Breathe (Colorado Mountain #4)(114)

But this wasn’t the point Trane was making.

He was telling Chace they were keeping an eye on him.

Not a surprise but an annoyance. Deck could definitely take care of himself. When, in the flash of an eye, you could calculate your height, weight, muscle mass, the poundage behind your swing, aim and connect knowing exactly what kind of damage you’d inflict to wherever you connected, you could seriously f**k someone up. This wasn’t theoretical. When they were in high school and college together, Chace had seen it firsthand. Jacob Decker never got bested, not only because he was freaking tall and seriously strong but because he was f**king smart.

But if Trane and his band of ass**les got impatient, they could aim at anyone to make their point to Chace.

Deck was in that firing line.

He made a mental note to phone Deck on the way to the hospital and repeated, “Step back.”

Trane’s eyes locked to his son.

“And, if you see Faye Goodknight any longer, your mother will want to meet her.”

Trane stepped back then. This was because Chace angled out of the car and he had no choice.

But Trane didn’t retreat, just gave him room so Chace, unfortunately, ended up nose to nose with him.

“You don’t breathe her air,” he whispered.

“You’ll never learn it’s not advantageous to wear your heart on your sleeve,” Trane replied, sounding put out that Chace had not learned one of the many useless lessons he’d tried to drill into him when he was a kid.

“Wore it for Ma. Anyone who wants to get at me knows I’m that kinda man. Got nothin’ left to hide. The thing you don’t get is, that kinda man is the kinda man a real man wants to be so there’s nothin’ to hide.”

“Foolish?” Trane’s voice was snide.

“Protective.” Chace’s was firm.

“If you give it all away, Chace, you’re not protecting yourself.”

“It isn’t me I’m gonna protect.”

“Therein lies your faulty strategy.”

“No, see, the kind of man you are expends his energy to save his own ass. The kind of man I am doesn’t do shit to have to worry about that and instead, he works his ass off to keep those worth his efforts safe. So the message I’m sending is, I give a shit about someone, you do not f**k with them or you f**k with me.”

“And is Faye Goodknight worth those efforts?”

Chace didn’t reply.

Trane kept his eyes locked to his son’s for a while then he muttered, “At least she has a Master’s Degree.”

They’d looked into Faye.

This wasn’t entirely unexpected. It was sooner than he would have guessed. It was also annoying.

“Faye doesn’t exist for you and she’ll exist for Ma when I decide she does,” Chace told him.

“Then I’m sorry to disappoint you further, Chace, since I shared with your mother over breakfast this morning that you’re seeing someone. I thought it wise, since I learned you’d had dinner with her parents at Rosalinda’s last night.”

Chace felt a muscle in his cheek jump.

“Things are progressing swiftly,” Trane noted quietly.

Chace held his gaze and kept his jaw clenched.

“Valerie will give it time. She won’t want to pressure you. My guess, you have about fifteen minutes before you get her call to ask you and Faye to dinner.”

Fuck.

Fuck.

“She’s very excited,” Trane continued then his lips twitched and the piece of shit had the balls to finish, “She never much liked Misty.”

Chace was done. “You gonna move back or am I gonna have to drive over you?”

“We haven’t had our talk.”

“A talk we’re not gonna have. Two seconds. Move away or I roll over you.”

Trane held his eyes.

Then his changed slightly and he whispered, “You know I didn’t like that happening to you. You also have to know I didn’t want you to see what you saw.”

“It happened. I saw it. All your money, you can’t undo it.”

“You need to look after the Walkers,” Trane advised quietly.

“They’re lookin’ after themselves. Ty is gettin’ me your tapes. I’ll text you when you can send a lackey to pick them up.”

It was barely there but Chace was close enough to see the relief flash through his father’s features.

Then he said, “Newcomb.”

“By the book.”

“Chace –”

Chace leaned into him so their noses were almost touching.

“By the book, Dad. Call off your goon squad. This shit is not gonna go away unless you pull your fingers out, pay attention and stop makin’ your problems everyone else’s.”

“They’re getting impatient,” Trane whispered.

“That hasn’t escaped my notice, seein’ as a man’s dead.”

Trane opened his mouth to speak but when he did, Chace’s gut roiled in a sick way because he had to give the bastard something.

“Don’t,” he whispered and the way that word came out, Trane shut his mouth. “For Ma, I’ll give you this warning. You say shit right now, I will walk right into that building and report it. So don’t. Don’t give indication you have knowledge about a murder and a break-in. Help me help Ma and keep your f**kin’ mouth shut.”