He wasn’t sure what they’d just communicated, other than the fact that he would never let Carlie Beth handle life alone ever again. He tightened his hold and kissed the top of her head, letting her apple scent soothe him. “Give me a half hour to meet you out there.”
“What are we going to do about it?”
We. That had to be one of the most powerful words in the world. So as much as he might want to tell her that she’d be staying out of this situation with Austin’s death, he knew that was a lost cause. “We’ll be having a big Steele family powwow this evening.”
She looked up, and her beautiful eyes were glossed with tears that unmanned him. “Will it scare you to death if I say I don’t know what I’d do without you right now?”
“No,” he said, his voice husky. “Because I don’t know what I’d do without you, either.”
“Sweetheart,” his mom said, “we need to leave now to get Aubrey.”
With obvious reluctance, Carlie Beth backed out of Grif’s hold. “Half hour?”
“Count on it.”
27
Carlie Beth felt like a sleepwalker trudging up the sidewalk toward the middle school’s front door. Even more so when the final bell rang and kids streamed by her chattering and laughing.
Didn’t everyone understand the world had changed today?
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Aubrey said the second she spotted Carlie Beth. “You look bad.”
Carlie Beth forced a little laugh, but it was hollow and tinged with panic. “Wow, thanks. Why don’t you let me carry that?” She took Aubrey’s backpack and led her toward the car where Joan was waiting for them. If Aubrey didn’t have her bag, she wouldn’t have access to her phone, which meant no texts or social media updates about Austin’s death before Carlie Beth was ready to break the news.
When Aubrey spotted her grandmother, her face brightened. “Are we doing something with Miss Joan?”
“We’ve been invited out to her house for…” Carlie Beth’s brain didn’t have the wherewithal to make up a decent lie.
“Supper?”
“Yeah.”
Aubrey stopped in the parking lot and turned to Carlie Beth. “You know I love Miss May, right?”
If there was ever proof of a benevolent God, this was it. A girl who loved a woman who so often acted uncharitably. She reached out and pushed a strand of Aubrey’s hair behind her ear, mostly to settle herself. “Absolutely.”
“Do you think Miss Joan would mind if I called her something more…I don’t know…grandmother-like?”
Oh, this had been such a horrid day. And as always, without even realizing it, Aubrey had managed to bring a ray of sunlight back into it. Carlie Beth hugged her daughter hard. “Why don’t you ask her?”
When they climbed in Joan’s car, Aubrey settled into the backseat. “Miss Joan?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“I was wondering…” Aubrey glanced at Carlie Beth and must’ve seen what she needed because she continued, “…would you mind if I called you something else? I mean, all the kids around town call you Miss Joan, but since I’m your…” She faltered again.
Joan turned to face the backseat. “Since I’m your grandmother, you mean?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She took Aubrey’s hand and squeezed it. “Did you have something in mind?”
“I thought maybe Grammy.”
“I’ve always wanted to be a Grammy,” Joan said, and the smile she shined on Carlie Beth made it clear she’d forgiven her for keeping her granddaughter a secret all these years.
As soon as they made it out to Tupelo Hill, Joan ushered Aubrey inside and told Carlie Beth, “Why don’t you enjoy the front porch for a few minutes while my granddaughter and I rustle up a snack for everyone?”
What Carlie Beth really felt like doing was crawling under the covers, with Grif curled around her, and never coming out again. But that wasn’t an option right now, so she settled onto a swing big enough for a family of five, savoring the feel of the thick cushion under her.
She gave it one push and let the momentum rock her, the chains squeaking slightly with each back and forth. But it couldn’t soothe away her troubled thoughts about Austin. Why would someone kill him? She couldn’t imagine he’d brought it on himself. At heart, he’d been a good kid with a love for alternative music and a talent for working with his hands.
Maggie had made it clear she would contact Austin’s parents, but Carlie Beth would follow up with a phone call of her own. Although he had legally been an adult, he was still their child, and they’d entrusted her with him. The guilt of that alone was eating her up.
