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Was he?
“Nope, and it wouldn’t be wise to go back in now that I have a defect.” He’d medically boarded. He’d taken the honorary discharge and was no longer property of the U.S. Navy. In short, he was a free man now despite wishing he’d been able to go back and take care of the bastards who’d killed Zeke. Free to go anywhere and do anything he wanted while his best friend had come home in a casket.
Alone sounded pretty damn good to Kade.
“You loved serving your country,” she said quietly.
“True. Now it’s time to love doing something else.” He picked up his cup and brought it to his mouth. This time he didn’t drink. Instead, he cocked an eyebrow. He set it down instead. “And now, I’m done.”
“Why not get a job around here then?” She put her hand up to stop him when he laughed. “You could have your pick of work once your ankle heals. Plus, you might need to stick around long enough to wage war against our new half-brother.”
“I already have a job.” Kade might need to deal with Beau. A fight of this magnitude could take years to resolve. “We need to do some digging into Beau’s background to see if there’s an amount of money that will make him go away.”
“It’s a shame how easily most people can be bought off,” she said, nodding in agreement.
“In this case, it might work to our advantage,” he said.
“What if he was being honest? What if he really does want to get to know us?” Chloe bit down on her bottom lip. “Are we being assholes for not being open to the idea?” She paused a beat. “I mean, he is our brother. Beaumont wouldn’t have invited him to the will reading or left anything to him if the claim wasn’t true.”
“From what I could tell so far, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree when it came to Beau.” Which meant they were in for a dogfight.
Grayson was standing up now, dancing. Out of nowhere, the kid took off running, zipped past, and tripped and fell on the hard kitchen floor.
Chloe was there soothing Grayson in a heartbeat.
In the next minute, the kiddo rebounded, dried his tears, and was off to the races again with an ear-piercing squeal. Kade loved the little tyke without a doubt; he just wished there was a mute button.
Chloe blew out a sharp breath as she pushed off her knees and straightened her legs to stand. “I just wish you’d stick around. You know. Grayson never gets to see you, but he does love you.”
“Are you stooping to using your kid as a weapon against me?” he teased.
“Would it work if I did?’
“No. Sorry.”
“Tell me what will, Kade. I don’t want my brother lea—”
The speed racer made another circle, chasing something…an imaginary animal? Hell if Kade knew what had captured the boy’s attention, but he sure looked like he was having fun chasing whatever he was after.
“I’ll visit.” He motioned toward the blur of blond hair and rapturous giggles blazing past. “Using Grayson is a low blow.” One he’d expected when she got desperate. He checked to see if the defensive guilt trip was working on her.
And that’s when he saw it. The one thing he had no armor for. Chloe trying to sniff back a tear. Her waterworks weren’t theatrics like some people who could just turn it on like they’d flipped a switch. Chloe never cried. She turned her back to him and walked over to the fridge, pretending to get a glass of water.
Hell on a stick.
“Hey, they have Wi-Fi in Alaska, and I’ll figure out this new phone I bought so we can use that Face app.”
“FaceTime?”
“Yes, that one,” he said.
“Why haven’t you used it so far?”
“Knowing and doing were two different things,” he teased. Had it been easier to block out his guilt when he couldn’t see the dark circles cradling his sister’s eyes?
“You brat.” Her tone was lighter, and Kade breathed a sigh of relief. Upsetting his baby sister wasn’t high on his list of things to do during his last stint in Texas for a while.
There was no structure or amount of distraction that could keep out his demons. Being home made them worse.
