Shadow House wasn’t officially open yet, but she could tell from the warm colors they’d painted the walls and the consideration they’d put into their patients’ comfort that this place was run by people who actually gave a damn. It gave her hope that this would work out for Chase.
God, she hoped so, at least.
Sloane still wasn’t sure why he’d agreed to do this and she didn’t plan on asking, afraid to push her luck and end up saying something that would make him change his mind. He needed to talk to someone and she knew that person couldn’t be her. As much as she wanted to help him, she couldn’t even begin to understand what he’d been through, which was why she did something else that he was probably going to kill her for when he found out.
Granted, there really wasn’t any doubt in her mind that he was going to kill her when he found out that she’d called his old firehouse and talked to his boss. She never would have even considered doing this for any of her other clients, but then again, since he was no longer her client, it didn’t really matter anymore.
Not that he knew that.
She just couldn’t do this anymore. Sloane couldn’t tell herself that she didn’t care when the problem was that she cared too much. She cared if her patients were struggling, if they got worse, and it destroyed her when she lost them no matter what she told herself. For so long, she’d thought that she could do this, thought that she could take on the difficult cases that no one else wanted because she could do her job without it affecting her, but she was wrong.
She couldn’t keep pretending that this job wasn’t slowly destroying her.
They didn’t really talk about burnout when she was in school, but they’d mentioned it pretty much every hour during orientation when she was hired. They’d actually dedicated an entire day to burnout in the medical field and explained how quickly it affected home aide nurses and while she didn’t think that she was burned out yet, she knew that it was only a matter of time.
She couldn’t pretend that hearing her patients cry in the middle of the night wasn’t killing her or the look on their faces when they realized that their lives would never be the same didn’t destroy a part of her soul, which is why she’d taken a leave of absence.
The funny thing was, it had nothing to do with what happened with Chase.
Right now, she still loved what she did and she wanted to keep it that way. She just needed a break, some time to figure things out, and get her head straight before she decided what she was going to do. In the meantime, she was going to keep her promise and help Chase. She’d made him a promise and she wasn’t going to break it, which meant that she was going to have to cross that line one more time.
*-*-*-*
“Oh, my god! I didn’t beat him!” Sloane said from the large playhouse in the corner where she was currently cowering as Chase’s new BFF was teaching her a lesson.
“We don’t hit!” the little girl yelled, only pausing in her attack to fix her pink tiara before she grabbed hold of the green pool noodle and resumed her attack.
He should probably do something, Chase thought as he took another sip of his imaginary tea but decided against it since he didn’t think it was a good idea to get in the middle of this.
“Chase!”
“What’s wrong, Pookie?” he asked only to murmur, “This tea is delicious,” appeasing the little girl hellbent on teaching Sloane a lesson.
“Tell her that I didn’t hit you!” Sloane snapped only to gasp when she was forced to retreat further into the playhouse.
“Wouldn’t it be wrong to lie?” Chase asked, unable to help but smile when Sloane was forced to crawl out the back and abandon her cover when the little girl decided that she was done playing around and crawled in after her.
With a muttered, “I hate you,” Sloane raced back around the other chairs, jumped over a bean bag, and climbed onto his lap, wrapped her arms around him, and held on tight.
“She just wants to play,” Chase said, wrapping his arms around her as he glanced over just in time to watch the little girl’s eyes narrow dangerously on Sloane.
“I don’t want to play,” Sloane grumbled, pulling her legs up as she shifted back on his lap to get as far away from the little girl as humanly possible.
“That’s not nice, Pookie,” he said with a sad shake of his head even as he mouthed, “Help me,” to the little girl.
“Neither is she,” Sloane mumbled with an adorable pout that turned to a gasp when the little girl, more determined than ever, tightened her grip around the pool noodle and
“What did we talk about, Deb?” Grey asked as he plucked the pool noodle away from the little girl before she could make good on that attack.
