Coming Home to You (The Rockport Beach Series Book 1) (2 page)

“Put the guns away, guys,” I call quietly
from behind the desk, shaking my head, as I plaster a smile on my face. The
guests begin filing through the door, each with the same questioning look on
their face. “Sorry folks, just a misunderstanding. No worries.”

I quickly look over at Abby and without
speaking she knows exactly what to do. She picks up the phone and orders a
bottle of wine and chocolate covered strawberries for every room at the inn.
Delivered as soon as possible with hopes that each one of the guests disregards
the SWAT team that has taken over The Rockport Beach Inn and disrupted their relaxing
Memorial Day weekend getaway.

As the crowd is dispersing, the chief of
police signals to me from across the room and motions for me to meet him
outside. A flick of his head towards the doorway and I’m following him as
quickly as possible. I don’t need any more drama.

He stops just short of the road and looks
at me with concern.

“Kelsey, are you okay?”

“Of course, Finn. I’m fine. Nothing I can’t
handle,” I say smiling through the fear that has settled in my chest. It feels
like a vise closing in on me. Squeezing and making it hard to breathe.

“Why don’t you let me take you home? We’ll
put a squad car outside your house just to be on the safe side.”

I shake my head and begin to walk back to
the inn. I can’t leave now. I can’t leave the guests, Abby, the inn; all
unattended and with the constant worry that Jason will return.

“Kelsey!” Finn shouts as I walk away. I ignore
him, but he calls again. “Kels!” And that’s what makes me stop dead in my
tracks. He sounds just like Beck. So much so it makes my heart break all over
again. I shouldn’t be surprised; they are brothers after all.

“Don’t call me that,” I snap back. “You
sound just like him.”

Storming back into the inn, I find Abby
giggling like a teenager while a young deputy leans up against the desk and
shamelessly flirts with her. Finn is right behind me and his voice booms when
he calls my name for a third time.

“Kelsey, I really think you should go
home and rest. He won’t be coming back tonight.”

“I can take care of myself, Finn. Thanks
for your concern, but you can go now,” I say as I begin straightening papers
that are strewn on the desk, just looking for something to do.

“Kelsey, you really should go home. I’ll
be fine here. Deputy Corcoran told me he’d stay and make sure nothing else
happens,” Abby says, as the young cop winks at her and she giggles again.

“Fine, fine,” I say conceding, but still
annoyed with the whole situation.

I wish Abby a good night and climb into
the front seat of Finn’s squad car. We ride in silence for a few minutes before
one of us speaks.

“Kelsey, this is the third time something
like this has happened and it’s only been a few months. He’s not going to
stop.”

I nod my head in response. I’m not sure
what he wants me to say. I have no control over what Jason does; let alone
where he decides to show up. Of course I’m terrified, but I’m not sure what
more I can do. I filed a restraining order, had him charged with trespassing
and got him locked up for a night. All that did was piss him off even more.
After that, I installed an alarm system on my little cottage and got a dog. I
can’t uproot my entire life because some asshole I dated thinks it was more
than that.

“You need to call him,” Finn says firmly as
he pulls into my driveway. “He’d be here in a second if he knew you were in
trouble.”

“No. I’m not calling him and I’m not in
trouble,” I mutter through gritted teeth, angry at just the thought of breaking
down and calling Beck. I won’t do it. He’s the one who left me. The one who
left my emotions running wild, left me with a broken heart and has yet to
return.

And even though the thought of seeing him
today sent my body into a tailspin and had me more excited than I’ve been in
years, I know it’s wrong. I can’t allow myself to get hurt again. Nothing has
changed and it never will. Calling him will only bring more pain into my life.

I slam the door to the cruiser and call a
good night to Finn with a dismissive wave of my hand. I hear him shout
something about an officer being parked outside my house and in return I let
out a quick thank you before closing the door to my cottage.

When I’m finally alone, I realize how
much this evening has affected me. The stress weighing heavy on my shoulders
and the fear that Jason will return suddenly consumes me. I move through the
house checking the locks and the windows, setting the alarm and letting Bella,
my German Shepard outside. I do it all a second time before I finally
breakdown.

