She opened the door with a smile, hoping to get Chase to return it and see that she was happy to see him.
But the person standing on the other side of the door only got a fierce glare from her instead. “What are you doing here?”
Hunt stood with his thumbs hooked in his jeans front pockets. “If you actually care about my brother, you’ll help me out. Please.”
Well, she didn’t expect that.
“I got a call from the bartender at Cooper’s. I asked him to keep an eye out for Chase. It appears my brother is out looking for a good time.” Did Hunt want her to believe not only was Chase out drinking, but looking for a woman, too?
“Go down there and take him home,” she demanded, knowing Chase at a bar didn’t add up to anything good when he was struggling emotionally, even if he didn’t want to admit it.
She wanted to believe he hadn’t thrown away his sobriety and went out drinking, but doubts creeped in and cracked her heart.
Hunt pressed his lips tight and sucked in a breath to stave off his obvious frustration that he’d had to come to her. “I would, but that would only end badly. He’s not talking to me and even threatened a beatdown the next time he saw me.”
She didn’t want Hunt to have any reason to arrest Chase. “I’ll call him and see what’s going on.”
Hunt took a step closer. “You need to go down there and get him out of that place and home before he fucks everything up again.”
She didn’t want to believe Chase had started drinking again so quickly after coming back from rehab. He seemed so hopeful about the two of them building a relationship, even if they were taking things slow this time.
Nearly nonexistent really. Her fault entirely for the platonic dinners, where she kept him at arm’s length because . . . She didn’t really have a good excuse, exceptthat she kept waiting for him to change his mind or meet someone better than her.
She worried about him finding out about her past and him looking at her differently.
But maybe she should just tell him and let the chips fall where they may before things got even more complicated and she started believing in things that weren’t ever going to be real.
“Please, Shelby. Go get him. Make him see that the bottom of a bottle, whether it’s a whiskey or pill bottle, won’t solve anything.” Thepleasemade her believe that Hunt really cared.
“I’ll have to wake Eliza and—”
“Don’t. I’ll stay. She’ll probably just sleep and never know you’re gone.” Hunt sounded sincere, and if he wanted her to go help Chase, then the least he could do was watch Eliza while she did it. Still, she didn’t quite believe his motives and wondered if he was up to something.
“I’ll just sit and watch TV until you return. Seriously, the longer we wait, the deeper Chase gets into trouble. I’d hate to see him have to spend another two months in rehab.”
If that’s what it took to get Chase better, then that’s what needed to happen.
But she really didn’t want to believe Chase would throw it all away again when he’d been so earnest and determined to get it right this time.
“Fine.” She grabbed her purse off the table beside the door and stepped back so Hunt could come inside. She eyed him. “If this is a trick of some kind...”
Hunt gave her a half frown and glared at her. “I’m only here about my brother. That’s all.”
She huffed out a breath. “Sit. Watch TV. Don’t touch anything.”
Hunt held his hands up in surrender.
“If Eliza happens to wake up...” It dawned on her that she was leaving a man Eliza didn’t know, granted a cop and her uncle, to watch her child. “She’s not going to know who you are. She’ll probably be scared. Call me. I can talk to her over the phone and assure her you’re not a bad guy.”
Hunt gave her a sincere look. “I’m not, you know. I’m just trying to protect my brother.”
“In your mind, it comes from a good place, but your methods and accusations are not appreciated. I’m not the bad guy either.”
He raised a brow.
She huffed out a breath to ease her frustration. “If Eliza wakes, call me.” She turned to the door. “You have my number, right?”
“I know everything about you,” he assured her, but that didn’t ease her mind.