There was a heavy sigh and then, “That it isn’t nice to make people cry.”
“And…” Grey said, placing the pool noodle back in the corner.
“And she had it coming,” Deb said with a defiant tilt of her chin as she crossed her small arms over her chest.
“She really did,” Chase said only to chuckle when the small woman cowering in his arms poked him in his side.
“See?” Deb said, gesturing toward Sloane, who was glaring at him for some reason.
Sighing, Grey knelt down so that he could look the little girl in the eye as he said, “Well, if you scare her off, then she won’t be able to help your brother and I thought that’s what you wanted,” Grey explained, making Chase frown as he shifted his attention away from the little girl that made the best imaginary tea that he’d had in a long time to the little boy sitting in a wheelchair by the open double doors that Grey walked through a few minutes ago.
Both of his legs were in braces and he just looked so fucking lost…
“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 o
ffice, 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 she touched his legs to find an incredibly handsome man with a boyish smile watching her.
“I guess that’s the plan,” Sloane said with a warm smile for Teddy as she carefully placed his braces back on his legs.
Once she was done, Sloane moved to pick him up only to have the large man gently push her hands away. “Ready?” he asked, smiling down at the little boy who’d gone through hell as he carefully picked him up and placed him in the small wheelchair that was still too big for him.
“Can we go in the pool next time, Ryan?” Teddy asked, shooting the large man a pleading smile.
“That’s up to Sloane,” Ryan said as Sloane spotted the excited smile on Deb’s face before she pulled it back so that she could continue glaring at Sloane. No matter how many times she’d tried to tell the little girl that she hadn’t beaten Chase with a two-by-four, she refused to believe her.
She was going to kill Chase, Sloane decided even as she couldn’t help but wonder how his first therapy session was going. Since she hadn’t heard anyone yelling, “Asshole,” she was going to assume that it was going well.
“Can we go in the pool, Sloane?” Teddy asked, folding his hands together in front of him as he sent her a hopeful smile that she was helpless to refuse.
“I suppose we could do that,” Sloane said, unable to help but smile as she picked up the equipment they’d used and put everything back where she’d found it.
“What do you think of this place?” Ryan asked when she finished.
“I think it’s beautiful,” she said, joining him as he pushed Teddy back toward the waiting room where a woman was filling out paperwork with a red crayon.
“Kylie was supposed to welcome you, but…” Ryan said, his words trailing off as he glanced toward the front desk where an adorable woman was frowning down at an iPad in her hands, mumbling, “This format just isn’t going to work for me,” as a large man who looked like he loved to glare reached for the iPad only to have his hand gently slapped away.
“I’ll see you next week,” Deb said coldly, drawing Sloane’s attention to find the little girl glaring at her as she grabbed her brother’s wheelchair and began pushing it toward the back.
“I’ll be counting down the minutes,” Sloane said, feeling her lips twitch when the little girl’s eyes narrowed on her as Teddy said, “Bye, Sloane!”
“Looks like you made some friends,” Ryan murmured only to rectify that when Deb mouthed, “Next week,” to her. “Well, it looks like you made one friend.”
“She’ll warm up to me,” Sloane said, determined to win the little girl over because she would be damned if she was going to sit back and watch as Chase was given the best tiara again.
“I’m sure she will,” Ryan murmured, sounding thoughtful as her attention was drawn back to the small woman behind the desk and
“You’ll have to excuse Hunter. He’s an asshole,” Ryan said, sounding amused as the large man in question narrowed his eyes on them.
“Stop being mean,” Kylie mumbled absently, earning a pleased look from the man sitting next to her.
“He’s gotten worse since he found out that she’s pregnant,” Ryan explained, chuckling as he gestured for her to join him at the front desk.
“He really has,” Kylie admitted with a soft sigh, earning a glare from her husband.
“Congratulations,” Sloane said, unable to help but notice the way that Hunter’s face lit up when he looked at his wife.
