Eye of the Storm (The Storm Series) (6 page)

He turned to the app on the phone and watched the B&B come into view. He didn’t want her to know how much he worried about her, or how amusing she was. Sitting back, he got comfortable to enjoy the show.

~*~

Walking into the foyer Evie looked around and marveled at the detail in the restored, old, Victorian house. Everything stayed true to the historic value, but had been updated to include all of the modern conveniences. She turned when she heard someone approaching.
Show time.

“Hello dear, how may we help you?” asked the man with dark close-cut hair and green eyes.

She ran her fingers through her hair and then made a helpless gesture with her hands.

Another man who also had close-cut hair, except his was dark blonde. He had brown eyes and a goatee. As he came over, he put his arm around her. “Oh, now, it can’t be that bad. Let’s just go sit down in the parlor for a bit and we’ll get to know each other. Good idea, Joe?”

Evie didn’t miss the look that passed between them.
So far so good.

“I’ll get us some tea, and maybe some cookies?”

Seeing Evie nod, he left the room. She let the other man lead her to the sofa and sat down with him.

“Okay girlfriend, you’ve got a couple of minutes to pull yourself together before Joe gets back so I’ll tell you everything you need to know about us while we wait. My name is Amir. Joe and I have owned this place for, oh, about five years now. We took a couple of years to restore it.”

“It looks wonderful. You did a great job.”

“I can’t take credit for the work, I’m the idea man, now my Joe he’s the one with the good hands.”

“Here we are. Now you sit back and have a snack and tell us what you need.” Joe set everything down on the coffee table.

“Thank you. Well, I’m not sure where to begin.”

“At the beginning, of course.” Amir laughed.

“Well, I understand this is a bed and breakfast that caters to the gay community. Right?”

“Yes dear, we aren’t exclusive toward the community, but yes, most of our guests are gay. We like to support tolerance no matter what the lifestyle.” Joe patted her hand.

“Well, I think my fiancé is cheating on me. I have felt that something has been off for a while. I checked his receipts, and well, he stayed here for a bit. I was wondering if you could help me. Have you seen this man? He would have stayed here last year.” She made sure her hand shook as she gave them the photo.

Joe looked at Amir before turning to her. “Well my dear, you don’t have a very nice fiancé.”

“Why do you say that?”

Amir picked up his tea. “It’s not because he had to have everything a certain way and at specific times. But well, in our situation you have to be in tune to other people. Unfortunately, there are always people who may want to hurt us because they consider us ‘different.’ We could tell he was disgusted by us and the other people renting rooms here. He wanted nothing to do with us. There was something dark about him. We had to ask him to leave.”

“He never brought anyone here?”

“No honey, he didn’t. He only ended up staying for two nights, but was booked for a whole week. While the revenue would be nice, he booked our largest room, we don’t need his negativity here,” Joe said.

“I’m so sorry about that, but thank you, I needed to know that. It seems he’s hiding more than I originally thought.” She wanted to keep as close to the truth as possible. “One of my employees is gay and since my business is a huge part of my life, so is Jesse. I can’t have anyone in my life that isn’t accepting. Thank you for your time.” She stood up to leave. “You really have a nice place here. I wish you success.”

“Thank you, hon, and be sure to come back. We’ll even give you a discount.” Amir winked at her.

~*~

Anthony and Evie were silent on the drive to the marina. Anthony was trying to process everything he had heard. When they were almost there, Anthony reached over and grabbed her hand. “I’m sorry. I know Jesse means a lot to you, and you hate to see that kind of intolerance.”

She looked over at him and he could see the pain in her eyes. “I just don’t know how people can be so mean. If everyone would just be a little nicer and more accepting of people, this world would be a better place.”

Gently, he squeezed her hand. “Yes, it would. Maybe someday.”

“And we really didn’t learn anything new.”

“Maybe at this next stop. Do you have a plan for this one?” He was hoping to get her mind off of how Jeremy had treated the owners of the B&B.

