Danny’s eyes widened. “Hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Can’t really pull custom work alone. Not without a bigger pipeline.”
“If Zeke’s ride is any indication, you got a serious gift.” Jace dipped his chin. “If it’s something you enjoy doing, then you should do it.”
A ringtone sounded and Danny grimaced. He slid his phone out of his back pocket, checked the home screen, and frowned. For about two seconds, it looked like he’d answer it, but he sent the call to voice mail instead and sat the phone face up on the table. “Sorry.”
Before anyone could answer, the phone lit up again.
“This ain’t a job interview,” Jace said. “You need to take the call, take it. That seat won’t combust while you’re gone.”
Danny picked up the phone, scanned the men at the table, and stood. “Yeah, it’s my sister. Give me a minute.”
As soon as he hit the bottom step, Jace mirrored Axel opposite him and crossed his arms on the table. His gravelly voice was only loud enough those at the table could hear. “Well, that could prove a timely opening.”
“Timely, or altogether wrong.” Zeke jerked his head to where Danny was standing not fifteen feet away. Danny’s stare was hard and locked on some distant spot against the far wall, one hand planted on his hip and tension radiating off him hotter than a late August afternoon in Texas. “Whatever she wants, it doesn’t look good.”
Zeke had no more finished his sentence then Danny hustled back up to the table. “Hey, guys. I hate to do this, but—”
“There a problem?” Jace said.
“You could say that. My sister’s hurt. Had some asshole tackle her while she was checking on a neighbor’s house.”
The buzz Zeke had fought to unplug since he’d walked out of Baylor’s level one trauma center ratcheted back into top gear. “Hurt how?”
Danny shook his head. “I don’t know. Not bad enough she couldn’t call me herself, but bad enough I could hear paramedics in the background givin’ her shit for not taking treatment.”
“It’s bad enough she called paramedics?” Zeke said.
“Not her. The cops. Sounds like she walked in on a break-in next door.” He met each man’s eyes one at a time, but did it with an urgency that said he’d put his sister’s needs before his own without a backward glance. “I gotta go.”
Zeke stood. “We’ll take my car. I got my stuff in the back.”
“Man, I can’t ask you to do that. It’s all the way out in Rockwall.”
Rounding the table, Zeke slapped Danny on the back. “I know where you live. My ride was practically reborn in your garage, remember?”
“Ah, the legendary birthing place of badass hot rods and our fearless doc in action.” Axel stood and chin-lifted to Jace. “This I gotta see. You in?”
Jace threw back the rest of his Scotch, plunked the tumbler on the table, and followed his lead. “I hear Rockwall’s a happening place on the weekends. Can’t miss this.”
Trevor grinned and rose slow from his chair. “Have a feeling I’m gonna regret missing this, but I got a business to run. Y’all have fun.”
Danny stood rooted in place, his gaze shuttling between the three of them.
Axel motioned him down the stairs. “Your sister needs you, and we’re following you two. Get a move on.”
God, the look on Danny’s face was priceless, the lingering worry for his sister mingled with the disbelief he had not one, but three men at his back when he needed it. Zeke slapped him on the shoulder and jerked his head toward the back parking lot. “You heard the man. Let’s do this.”
Chapter 2
Just over the I-30 bridge, Zeke downshifted and took the first exit on the far side of Lake Ray Hubbard.
The engine protested the unwelcome yank on its reins with a throaty growl and startled Danny out his silent study of the passing scenery. “Sorry, man. I should have been giving directions.”
“Might have only been to your place a few times, but it’s kind of hard to forget.” The subdivision was basically just one long street lined with small, old-school craftsman and ranch-style homes that looked as good now as they had thirty or forty years ago. Even better were the huge yards and scenic views. Just driving into the neighborhood was like entering a utopian time warp. “So tell me what we’re walking into.”
“Don’t know much,” Danny said. “Just know Gabe went to check on one of the neighbor’s houses and got knocked around by someone who’d broken in. She called the cops, then me.”