Within a few minutes, Britt’s truck pulled up and three of the Steele brothers stepped out, momentarily distracting her from her circling thoughts. But the only brother who did it for her—mind, body, and heart—wasn’t here yet. Britt, Jonah, and Reid trooped up the porch steps. Britt gave her a nod and went inside. But Jonah and Reid came toward her, neither of them smiling. Jonah sat on her left, and Reid flanked her on the right, setting the swing in motion again with his weight. He wrapped one beefy arm around her shoulders and pulled her in to his side.
It felt nothing like being in Grif’s arms, which was a combination of comfort and pure stimulation. Reid’s hug was like a big brother’s and she soaked in his strength and steadiness.
“You gonna be okay?” he asked.
“I’m a tough girl.”
He patted her shoulder. “Death makes us all pussies.”
Jonah snorted in clear disgust. “Someone needs to install a filter between your brain and your mouth.”
“Shit,” Reid muttered. “I mean…”
But Reid’s social incompetence was exactly what Carlie Beth needed. “I get what you’re saying. I’m just sick over having to tell Aubrey. We have to live in that house and I have to work where…” Carlie Beth swallowed down her sudden nausea. “I just don’t want her to be scared.”
Reid said, “Do you trust Grif?”
“Of course.”
“And he told you we’d handle this, right?”
“What does that mean exactly?”
Before he could answer, Grif came driving up, not in Louise but in the minivan. And even as shell-shocked as Carlie Beth was, that made her smile. When Grif got out and pocketed the keys, his gaze arrowed on his brothers. “I’m five minutes late and you two boneheads move in on my girl?”
“She finally figured out she prefers a real man. You know, one who can’t pluck his eyebrows while looking into the reflection coming off his shoes.” With that trademark grin, Reid yanked Carlie Beth closer, almost suffocating her in the process.
“Better than having to pluck my ass hairs,” Grif said mildly.
That cracked them all up, a much-needed moment after the day they’d had, and Grif was smiling as he strolled across the porch and hooked a thumb at his brothers. “Move before I have to hurt you both.”
Reid gave Carlie Beth a squeeze and pushed off the swing, making it sway wildly. Once his brothers disappeared inside the house, Grif settled beside her. “Sorry about those two.”
“I think they’re sweet.”
With a snort, Grif leaned his head on the back of the swing. “Not a word I’d ever associate with my brothers.”
She’d been so shaken by Austin’s death that she hadn’t considered that the situation had also thrown Grif off balance, but now she could see the exhaustion lines around his eyes and mouth. Needing to provide the comfort he so obviously needed, she ran a hand down his chest to rest against his heart.
His thoughtful, protective heart.
It thumped reassuringly against her palm.
“Do you know what I see when I look at you and your brothers?”
He gave her a mock glare from the corner of his eye. “You shouldn’t be looking at my brothers.”
“I see four men who were raised right. You take care of your mom. You take care of each other. For God’s sake, you take care of this town.
A town three of you haven’t lived in for years.”
Grif covered her hand with his bigger one, pressing it closer to his heart. “It’s home.”
His simple statement made emotion clog Carlie Beth’s throat. “I see four men who protect the people and things they care about.”
“Damn right. I know some people think we’re a big bunch of arrogant assholes. But if Jonah, Reid, and I hadn’t left, we wouldn’t be able to help people around here the way we can.”
“You’re right.”
“And the best way I know how to take care of people is to keep doing what I’m good at.”
“You mean being a sports agent.” What he didn’t realize was that his gift wasn’t winning big deals for big money. It was solving problems and taking care of people, making sure they had an advocate in their corner.
“It’s made me a pretty well-off guy.”
“Do you love the work?” Because she couldn’t imagine a world where she didn’t love what she did.
He blew out a breath and stared at the porch ceiling. “I’m damn good at it.”
