Double Play (2 page)

Cat pointed at
his bag in disbelief. “How did you get up here carrying all
that?”

Quinn
flashed his reddened palms at her.
“Climbed the rusty fire escape. Now are you going to introduce me
to my soon-to-be bro-in-law or what?”

Cat flailed a
helpless arm in his direction. “Benji Levy, Quinn McDaniel.” She
sighed and shrugged her shoulders at Benji. “My
half-brother.”

“
Brother
? Cat, a word?” Benji walked through the living
room and headed down the hallway, turning the quick corner into the
kitchen.

Cat narrowed her
eyes at Quinn and held her index finger in the air, letting him
take it as either an instruction to wait or be quiet, both of which
she desperately wanted but doubted he would grant her.

Benji was
waiting, hands on his hips. Dark circles framed his wide blue eyes.
“I keep thinking any day now that the secrets will stop
and yet here I stand, at
two
o’clock in the morning
,
finding
out you have a
brother.
A brother! How have
you kept that a secret?
”

“
Half
-brother. It’s not a secret. You just
….”

He raised his
eyebrows
, daring her to
finish
.

“
Never
asked,” she squeaked out. She pursed her lips, knowing the excuse
sounded even worse out loud.

“
Cat.”

“
I
know, but can we talk about this later?”

She didn’t wait
for a response before charging back into the living
room.

Quinn grinned at
her, his hands linked behind his head.

“
What
are you doing here?” she hissed, making sure Benji couldn’t hear
her over the rustling of the kitchen cabinets and the running water
from the sink.

Quinn unzipped
his leather jacket and displayed a Hooters Santo Domingo t-shirt.
“I wanted to say thanks for the present.”

“
You’re supposed to be in Key West.”

“
I
was. Grams came to visit with that rich boyfriend of hers. Are we
supposed to call him Grandpa? Because I’m thinking about trying it
out and seeing if it gets me anywhere.” He rubbed his thumb against
his fingertips.

“
What
are you doing
here
?”

“
I
thought it was time for a change of locale.”

“
You
shouldn’t be here.”

“
Jesus, little Sis. If this is how you treat family members who
stop by
?
I shudder to
ask what happens when a Jehovah’s Witness stumbles across your
doorstep.
Which reminds
me 
… Levy.
That’s
Jewish, right?”

“
What
difference does that make?”

He shrugged.
“None at all. Just curious.
Does he know you were quite the little Catholic
schoolgirl?
”

The coffee maker
began to gurgle and with every drip, its aroma became stronger and
spilled into the living room.

“
I
have a whole life here and I can’t have you—”

Benji came back
around the corner and ran his hand through his hair.
She silenced herself.

“
So,
Quinn, you’re Cat’s brother.” He shot her another dirty
look.

Quinn stretched
his arms above his head. “Yup.”

“
Half
-brother.” Cat tossed Benji’s glare at Quinn, as if
they were all playing a game of Hot Potato.

“
Semantics. We share the same dad and our moms are cut from the
same Jell-O mold. Mine’s a waitress in Chicago and Cat’s is an
out-of-work actress, which is Hollywood for waitress.”

Benji walked over
to the armchairs, his flannel pajama pants dragging across the
carpet. His eyes fluttered at the motorcycle boots on the coffee
table but he didn’t say anything. He sat back in the chair and
crossed his arms over his bare chest. It was just as well they both
preferred to sleep in PJs, she thought
, suddenly wishing she had flannel pants of her own
.
She pulled the long Soldiers’ t-shirt down for a bit more
modesty.

She
met Benji’s curious gaze and
gave him a helpless smile.

“
Anyway, if Cat had told me you were coming, we would’ve waited
up.”

“
Aw,
don’t blame the Red Robin. I wanted to surprise her
,” Quinn replied.

Benji studied
him. “Is that why you broke into our apartment at two in the
morning?”

Cat walked over
to the couch, kicking Quinn’s long leg with her bare foot. “I’m
guessing he knew I wouldn’t answer if he came to the front
door.”

Quinn pulled his
foot off the coffee table and grinned a cocky half-smile. She
couldn’t even remember what his genuine expression of happiness
looked like; this ornery air of satisfaction was his trademark.
“There was that, too.”

Cat looked down
at the stuffed duffel bag. “That’s a lot of baggage.”

“
Not
really. It’s all I got to my name.”

Cat’s expression
hardened. “You can’t stay here.”

“
Cat.”
Benji gaped at her.

She shrugged. “We
don’t have the room.”

Benji stood up.
“Why don’t you help me get the coffee in the kitchen?”

Cat took a deep
breath, avoiding the knowing smirk planted on Quinn’s face.
“Fine.”

Benji’s hisses
started the second they rounded the corner. “What is wrong with
you? He’s your brother and he needs a place to stay.”

“
Half
-brother. I haven’t even seen him since I was
nineteen, yet I’m supposed to open my home up to a virtual
stranger?”

“
He’s
family.”

Cat brushed past
him and jerked the coffee carafe from the maker, slamming it on the
tray. She pulled three of the mugs off the metal tree rack from
where they hung, their bright colors an ironic commentary on her
black mood. “You’d really let a guy you haven’t seen in a decade
stay with you just because you share some sibling DNA
markers?”

“
I— I
don’t know. I’m an only child.”

“
So am
I. I grew up with Grams. He was raised by his mom in Chicago. He
only stayed with us during his mom’s rehab stints, the last of
which was when he left with Gram’s Depression Glass
collection.”

“
He
stole it?”

