Texas Tornado (Freebirds Book 5)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  And there my mind went with all the naughty images again. I’d been thinking these X-rated things about the woman since I’d met her eight months ago in San Antonio.

  We’d been gathering some information on Jack’s wife, Winter, when Shiloh made her appearance. Sam’s father had pulled his favor, declaring that Sam was now responsible for Shiloh’s well-being and left without another word. Sam had been shocked that he’d even had a sister.

  Eight months prior to meeting his sister for the first time, he’d met his brother, who was in the hospital on the brink of death. The brother was understandably hesitant to make any sort of connection with Sam, which was also the same case for Sam. Sam’s parents had been married for eighteen years after Sam’s birth. It was extremely obvious that the other children had been conceived while both were still married.

  Sam being the stubborn man he was, refused to talk about anything. Which meant he was distant with his sister, refused to even speak with his father, and probably didn’t have much of a relationship with the brother either. Sam was a closed off person, and in this case, he was a steel vault. I couldn’t even get any goods out of my own sister about it.

  Shiloh charged out the door as if the fires of hell were on her tail. Her eyes were brimming with tears, and I felt something funny happen in my chest when I realized she was upset.

  Walking towards Jack, I stopped when I got close enough so he could hear me. The rain on the tin roof made it incredibly hard to hear, but I just raised my voice so he could make out my words.

  “What did you do to her?” I asked.

  His eyes were on Shiloh as she got into the Blazer that had definitely seen better days. “Nothing. Just told her she did good with Cat. Normally she just screams until the loud noise stops, but she sang to her and got her to calm down.”

  The Blazer started turning over, but the engine wouldn’t catch, and I started to think that she might need a ride. However, the engine finally caught, and the Blazer rumbled to life.

  “Needs a tune up. She’s got an exhaust leak too.” Jack mumbled.

  “Hey! Where’s Shiloh going? I thought she was here to get her truck fixed.” Winter asked as she sidled up next to us.

  “Well if she was here for a tune up, why’s she leaving?” I asked Winter.

  “Probably because her bastard brother didn’t show like he was supposed to. You know this is his third time standing her up?” Winter fumed.

  “What?” Jack and I asked at the same time.

  “Yeah, she works at that diner down by that shit-hole motel off the interstate. I had to stop there the other day to pick up a passed out drunk. I was just making idle conversation while I wrote my report when I found out that the piece of junk Blazer the man had passed out next to was hers. She then started talking about it needing a tune up, and that’s when she told me that she’d tried to bring it in twice before but no one was ever able to get to it.”

  Come to think of it, I had seen it in here twice, but never with her. “It’s never been on the board. I didn’t know it hadn’t been worked on.”

  “Me neither. I just thought it was another project of Sam’s.” Jack concurred.

  Winter just gave us both looks. “It gets better. She had to walk to drop it off, and then walk to pick it back up. Twice.”

  “What?” I asked, anger starting to roil in my gut.

  “That’s over six miles.” Jack asked confused. “Why didn’t she ask for a ride?”

  “From what I understand, she had to drop it off early before her shift that starts at six in the morning. She usually doesn’t get off until later.” Winter explained. “And to do that, she’d have to get up really early to walk here, and then be able to get back home. If she got off at five, she’d still have to walk all the way here, and that’d put her at six getting here and we’re closed by five every day.”

  “What the fuck?” I asked.

  What the fuck was Sam thinking? Walking alone in the bad parts of town wasn’t safe for any woman, but definitely not a woman as pretty and petite as Shiloh.

  “My sentiments exactly.” She said.

  I couldn’t just believe that Sam would do that on purpose though. Sam just wasn’t built like that. Women were his weakness. “Where is Sam?” I asked finally, not knowing what else to say.

  “He hasn’t been in yet.” Jack answered.

  Walking into the down room so I could hear a little better, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called him. It rang four times before Cheyenne picked up.

  “Hello?” Cheyenne answered.

  “Where’s Sam?” I asked curtly.

  “He was picking me up from work. We’re on our way home. Why?” She asked suspiciously.

  “Did he happen to remember that he had an appointment?” I asked.

  I heard her asking Sam, and then his rumbled reply. “He says he doesn’t have an appointment. Shiloh was supposed to come by later though.”

  “She’s already been here and gone. She waited a little over an hour before she left. I saw the Blazer as soon as I opened the bay doors this morning, and it’s only seven thirty.”

  “James says that you missed your sister.” Cheyenne told Sam.

  More mumbling, and then Cheyenne said, “We’ll be there in a few.”

  And hung up.

  Jack poured himself a cup of coffee and then took a seat at the bar. “He hasn’t really had much to do with her, has he?”

  “I’d just assumed he was hanging out with her without us. It’s understandable, but I haven’t seen her at anything, come to think about it.” Winter said sadly.

  “Didn’t she come to the baby shower?” I asked Winter.

  She shook her head. “Nope. She dropped a present at the station though.”

  “Why’d she come to the station?” I asked.

  “She said because she didn’t know where else to take it.”

  “What about your wedding?” I asked.

  They thought about it, and I did too. “No, now that I think about it, she didn’t come to that either.”

