“Wow, your dad is so protective even after you’ve gotten married,” Kailey gushed, her blue eyes wide. “My dad’s a lawyer and I can barely get him to take me out to dinner let alone hire an entire commando for protection.”
I let Kailey believe that Rhodes was protecting me at my father’s behest because it was easier than trying to explain the latter.
How was I supposed to say that he was my criminal husband’s second-in-command-slash-lover and that he was protecting me from getting kidnapped by some unknown boogeyman that I didn’t quite believe existed. Not only that, my husband had also offered him up on a silver platter to be the third person in a pack that shouldn’t exist, but the guy couldn’t stand me?
No, letting her believe that Ethan Chandler was actually a good father was much easier.
Or at least it would be if Rhodes would stop snorting like a pig every time Kailey complimented him.
Luckily for me, Kailey seemed to have the attention span of a butterfly because her eyes were already locking onto the next most interesting thing in the Quad.
“Romey!” she shouted, waving a hand wildly over her head. “Over here! Look who I have!”
The crowd parted, showing my little brother, who had been ignoring all of my texts since the wedding, standing with a group of his friends.
Kailey had mentioned him once before at the campus store, but I had no idea they actually knew each other and was especially surprised when she launched herself into his arms.
“Hey, K, how’s it going?” Romey asked, his expression open and happy as he slowly detached her arms from around his neck, his gray eyes meeting mine over her shoulder and immediately cooling.
“Not much, but you didn’t tell me your sister was coming to our school, you jerk!” Kailey gave his arm a little punch. “Nor did you tell me how actually gorgeous she was.”
“Well, that’s because I didn’t know she was coming here.” The air around us seemed to chill by a few degrees as Kailey looked between the two of us with a frown.
“I see that you two need to talk so I guess I’ll head to my next class. Don’t fight you two, you are far too pretty to frown like that. Bye, Perrie! You’re my new favorite Chandler!” she called with a wave.
“I thought you weren’t a Chandler anymore,” Romey scoffed once she was out of earshot. I reeled back away from him, surprised by the hostility in his tone. The last time we’d seen each other he seemed sad about me being married, but now he looked angry as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“I’m not, but I registered under Chandler at school,” I told him, trying to search his face for the sweet little brother that I’d seen at my wedding a week ago. “Why haven’t you been responding to my text messages?”
“I’ve been a little bit busy. The house has been a shitshow ever since that asshole carried you off like a sack of potatoes.” Romey nodded to Rhodes who was standing just behind my shoulder.
Rhodes didn’t look pleased with being referred to as an asshole because a growl rumbled out of him.
“Watch it, pup, just because you’re her little brother doesn’t mean I won’t lay you out in front of all of your trust fund friends,” he warned.
Turning, I put a hand on Rhodes’ chest, waiting for him to stop glaring at my brother and finally look down at me. “Can you give us a few minutes?”
Rhodes looked down at my hand, his pissed-off expression melting a bit. “I’m supposed to keep you safe.”
“Then you can keep me safe from over by that tree.” I pointed to the tree in question which was about twenty feet away from where we were standing. Rhodes opened his mouth, probably to tell me no, but I didn’t give him the chance. “Please, Rhodes.”
Something about the way I said it must have gotten through to him because his shoulders finally relaxed a bit and he gently pulled my hand away from his chest. “You have five minutes.”
Romey continued to glare at him as he turned to walk away. “She’ll have however long she wants. Last time I checked you’re not her husband, you’re her employee.”
“Romey!” I barked, surprised he would treat anyone like this. “What the hell has gotten into you? You never used to treat people this way.”
Romey was always the first to stick up for the employees that worked in the mansion we grew up in. Our nanny had always instilled in us an appreciation for the people who worked tirelessly to make our privileged lives more comfortable, so it was odd to see Romey speak to anyone like he had Rhodes.
“I don’t like him, Perrie. I don’t like either of them,” he said, obviously referring to my husband.
“You don’t have to like them, but don’t treat Rhodes that way. He’s here to protect me whether you like it or not. Now, will you please tell me why you’ve been ignoring my texts?”
My old phone had been left upstairs in the waiting room on the day of my interrupted wedding to Pack Ricci, and the one I had was the newest model that Edison and Rhodes told me was untraceable.
But even with the new number I’d made sure to get Romey’s number and let him know that it was me.
“I don’t have my phone. Dad took it away as soon as I got back from the wedding because he’s pissed.”
I examined Romey’s face, trying to read between the lines of his words. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
It was rare for Ethan Chandler to raise a hand to either of his two children—that was too much parenting effort for him—but I could count a handful of times we’d disappointed him enough that it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility.
“No—not in that way—but he told me I wasn’t allowed to talk to you anymore.”
“So you just decided to leave it at that?” I couldn’t keep the hurt I was feeling from leaking into my voice. “Never talking to your older sister ever again?”
“It’s not like I want to, Perr,” Romey insisted with a shake of his head, his gray eyes looking moist almost like he was about to burst into tears but didn’t want to cry in public. “But I’m not like you. I can’t just go home to my scary husband. I actually have to live with Mom and Dad every day.”
“Why did you come to the wedding then?” I’d been so happy to see him that day and have him walk me down the aisle, but now the memory was going to be forever tainted because of this interaction.
“I was hoping that you would come back home with me and we could fix everything.”
A harsh laugh left me. “And what? That I would marry into a different one of the five families and pop out a bunch of babies for a pack that can barely stand to be in the same room as me?”
“They don’t hate you—they came to get you that day too, you know?”
As soon as he said it, Romey’s mouth snapped shut and his eyes widened like he’d just revealed something he wasn’t supposed to.
