“No, see, the kind of man you are expends his energy to save his own ass. The kind of man I am doesn’t do shit to have to worry about that and instead, he works his ass off to keep those worth his efforts safe. So the message I’m sending is, I give a shit about someone, you do not f**k with them or you f**k with me.”
“And is Faye Goodknight worth those efforts?”
Chace didn’t reply.
Trane kept his eyes locked to his son’s for a while then he muttered, “At least she has a Master’s Degree.”
They’d looked into Faye.
This wasn’t entirely unexpected. It was sooner than he would have guessed. It was also annoying.
“Faye doesn’t exist for you and she’ll exist for Ma when I decide she does,” Chace told him.
“Then I’m sorry to disappoint you further, Chace, since I shared with your mother over breakfast this morning that you’re seeing someone. I thought it wise, since I learned you’d had dinner with her parents at Rosalinda’s last night.”
Chace felt a muscle in his cheek jump.
“Things are progressing swiftly,” Trane noted quietly.
Chace held his gaze and kept his jaw clenched.
“Valerie will give it time. She won’t want to pressure you. My guess, you have about fifteen minutes before you get her call to ask you and Faye to dinner.”
Fuck.
Fuck.
“She’s very excited,” Trane continued then his lips twitched and the piece of shit had the balls to finish, “She never much liked Misty.”
Chace was done. “You gonna move back or am I gonna have to drive over you?”
“We haven’t had our talk.”
“A talk we’re not gonna have. Two seconds. Move away or I roll over you.”
Trane held his eyes.
Then his changed slightly and he whispered, “You know I didn’t like that happening to you. You also have to know I didn’t want you to see what you saw.”
“It happened. I saw it. All your money, you can’t undo it.”
“You need to look after the Walkers,” Trane advised quietly.
“They’re lookin’ after themselves. Ty is gettin’ me your tapes. I’ll text you when you can send a lackey to pick them up.”
It was barely there but Chace was close enough to see the relief flash through his father’s features.
Then he said, “Newcomb.”
“By the book.”
“Chace –”
Chace leaned into him so their noses were almost touching.
“By the book, Dad. Call off your goon squad. This shit is not gonna go away unless you pull your fingers out, pay attention and stop makin’ your problems everyone else’s.”
“They’re getting impatient,” Trane whispered.