  “I’ve been sleeping there.”

  “Shit,” Declan sighed. He really hadn’t wanted to be right. “For how long?”

  “I dunno.”

  “You need to start giving me information or this is going to get really ugly really fast. How long have you been sleeping at the gym?”

  “A few weeks, okay?” Ty’s voice was a mixture of anger and fear.

  “No, it’s not okay. Why haven’t you been staying at the home?”

  Again Ty was quiet.

  “Damn it, Ty.”

  “I got in a fight, okay?”

  “A fight with who?”

  “One of the kids at the home.”

  “Not that I think you should be fighting, but you’ve been training at the gym for over a year now. Why not just handle it?”

  “He … he pulled a knife on me. Threatened that if I told anyone, he’d cut me while I slept.”

  “Shit, Ty. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You haven’t exactly been around.”

  “And your phone is broken?”

  “No,” he muttered.

  “What about a couple weeks ago? Was that you when the alarm went off?”

  Ty looked at Declan and nodded his head ever-so-slightly.

  “Damn it,” Declan sighed. His mind was scrambling to figure out what they could do to rectify the problem. Ty staying at the gym wasn’t an option. And he sure as hell didn’t want him staying in a place where he was being threatened. He knew the State would need to investigate the situation before removing the other kid. From what Aidan had told him, though, they could be buried in paperwork for days, or weeks, before the change happened.