  “Who didn’t come to what?” Cheyenne asked as she shook the water off her shirt.

  Sam followed closely behind, his face closed off completely.

  “We were just saying how Shiloh hasn’t been to any of our functions. Sam, you know you can invite her, right? Bennett comes anytime he can. Stormy’s even been here a time or two, and she lives in BFE.” Winter asked.

  Bennett was Payton’s brother who was currently in the Navy. He didn’t come to many functions now that he was deployed, but he came to as many as he could.

  Sam didn’t answer, just ignored her question entirely.

  “Sam?” Cheyenne asked sounding confused. “What’s going on?”

  I definitely wanted to know the answer to that question as well. Shiloh wasn’t a bad person. She was actually funny and nice. In the few times she’d actually been around me, I’d enjoyed her company greatly. I’d definitely have pursued something more with her if my life wasn’t a big mess as it was. Shiloh didn’t deserve to be dragged into my mess.

  “I guess I forgot about her.” Sam said by way of excuse.

  “Three times?” Winter asked.

  Sam’s gaze locked onto Winter’s stubborn one and held. “What are you talking about?”

  Winter then went on to explain what she’d learned from Shiloh while at her call.

  “Sam?” Cheyenne gasped.

  “What?” He snapped.

  “You’ve stood her up three times? What the hell are you thinking? And what the fuck, you told me she was working in a restaurant, not a rat infested hell hole.” She fumed.

  My sister had one hell of a temper on her. Which made me love her all the more in this instance. I was extremely confused as to why Sam would’ve forgotten anything, especially when it came to his own sister.

  The office phone to Free rang. I stepped up to the wall and answered it just after the second ring.
“Free. James speaking.”

  “Uhh, hi. This is Shiloh.”

  “Hey, Shiloh. Looking for Sam?”

  “N-no. My t-truck broke down about a mile from my apartment. I was w-wondering if you knew a tow service I could c-call.” She said stammered.

  “Duncan’s. The number is...”

  “Wait! I need a pen. Hold on.” She said hurriedly.

  Glancing at Sam, I thought to help by offering a different solution. “I can have Sam text it to you.”

  “Uhh, I don’t have a cell phone. But I have the name, I’ll just look it up. Thanks.” She rushed out before hanging up.

  ***

  Two hours later and still there was no sign of Shiloh’s Blazer.

  “Duncan’s.” Don answered.

  “This is James down at Free. We’ve been waiting for a tow to come in, but it’s not here yet. Any ideas when you’ll get to it?” I asked.

  “We’ve only had three tows today. None in waiting.” He answered.

  “Did you get a call about a Blazer yet?” I asked.

  “Yeah, already done it. Why?”

  “Where’d you drop it off at?” I asked sharply.

  Jack looked up from his computer, and Elliott looked up from his paperwork. Each gave me their full attention when they noted the anger in my voice.

  “Some local diner off the interstate. Thought it was weird myself, but the lady said she lived there.”

  “Okay, thanks.” I said and hung up.

  “She didn’t have it towed here. Don said he towed it to the diner where she works. Although he said that she said she lived there, too.”

  “Why wouldn’t she have it brought down here?” Elliott asked.

  “Apparently, Sam’s not been a very nice big brother. Why would she bother?” I asked and then took the phone out of my pocket and dialed Cheyenne’s number.

  She answered with the fist ring. “Hey, Jamie. Can I call you back?”

  “Ahh, no. I need to go check on Shiloh. Get Janie off the bus for me?” I requested.

  “Sure, but why does she need help?”

  The twins were fighting in the background, so I made it quick, explaining what I’d learned from Don.

  “I think Sam needs to do this.”

  “I don’t want to wait. Thanks. Love you.”

  Not giving her the chance to argue, I hung up and went out to the truck. It was still raining, and I decided to take the truck seeing as getting wet would only slow me down.

  I couldn’t explain why I was so mad. Mostly it was directed toward Sam. He’d been acting strange ever since he’d met his brother last year. I realize it was a shock and all, but it didn’t give him a ‘get out of jail free’ card for being a douchebag.

  Fifteen minutes later, I pulled up beside Shiloh’s Blazer and killed the engine.

  The soft ticking of the heated engine filled the air as rain continued to pound down in torrents.

  I surveyed the area, seeing that there was, indeed, an apartment attached to the diner. It was also unsafe as hell. There was no fire escape. Only one-way in and one-way out. The door looked like it would fall with one kick of my booted foot, and to make matter’s worse, there was a strip club directly behind the diner.

  Not a good one either.

  Bailing out of the truck and running towards the diner, I ducked inside and stopped on the carpet so I didn’t track water throughout the place. The young hostess, who was all of fifteen at best, smiled brightly at me.

  “Can I help you, sir?” She asked.

  “I’m looking for Shiloh. She here today?” I asked.

  Her smile left her face, and a look of concern replaced it. “She got hurt on the way to work today. She called in, which is why I’m here.”

  My heart started to beat a little harder in my chest. “Where is she?”

  She raised her hand and pointed at the ceiling. “Her place.”