“
She
didn’t press charges
,
”
she replied, as if that
answered his question.
In the McDaniel world, it was
innocent until fingerprinted
. She pointed at the shared wall
between the living room and the kitchen. “We don’t want him here.
He’s trouble.”

Benji continued
to whisper
,
“I don’t
think he has anywhere else to go.”

“
Why
is this my problem? Let him go to a shelter
with the rest of the bums
.”

“
You
don’t mean that.” He sighed and picked up the serving tray. “I
don’t think you know how lucky you are. I would’ve loved to have a
brother, even if it was just part-time.”

“
That’s easy to say, but trust me, this is not a guy you want
in your life. He doesn’t have a job, he doesn’t have any money and
apparently he doesn’t have a house.”

“
Uh, I
hate to break up the whisper convention but your walls aren’t
exactly soundproof.” The shout came from the living
room.

Cat knocked her
shoulder against the corner as
she
rushed back into the living room.
Giving it a soothing rub
, she said
in a clipped, barely civil voice, “Would you keep your voice down?
This is a peaceful building. You’re lucky one of our neighbors
didn’t see you climbing up our fire escape.”

“
Oh! That reminds me.” He reached into the
inside pocket of his jacket, pulled out a wooden trinket, and
presented it to her with an outstretched arm. “I got you
something.”

She extracted it from his long fingers. It was a
hand-carved robin. “This is Mr. Finley’s! He keeps them on his
balcony. He made this himself, Quinn.”

“
Eh, finders keepers.”

“
Now I have to return it before he notices
it’s gone.” She carefully placed it out of harm’s way. “He’d press
charges if he knew you took it.”

Benji joined
them, setting the serving tray on the coffee table.

Quinn instantly
reached for a mug, pouring himself a cup. He looked around the
tray. “No cream or sugar?”

“
Drink
it black,” she said.

With any hope,
it’ll singe your vocal cords
, she thought with a small smile.

He chuckled. “I
can’t imagine your neighbors could be more hostile than
you.”

She poured a half
a mug for herself. “Well I’m not a morning person, Quinn. That’s
just one more reason you don’t want to stay here.”

“
How
else am I going to check out my
future
brother-in-law?”

“
Half-
brother-in-law. And you don’t need to check him
out. I checked him out.”

“
How
do I know he’s not after the family fortune?”

Quinn grinned at
Benji. Benji’s answering smile was uncertain.

Cat redirected
his attention with the snap of her fingers. “Look. Today—or
yesterday, now—was the last game of the regular season. I was at
the ballpark until midnight and I’ve got a big day
tomorrow.”

“
You
mean today.”

Cat ignored his
goading. “The Soldiers are having a rally to celebrate being
division champs and it’s a big deal for me.
I need to be at my best.
”

“
Still
a baseball fan, huh? I remember you cheering me on when I was on
that Joliet summer league.”

“
You
had a good arm. If you hadn’t gotten thrown in juvie, you might’ve
gotten a scholarship somewhere.”

“
Oh,
yes, and then I could’ve got a letterman’s jacket, taken Muffy to
the sock-hop, graduated with a degree in business, went to work for
her daddy’s Fortune 500 and my life would be just
perfect.”

Benji cleared his
throat and smiled. “I’m starting to see the family
resemblance.”

“
You
could’ve got a college degree for free, unlike me, whose studying
was rewarded with six figures
in
student loans.”

He shrugged. “Ifs
and buts. It looks to me like it paid off.” He surveyed the
apartment, craning his neck down the hallway. “What is this place,
two bedrooms?
Plenty of room
for me.
”

“
We
have an office with a futon. You can stay here for a couple of days
but
do not
make trouble.”

“
I
won’t.”

“
I’m
serious, Quinn. If I even see that little glimmer of sneak in your
eye, I’m gonna tell you to pack your little handkerchief on a
stick, get on your motorcycle and ride out of here.”

“
Is
this how you roll out the welcome mat?”

Cat set her mug
on the coffee table. “Come on, I’ll show you where your
temporary
room is.”

He stood up and
Cat followed, nudging him down the long hallway.

“
Whoa,
does this hallway ever end? This place is like a fun
house.”

“
These
lofts are all converted from when the building was a fish cannery.
Right here, this is my office.”

“
You
mean to tell me that flannel jammies in there can’t put my baby
sister up in anything better than an old gutting
factory?”

“
First
of all,
squatter
, if you’d come during the daylight hours
you’d see our gorgeous view of the river. Secondly, Benji doesn’t
put me up in anything. I work, remember?”

“
Yeah,
yeah. Grams has kept me filled in on your lifestyle of the rich and
famous. This guy doesn’t sponge off you, does he? Is he like an
aspiring artist who watches paint dry all day while you go off and
slave at work?”

“
He’s
a professor of evolutionary ecology at a prestigious private
university,” she replied with a haughty tone. She moved her
notebooks off the futon and plopped them on the bookshelf. “Remind
me again what it is you do?”

“
Calm
down, Catty. I’m just checking up on you. I’d know all this if
you’d ever came down to see me.”

She grunted as
she unfolded the futon. Quinn made no attempt to help as he perused
the desk, stopping when he saw an old picture of Cat and Tams at a
Bulldogs game.

“
Who
is this foxy lady?”

Cat let the other
half the futon thump on the ground and cringed, belatedly
remembering her downstairs neighbor.

“
You’re not her type.”

“
I’m
everyone’s type.” He gestured toward his torso and grinned. “I
mean, come on.”

“
Unless you’ve undergone a sex change operation, she’s not
interested.”