Carlie Beth knew in some ways they were both avoiding the reality of Austin’s death. But this was a conversation they needed to have. She needed to have. Because she needed to understand just how much she’d jeopardized her heart by loving a man who loved a different lifestyle.
“Mom?”
Carlie Beth refocused on the front door to find Aubrey leaning out, looking at her and Grif with hungry eyes. Eyes hungry for a real family. “Yeah, baby?”
“Grammy has cookies ready.”
“Grammy?” Grif asked.
Aubrey dipped her head slightly. “She said I could decide what I wanted to call her.”
“Think the cookies can wait a few minutes?” He scooted over and patted the empty spot he’d made between Carlie Beth and him. “Your mom and I need to talk with you.”
Eyes sparking with excitement, Aubrey let the front door crash closed behind her and she dashed over to squeeze between them. The emotion that had threatened to choke Carlie Beth a few minutes ago swamped her. Simply cut off her ability to draw a full breath because her daughter looked so happy.
And they were about to snuff out that light.
She took her daughter’s hand. “Aub, we’ve got something serious to tell you.”
“I knew it!” She threw her arms around Carlie Beth. “You’re getting married.”
Looking over her shoulder, Carlie Beth caught sight of Grif’s oh shit expression. Oh shit because they were about to destroy Aubrey’s excitement? Or oh shit because marriage was not on his to-do list? Ever.
She pulled Aubrey’s arms from around her shoulders and looked into her eyes. Like a Band-Aid, Carlie Beth. Just rip the damn thing off. “Austin is dead.”
Eyes wide, Aubrey jerked back, almost head-butting Grif in the process. “What?”
Grif took Aubrey’s hand. “Your mom and I found him in the forge this morning. We didn’t want you to hear about it from someone else.”
Her eyes dull, she asked, “What happened?”
Now Grif shot Carlie Beth a look that said he was out of his depth.
She pushed off the swing and took a deep breath before facing her daughter. “Someone killed him.”
“Killed?” Aubrey’s panicked gaze darted between Carlie Beth and Grif. “You mean on purpose? Like…m-murder?”
She’d been hoping to avoid that word, but she nodded once.
“In our backyard?” Aubrey asked.
Carlie Beth knelt in front of her daughter, placing both hands on her knees. “I know this is scary, but—”
“Someone came on our property and took Austin’s life.” Aubrey’s volume went up with each word. “Who the hell do they think they are? We should hunt them down and—”
“Whoa, whoa there,” Grif cut in on her tirade. “There is no we. You need to know what happened, but that’s the extent of your involvement in this situation, young lady.”
For the first time, Carlie Beth witnessed her daughter turning on her father. “Are you really young lady-ing me? You don’t get to do that. Who gave you the right to act like you can tell me what to do? Austin was my friend. I cared about him. And someone needs to do something about this.”
Although he looked taken aback at the force of Aubrey’s anger, Grif said quietly, “Someone will.”
“Just not me.”
“You’re a girl,” he said. “This isn’t your fight to fight.”
“So you’ll just let Sheriff Kingston deal with it?”
Grif swallowed. Yeah, Aubrey had him there. Because Carlie Beth knew there was no way on God’s green earth the Steele brothers would walk away from something like this. “That’s not for you to worry about.”
Aubrey jumped off the swing and glared at Grif. “You…you…don’t think anyone else can possibly fix things the way you can. You know what? We did just fine without you.” She whirled around and stormed back into the house.
* * *
“She didn’t mean that,” Carlie Beth said quietly. “She’s just scared and upset.”
“But she’s not wrong.” His heart felt bruised from the force of his daughter’s anger. “I could go back to LA and the two of you could return to being the tight little family you were before I bullied my way into your girl world.”
She ran a light hand down his arm and linked her fingers with his. “How do you like it when you feel helpless?”
“Not at all,” he said. “But I’d rather her be angry with me than risk her safety.”