“Of course, I always have a plan.”

From what he could tell, half the time she would follow her heart before her head. “Really?” He said sarcastically.

“Well, most of the time anyway.” She shrugged. “The rental place is owned by Susan. It used to be her and her husband’s before he died. Now it’s just her. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Be careful. Please.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, Sweet Cheeks.” She scooted out of the way and laughed before he could grab her.

Watching her walk towards the office, he was reminded of what had almost happened last night. It had been awhile since he’d been with a woman but that didn’t explain his reaction to her being so close. He’d wanted her so much his body physically hurt. He should be happy that the door slammed when it did. He really didn’t need the complication of Evie right now.

~*~

Evie knew the best approach would be more direct with this one. Susan had been around seamen most of her life and wouldn’t put up with a whiny, crying female. “Good morning.” She said as she walked into the office.

“Hi ya. What can I do for you?” she asked with a heavy accent.

“I was hoping you could help me. I think my fiancé is cheating on me. I found a receipt for the shop. Can you tell me if you’ve seen him? It would have been last year.”

“Men are bastards, ya know.” She grabbed the photo and studied it. “Yeah, I remember him. Had all these demands about what kind of boat he wanted, nothing seemed good enough, then he brought the damn thing back damaged.”

“What kind of damage?”

“One of the seats was practically ripped off. Not easy to do on my boats I can tell you that. He paid cash, including fixing everything.”

“Did he have anyone with him?”

“Nope, going out or coming in. Can’t tell you what he did during that time.”

“Thank you for your time.”

“No problem. Dump him, no man is worth it.”

“Thanks, again.”

Evie walked back out into the sunshine and toward Anthony.
Maybe, sometimes they are worth it.

~*~

They stopped at a restaurant on the water. At a table overlooking the setting sun, they talked about things that had nothing to do with Jeremy. It was a nice change from all the darkness. Once they found out they both liked to quote movies they had a fun conversation trying to use only movie quotes.

Evie leaned back in her chair patting her stomach. “That was wonderful. Nothing like a good meal to make things seem brighter.”

He shook his head. “Where do you put it all? I can’t remember ever seeing a woman eat so much.”

She shrugged. “I like food. I like to eat. I’m not going to be a female and just eat a little bit because I’m out with a man. If I’m hungry I eat, shouldn’t matter who you’re with.”

There was a four-piece band playing music from the fifties in the corner. Evie turned to watch some older couples dance together on the small dance floor. She could remember her grandparents dancing together like that all the time. While her grandmother might be a bit wild, when she was married to her grandpa, Allen, it was one of the most romantic relationships she had ever seen.

“Would you like to dance?” Anthony asked.

She turned to him; sitting there in the candlelight with the vibrant colors of the sunset behind him. His white button-down shirt, open at the collar, and charcoal grey jacket looked dashing. “Yes, yes I would.”

He stood up and offered his hand. She slid hers into his and felt the warmth seep through her. He led her through the tables to the dance floor. She was completely focused on him. He spun her around once before bringing her close to him. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder. His arm slid around her waist and he brought his other hand, with hers in it twisting them around so that the back of her hand was against his heart. She could feel the heat between them. They moved in time to the music across the dance floor, never taking their eyes off each other.

He led her in quick circles around the dance floor to the beat of the music. The rest of the room seemed to disappear until it was just the two of them. Stopping in the middle of the dance floor as the other couples danced and spun around them, he pulled her closer. She melted into him, needing to be close. He let go of her hand and moved it up to the side of her face.

“Evie, la mia belezza.”

With her heart racing, she closed the distance between their lips. Their lips slid across each other’s. She gripped his shoulders wanting him even closer. She could feel his fingers digging into her waist. She nipped at his lower lip and was rewarded with his mouth opening and his tongue coming out to meet hers.

They were jolted from behind as another coupled danced into them. “Sorry,” they said as they danced on by.

Staring at Anthony, Evie wasn’t sure what to do. She knew what she wanted to do. However, obviously, the dance floor wasn’t the place to do it.

