“Pretty sure she owns that damn bed.” The man opened his mouth to continue but snapped it shut when the phone in his hand rang. He scowled at it, swiped his finger across the screen and put it to his ear. “Yeah, too late, sis. I’m standing here looking right at him.” His dark gaze shot back to Shade when he paused. “Yeah, I won’t kill him if you don’t want me to.” Shade could hear Chelle through the speaker talking really fast and very loudly. “I hear you. I promise I won’t hurt him too badly, then.”
He ended the call while Chelle was still talking. Shade guessed she wouldn’t be too happy about that.
“How do you know my sister? And why are you laid up in her bed?”
“Coulda asked her that before you hung up on her.”
The man tilted his head and took a step into the room. “I’m asking you.”
Chelle’s brother had some size on him. He was both heavier and taller than Shade, who was in no condition to go head to head with him, anyway. Even with a knife. The second he got out of bed, he’d probably collapse into a helpless heap.
Instead, Shade spoke slowly and picked his words carefully. “You know your sister better than me and even I know Chelle don’t do what Chelle don’t wanna do.”
“You just said a whole lot of nothing. Try again.”
“Here’s the short answer, then. We’re friends.”
Chelle’s brother continued to stare at him, not bothering to hide his suspicion. Shade appreciated the man was protective of his sister, but this whole thing was annoying as fuck. Especially with the headache he had.
“What’s your name?”
Since his name was visible on his cut, there was no reason not to tell him. “Shade.”
“Shade? What kind of name is that? I’m sure if she mentioned the name Shade I’d remember it.”
“Sure she don’t tell you everythin’.”
That made the man’s expression darken. “If she was seeing someone, she’d share that with me.”
“Think so?”
“Yes, unless she’s hiding him for some reason. Like,” he tilted his head toward Shade’s cut, “if she was embarrassed.”
Shade did his best to keep every muscle from locking tight since it would only make his head throb more. “Nothin’ to be embarrassed about. Just friends.”
“Yeah... I’m not thinking that’s quite it. She’s never had a half-naked man hanging around her house before.”
“That you know of.”
“The girls would tell me if some shady man was hanging around their mother and trying to take advantage of her.”
“Maybe they ain’t like you and don’t think I’m shady.”
“Then I’d be disappointed in their judgement. We raised them better than that.”
Shade frowned. “We?”
Chelle’s brother scratched his chin and pursed his lips, then smiled. Not a friendly one, either. “You’d know that if you were friends.”
“Maybe we don’t spend a lot of time talkin’.” Shade then raised an eyebrow and also smiled. His wasn’t friendly, either.
Shade could see the man’s blood pressure rising when his eyes narrowed, and his grip tightened on his cell phone to the point he was white-knuckling it.
The man jerked his chin toward Shade’s lap. “Think what you’re wearing is appropriate around my nieces?”
At their ages, Shade was pretty fucking sure they knew what a dick looked like and how they had been conceived. “Chelle gave me a throw to use for when the girls are around.”
“How about when she’s around?”
“Don’t think she minds seein’ me like this. Think she prefers it.” He ran the hand not wrapped around the hidden knife over his dick to make a point.
The man’s jaw shifted. “Does she now.”
“She ain’t complained yet.”
The man’s nostrils flared. “She ain’t complained yet,” he repeated slowly. “Thought you said you were just friends.”
“Might be a little more.”
“How much more?”
“Gonna have to ask Chelle that. If she wants to tell you, she can tell you. ‘Til then—”
He swallowed the rest of that when Josie yelled, “O... M... G!” from the doorway, making Shade wince. “Are you okay, Shade?”
Chelle’s two daughters rushed up to the agitated man standing in the middle of the spare bedroom to give him a quick hug while Shade tugged the corner of the throw over his lap.
“Hi, Uncle Rick,” Josie greeted.
“Hey, Uncle Rick. What are you doing here?” Maddie asked, her eyebrows pinched together. She seemed to pick up on the tension between Shade and the asshole... Rick.
“Your mother said she needed your crutches. She didn’t say why, but now I see why for myself. You know him?”
“Yes, that’s Shade,” Josie answered her uncle, like a banged-up biker laid up in their spare bedroom was an everyday occurrence. “He’s been helping out Mom.”
“I’ll just bet he has,” Rick muttered.
Maddie’s eyes, which were just like her mother’s, sliced from Rick to Shade. She bugged those eyes out at Shade in an unspoken message, then quickly turned her attention back toward her uncle. “Shade was in an accident and needs to borrow them.”
“Why’s he here?”
Maddie’s mouth opened and her eyes sliced back to Shade for a second. “Because...” She grimaced.
“Because they’re good friends and that’s what good friends do for each other,” Josie answered quickly.
One point to Josie.
“And we wanted to help, too,” Maddie added.
Rick frowned. “How long has your mother been friends with him?”
“Months,” Josie lied, earning herself another point.
“Then why didn’t I know about him?”
Maddie wrapped an arm around her uncle’s waist and patted his chest. “Because she knew you’d be overprotective like you’re being right now. I’m sure she appreciates you caring so much, but not so much you scare away her friends.” Maddie was working on a few points herself.
“He’s been hanging around the house?”
“He’s been helping Mom paint,” Josie chirped.
Rick’s frown deepened and he stared at Shade for a little too long. Shade was going to keep his mouth shut so he didn’t say anything he shouldn’t in front of Chelle’s daughters.
“It’s fine, Uncle Rick,” Maddie assured him.
Clearly Rick didn’t believe that. “I’m going downstairs to wait for your mother,” he grumbled. “Why don’t you girls come with me. I don’t like you two being alone in here with... him.”
Maddie laughed. “It’s fine, Uncle Rick,” she insisted, very much sounding like her mother when Chelle got bossy. “He’s harmless.”
If she only fucking knew how harmless he wasn’t. Unfortunately right now, in the condition he was in, it was too damn true.
“I’m not liking this,” Rick muttered as he left the room and stomped back down the stairs.