Page 46 of The Chad Next Door
I don’t really know, though I have a good guess. “Because you seem like you’d reach Liam Neeson levels if something went wrong, so I like my odds.”
“Did you really just make aTakenreference while in the middle of being tailed? Were you even born when that movie came out?”
I snort. “You keep forgetting that I was born in the same century as you.”
“Barely.”
“Can we focus?”
“You make that impossible.”
“Wow, someone is grumpy today. If you want me to get back there with some pain meds, you’re going to have to tell me how to get out of here without being seen.”
Chad hums as he thinks that through. “You’re at the pharmacy?”
“Yeah, and the store clerk is starting to think I might be a little crazy, so sooner than later, if you please.” Not really. I don’t think the old man behind the counter even realizes I’m still here because I’m pretty sure he’s just as blind as he is deaf. That has me slightly questioning if Chad is going to be taking something he shouldn’t, but I’ll just have to trust that the clerk isn’t also the pharmacist. Then again, he did tell me to take ibuprofen for my bad ribs…
I make a mental note to check the pills against pictures on the internet before I give any of them to Chad.
“I’m pretty sure there’s a back door you could take, if you manage to sneak past whoever’s running the store,” Chad says, and it sounds like he’s trying to picture it.
I glance behind me. Sure enough, I can see an exit sign just beyond a storage closet, in a dim corner of the store. “How in the world did you know that?”
“Force of habit.”
“Looking for escape routes?”
Chad grunts. “My job is about being discreet. I don’t exactly want to be seen.”
“But this guy Todd knows you?”
“I interviewed everyone who worked in his office, though he ducked out before I could get to him. Guilty son of a—”
I clear my throat, cutting him off in the hopes that he’ll get out of the habit of swearing if I try hard enough. He’s been good for the most part, but if he’s going to be around the kids…
“Sorry,” he mutters. “My mom would have hated some of the things I say sometimes. And Brook has the right to punch me every time I swear around her. It’s a whole thing.”
“I would love to meet your family.” I tense, yet again cursing my mouth’s ability to say the best things at the worst times. I hold my breath and wait to see how he’ll deflect this one.
He responds a lot faster than I thought he would. “I think they would really like you.”
Oh. That…that has to be a good sign, right?
“Can you get to the back door?”
I look at the door again, but my attention is still stuck on what Chad just said. He thinks his siblings will like me? But does that mean he wants me to meet them? Do I actuallywantto meet them? I mean, obviously I do, but what will they think of me? Houston is a professional athlete who dates supermodels and movie stars, and Brooklyn is completely gorgeous and crazy smart according to Chad, who told me she’s a chemistry teacher, and Micah sounds like a literal Disney princess and probably sings to birds who do her hair and makeup every morning.
Okay, this is getting away from me a little bit.
But then there’s the fact that they areallolder than me. Chad really hasn’t made a big deal about how much younger than him I am, but what iftheydo? What if they see me and immediately think I’m no good for their brother? What if they see me as nothing but someone else for him to take care of?
What ifChadsees me that way? I don’t want him to think I’m helpless or that I can’t be helpful right back at him. How would such a lopsided relationship even work? I need to show him that I’m more than a disaster and that he can let someone else step in sometimes. He doesn’t have to fix everything himself, even if he’s been doing that his whole life.
“Hope, are you with me?”
“I hope so,” I breathe.
“How’s that door situation looking?”