Holding his hand out to her he said, “Come on. Let’s go home.”

~*~

Unaware that Anthony and Evie were looking into his past, Jeremy laid back in bed casually looking over at the woman next to him. He’d never been with a woman as long as this one and he hated it. Not sure how much more he was going to be able to take, he tried to tune her out as she babbled on about some stupid author that she thought was the best thing ever.

He knew it was a calculated risk bringing her here, but he needed some refinement. He was tired of beer and pizza. It reminded him too much of his youth. Looking over the spread of food on the bed, he’d missed the finer things in life that was for sure.

When she started describing the fourth book he decided it was time for this to end. He knew that coming here was tempting fate. The police or Anthony could at any moment discover this place. He might as well leave them something to remind them of him. He casually picked up a fork and polished it on his shirt before turning towards her and stabbing it down into her gut, twisting, bending it down and pulling it out.

~*~

He dusted his hands off and surveyed his handiwork. Everything looked perfect. He couldn’t wait for Anthony to find this, and he knew he would. It was just a matter of time. Turning the A/C down he walked out of the apartment and prepared to take a trip up north.

Evie sighed behind the wheel. “Another Thursday, Yippee.”

“Oh, come on, it’s fun. We get to see what’s new at the senior center and I get to play poker with the girls.” Evelyne said.

“You see the girls all the time and you already know all the gossip. You’re just there to watch the landscapers.”

“Well, duh. Best part of my week and the only action I’ve been seeing lately.”

“Thank goodness for that.”

“You know you could use a little action. Maybe lighten you up a bit. You’ve been pretty testy lately.”

Evie thought about her and Anthony’s too brief of kiss last night. She was hoping when he said ‘Let’s go home’ he meant something different than what it ended up being. He dropped her off then went into the cottage. Alone. She hadn’t been able to get much sleep tossing and turning all night thinking about him.

“Did you hear what I said? Really girl, get your head out of the clouds.”

“Sorry, what?”

“I asked how things went yesterday.”

“Oh fine, we really didn’t learn anything new. He’s a neat freak, likes things a certain way and paid cash.” “Well, maybe if you find where he is staying you can mess everything up and piss him off.”

Shaking her head Evie noticed that there was a van following them. Since Evelyne liked to check the neighborhoods, to see what was new, on her way over to the senior center they weren’t taking a direct route, yet this van seemed to keep finding them and following where they were going.

“That’s strange.”

“What honey?”

“Don’t look, promise.”

“Sure. I can do that.”

“Don’t turn around. But there seems to be a van following us.” When she caught Evelyne starting to turn around, she hissed at her.

“Fine, but how am I supposed to describe it if you won’t let me look. You know, it could be one of Noah’s men.”

“Why would they be following us?”

Evelyne shrugged. “I don’t know, but you know how protective he is, maybe he just wants to make sure we are all safe.”

Evie didn’t think that was the case. Now she had to decide if she was going to say anything to Anthony or not about this. Trying to get a look at the license plate was proving to be more difficult than you would think. She was about to let her grandmother take a look when the driver turned onto another street and they never saw the van again.

~*~

Evie spent most of the day avoiding Anthony. Spending most of her time out of the house. This was unusual since typically she liked to face things head-on. After eating dinner at the diner in town so she wouldn’t have to eat with him, she decided enough was enough. She went over and knocked on his door. Taking a deep breath, she entered after he said to come in.

He was sitting at the kitchen table with files spread out all over the place. She noticed a new poster on the wall. It had all the women listed with their information, the date they were murdered and pictures, thankfully of when they were alive. Walking over to it she was struck at how much they did resemble each other.

“That’s strange,” she said.

Getting up, he came to stand next to her. “What?”

“This.” She pointed to the time between Lexi and Christina. “This was when you were in prison. So he didn’t do any killing that whole time? Doesn’t it seem strange, he was going about once a year up to that point? Then he is able to just quit for over five years? That doesn’t make sense.”