Read Online Hurricane Bay by Heather Graham - Free Book Online

Cindy looked as if she was going to try to ignore the obvious hostility between them, then she sighed, putting her hands on her hips. “Hey, kids, we’re all grown-ups here.”
    â€œAll right,” Kelsey said. “Hi, Dane. Have a beer. You are all grown up. If you want to spend your life drinking the days away, I guess that’s all right.”
    He stared at her and took a long swig from the bottle, ready to tell her that she hadn’t seen him in years, she had no idea of what he did with his days, and she sure as hell had no right to judge him.
    â€œThat’s right, Kelsey. If I want to be a drunk, it’s my prerogative.”
    â€œDane isn’t a drunk, Kelsey,” Cindy said.
    â€œSorry, then,” Kelsey said. She made a point of yawning. “You know what, guys? I haven’t had much sleep since I got back. Maybe you want to move your little party over to Cindy’s half of the place.”
    â€œMaybe, but not yet,” Dane said. He walked to the counter where she was sitting and set his beer bottle down. She tensed, and for a moment he thought she was going to jump up and try to escape.
    But that would mean having to touch him because the way he was standing, at her side, hands on the counter, she would have to push past him to get by.
    â€œSo now you want to talk,” she said.
    â€œI’d have been happy to talk earlier—if you hadn’t come on as such a bitch,” he said.
    She blinked, and he could hear her teeth clench. “You were drunk, and I was worried. And Nate had just told me that you and Sheila were…that you and Sheila had a big argument the last time he’d seen her, and that she’d told him afterward she was going out to your place. He said you weren’t very nice to her.”
    She wasn’t apologizing. She was still accusing him. And she sure as hell wasn’t about to thank him for coming around when she might have been in trouble at Latham’s. Of course, as far as any of them had ever known, Latham was just like a cockroach. Nasty as all hell, and germ-carrying, certainly, but not physically dangerous.
    He inhaled a long breath before replying to Kelsey.
    â€œKelsey, I’m glad that your life is going so great that you feel you can judge everyone else. Although I’m curious as to how you got to be such a good judge of a man’s level of alcohol consumption.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “I know you’ve been lying as low as pond scum, Dane, because Sheila told me.”
    â€œShe did, did she? Kelsey, you need to listen to me. You haven’t been around, and you don’t know anything about anyone here anymore. What you’ve got is a bunch of hearsay and assumptions. Maybe you don’t like what you think I’ve become, and maybe there’s even some truth to it. But what you’re doing here is dangerous. What do you think you are suddenly? Some kind of a crusader? Leave it alone. Quit running around accusing everyone of doing something to Sheila. You’re going to get yourself into trouble.”
    Kelsey stared at him, eyes cool and hostile. “Dane, you didn’t want to talk to me this afternoon, and now you’re suddenly here telling me to keep my nose out of things. This is ridiculous. Apparently I’m the only one who’s really concerned about Sheila. And since I am concerned, my nose is going to be everywhere until I know where she is. And I know you were seeing her.”
    â€œYou’re not listening to me. You’re going off half-cocked and making a lot of assumptions. You know I was seeing Sheila because Nate told you so. Sheila hung around the Sea Shanty. So do I. So do Nate and Cindy—Cindy because she keeps up with old friends, Nate because he owns the place. And guess what? Lots of other people around here go there on a regular basis. It’s the in place for the natives. Sheila saw dozens of people at the Sea Shanty. Big deal. But