The VIP Room(24)

I’d been here before a few times, mostly when we were having company parties. But making tea and toasting muffins felt oddly intimate. I got a mug of decaf going in the single cup brewer and listened to Sam fill his father in on the situation with Nolan. He hadn’t gotten very far when I brought the drinks and toasted muffins to the table and took a seat. Daniel accepted his tea, pinned me with his Dad eyes and asked,

“So what’s your plan to find your brother? Are you going to call the police about the breakin?”

I looked away. I should have called the police. I wanted to. Putting into words what I had barely admitted to myself, I said, “No. I can’t. I’m afraid Nolan is in trouble and if I call the police I’ll just make it worse.”

“Then you need to call Axel,” Daniel said with a slight nod. “Or let Sam do it.”

“I’m not comfortable with that,” I said, sipping my tea and looking away from both men.

“Chloe, you’re not being reasonable,” Sam said. “Axel can handle this. This is what he does. Explain to me why you won’t call him.”

“I know I should, but I have this feeling that if Axel gets involved this is all going to spin out of control.”

“Honey,” Sam said in a gentle tone I’d never heard before. “It’s already out of control. Nolan is missing. From your description, the men in your place were armed. They’re after you, not just Nolan. You’re in danger.”

“I want to handle this on my own,” I said, my voice small.

I always handled Nolan on my own. I’d been solving his problems since he was in grade school and getting sent home for fighting and cheating on his homework. Our mom had walked out on us when Nolan was three and I was six. Our father had never been that interested in his children when our mother had been around. Once she left, he mostly forgot about us, lost in his own anger over her desertion and happy to leave us with a succession of babysitters. I’d been looking out for Nolan for so long, the idea of handing his problems over to someone else was terrifying.

As if he could read my mind, Sam took my hand and tugged, prompting me to look up and meet his clear blue eyes. They were kind and patient, all his earlier anger drained away. He watched me, seeing my panic and fear.

“Chloe, trust me, okay? Let me call Axel in and we’ll let him help us.”

“I still want to look for Nolan on my own,” I said. I knew he was right. I needed help. But I wasn’t willing to hand my problems to Axel and walk away. “We’ll call Axel. But I’m not sitting here and letting him take over while I go on like nothing’s wrong. I can’t do that.”

“Fine,” Sam said. “But you have to promise me one thing. You stick with me. You don’t go anywhere without me until we find out what’s going on. Can you do that?”

“But we have work. You have meetings this week-”

“We’ll reschedule what we can and work around the rest,” Sam said, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb. “We’ll keep at it until we find Nolan. Okay?”

“Okay,” I said doubtfully.

We had a lot going on in the office that week. We always had a lot going on. Sam and I couldn’t both disappear at the same time. But I’d worry about that later. Taking a bite of the blueberry muffin in front of me, I looked up to see Daniel watching Sam’s hand around mine. Suddenly self conscious, I tried to pull away, only to feel Sam tighten his grip. Not wanting to struggle with him in front of Daniel, I gave up and left my hand in his. To be honest, I liked it there. I liked it way too much.

Maybe he sensed that I was at my limit, because Sam changed the subject to the development project Daniel was currently supervising and I zoned out. My worry for Nolan was exhausting, but under it was a new awareness that Sam was being weird. He called me ‘honey’ occasionally, but not often at all. Only a few times that I could remember. And he never held my hand. Why was he doing it now - in front of Daniel no less? It was odd. Maybe he was just trying to calm me down.

Except he hadn’t let go when I’d pulled away. Or put me down when I’d asked him to. That wasn’t like Sam. He could be forceful. And he liked to get his way. But he was generally pretty easy going unless he dug his heels in over something. It didn’t make sense.

I finished my muffin and stood, taking our mugs and plates to the sink. Daniel and Sam stood as well. It was late, well past my usual bed time and I was tired. Daniel said goodnight to both of us and headed out of the kitchen, down the hall to the garage before taking a set of stairs to the lower level and his suite of rooms on the opposite side of the house from Sam’s wing.

When Sam had built the house, he’d planned for Daniel to stay in the main level of the house and use those rooms for guests, but Daniel had had other ideas. Claiming he and Sam both needed their space, he’d taken the guest rooms as his own.

Which essentially left me alone with Sam. I couldn’t tell you the last time I was uncomfortable around Sam, but with the way he was being weird and our arguments over Nolan, I felt a sense of unease, as if everything was off kilter. He stared at me in silence as if considering something. Or maybe I had muffin crumbs on my lip. I swiped the back of my hand across my mouth, but it came up clean. Sam’s eyes narrowed.

“Time for bed,” he said, reaching out to grab my hand once more. Still confused by his behavior, I let him. I wasn’t expecting him to lead me down the hall I knew went to his bedroom.