Page 23 of When She Needs Them Most
Well, I totally misread that situation.
My face burns as I nod. “Yeah, I left my phone out on the counter. You can keep the spare key. Lincoln has it from when you went to the store earlier.” Spinning around, I escape to grab my phone.
The faster we get this over with, the more swiftly he’ll leave. Then I can crawl into a hole and lament how totally off base I was. I don’t know why I’m even upset. It’s got to be the pregnancy hormones throwing my system all out of whack.
Chapter Ten
Lincoln
Chelsea doesn’t call. It makes me twitchy to know she’s over there in thirty-something degree weather with only a space heater.
She’s probably fine.
I don’t think she’s stubborn enough to put her safety at risk, but dammit, I wanted another night of having her tucked safely inside our house.
Breaking and entering is one of my life skills. It kept me alive when I was younger, but now I use it for the greater good…mostly.
Growing up in foster care, no one paid attention to where I was or if I was even alive. Even back then, I knew better than to shit where I ate, so I only hit houses across town from where my foster parents lived. When I was fifteen, I tried to break into Kase’s house. Except, his mom was home. Instead of calling the police, she sat me down at the kitchen table and cooked me the first hot meal I’d had in weeks.
Kase wasn’t pleased to find some random punk eating his mother’s spaghetti, and he tried to tell me to get lost. Free meals were too tempting to pass up, and I came back. He and I went todifferent schools—not that I showed up often—but eventually, I grew on him.
Okay, so, technically, he skipped school one day and waited for me with a machete that he held to my throat when I tried to slip in the back door. We beat the fuck out of each other and, at some point, realized we were more alike than either of us could have guessed. After that, we became inseparable, even though I’m three years older than him.
Because of this history, it’s time to worry when Kase is missing from his bedroom. The office, kitchen, living room, and weapons vault that we call the go-room are also vacant. This is when I frantically toss on my coat and boots to find the fucker.
I don’t bother closing the door quietly. There’s no telling if he’s already inside her house.
Chelsea has a stalker. Fine, the younger Raynor more than likely qualifies as a domestic issue because of their weird familial connection with Chelsea carrying his niece, but the guy is still harassing her.
The point is, she’ll freak the fuck out if she finds Kase in her house. He doesn’t want to hurt her. I’m sure he just wants to revisit his time as the little spoon, but he’s never been great at understanding societal norms.
Sure enough, he’s standing outside the window of Chelsea’s bedroom. If she had known what total psychopaths she moved next door to, she would have picked one of the upstairs bedrooms.
My eyes bug when I spot the gas can at Kase’s feet.
“Motherfucker,” I hiss, picking up my pace. He turns to face me as I get close, and I slam my fist into his jaw. It doesn’t bother me a bit when his head whips back, and he groans, clutching at his cheek.
“What the hell was that for?”
“Are you planning to burn down her house?” I shake out my fist and gesture to the gas canister.
“I don’t even have matches.” He raises a hand, flipping me off. “I found it in the backyard next to the shed. It seemed like a bad plan to leave it lying around when that asshole could see it and get ideas.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “And it didn’t cross your mind that, if the house burned down, she might be willing to stay with us while she looked for another place?”
His bluish-green eyes sparkle as he shrugs. “We both know it did, but I would have woken her up and gotten her safely to our house before lighting the blaze.”
“Accelerant is the first thing any fire investigator is going to check for.” I sigh, shaking my head. “The wiring is old. It would be better to add dust to the exhaust fan in one of the bathrooms. Once the motor blows, the dust catches fire. It starts in the attic and works down, following the wiring.”
Kase’s head tilts. “That is a good idea. Maybe when she’s out at her doctor’s appointment or baby shopping…”
“Don’t make me punch you again.” I snort. “I was only pointing out how illogically you’re thinking. Not trying to give you bright ideas.”
“I did think it through,” he growls, planting both his hands on my chest and shoving. “With all those police reports, Raynor would be the prime suspect.”
“Maybe if he was in town.” I slap his hands away. “Is he?”
Kase sighs, and his shaggy hair falls over his face as his head shakes. “Not yet. Last credit card transaction was this afternoon in Richmond.”