Shaking with fear as heaving sobs rack my
body, I climb into bed, pulling the covers up over my head as I try to block
out all that has happened today.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Beck
was supposed to be here. He was my protector, my safety and the love of my life,
but all of that is gone now.

“So, what’ve we got?” I ask, flashing my
badge as I walk towards the uniformed kid standing by the police barricade.

“It’s not good, Sir,” he says. “Homicide,
suspected rape.”

“Fuck,” I murmur, just what I fucking
need on Memorial Day weekend. “What’s the status on the investigation?”

The young kid looks at me and shrugs.
“Don’t know, just got here, you’ll need to talk to that guy,” he says, pointing
towards an older uniformed policeman standing with a blonde woman, who must be the
M.E.

I nod and walk over, catching a glimpse
of the bare feet of the body sticking out from behind the dumpster. Jesus
christ, they look young, whoever it is.

“Detective O’Loughlin, homicide,” I say
to the pair of them. “Can someone get me up to speed?”

The M.E. turns to me. I watch her brows
lift, almost in surprise, before she smiles in a way that says she’d be willing
to do more than just get me up to speed. I shoot her a quick smile in return
before turning to the cop standing in front of the body.

“White female, possibly mid-twenties.
Lacerations, defensive wounds, suspected strangulation and sexual assault.
Found by this guy,” he says, gesturing to what looks like a homeless man. “When
he was
walking his dog
,” he adds in a
way that suggests he doesn’t believe a word of it.

“Walking his dog, huh?” I ask. “That sure
sounds like a pile of shit.”

The cop laughs. “Yeah, my thoughts
exactly.”

“Got an ID on the vic?” I ask, as I step
around him to take a look at the body. I don’t hear a word he says though, as
all of the air suddenly rushes from my lungs. “Fucking hell,” I say, my stomach
threatening to empty all over the dead woman the second I get a look at her
face. God, fuck, please don’t let it be her. It can’t possibly be, not here in
Boston.

“Detective, you okay?” the cop asks, taking
a step towards me.

“Yeah, ah, yep,” I say, feeling anything
but okay. These two sure as hell don’t need to know that the victim could be
the love of my life. The one I let get away and the one woman I’ve still never
managed to get over. “Have you, ahh… have you got an ID?” Fuck, fuck, fuck, it’s
not her, surely.

“Yeah, we found a bag close by, wallet
looks like it’s been emptied but there’s a BU staff ID. Photo matches, goes by the
name of Jane Donovan. You know her or something, Detective?”

I exhale loudly as I run my hand through
my hair. Thank fuck it’s not her.

“Sir?”

I turn to face the cop. “No, I don’t,” I
say, crouching down by the body for a closer look now. “For a minute there, I
thought I did.”

But as I look over the body up close, I
can see now how wrong I was. The victim doesn’t look anything like Kelsey. Her
hair is too light, nothing like the deep, rich brown hair that Kelsey has. She’s
shorter too, and the body a little heavier. It definitely isn’t the body I
remember spending so much time getting to know when we were kids. Not that I’d
really know what Kelsey looks like anymore. I haven’t seen her since I left
Rockport, what, ten years ago?

Fuck, has it really been ten years since
I last saw her?

She probably looks completely different
to how I remember her now. But as my eyes involuntarily close, I immediately conjure
up a picture of her. It’s one of my favorites; an image that I think about far
too often. In it she’s naked and lying in my bed, laughing as I kiss my way up
her body. Jesus christ, that girl, the things she did to me. The things I did
to her.

I shake my head and force my eyes to open
as I let the memory go. I can’t go back there. Kelsey and I are done. We wanted
different things and despite being madly in love with her, I knew neither of us
could compromise. She wouldn’t move to Boston and I couldn’t stay in Rockport.

I stand and turn to the M.E. who’s
looking at me in a way that might involve concern. “You got everything you
need?” I ask, ignoring her. The last thing I need is pity.

“Yeah, I’m good,” she says, relaxing a little
when she sees me snap back into detective mode.

