Читать книгу Holding Out For A Hero - HelenKay Dimon - Страница 10

Despite the rain, it felt good to be back in Kauai the next morning. Sitting at Kane and Annie’s kitchen table watching Annie hover by the sink making coffee while Kane sat there reading the paper washed away some of the anxiety that had been churning inside Josh for months.

There was something comforting in the domesticity of his friends’ lives. Married for less than a year, Annie and Kane clicked. Kane kept to his low-key style, saying little. Annie never stopped talking. Together, they made it work. Made it look easy.

And they always welcomed Josh. He owned a condo across town, but when he woke up this morning he threw on jeans and a shirt and landed here. Didn’t go on a run as he planned. Didn’t get to work finding a new career as he should. Just jumped in his vintage Mustang and headed to Kane’s house.

Josh knew being jobless should have made him nervous. Instead, getting out from under the DEA bureaucracy and the politics of ass-covering freed him. He had attempted for years to fight the system from the inside, but it all ended when his incompetent boss used a civilian helicopter pilot without approval and without providing the poor guy with proper protection. Josh’s boss preferred to protect his pension and sacrifice Josh rather than clear the record.

Fuck the DEA. Josh decided he didn’t need the hassle. Not anymore.

“How much longer are you going to do that?” Annie asked as she sat a steaming mug in front of him.

Josh looked up. “What?”

“The tapping,” she said with a smile as she slipped into the seat next to her husband and threaded her arm through his.

“What are you talking about?” Josh asked.

Kane glanced over the top of the newspaper. “The thing with the pen.”

Annie nodded. “You do it all the time.”

Kane folded the front page and spoke over the crumpling sound. “And it’s annoying as hell.”

Josh stared down at his fingers. Saw the blue scuff marks he made against the napkin.

Okay, so maybe he’d been thumping the pen against the table. He blamed the cigarettes. Almost two years without them and he still felt the itch.

“When did you two become so sensitive?” he asked.

Annie shrugged. “It was either point it out or break your fingers.”

She could do it, too. Josh knew not to mess with Kane’s woman. No way to do that and win.

“That’s very feminine of you,” Josh said.

She rapped her fist against the table. “Don’t make me get up and smack the crap out of you.”

“For the record, I’d like to see that,” Kane said.

“And is it me or is our Josh a bit on guard this morning?” Annie’s smile disappeared. “Oh, no.”

“What now?” Josh asked as he eyed up the pen. Sending the message to his brain to leave it there.

“You’ve done something, haven’t you?” She nodded. “Something that’s going to piss me off.”

Kane joined his wife in staring. “She means other than quitting your job.”

The way they sensed something was wrong was just downright spooky. “What, a man can’t stop by for breakfast without getting interrogated?”

“Hmmm.” Kane winked at Annie as if they were sharing some sort of conspiracy. “Interesting, don’t you think?”

“Definitely defensive.” Annie’s mocking tone mirrored her husband’s.

“Kind of looks like he’s ready to bolt for the door,” Kane said.

“Picking up on that, are you?” Josh asked, matching their sarcasm with some of his own.

Annie tilted her head to the side and pretended to frown. “A little grumpier than usual, too.”

Josh grabbed on to the mug in front of him to keep from picking the pen back up again. “Maybe it’s the way you make coffee.”

“Pissing off Annie?” Kane whistled under his breath. “Brave man.”

“Don’t upset the cook.” Annie reached out and took the pen out of tapping range. “The drink is perfect, and you know it. Stop stalling. Tell us what has you lost in thought and looking like a moody five-year-old.”

“Does your foul mood have anything to do with one Deana Armstrong?” Kane asked in a deceptively soft voice.

The delivery made Josh wonder how long his friend had been holding the question in. Probably for as long as Josh had been thinking about Deana’s offer.

Going to her house had been a huge mistake. Not seeing her made saying no to her request easy. Being in that house, realizing how vulnerable she was on the issue of saving her idiot nephew, made hating her tougher. Not impossible, but definitely problematic.

Twenty-four hours of constant Deana thoughts ticked him off. “I was in a good mood until ten seconds ago.”

“But deep in thought. Something’s bothering that little brain of yours,” Annie said.

Josh’s relationship with Annie had been like this from the beginning. A series of jokes and shots as they built trust in each other. He considered her a sister. A hot redhead with a mouth that could scare a trucker and a body that kept a foolish smile on Kane’s face most of the time.

It was hard to dislike a woman who saved his best friend from an emotional vacuum. That’s what she did for Kane. Josh appreciated Annie for many things, but mostly for that.

“Deana gave me Ryan’s file,” Josh said.

Kane’s eyebrow lifted. “And?”

“There were other leads. Other suspects who looked good, if not better than Ryan, for the killings.” Josh cursed under his breath. “Some of the evidence didn’t point to Ryan. In fact, it suggested someone else had to be responsible.”

“But you knew that from the press coverage of the trial,” Kane said.

“Sure, but it’s different seeing it all laid out without the lawyer spin on it.” It all sounded more plausible somehow, which was why Josh had wanted to shred the damn folder before he got on the commuter plane and read it on the way home.

“I feel sorry for Deana,” Annie said.

Josh felt certain only another woman could listen to everything he said and come to that conclusion. “Excuse me?”

Annie reached out and covered Josh’s hand with hers. “I think it’s sweet of you to look into this for her.”

“Sweet? That’s not a word I would use to describe Josh,” Kane said.

Josh ignored Kane and aimed his argument at Annie. She was the one who would refuse to let this go, so he may as well deal with her now. “I’m not looking into anything. And you’ve never even met Deana Armstrong, so I don’t know why you’re invoking the sisterhood bond.”