“You catch anything the paramedics said to her?”
“Couldn’t hear them over her growlin’ at them to stay the hell away from her.”
Yelling was good. It was when people were too out of it to give a shit, or couldn’t talk at all that spelled trouble. “She say where she got banged up?”
“Nope, but she’s not too talkative. Not in situations like this. Tends to clam up.” Danny rested his elbow on the passenger door and shoved his skull cap back an inch. “She sounded like she hurt, though. Kind of like she was holding her breath. If you knew Gabe, you’d know that means it’s probably bad.”
“When you say she tends to clam up, what’s that mean?”
For a second or two, Zeke thought Danny had zoned on him again, his gaze locked on the businesses and homes streaming by outside. “She doesn’t do so good with people. One on one she’s okay once she gets to know you. It’s the getting to know you part that’s tough. She comes off a little rough. Standoffish. Most people figure she’s a bitch.”
“Is she?”
Danny twisted to make eye contact. “Gabe? Ah, hell no. She’s about as sweet as you’ll ever find. She just locks up around strangers. People think it’s because she wants nothing to do with ’em, but the truth is, she can’t cope.”
“She’s an introvert?”
Danny shrugged and straightened in his seat. “We thought that was the deal at first. Or that she was really shy. Then some shit went down in middle school and high school. Dad took her to a shrink, and he said she had some kind of anxiety thing. Something to do with social settings.”
“Social Anxiety Disorder?”
“Yeah, that sounds right.”
Well, that explained why Knox couldn’t find a social footprint for her. “The doc give her anything for the diagnosis? Any meds to help her out?”
“He offered, but she wouldn’t take ‘em. Said she didn’t want drugs controlling her.”
Man, he hated hearing things like that. It wasn’t an uncommon response, but it was damned unfortunate considering the right script could open up a whole new world for people like her. “You don’t talk about her much. What’s she like?”
Danny huffed out a near silent chuckle. “Like I said. Sweet. Got a great eye for art. Takes care of the whole damned neighborhood like they’re her blood.” He opened his mouth, closed it, and frowned.
“What? Her having a heart and taking care of the people around her sounds like a good thing.”
Danny shook his head. “Taking care of the neighbors isn’t the bad part. What sucks is they’re the only friends she’s got.”
“How’s that bad?”
“Because there’s not one of them under the age of sixty-five. She’s twenty-four years old. Most women her age are on the phone, ringing up their girlfriends nonstop, and out chasing men. Gabe’s got no girlfriends. Only had two boyfriends I know of, and those lasted about a week each.”
Now that was intriguing, especially considering how Danny had no problem jumping into social situations and making friends with even the nastiest personalities. “You think something happened to trigger it? Something in school maybe?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. She tried to fit in with the girls at school a few times, but none stuck. The last time I heard her mention people from school, she was twelve. Came home in tears and wouldn’t go to school for two da
ys after that. Dad didn’t have a clue what the hell to do, so he bought her a camera. She’s been wrapped up with her art ever since.”
“Photography?”
“Sort of. More like graphic art, but she takes the pictures and then makes it into something else. You have to see it to understand.”
Rounding a wide curve in the old road, the Camaro’s headlights swept the painted Elk Run subdivision sign up ahead. Unlike the fancy rock and iron-work entrances that marked the high-end neighborhoods farther down, Elk Run’s reminded Zeke of public campsites and state boundary lines alongside the highway. They’d barely made the turn into the neighborhood before the blue and red spinning lights from the cruisers and ambulance ahead whisked through the Camaro’s interior.
“Damn.” Danny leaned forward a little in his seat. “She didn’t tell me it was this bad.”
“Probably looks worse than it is.” Zeke paralleled against the curb closest to the ambulance, and the headlights from Jace’s Silverado slid into the spot behind them. “Why don’t you head on in to check on Gabe, and I’ll see what the paramedics know. I’ll meet you inside.”
