Page 35 of Last Resort

“Yeah. I didn’t always live with Clinton and Sheila. Some of my group homes left a lot to be desired. So yeah, I’ve lived in worse places than this.”

“Me too,” she said quietly, stepping into the hallway and leaving him to trail after her. For a moment, he couldn’t.

Had Maci Ford grown up like he and his brothers had? Had she been forced to grow up too soon, to take care of herself when no one else would? Had her home situation been something no child should have to go through?

And why hadn’t he ever asked?

She’d had him listed as her emergency contact, for God’s sake. Didn’t that state a lot about her relationship with her family?

He was so lost in his own thoughts he didn’t realize Maci had stopped in the hallway not far from her door.

“What’s wrong?” Out of instinct he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her behind him. But other than a middle-aged woman standing in front of one of the doors, he didn’t see anything amiss.

“Going to introduce me to your friend, May May?” the woman asked, her eyes traveling over Chance’s body. While he didn’t like her ogling him, he could definitely see a resemblance between her and Maci.

“Mom.” Maci stepped around and in front of Chance and moved to the door. Her knuckles were white as she gripped her keys. She definitely wasn’t excited to see the woman standing at the door. “What are you doing here?”

“Can’t a mama come to visit her only child every once in a while?” She looked at Chance again. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“No.”

That was it. Just no. Maci’s mom looked irritated but not surprised. It was easy to see in the way Maci kept her eyes angled toward her mother that she didn’t trust the woman. Chance stepped closer to her on instinct.

Maci unlocked the door and shoved it open. She moved to step inside, but he grabbed her arm.

“Can I clear the apartment first?”

Maci nodded. Without another word, he stepped inside.

The one-bedroom apartment was just as small as he expected, but neatly furnished. Everything looked well used, but it was tidy and clean. Pops of vibrant colors bled through the white-on-white color scheme, reminding Chance of Weston’s gardens. It was beautiful and homey, just like Maci.

He took his time clearing each room, even going so far as to check the window locks. There were a few things he’d do to up the security of the place if he couldn’t convince Maci to move in with him.

Once he was satisfied that the apartment was clear, he went back out to Maci and her mother. The two were talking to each other in low, tense voices. They stopped when he approached.

“We’re clear.”

“I need to talk to my mom for a minute alone.”

He had to fight the urge to push himself into their conversation. Maci looked tense and almost scared. This definitely wasn’t a good relationship.

But pushing now wouldn’t do him any favors. They had to learn to trust each other, and there was no better first step than giving her the space she needed. “Okay. Are you hungry?”

He almost slipped and mentioned the baby. That would’ve been a huge error, given the nonverbal interaction between the two women.

“I could eat. Grab whatever you want to eat or drink too,” Maci said, nodding toward the kitchen with her chin as she gripped her mother’s arm. Maci practically dragged the woman into the bedroom without a single glance back.

Chance tried to think of logical reasons that Maci would be so detached from her mother, but nothing good came to mind. The desperate need to do a background check on Maci’s mom pressed against him until his skin felt tight, but he wouldn’t. Not without Maci’s permission first.

If she wanted him to know about her past, she would tell him.

Though it was a solid reason, it still chafed—especially knowing the woman was his child’s biological grandmother. The reminder that they’d eventually have to tell his own mother filtered through his brain, and he actually smiled. Sheila Patterson loved children, and she had been not so subtly hounding his brothers for more of them since Brax’s son, Walker, entered the picture.

She was going to lose it when she found out Maci was pregnant. The two of them had met quite a few times since Maci started working for San Antonio Security.

Finally, the ladies came back. Maci looked even more tense, but her mother was smiling.

“See you soon, May May!”

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