“For someone who’s been hiding out, you seem to think you know a lot about me and Sloane.”
He shrugged, but there was an arrogance in the gesture Chase was coming to notice more and more. At least when it came to Sloane.
“I’ve seen and heard a lot more than you realize,” Samson said. “And I don’t care if your last name is Chandler; the way you’re acting is a disgrace and my little girl deserves a lot better than you.”
On that parting shot, Samson settled into the couch, back in his surly mood, ignoring both Chase and Pearl, who was trying to catch his attention.
Chase couldn’t forget Samson’s words. They echoed in his head even as Rick directed Pearl and Eldin to pack their bags and move in with Raina. Samson would stay and hopefully draw out the men after him with Rick keeping watch. But Chase had no time to think or draw parallels between his life and Samson’s until the threat to Samson and, indirectly, to Sloane and the rest of Chase’s family blew over.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Last time we were all together like this, one of us had to get hitched.” Roman folded his arms across his chest and laughed, reminding the brothers of their coin toss more than nine months earlier. A time when Raina’s heart episode had been nothing more than indigestion, but the brothers hadn’t known that then.
Raina had used the incident as the beginning of her illness charade, begging for one of her boys to settle down and give her grandchildren before she passed on. The three single Chandler brothers had tossed a coin to see who would get married and give their mother a grandchild first. Roman had lost the toss and his reunion with his long-lost love, Charlotte, had begun.
“It hasn’t been all that long, and now two of us are married, leaving just one bachelor,”
Rick said, leveling a glance at Chase, who didn’t find the topic of discussion at all amusing.
The situation was sadly ironic, though, since now Raina really was sick, and Chase would do just about anything to see her well. Except that his getting married to suit Raina’s needs wouldn’t do anything to help his own.
Not even his brothers seemed to realize that fact. “Do either of you two morons realize you fell right into Mom’s trap? Trying to escape her meddling, you gave her exactly what she wanted.” Chase glanced out the window of Rick’s kitchen, the one that overlooked Pearl and Eldin’s house in the back.
At one time, Pearl and Eldin lived in the house while Kendall had stayed in the guesthouse, but the older couple’s health and Rick and Kendall’s marriage made swapping houses the perfect solution.
Meanwhile, all appeared quiet in the backyard while everyone from the guesthouse packed to leave. Only Samson remained inside the guesthouse, refusing to leave.
Roman shrugged, then headed for the refrigerator. “Soda?” he asked his brothers.
Both grunted “no.”
“Suit yourself.” He pulled out a bottle of Coke and started rummaging through cabinets.
“What the hell are you looking for?” Rick asked.
Roman slammed a cabinet and opened another. “Drinking glasses.”
“The door next to the microwave. And by the way, feel free to make yourself at home,”
Rick said.
Roman chuckled, apparently not the least bit offended. “Back to basics,” he said, seating himself on the Formica counter. “Did you realize that the way things turned out, what Mom wanted was in our best interest, after all?”
“Kendall’s going to kill you if that counter cracks,” Rick said.
“Naah. She’s going to kill you. ” Roman grinned, then raised his glass in a mock toast, before guzzling his drink. “So when are you going to give in and admit Sloane’s the woman to give you a kick in the ass?” he asked Chase.
Chase let out a groan. Just because Roman and Rick had opted to marry and have families didn’t mean that doing the same was in Chase’s best interest. “We all have our own paths to follow.”
“And you can’t follow yours and be with Sloane at the same time?” Roman lifted an eyebrow. “Seems to me I said the same thing. I can’t have my career and settle down with Charlotte. I was wrong.”
“You were a foreign correspondent and willing to change positions in order to accommodate both of your needs. I’m going to write an article that’ll get picked up by every paper out there and decimate Sloane’s father’s political career. That’s hardly being a decent partner in marriage.”
“We’re talking marriage?” Rick asked. “Woo-hoo!”
Chase leveled him with his sternest glare. The one that had worked when a sixteen-year-old Rick had threatened to take Chase’s car if he didn’t choose to lend it to him. At almost nineteen, Chase had felt more like thirty and hadn’t trusted his middle sibling behind the wheel.
Rick merely shrugged. “You said the dreaded word first, not me.”
Obviously, now that Rick was thirty-five, Chase’s anger didn’t mean much anymore. Not when Rick thought himself right.
“Would you two behave?” Roman said, attempting to be the voice of reason.
Rick chuckled, but sobered quickly. “The kid’s right. We’ve got more immediate concerns, for now. What about Sloane?”
“What about her?” Chase asked, deliberately playing dumb because he wasn’t in the mood to deal with his siblings.
“She sure as hell doesn’t need to be alone after what Samson just pulled on her.”
Chase rolled his shoulders before giving his brothers the answer he’d been trying to make himself believe for the last hour. “Sloane needs time to sort through her feelings about Samson.”
“How about protection?” Rick asked, falling back into cop mode. “We already made sure the rest of the family, Pearl, Eldin, and Samson were safe. Doesn’t Sloane deserve the same?”
“As long as Sloane’s not with Samson, she’s fine. We already agreed on that. And Samson’s holed up in the guesthouse.”
“She may be physically safe, but what about emotionally?” Rick shook his head, treating Chase to a look that told him he was pathetic at understanding the opposite sex. “All women like to have that strong shoulder to rely on in times of need,” he said cleverly.
“And you would know.” Chase slanted his head to one side and met his middle brother’s amused gaze.
“Can I help it if I excel at rescuing damsels in distress?”