He’d barely got his car out of gear before Danny jumped out, rounded the hood, and jogged to the house’s main entrance. After grabbing his gear from the trunk, he met up with the two-man ambulance crew before they could get their rig in reverse. “Gabrielle ever accept treatment?”
“Sorry, man. We can’t talk treatment without a release.”
“Right. Let me put this a different way. I’m a doc and a friend of the family. How did she present?”
The driver glanced over at his partner, who promptly shrugged as if to say he didn’t have a clue. He looked back at Zeke. “You taking responsibility?”
“Absolutely.”
The guy huffed and rubbed the top of his head. “She’s a stubborn one. Never did let us do an assessment, but given the way she’s holding her torso and the shallow breaths, I’d say she’s got contusions and cracked or broken ribs.”
“Anything else? Focus? Dizziness? Pupils?”
“Looked okay as far as we could tell. Hung around as long as our boss would let us, but if she’s not up for help, we’ve got no reason to stay.”
Zeke nodded to them both, waved, and stepped back so they could back out. “Thanks. Appreciate it.”
Jace and Axel strolled up on either side of him, but it was Jace who spoke. “What’s our play on this?”
“If we’re as close to bringing Danny in as I think we are, then I vote we treat him like we would a brother.”
Axel grinned, slid one hand in his designer slacks, and moseyed toward the cluster of cops gathered in front of the house. “Take control it is, then.”
Jace chuckled and prowled alongside him. For about a millisecond, Zeke pitied Rockwall’s finest. The founding members of The Haven Brotherhood were notorious for sending the best of law enforcement on a merry dance. In under five minutes, they’d have this crew eating out of their hands.
Zeke jogged up the steps to the front stoop where a uniformed rookie stood watch. Before the kid could put up much of an argument, Zeke slid through the open front door and into the main living room. Two steps in, he froze.
The woman beside Danny had her head down, her hair obscuring her face, but the differences between them even without her facial features showing were night and day. Where Danny was even with Zeke at six foot three, Gabe couldn’t be much over five foot. And she was tiny. A honey-blonde faery hidden behind a deceptively rough exterior of faded jeans, flannel shirt, and steel-toed boots.
Danny’s escalating voice punched through Zeke’s dumbfounded haze. “What the fuck do you mean there’s nothing you can do? She’s hurt. She gave you a description. Find the motherfucker and make his ass pay.”
Before the cop could consider putting the cuffs on his belt to good use, Zeke stepped in. “Hey, Danny. How about you let me see how your sister’s doing?” He offered his hand to the cop on Gabe’s other side, opened his mouth to speak, and damned near swallowed his tongue.
Oh, yeah. Gabe was a living breathing faery, complete with pale blue eyes, a heart-shaped face, and pouty, full lips. No man could look at her mouth and not crave at least a taste.
“I’m Dr. Dugan.” He forced his attention away from Gabe and focused on the irritated cop. “I’m a friend of the family. I think if we can make sure Gabe’s okay, everybody’s stress level might even out. You got everything you need from her for now?”
The cop shook the hand offered and nodded, more than a little relief dancing behind his tired eyes. “What we don’t have now, we can follow up on tomorrow.” He cast a curt glare Danny’s direction then a tight smile at Gabe. “You think of anything else, don’t hesitate to use the number I gave you.”
If she heard anything the cop said, or noted his swift departure, she didn’t show it, keeping her gaze locked on Zeke. Her breaths were definitely shallow, and not once had she loosened the arm she had wrapped around her torso. The other arm she kept tucked tight to her side. The light in the room wasn’t much, but her pupils looked normal.
She inched behind Danny and sucked in a short, sharp gasp. “I’m fine.”
God, she was cute. Kind of like a cornered, feral kitten who couldn’t decide whether to bolt for the closest hiding spot, or come out clawing. Even glaring daggers at him it was all he could do to hold back a chuckle. “That’s what the paramedics said you told them, too. The problem is, your brother’s about to go vigilante on a bunch of guys with badges because he’s worried about you. He’d probably let that shit go a whole lot faster if someone who actually knew what they were talking about made that call.”
