Chapter Four
Of all the things Bradley was expecting when someone pulled up to Kat’s house, her getting out of the passenger side of a man’s expensive-looking town car wasn’t anywhere on the list.
The man was tall and well-dressed, not someone who worked with his hands for a living, that much was clear. He had on a suit and wore it in a way that said he was accustomed to it.
If Bradley were younger, he might have felt threatened by it. The man who walked around and spoke to Kat was all the things Bradley had wanted to be at one time—clearly rich, intelligent, the sort of man who didn’t do much physical work for a living.
Was this someone Kat was involved with now? Bradley tried to ignore the growing jealousy inside him, reminded himself that he didn’t have any claims to Kat, not anymore. They’d been apart for years, so what did he expect? That she’d write off the whole idea of relationships as he had?
He tried to bury the discomfort deep inside him. There was no reason to think too much about it—he was here to help her, not to start up anything again.
He might still love her, but his heart couldn’t take that crash again.
The front door opened, and Bradley went back to slicing the bell peppers for dinner. Nothing like a good chili to warm a person up, and he wasn’t a man used to sitting around idly.
When Kat lifted her gaze, however, all those doubts left him. The girl always had trouble hiding her feelings well, at least to anyone who really knew her. A fear in her eyes said something had happened, and the paleness of her skin backed that theory up.
“What happened?” Bradley asked as he set the knife down.
The other man stared at Bradley for a quick moment before offering a smile that seemed forced. “You must be the friend who’s babysitting.”
“And you are?”
The man pressed a hand against Kat’s back to get her moving. “Go on, honey. Go wash your face and take a few minutes, huh?”
Kat did as she was told, andthatseemed like one hell of a new trick. Had she ever done as she was told in Bradley’s experience?
Probably not.
Still, once the door to her room closed, Bradley brought his gaze back to the new man who looked significantly less friendly once Kat had gotten out of earshot.
A long, tense moment passed before the other man spoke. “My name’s Dean. I’m a friend of Kat’s.”
“Friend, huh?” Bradley shook his head and went back to cutting the bell peppers, wanting something to do with his hands that kept him busy. “And why exactly is she worse off than when she left?”
“No idea. We were having a drink, and I stepped out for a moment. Came back to her having a panic attack.”
Bradley brought the knife down harder than needed, the thump of it against the wooden cutting board like a spotlight to his feelings. “Damn it. I didn’t realize she was having panic attacks. She’s as closed-lipped as a person can get.”
Dean walked forward until he stood on the other side of the kitchen bar. “So you know what happened?”
At least that let Bradley take a bit of a breath. He didn’t have to dance around anything if Dean already knew.
“Not exactly. Girl called me high off her ass, in tears. Said someone attacked her, but I can’t say I got much more than that.”
“And you came running?”
Bradley’s gaze drifted to Kat’s closed door.Of course I did.“Kat and I, we were…something quite a few years back.”
At that, Dean’s eyes opened wider, as if pieces had just fit together. “That must make you Bradley, right?” He let out a soft laugh and shook his head. “Word travels around Sanctuary fast.”
“You know her from Sanctuary?” Bradley wasn’t sure if that made it better or worse. On one hand, Dean appeared to be a part of the life that Bradley had once lived, a connection to his old friends. On the other, it made it feel even more like Kat had replaced him, like she’d upgraded from him to this new version. Still, Bradley wasn’t a man to wallow.
“Yeah. We don’t know each other well, but that’s where I saw her this morning. I was over at the club taking care of some paperwork for Toya when Kat showed up. We had a couple sodas before I found her hyperventilating. Told her she was in no condition to drive, so I brought her home and called my office to have my secretary bring her car here.”
Secretary.Yet another example of how little this new man was like Bradley.
Still, Dean had taken care of Kat, had brought her home safely, so Bradley reminded himself to go easy on the other man. What did their relationship matter? As soon as Kat was back on her feet, Bradley would be gone again, retreating to his ranch where he didn’t have to see hide or hair of her or endure the pain that always came with doing so.