Page 7 of Chasing Forever

She rolled her eyes and blew out a raspberry. “Oh, you’re fine, you big baby. Now stop pouting and tell me what the he—” She stopped and looked around, remembering there were kids all over the place. “Heck is going on.”

Reaching up, I rubbed at the back of my neck, trying to figure it out myself. “I don’t know,” I confessed. “It just kind of came out.”

Her brow furrowed. “I don’t get it. Do you guys know each other or something?”

I shook my head. “No,” I answered, knowing my reply would only confuse her more. I knew the feeling, because the irrational way I felt about Merritt confused the hell out of me as well.

Blythe’s brows shot up toward her hairline. “Okay. Then... what the hell are you doing?” she hissed. “You can’t stand having people in your space. You were two steps from a drinking problem and a permanent eye twitch when the kids and I were staying with you.”

“I wasn’t that bad,” I insisted dryly.

She scrunched her lips to the side as if to sayyou’re so full of shit. “Really? When I told you we were moving in with Rhodes, you almost pulled your hamstring, racing up the stairs to ‘assist us in packing’.” She added finger quotes on my words that she was using to mock me.

I blew out a raspberry and rolled my eyes. “Please. You’re exaggerating.”

She let out a bark of laughter. “So itwasn’tyou hurling our luggage across the front lawn like a freaking shot-putter, trying to get it as close to Rhodes’s car as possible?”

Okay, so she had me there. I might have been a little overzealous in my efforts to help them... get the hell out of my house.

“You have a point. Whatever,” I grumbled. “But in my defense, Avett kept barging into the bathroom when I was in the shower,” I said, speaking of my nephew, “and Ainsley hit me in the dick so many times I don’t know if it’s possible for me to have kids.”

Blythe failed to mask her snort. “My baby girl is excitable. She was just happy whenever you came home. It’s not her fault her head only comes up to your... crotch... uh, region.”

Jesus Christ.I couldn’t believe we were talking about this. “Anyway, that’s all beside the point,” I said, steering the conversation in a different direction. “I don’t mind people being in my house, and Merritt needs a place to stay. I’m only trying to help her out.”

Blythe’s eyes narrowed as she scrutinized me like she could see inside my head. Just as I was starting to feel twitchy, her head jerked back and her eyes bulged out. “Oh. My. God.” Her gasp was so big I worried there wouldn’t be enough oxygen in the building for everyone else. “Youlikeher!”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You do!”

I looked around to make sure no one had overheard. “Christ, can you keep your voice down? And stop smiling like that. You look deranged, and it’s creeping me out.”

She curled her lips between her teeth, but that only served to make her look like her head was seconds away from exploding, shooting glitter and rainbows all over the damn place.

I reached up to pinch the bridge of my nose, trying how to best explain a situation I didn’t even understand myself. “Look, it’s not what you think,” I started.

Blythe’s brow furrowed in confusion. “So, you don’t like her?”

“No. Yes. Fucking hell,” I grunted, raking a hand through my hair in frustration. “Jesus, I don’t know. I don’t know what the hell I feel. All I know for sure is that I’ll do anything to keep that woman in there safe. And I know that makes me sound like some kind of psychopath, but I don’t seem to have any control over it.”

My sister reached out and wrapped her fingers around my forearm. “No, it doesn’t make you sound like a psychopath.” She paused. “Well...”

“Blythe,” I growled.

She smacked me in the shoulder. “I’m kidding; will you relax? Look, I get it,” she assured me. “I saw those bruises on her and I about lost it. And you’ve had this protective instinct ingrained in you since we were kids. I’m not surprised you’d want to help her and her nephew. Just... just make sure you know what you’re doing, okay? Protect her, but also make sure to watch your back. Her ex is a really bad dude.”

I knew better than she could imagine. “I promise.” But what I didn’t mention was that this whole conversation wouldn’t matter if I couldn’t get Merritt to agree to stay with me. I had to hope my big sister would help me with that.

Chapter Five

Merritt

Icouldn’t believe I was doing this. I had to have lost my damn mind somewhere between Baltimore and Hope Valley and was just realizing it. That had to be the only explanation for why I’d agreed to Tristan Fanning’s offer to let Levi and me stay with him.

The refusal had been right there, on the tip of my tongue, but then Blythe vouched for her brother, waxing on about all of his good qualities. I was still on the fence, but she managed to shove me the rest of the way over by pointing out that Levi and I would be safe with him. I was leery of police and other public officials in our small town, given Warren’s reach. But my gut was telling me Tristan wasn’t like that.

“There isn’t anything my little brother wouldn’t do to protect someone under his care,”she’d insisted vehemently, and her eyes told me she believed that to her core. She trusted her brother. And I trusted her, so I took a leap of faith. I said yes before I had a chance to think twice, before I could start second-guessing all the reasons why it was such a terrible idea. Before I had a chance to back out, Tristan mentioned he had a dog, and that basically sealed our fate.

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