Granted, she wasn’t dressed for success in her shorts and tank top, but she surely didn’t look sixteen. Chase turned his head but not before she caught a glimpse of a smile.
“Hey!” she challenged.
“I think it’s a compliment,” he said, somewhat sheepishly. He turned back to Lloyd. “This house never belonged to Brick. He was just living here after my mom died. This house doesn’t belong to you now. It belongs to my brothers and me.”
Lloyd didn’t answer. But he was frowning.
“Do you understand, Lloyd?” Chase pushed.
“He told me I could live here,” Lloyd said. “A couple years ago. Said he bought me a bed and everything. But then he got mad about something, I don’t even know what. All I know is that he stopped talking to me, told me I couldn’t come here no more. That ain’t no way to treat a son.”
Chase didn’t say anything.
“I hated him. I really did,” Lloyd added.
“I imagine so,” Chase said quietly.
Even Raney was tracking now. They might not be blood but these two men shared something.
Chase looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with her. “Lloyd,” he said, his eyes still locked on her. “I need to talk to Raney. I need you to stay in your chair.”
Chase pulled her to the side, keeping her back to Lloyd, which allowed him to keep his eyes on his stepbrother.
“I don’t know Lloyd well,” he whispered. “But I’m sure he really did think you were trespassing in his house. Now, that didn’t give him a right to go at you with a knife,” Chase said, his tone hard, “and if he’d managed to hurt you, we’d be having a very different conversation.” He paused, looking back at Lloyd, then at her again. “We have a choice to make. We can call the police or we can pretend this never happened.”
Calling the police would attract attention to them, which was what they didn’t want to do. Plus, Chase would likely be putting his stepbrother in jail. By the looks of him, she thought it might be possible that the man wouldn’t have the resources to post bail.
“I’m not hurt,” she said. “No harm done, right? Although we may want to make sure that we confiscate his key to the back door,” she said, nodding at the silver key on the floor near Lloyd’s feet. “Let him go,” she added.
“You’re sure?” Chase asked, his eyes searching her face.
She nodded.
“Thank you,” Chase said simply.
He moved around her and sat down across from his stepbrother. “Lloyd, do you understand that I could call the police? That you would be the one in trouble because we belong here?”
Lloyd nodded.
“Do you understand that you can’t come back to this house?”
Lloyd nodded again.
“I need to hear you say it,” Chase prodded.
“I won’t come back,” Lloyd said. He shifted his gaze to Raney. “I’m sorry, ma’am, if I scared you.”
Ma’am? She liked it better when he thought she was a teenager. “Raney,” she corrected.
Chase picked up the key. “Lloyd, is this your only key to the house?”
“Yes. He never knew I had it,” Lloyd said. “I sneaked into the house one day about a year ago and took it off his dresser.”
She saw Chase swallow hard. “Lloyd, I’m not going to call the police. I’m going to give you back your knife and you’re going to leave the property and you’re not coming back. And if you happen to see Raney again, you’re going to treat her nicely, right?” Chase picked up the knife and laid it on the table, near enough for Lloyd to reach. He was watching the man closely and Raney was confident that he was still conflicted about letting him go.
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