  I gave her a nod of thanks and left. Rain poured down harder now than before. I tried to stay close to the building and let the edges of the roof shield me, but still ended up getting my whole right side drenched.

  Once I got to the stairs, my anger was being replaced with concern.

  Her stairs were a fucking joke. At least every other one was broken in some way, if not missing completely. Gingerly, I made my way up the stairs and stopped at her door.

  I knocked four times before I tried the door handle.

  Locked.

  Getting out a credit card from my wallet, I shimmied it in between the lock and the door jam, popping it open with hilarious ease. I made a mental note to get her a deadbolt and a reinforced steel door as soon as possible.

  A woman as beautiful as Shiloh shouldn’t be living in an area of town such as this. However, since she did, she needed to be prepared and safe.

  In fact, now that I thought about it, I planned to get her an alarm system as well.

  Stepping over the threshold, I sidestepped numerous pots that were catching the leaking water from the roof, and came to a halt in the main part of the apartment.

  The area was an open floor plan, minus the bathroom that was off to the side with the door open. The kitchen was off to the far right corner, and in the closest left corner was a bed with cloud sheets. The place itself was spotless as could be.

  From the outside, you wouldn’t even be able to tell that it would actually be nice inside; but, surprisingly, it was.

  Scanning the room, I frowned when I didn’t see her. Which left only one other place she could be.

  “Shiloh, its James.” I called out.

  No answer.

  “Shiloh.” I called out a little louder.

  Still no answer.

  Walking cautiously towards the bathroom door, I peeked inside and my heart nearly stopped. Shiloh was on her side, curled into a tight ball on the floor in front of the toilet, shivering. Her hand was cradled close to her chest, and her face and usually vibrant hair were wet with tears that were still leaking out of her closed eyes. She was wearing the same clothes as earlier, except now the dress was torn and scuffed in many places.

  Two long steps later, I dropped down on my knees beside her. Placing my palm on her neck, I felt for her pulse. It was beating rapidly. Her face was flushed, and as I placed my palm over her cheeks, I could feel the heat emanating off her face from a fever.

  Running my hands down her cheek, I called her name. “Shiloh.”

  Her eyes opened, and the fever was apparent there too. Her eyes were glassy and distant. She blinked multiple times before giving me a small smile.

  “Hi James.”

  “Hey sweetheart. What happened?”

  “Fell.”

  “Fell where?” I asked gently, stroking her long, wet mahogany hair.

  Her eyes opened wider, and I was treated to a smile that reached all the way up to her caramel colored eyes. “A fox scared the crap out of me and I dove into the ditch.”

  I held my smile in check. “What hurts?”

  “I think I broke my hand or arm.”

  “Why didn’t you go to the ER?” I asked quietly, sitting her up to where she rested against the bathroom wall.

  “My truck broke.” She said as tears welled into her eyes.

  “I remember, honey. I kept waiting for the tow truck to bring it in and it never showed, so I decided to come to you.”

  “That’s sweet of you.” She said and tried to stand.

  Her breath hissed as I helped her to her feet, and the arm that was cradled to her chest was now clearly visible. And very clearly deformed.

  “I think we should take you to the hospital.” I explained carefully.

  “I don’t have any insurance.”

  “That’s okay, honey. We’ll figure something out. Let’s go. Do you have a jacket?” I asked.

  “No. I don’t have any winter clothes. I just got a blanket last week.” She explained.

  “What happened to all you
r clothes that you came here with?” I asked as I helped her out her door and down her stairs.

  There was a lull in the rain, which I was severely grateful for. I didn’t want her catching a cold on top of the broken arm.

  “It got stolen when I went out to eat at the diner.”

  “What?” I barked, and immediately regretted it when she jumped.

  “Yeah, that place over there is a shit hole. They said they would send me a reimbursement check, yet I haven’t seen hide nor hair of it. I go over there once a month to check.” She shrugged.

  I was glad her fever was making her tongue loose. I didn’t think I’d get the information any other way.

  “That one?” I asked incredulously, pointing at the piece of shit motel across the street.

  “Yeah,” She said dejectedly.

  “Why’d you go to that one?” I asked as I opened the truck door for her.

  She looked up, and then started to climb in. Not thinking that was the best idea for her hand, I grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her in, and then buckling her seatbelt once I got her settled.

  “That’s the one Sam dropped me off at. I didn’t want to go there, but it’s kind of hard to tell anyone no when you don’t know the area. Nor do you have any money.”

  As I continued to speak to her about mundane things, my blood started boiling at the treatment Sam was giving his little sister. How could he do this to her? And fuck, why the hell would he drop her off at the shittiest motel in Kilgore? Goddammit. This was the one where hookers and drug dealers set up shop.

  Four hours later, I bundled up Shiloh in my truck with a bright pink cast covering her arm, and enough antibiotics and painkillers in her blood stream to make her a very happy girl.

  “I don’t think my brother likes me very much.”

  “Which one?” I asked.

  “Either. Sam more so than Sebastian though.” She explained.

  I kept my attention on the road, but peered at her out of the corner of my eye. “What makes you say that?”