Page 10 of Rescuing Sadie

At her reaction, he had his confirmation that she really had left something out. He hated that, but wasn’t going to pressure her…yet. “That’s what I thought.” He lowered his voice. “I don’t mind if you don’t want to talk about it…but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying to find out. And you should know, I was serious earlier, Sparky. You’re mine.”

At the shocked look on her face, Chase hoped she understood what he meant. He didn’t want or need a Dominant/submissive relationship, but he did want to care for Sadie. To make sure she had everything she needed and wanted, both in and out of the bedroom. That was what her being “his” meant to him. And part of that also meant finding out what she’d hidden from him earlier.

He could tell from her facial expressions and nonverbal cues that she’d left something out in her recounting of her time spent with Jonathan. He hadn’t pushed, hoping the greater the time since the events in San Antonio, and the longer she was around him, the safer she’d feel. But it was obvious that whatever had happened between her and Jonathan Jones was still haunting her. And he wanted to know what it was, but he wanted her to want to tell him. To trust him with it.

“Have you ever seen a Power Rangers cartoon before?” Sadie asked, looking back at the television. “It’s super violent, but there’s always a good message in there too.”

“Mmmm,” Chase murmured, letting her change the subject.

Chase took her hand and marveled anew at the feel of it in his own. He pulled her over to the couch and sat her down. “I’ll put the plates away. Stay,” he ordered when she went to stand back up.

Forty-five minutes later, there was another knock on the door.

“I got it,” Chase said softly, motioning for Sadie to continue sitting. Even though he was fairly sure it was one of Annie’s parents on the other side, he still wouldn’t let Sadie get up. One, she was still in danger, but two, it just wasn’t gentlemanly.

His dad had drilled it into him that there were just some things that men did, and one of those things was, when your woman was half asleep on the couch with a seven-year-old child snuggled in her lap, you do not make her get up to get the door, fetch you a beer, or make you supper.

He missed his parents. They’d died too early in a freak plane accident while on a cruise to Alaska, but he hadn’t realized until right this second the deeper implications of what their absence meant. They’d never meet the woman he married. They’d never meet his children, their grandchildren. And he’d never get to tell his father that he’d been absolutely right when he’d told him all those years ago that when he met the woman he wanted to make his own, he’d know it immediately.

Chase silently stalked to the door of the apartment and looked through the peephole. Fletch. He opened the door with a smile.

“Hey.”

“Jackson,” Fletch said with a slight grin. “You don’t happen to have my little sprite over here, do you?”

“You know I do,” Chase said, stepping away from the door.

Fletch lowered his voice. “Sorry, man. Couldn’t resist the chance to have my wife to myself for a while.”

“Figured as much. She’s watching Power Rangers with Sadie.” Chase turned to head back into the small living area, but Fletch stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

He motioned to the living room. “How’s she doing?”

Chase shook his head and lowered his voice. “On the outside, fine. But I think there’s something she’s still not talking about that happened when she and Jonathan were alone in that school. We know he wanted to get her pregnant. But other than the five minutes or so before her rescue, when he tried to handcuff her to a bed—which is part of the official report—she’s really skittish about discussing the rest of the time she spent alone with him. Says he knocked her out a second time.”

Fletch opened his mouth as if he was going to speak, then shut it again.

“What?”

“I was just going to say, whatever it is, go easy, man. She acts like she can take on the world single-handedly, but underneath that bluster and strength is one scared-as-hell woman.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Chase asked.

“I’m gonna say something else here, and I hope you don’t take it the wrong way. I don’t know you that well, but I know you’re Rayne’s brother, and she’d do absolutely anything for you. Anything. Rayne’s smart in a lot of ways, but she’s also not experienced enough to see what me and the others see. Somethin’s eatin’ at you. Same as it’s eatin’ at Sadie. Not sure what it is or when it happened, but just like you know that Sadie needs to get something off her chest, you need to do the same.”

“I’m fine,” Chase said immediately.

Fletch held up a hand. “Yeah, that’s what we all say, but it’s complete and utter bullshit. I’m not sayin’ you need to tell me. Or your sister. But you need to find someone you can unload that crap on. All of it. Not just the superficial stuff. One thing I’ve learned over the years being on the team is that if you don’t lance the wound, it continues to fester.”

The two men stared at each other without saying a word. Chase knew Fletch was right, but he wasn’t quite ready to talk to anyone else about the Delta Force team that had been murdered yet. He wasn’t sure why he’d told Sadie, except that it had felt right. The good men who were blown up right in front of his eyes. They had families…children. Why he’d survived when they hadn’t… It hadn’t made sense to him then and it didn’t make sense to him even today.

He nodded once at Fletch. A brief movement of his head.

Fletch returned the nod and clapped Chase on the back. “Right, so…my monkey cause any problems?”

“Of course not. You have your hands full though,” Chase told the other man.

“Yup. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”