“She’s going to help Teddy?” Deb asked with a calculating look as she shifted her focus back on Sloane, who was turning to look over her shoulder at Teddy, but she barely had a chance to move before Deb was there, grabbing her hand and pulling, giving her no other choice but to go with her.
“Show her the physical therapy room,” Grey said with a fond smile for the little girl as they watched the little bully drag Sloane toward the door.
“No, wait! I’m not safe, Chase!” Sloane said as she was dragged through the double doors before Deb stormed back out, reached up to grab her brother’s wheelchair and with a look of fierce determination, pushed her brother inside.
“Don’t worry. They’ll take good care of her,” Grey said, gesturing for Chase to follow him.
“I thought you weren’t going to take Sloane up on her offer,” Chase drawled, pushing his wheelchair to follow Grey as he glanced over to his left to see Sloane smiling warmly as she crouched down so that she could talk to the little boy, who shyly returned her smile. God, she was beautiful, Chase thought before he realized where his thoughts were going and forced himself to look away. Sloane wasn’t interested in more and he wasn’t interested in being anyone’s pity fuck.
“I’m not,” Grey said, gesturing toward one of the open offices where an older woman was stuffing envelopes. “That’s Deb and Teddy’s foster mom, Kim. They’ve been helping out here for a while now. It’s been helping them deal with what happened, but Teddy needs a little bit more help than she can give him right now. She’s having a hell of a time getting him into physical therapy. Everywhere that social services told her to look already has a long waitlist.”
“And you figured that Sloane could help them in the meantime,” Chase guessed as he followed Grey through a security door.
“Exactly.”
“What is Shadow House named for?” Chase asked as he followed Grey through a security door.
“Shadow House is named after Shadow Securities. Hunter O’Mallery wanted to help people that had been through hell get their lives back and he made sure that happened,” Grey said, gesturing to his right, “Through those doors is the gym, the weight room, storage rooms, and another physical therapy room. To your left, you’ll find the pool and a sauna. Down here is where you’ll find my office, a kitchen as well as the group therapy rooms.”
“I’m not doing group therapy,” Chase said absently, unable to help but frown as he looked around, trying to figure out why this place looked so familiar.
“It used to be a gym,” Grey said, answering the unspoken question.
“There was a fire,” Chase said, glancing back over his shoulder toward the gymnasium where the fire started. “Faulty wiring.”
“We got it fixed,” Grey assured him as he held his office door open for him.
“I sure as hell hope so,” Chase said, remembering how much of a bitch it had been to put the fire out the last time.
“I don’t think group therapy would be a good fit for you. At least, not yet,” Grey said, moving a large leather chair out of the way so that Chase could join him.
“And why’s that?” Chase asked absently as he took in the large office, noting the large leather couch, the matching loveseat, large oak desk in the corner, patio doors overlooking a retention lake, and the plaques on the wall before shifting his attention back to Grey to find him sitting on the couch, watching him as he flipped a coin across the back of his fingers.
“I have a feeling that it wouldn’t end well for my other patients,” Grey said, making his lips twitch.
“Nervous habit?” Chase asked, nodding toward the coin.
“You could say that,” Grey murmured.
Nodding, Chase returned to looking around the office as he asked, “Are you going to keep staring at me or are you going to ask me something?”
“I’m trying to figure something out,” Grey said as Chase took in the pictures of Grey dressed in fatigues with a group of soldiers, bloodied, bruised, and every last one of them smiling for the camera.
“Oh, yeah, and what’s that?” Chase asked, wondering why he was wasting his
“How far I’m going to be able to push you before you decide to push back.”
Chapter 18
“I hear you’re going to be helping us,” someone said, drawing Sloane’s attention away from the little boy that giggled every time