“Welcome to the Catch-Twenty-two of parenthood.” She tugged on his hand. “Now, your brothers are waiting for us inside.”
“Maybe you should—”
“If you’re about to suggest I go help your mom and Aubrey in the kitchen, stop right there. Leaving a fourteen-year-old girl out of the loop is one thing. But this is my home and business we’re talking about.”
“Fine.” But it wasn’t fine. He wanted to take her and Aubrey upstairs to one of the four bedrooms and lock them up like Rapunzel.
His brothers were already inside Jonah’s office, and Reid was busy screwing a massive whiteboard into the wall.
“Mom’s gonna have a shit-fit,” Grif told him.
“That’s too bad,” he muttered back. “Because we have a killer to catch.”
Britt drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair he was seated in. “Forgive me for stating the obvious, but isn’t that Maggie’s job?” Both Grif and Reid glared at their older brother. “Just trying to keep you out of trouble.”
“We don’t need a conscience right now, Tarzan,” Reid said, looking around the room at each of them. “Okay, what do we know?”
“Austin was killed on my property,” Carlie Beth said, her voice small and thin.
Reid was busy scratching out completely illegible words on the whiteboard.
“Dammit, we can’t read a word of that.” Jonah bolted out of his chair and snatched up a dry erase marker. “Besides, you’re making a list and this calls for a mind map. You reason and I’ll write.” He printed Austin Burns on the board and drew a circle around it.
“The kid was working late last night,” Grif said. “And I talked with him out at the forge.”
Reid paced from wall to wall. “What time?”
“About midnight.”
“What did you talk about?”
Oh, hell. He hadn’t told his brothers about the lab report yet. Grif blew out a sigh. “The oil on the climbing wall turned out to be a quenchant.”
“What the hell is that?” Reid demanded.
“It’s used to temper metal,” Carlie Beth explained.
“So you use it in your forge?”
“No.” She didn’t glance at Grif, which just made him feel like more of an asshole for even thinking she could’ve been the culprit. “I use plain old mineral oil.”
Jonah drew some more circles around the new info.
“Do you know if Austin had any enemies?”
Reid asked. “Anyone who’d want to get back at him for something. Ex-girlfriend, maybe?”
“He never mentioned anyone,” she said. “In fact, he…”
“He what?” Grif asked.
“Well, he came to dinner last night and when he left, he wasn’t too happy.”
“Because of me?”
“Apparently, he developed a little crush on me over the past few months. He…uh…” Carlie Beth’s face wore a wash of pink.
“What did he do?”
“He kissed me.”
“That little—”
Carlie Beth raised her brows at him. “Surely you remember what it’s like to be nineteen and full of yourself. Oh, wait. You were eighteen and full of yourself.”
Reid rolled in his lips like he wanted to add to the conversation, but for once, he showed some restraint. “Mags is gonna come talk to you both.”
“That’s fine,” Grif said. “Because we know neither of us did it.”
“Lot of other weird stuff going on around here lately,” Britt drawled, nodding toward Jonah’s map about the quenching oil. “Grif’s fall off the climbing wall.”
Jonah sketched more circles. “And someone messing up Louise.”
Yeah, that still made Grif’s stomach hurt. “The vandalism out here at the complex.”
“Any other crimes that y’all can think of without us having to ask Maggie?”
Carlie Beth raised her hand as if she were in a grade-school classroom. “What about Roy Darden?”
Reid’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her. “His death was ruled an accident.”
“That was before all the rest of this shit went down,” Grif said, a bad feeling creeping over him.
“Hey, guys,” Jonah said. “I think this mind map is working.”
“You come up with something?” Reid asked.
“Yeah, but you’re not gonna like it.” Jonah’s body was shielding the whiteboard as he wrote and drew another circle. When he stepped back, all the other circles bore arrows pointing to the big oval in the middle. And inside there were two words.
Going Hard: Steele Ridge Series Page 23