“Great,” I say, turning to the cop. “Let’s
get this wrapped up then. Get your boys to canvas the area, look for any clues.
In the meantime, I’ll take this clown,” I add, gesturing to the homeless guy, “into
the station and see if he can’t come up with a different story. One that makes
more sense.”

“Okay, thanks, Sir,” the cop says,
immediately walking over to the rest of his crew to start directing the search.

“Detective?”

“Yeah?” I say, turning back to the M.E.

“You, maybe wanna get a drink after
work?” she asks, lowering her clipboard and sticking her tits out as she tries
on a flirty smile now that we’re alone. Fuck me; she’s got balls asking for a
date in the middle of crime scene.

“Ah, I don’t normally date colleagues,” I
say, running a hand through my hair as I still let myself give her a quick once
over.

She smiles at me, running her tongue over
her bottom lip as she says, “Well, we’re hardly colleagues, are we? I mean technically,
I don’t work at the station or for you.”

I take a deep breath, memories of Kelsey
once more flashing through my brain. She and I had met when I was sixteen and
taken on a job with her family at the inn. Mostly random maintenance shit on
account of the fact that I was too young to tend bar in my granddad’s pub. She’d
had balls too, but in a different way, flirting with me like a pro even though
I was a year older than her. I’d admired her guts, along with her ass, and of
course I’d eventually caved and asked her out on a date. I already knew who she
was, I’d known before I’d even taken the job.

But that’s what you get in small towns.
Everyone knows fucking everyone.

I shake my head, wondering if maybe a
drink with this woman might be a good idea after all. God knows the last thing
I need is to start reliving old times with Kelsey, again. Those days are over.

“Yeah?” she says and I swear she knows
she’s got me.

“Fuck it, okay,” I say, pulling out a
card and handing it to her. “Call me later when you know when you’ll be done.”

“Sounds good,” she purrs before she turns
and walks away, her ass swinging because she knows I’m watching her.

As I do though, I can’t help but think she
is nothing like Kelsey. There is absolutely nothing similar about them and
maybe, that’s exactly what I need if I ever think I’m going to be able to let
her go.

By five o’clock, I’m ready to head home.
I haven’t heard from the M.E. and we’ve gotten no further in the case. The
homeless guy turned out to be legit, the dog he was supposedly walking just a
figment of his under-medicated imagination.

I walk out of the station and am about to
turn towards the parking lot when a voice calls out. “Detective!”

Turning, I see her smiling face, her huge
tits and her swinging hips as they walk towards me. I can’t help but be
impressed, my dick even managing a slight twitch at the sight of her. Yeah,
this is exactly what I fucking need.

“I thought you were calling me?” I say, a
half smile on my face as she stops in front of me. She’s undone an extra button
on her shirt since this morning, her cleavage on full display now. I don’t
bother to hide my obviousness as I check her out.

“I know,” she says. “But I thought I’d
drop by and surprise you.”

“Consider me surprised,” I respond, as I
gesture to the Irish pub across the street.

We head over and as we walk inside, I do
a quick look around to see if any of the boys from the station are here. This
is our local and it’s probably a dumb fucking idea bringing the M.E. in here,
but at the moment, I don’t really care. I’m not looking for any kind of long-term
relationship with her. In fact I’d be happy with a quick fuck and a see you
later, type thing. So I really don’t give a shit if half the station knows I’m
planning to screw her.

But there’s no one here, the weekend team
light, on account of Memorial Day weekend. Only those of us without family were
lucky enough to be scheduled on today. I sure as shit don’t have any; I’ve
barely spoken to mine since I left them ten years ago. Like Kelsey, they were just
as pissed that I walked out, turned my back on the family tradition, and opted
for the ‘big lights’ of the city. None of them knew what my real reasons for leaving
were and as none of them had bothered to come and visit me, I hadn’t felt the
need to go back and visit them either.

“Detective?” the M.E. asks, and I get the
feeling I’ve missed something I was supposed to have been listening to.

“It’s Beck,” I say, smiling as I push the
memories of this very day ten years ago to the back of my mind. “Call me Beck.”