Chase gave a bitter laugh. “Yeah. He’s a pastor, but he still pulled that shit.” His jaw tightened. “Fuck anyone who treats their kids like that.” There was something in the way he said it, raw and vulnerable, that told me this wasn’t about Wilder.
It made me want to reach out and hug him and tell him I was sorry for whatever the hell had happened to him and Cash. But this was Chase, and he didn’t do hugs unless he was the one offering.
So instead I gestured to the door. “That’s fair. If you say he’s banned, he’s banned. Do you wanna go serve so Tyler can have his lunch break?”
Chase eyed me warily. “You’re not gonna tell Bobby to fire me?”
I rolled my eyes. “Jesus, Chase. If I didn’t ask him to fire you when you were the world’s rudest, shittiest barista, I’m not gonna ask him to fire you now.”
He was silent for a moment, and then, quietly enough that I could barely hear him, he said, “Thanks. For having myback. I don’tneedyou to—” His mouth twisted like he heard the sharpness in his tone as he said it and didn’t like it, and something close to guilt flashed in his expression. “But thanks.”
And that was when it hit me. He really had thought kicking out Wilder’s father might cost him his job. But he’d done it anyway, because Wilder was important to him. It told me more about how protective of his cobbled-together family he was than he probably wanted me—or anyone—to know. And he really,reallythought that, just because he couldn’t spell it out for me, that somehow I wouldn’t get it. That I still hadn’t figured out how to read him, even a little bit. And maybe that should have rankled, the way he constantly underestimated me, but it didn’t. Because Chase was less approachable than a feral cat, I’d thought earlier. A feral cat who’d been kicked so many times it knew better than to trust anyone.
On impulse I stepped forward and cupped his face, and I kissed him, soft and sweet. He pulled back and gave me a tentative smile.
“I know you don’t need me to,” I said. “But I do anyway, okay?”
He gave me a wary look, like he thought I was lying. I had no idea what had happened to him to put that look on his face—I had a few theories, but I knew Chase would never confirm them—but I wanted to reach into his past and slap the shit out of whoever had done that to him.
I leaned in to kiss him again, but the timer on the oven beeped, the bell over the door rang several times in a row, and Tyler called, “A little help?” in a tone that suggestedright fucking nowwould be great, thanks.
Chase rolled his eyes. “That better not be that fuckstick back to complain.”
“If it is, I’ll deal with it,” I said. “You only get to insult one customer a day.”
His mouth quirked up in a smile. “Is that every day?”
“Don’t push it.”
He laughed and went and helped Tyler with the lunch rush.
When I pulledinto Chase’s driveway on Saturday, he was waiting on the porch holding a gift-wrapped box. I barely had time to cut the engine before he was in the passenger’s seat. “Let’s get out of here.”
His enthusiasm made more sense when Gracie came bouncing out of the front door shouting, “Is it time to go?”
Wilder was hot on her heels, holding a headband and a pair of shoes that matched the pink sparkly dress she was wearing. I watched as he wrangled her into sitting down and putting her shoes on.
“She’s been asking if it’s time for the party since she got up this morning,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’m glad they’re not riding with us. She’ll be bouncing all the way to Emporia.”
I laughed. “Birthday parties are a big deal when you’re five.”
“She’s six next month,” he said. “Wilder said they’ll probably have the party at Avery’s place, thank fuck. Can you imagine trying to deal with a bunch of little kids?”
“I can make her a cake if you want,” I said as I backed out of the driveway.
“For real?” Chase asked.
“Perks of dating a baker,” I said, grinning.
He made a weird noise, and when I glanced over he was staring at me, his expression pinched.
“What’s wrong?”
“Who said anything about dating?”
Shit.
I should have known better than to assume anything when it came to Chase. I hoped I hadn’t scared him off. “Sorry,” I said. “I just thought that since we went on a date, and then you sucked my dick on Friday after work, and you’re coming to my sister’s birthday party, that maybe we were more than casual.”