“So?” Annie asked.

Kane leaned over and kissed his wife on the forehead. “Who can argue with that logic?”

Annie pinched her husband’s arm and earned a scowl in return.

“Isn’t that sort of crucial to know her before you decide you like her?” Josh asked.

“Not really. I mean, she’s lost so much.” Annie threw him that sad-puppy look.

Josh knew better than to fall for Annie’s act. And he fought off the urge to sympathize with Deana. “The woman hates me.”

Annie patted Josh’s hand one last time before letting go. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Kane rolled his eyes. “Yeah, who could hate Josh?”

“She wouldn’t have called if that were the case,” Annie said.

Wrong conclusion. “She wants to use me.”

Kane leaned back and threw an arm around Annie’s shoulders. “Since when do you care if a woman wants to use you?”

That one was easy for Josh. “When she isn’t doing it in a bedroom.”

“You’re not sleeping with her already, are you?” Annie looked appalled at the idea.

Josh didn’t like the thought, either. “Hell no.”

Annie’s gaze flicked to Kane and then back to Josh again. “Do you want to?”

How the hell had they gotten onto this topic? “Did you miss the part where Deana hates me?”

Kane snorted. “You act as if that disqualifies her from your bed.”

“I’m just happy to know he’s a little discriminating when it comes to women,” Annie said in a loud whisper to her husband.

“Are you two done?” Josh asked, hoping to hell they were.

Annie started to tap the pen and then slammed it against the table. “I don’t see what the problem is here.”

“There’s more than one.” Josh called up all the reasons from his mental “con” list. “I’m not a police investigator. I’m not for sale. This family tried to destroy me once.”

“For heaven’s sake.” Annie snorted, adding enough drama to make a pre-teen proud. “Don’t be an idiot and let your ego get in the way.”

Josh wasn’t expecting name calling. “What?”

“You know as well as we do that you’re going to help this woman.” Annie emphasized each word as she spoke.

Josh looked in Kane’s direction for assistance.

Kane shook his head. “Don’t get me involved in this losing battle. I agree with Annie.”

“You went to her house, took the file she offered, and read it,” Annie said as she ticked off her points on her fingers. “You did all of that knowing you were going to help her. You’re just too pigheaded to admit it now.”

“I was being courteous when I agreed to see her.”

Kane’s mouth dropped open. “Try again.”

Josh leaned back in his chair. “Thanks for the support, buddy.”

“What Kane is floundering to say is that you aren’t that guy, Josh. You don’t walk away from injustice or women who need you.” Annie leaned forward and wrapped her hands around her coffee mug. “You are going to take up this project because you won’t let a potentially innocent kid stay in jail.”

Hell, right now Josh wanted to be that guy who walked away. Wanted to not give a shit. But there was an even bigger problem at work here. “I think Ryan did it.”

“So? Prove it. Make Deana see that,” Annie said.

“Oh, she’ll love that,” Kane mumbled until Annie frowned in his direction. “What?”

If possible, Annie’s mouth flatlined even farther. “Don’t be so negative.”

“Honey, I’ve been a police officer for a long time. I can tell you that people hear what they want to hear and nothing else. If Josh proves the prosecution was right, Deana will be furious.”

“Exactly.” Josh thought it was about time Kane took the right side of this argument. “I’m supposed to take Deana’s money and then tell her Ryan, her beloved nephew, killed his parents, who also happen to be Deana’s only brother and sister-in-law? I can only imagine how well that will go over.”

“So?” Annie asked.

Josh began to wonder why he skipped exercise and came here instead. “Again with the so response.”

“Thanks to marriage this part of the female vocabulary I do now understand.” Kane brushed his hand over Annie’s ponytail. “She is wondering why you would care about screwing Deana financially since you pretend to dislike the woman.”

Annie’s eyebrows lifted. “Is she pretty?”

“Very,” Kane said.

Having two knowing smiles aimed right at him kicked Josh’s brain into gear. “Stop.”

“What?” Annie asked, even managed to sound innocent while she did it.

“Do not go off on some crazy-ass matchmaking mission.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” The false innocence in Annie’s voice suggested that was the exact direction she intended to go.

“Never going to happen.” Josh thought about repeating the word “never” a few times but refrained.

Annie’s smile was big enough to fill the room. “Of course not.”

“I don’t even like Deana.”

“Kane said the same thing about me, and now look at us.” Annie kissed her husband on the cheek.

“Must I?” Josh grumbled.

Annie reached around, picked up the phone, and waved it in Josh’s face. “Call Deana and tell her you’ll help.”

“No way.”

Kane made a tsk-tsk sound. “Don’t fight it, man.”

“Exactly.” Annie treated her husband to another kiss. “You’re going to pack up and get on the next plane back to Oahu. Right, Josh?”

“You doing my scheduling now?”

“Kane will drive you,” Annie said as if Josh never spoke.

“I will?” Kane asked.

Annie kept right on rolling. “I’m sure you can stay with Derek on Oahu.”

Josh felt the floor sink beneath his feet under the weight of Annie’s gabbing. “Don’t you think we should ask Derek first? Or me?”

“So long as you bring beer he’ll let you in,” Kane said.

Josh decided to take one last shot. “And what if I say I’m not going to do this?”

Annie shook the receiver in his face. “Then I will climb over this table and beat you with this phone.”

Kane laughed. “That’s one of her favorite threats.”

Josh gave up. For a second he wondered if between Annie and Deana he ever really stood a chance.

“Marriage has made you soft,” Josh said to his friend.

Kane’s smile grew even broader. “But not stupid. Women always win. Just accept it and move on. Call Deana and pack your bag.”