“Thank you,” Kylie said, smiling shyly only to look amused when the woman that had been filling out paperwork walked over and exchanged her red crayon for a blue one.
“Quick question,” the woman said, adjusting a large black backpack over her shoulder, “Do you think an unfortunate weekend that ended with streaking would be enough to stop me from being allowed to volunteer here?”
Before anyone had a chance to answer, mostly because they all appeared to be struggling not to smile, she said, “You know what? I’m just going to put it down and see where it takes me.”
Clearing her throat, Kylie’s lips twitched as she said, “Grey is partial to green crayon, Nikki.”
Nikki looked thoughtful for a moment as she considered her crayon choices only to end up nodding toward Hunter. “Wouldn’t it be better if he interviewed me since he doesn’t look like he’d put up with my shenanigans?” she asked, looking really hopeful.
“I’m not allowed to interview anyone,” Hunter said with a glare aimed at his wife.
“I see,” Nikki murmured, looking thoughtful as she reached back and pulled a large yellow envelope out of her bag. “This might change your mind, Mr. O’Mallery.”
At Hunter’s glare, Nikki said. “That’s so cute that you don’t think that I would know who you are.”
“What’s this?” Hunter asked, throwing her a questioning look as he reached over and picked up the envelope.
“On the house,” Nikki said with a wink as she tossed her crayon back in the bucket, grabbed a green crayon and returned to her chair.
Frowning, Hunter opened the envelope and
“If you’ll excuse me,” he murmured as his lips pulled up into a shit-eating grin before he walked off, but not before he threw a curious look toward the woman who was now absently humming, “Mmmbop,” as she filled out the rest of her application.
“We’re going to need you to fill out a volunteer application as well,” Ryan said, reaching over to grab a packet off the desk.
“Of course,” Sloane said, smiling as she accepted the thick packet that was going to take her most of the night to fill out.
“I’m not sure what Grey discussed with you, but we”
“I haven’t actually had a chance to talk to Grey about this yet,” Sloane said, glancing down at the packet.
“Well, you can make your own hours, decide what patients you work with, and if you need something, just let us know and we’ll get it for
you. You can also feel free to use the facilities to work with Chase whenever you want.”
“That sounds fine,” Sloane said, nodding absently because this would actually be perfect. She could do the basics with Chase at home, but it wouldn’t be enough. The pool would definitely help, especially since Chase didn’t have one at his house.
“How long is your leave of absence?” Ryan said, drawing her attention. With a shrug, he said, “There isn’t much that we don’t know about you.”
“Six months,” Sloane said, unable to help but frown in confusion because she only sent the email yesterday.
“Shadow Security checks everyone before they’re allowed through those doors,” Ryan explained at her questioning look with a warm smile and a pointed look at the security doors.
“Good to know,” she murmured, guessing that’s how they knew that she’d worked at a physical therapist office to help pay for college. At one time, she’d hoped to become a physical therapist but–
“Grey gave his seal of approval and that’s really all you needed, but we like to be thorough. You’ll have a keycard next week and everything you need to access the rooms. Just let us know your availability and we’ll take it from there,” Ryan said, cutting off the depressing thoughts that she hadn’t had in a while as he handed her his card.
“Thank you,” Sloane said, forcing a smile as she accepted his card, absently noting that he was a lawyer.
“Just give me a call if you need anything,” Ryan said as she watched Chase roll into the foyer and
Kept going, shooting her a glare as he went. Resigning herself to the ten-minute glare-fest on the drive home, she threw Ryan and Kylie, who was already back to mumbling, “Why did they use this form?” a smile.
“I’ll get this done by next week,” Sloane said, holding up the application as she headed for the door.
“Sounds good,” Ryan said with a warm smile as she walked outside and
“Take me home,” Chase said hoarsely, drawing her attention to find him sitting near the car, staring across the street. Sloane opened her mouth to tease him about using the magic word when she saw his face.
Furious Page 10