“For the love of God, Gabe,” Danny said. “Zeke’s a trauma doc. He drove all the way out here, so just let him check you out.”
The arm she held wrapped around her torso tightened and, while it was a subtle move, she flinched. Not a good sign if such a minute shift caused her pain.
“Give me five minutes,” he said. “You might be right and just have a strain. If that’s the case, you can give Danny a hard time for making a fuss.”
She bit her lower lip, and his gut tensed as sure as he’d taken a physical punch.
Funny. Under normal circumstances, he could out-wait the most stubborn patient, but standing there in front of her, an almost lethal tension burned through his muscles. Like his whole damned life teetered on the tip of a fiber optic point and could topple into hell or float to heaven depending on how she answered.
Her gaze shuttled from Danny to Zeke. “Five minutes.”
Wow, Danny hadn’t overexaggerated. People really could get the wrong impression from his sister’s hard exterior, but the fear behind her eyes said the limit was more about what she could tolerate when it came to strangers.
“Five minutes,” he agreed. He could have done it in three, but he’d take the extra bonus. Then he’d figure out how to make the leap from stranger to someone worthy of coaxing the wild and sweet kitten from her corner.
* * *
Gabe was out of her ever lovin’ mind. Saying she could make it five minutes around Danny’s friend without coming off like a complete idiot was like saying she could tap dance for ten thousand people. If he’d been some average, ordinary Joe, maybe she could have pulled it off, but this guy—this doctor—was too beautiful for words. Olive skin, storm-gray eyes, and dark chocolate hair cut in one of those short GQ model styles that was just long enough a woman could run her fingers through it.
Or hang on for dear life while he kissed her with those killer lips.
Danny prowled to the wide window that spanned the front of the living room. They were down to just one cop car now, but the red and blue lights on top of it still spun their dizzy routine. “I’ll go follow up on Mrs. Wallaby’s house. Make sure she’s locked up.”
“No.” She twisted to stop him, and a sharp jolt p
ierced straight through her chest. Scrunching her eyes, she held her breath and prayed the pain would ebb a little faster than it had the last two times she’d made such an ill-advised move. She wasn’t stupid. Whatever injury she’d earned was way worse than anything else she’d had before, and if she hadn’t seen the whopping huge ambulance bill Mr. Decker down the street had earned after his heart attack, she might have let the paramedics take a look.
Big, strong hands curled around her shoulders. Not Danny’s, though. She opened her eyes and got a load of Zeke’s up close and personal goodness. Talk about effective pain relief. Her whole damned body purred on idle, soaking in everything about him, stabbing pains be damned. You couldn’t really say he had a beard. More like well-trimmed morning stubble that accented a strong, square jawline. His nose made her think of marauding Vikings, but up close his lips made her full-on stupid.
Zeke loosened his grip on her shoulders and smoothed his big hands to her upper arms. “Steady now?”
Steady was debatable, but she wasn’t thinking about the ache anymore. More like one hundred percent focused on the warmth of his touch through her soft flannel button-down. “Yeah.”
“Good.” He locked gazes with Danny over her shoulder. “How about you stick with us for right now? Axel and Jace have things out there under control.”
“Yeah, man. Absolutely. Whatever she needs.”
Zeke studied her a second longer, released his hold on her arms, and jerked his head toward the bedrooms down the hall behind him. “How about we check you where we don’t run the risk of an audience?”
He turned and led the way before she could muster any kind of argument. Careful not to jar her torso, she followed him down the hallway, Danny close beside her with a sturdy hand at her back. The stage-fright sensation that came with strangers wasn’t surprising after battling it for years, but her response to Zeke was different. Even Jimmy Franklin in high school didn’t have this kind of impact on her, and he’d muddled her mind enough to talk her into giving up her virginity in the backseat of his mother’s Honda.
Rough & Tumble (The Haven Brotherhood) Page 34